Just for Today:
... I will give thanks for my many blessings
... I will not worry
... I will not be angry
... I will do my work honestly
... I will be kind to every living thing
The Reiki Principles
Yesterday I checked off one New Year's resolution by attending a Reiki Level One Workshop with Kim our Reiki Master, her assistant, three other initiates and two professionals with related experience. Kim instructed us to keep a personal journal and integrate some kind of cleansing ritual during the next ten to 21 days as we integrate the first level initiation -- our attunement -- into our consciousness. So here's the first entry into that journal.
Reiki One is "an emotional quest within yourself, an unfolding of your own potential as a visionary human being. The attunement process is an initiation into remembering who you are and why you are here."
I see very little differences in the practice of Reiki and what I have been learning through the CHI program at Mercy Hospital, Healing Therapy. Both involve a laying on of hands to direct energies to restore harmony and balance to promote self-healing. Both are considered to be sacred healing arts, philosophically directed by compassion but requiring no specific spiritual orientation. Both are designed to work best in synergy with other practices.
Here lies a significant deviation. Healing Therapy uses the same basic techniques, but at service to the more traditional, allopathic treatments received at a hospital or under a physician's direction. Practitioners are required to practice at least 100 sessions before receiving certification, half volunteering under hospital supervision. CHI awards certificates after one year of practice.
Reiki leans left and looser. Initiates can pay the price and "get certified" as a Master in just one weekend. It isn't difficult to grasp the basic concepts. Reiki proponents believe we are BORN knowing them, and unlearn them as we get older. It's part of our genetic code. The time and effort applies to spirtual integration, learning to actually Live the Art on a conscious level. For this reason, Kim has designed her program to allow several weeks between levels to allow the attunement to demonstrate its affect. We will become "Reiki Masters" before we complete the CHI program we began three months ago.
Kim describes the practitioner as "a hollow bone" who through "intent and alighnment allows the synthesis of healing to occur."
I am reading an important book now, "The Intention Experiment" by Lynne McTaggart, who came to fame in What the Bleep. The word INTENTION has taken on new importance in the scientific community as of late. I studied plenty of physics at IIT, a geek school, in the late seventies and became really intrigued with Quantum Physics. All those studies were based on the Scientific Method and Newtonian Principals -- fascinating but cumbersome to my esoteric mind. We all knew there was MORE that we could not define. What really trips my trigger is that Lynne is uncovering all sorts of "mystical" observations in academic experiments -- the actual Effects of Attention and Intention. The MORE that scientists couldn't quantify or explain is contained in our own thoughts and INTENTIONS through observable ENERGY fields in which we are all connected.
"The Intention Experiment forces you to rethink what it is to be human. It proves we're connected to everyone and everything -- and that discovery demands that we pay better attention to our thoughts, intentions, and actions."
Through the laws of INTENTION, you can empower yourself to change your life and your world. Through healing therapy, or Reiki, you can direct that power to help another person.
It begins with ATTENTION, center your focus completely on the person and the task at hand. As you do so, open your being to Unconditional Love, so there is no possibility of negative channelling. Then you can direct yourself toward the Highest Good, without expectation of result.
Sample Prayer:
"Bring this life into harmony with Divine Purpose.... I am open and present. Protect me, guide me, direct me toward the Highest Good for All. Thank You!"
As our hands move from head to toe, over the person, then back, we can actually feel areas of concern. We never need to physically touch the person, but we may, to assure them of our presence, if we feel it would make them more comfortable. We focus on seven major chakra vortexes from root to crown and spread the energy with our hands using long graceful strokes in the air. This looks ridiculous to uninitiated observers. But it works.
"There is nothing manipulative involved with this practice as it serves as an offering of Light and unconditional Love. The beauty of an energy session ... is that it always remains the choice of the one being healed to accept or deny that gift." Kim said it's like walking around with a golden plate, reflected with all this radiant energy. "If the gift has been denied it comes directly back to the healer."
Medical studies have uncovered the following measurable effects:
Stress and anxiety reduction,
Almost instantaneous relaxation response
Lower blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate
Reduced bleeding, increased red blood cell count
Insomnia relief
Ease of depression
Reduced pain
Note that nobody is talking about a cure here. If that happens it is 100% attributable to the energy forces within the receiver who has directed the energy where it needs and wants to be.
"Reiki is at least 2,500 years old, traceable to early Buddhism. Some believe that Jesus used Reiki as his healing methodology." It was brought to Hawaii in the twentieth century by Hawaya Takata who taught it to 22 Reiki Masters before her death in 1980. In 1995 there were only 750 Reiki Masters in the world. Now there are thousands, who can all trace their lineage to Dr. Usui the Grand Master in Japan. Considering the laws of exponential growth we can assume these Masters, on the loose and certified to pass on their training, will indoctrinate legions of practitioners.
My whispered prayer, unspoken until now, is that the core principal of Unconditonal Love will outweigh the attraction to a quick fix and easy money. The more I study the subject, the more I respect the underlying principals and love the champions who are spreading the light. I hope we'll keep the perspective clear and our intentions honest.
In the attunement, each of us was asked to reveal our intentions as to what we wanted to get from Reiki. My message was strong and clear: research and education.
I want to be one of the enlightened messengers, one who has seen the light and helps spread the news: The Light is Already Here, all around you. We are in a time of profound change and need more enlightened souls to guide us all to the Highest Good.
So bear with my stories and tell me some of yours. Let's see how far around the world we can send this.
No comments:
Post a Comment