my personal journey

part 2 of the Healing Power of Reiki

I had seen a tv program about Reiki, and it seemed interesting if a bit far-fetched. Then one day I saw an ad in a paper about a talk on Reiki by a lady named Angela Gorman at a nearby hotel. I decided out of curiosity to go along. After the talk, which was very informative, we were given a mini chair treatment (probably about five minutes) and later I definitely knew something had happened. I felt ‘different’ but I wasn’t able to put my finger on what it was. Based on that I decided to do a Reiki 1 workshop. I have to say I approached it with a mixture of interest and scepticism (probably more scepticism!) The workshop itself was amazing, and, to my great surprise a couple of days later I discovered that I had completely lost all desire to smoke. I had been a 20 a day man, and I really expected this phenomenon to pass in a couple of days, as is often the case with post-workshop euphoria. But it didn’t. I thought it was some kind of trick, you know like stage hypnotists use, I even tried to smoke (I kid you not!) but found I just couldn’t. The best way I can describe the experience is as if I had never smoked in my life!

Obviously there were no withdrawal symptoms. I could still be around people who smoked and did all the usual things I did before without any problem. It felt so free. I knew I was on to something. Actually a whole series of weird changes happened after that weekend, including personal stuff. I also stopped biting my nails, but smoking was the biggie. I kept practicing the Reiki on myself, as Angela had told us to do, and I gradually grew into a deeper awareness of it and energy, and myself.

Energy is not dependent on time or any other circumstance and can work instantly. Time, by the way, is something we construct with the mind in order that we can negotiate our way around things. Since everything ‘happens’ simultaneously we would not be able to experience difference if we had not the concept of time. But it is a concept only, and not a real thing as such.

Why do people get sick?

People manifest illnesses for many different reasons and healing can happen on so many different levels. It may be part of a person's soul journey, or it may be something they attracted. Jesus once said it is to reveal the glory of God. Therefore, we must be careful not to make illness wrong, or think we are 'fixing' people when we do healing work. The word 'healing' is etymologically similar to 'whole', or 'wholeness', and this is the real meaning of all healing, to bring us into a oneness with ourselves and the Origin.

Many people have had quite miraculous healings from Reiki. I know this to be a fact. At the same time I try to refrain from making exaggerated claims about it. When you tell someone this will ‘cure’ them then you set up an expectation in their head which may not be met. Everyone heals for the right reason and at the right time for them. It can also make it seem like it’s something important, which I also try to avoid. The healing always comes from the Light and not the person giving it, who is merely a facilitator, and it works with the higher purpose of the person receiving.

A Course in Miracles tells us that we can never heal another person, only ourselves. So when giving Reiki it is good to ask for this healing for ourselves as well. Remember all healing is self healing.

Reiki works equally as effectively on animals as on humans; indeed tired and jaded plants have been known to bloom when given it. Also people have benefited from it while being in a coma, therefore no conscious awareness of it is strictly necessary. Nor is a ‘belief’ in it necessary, contrary to what some espouse. Nor can it be explained away by the placebo effect.

Each one of us walks around with our head full of scripts, old nonsense that we picked up in our childhood. Now as adults we stuff all this emotional baggage in the only place we can, our poor bodies, and specifically in the cells of our bodies. Then as the years pass it builds into a kind of emotional debris, often blocking the energy flow. The practice of Reiki can help to unblock these negative patterns and return the body to a state of harmony.

Recent changes in Reiki

There is a lot of, for want of a better term, ‘high wu’ stuff creeping into Reiki as its popularity spreads. I suppose this is natural, everything changes and evolves, but I don’t like when people mess with the essentials. Then it’s out of integrity. I suppose this is what Takata and the early schools feared. I can see their point, but the alternative is to keep it as an elite form and I don’t think that would be helpful to many. The best way is to allow Reiki to flourish while respecting its traditional elements.

Some modern schools of Reiki have added what is known as the 21 day fast. Put simply, this means that after an attunement the energy takes 21 days to go through the body before it starts to work. This could not be so as, for one, time doesn’t exist (see above) and we know now that energy doesn’t travel slowly, in fact in bleeps in and out instantly. We know this from quantum physics, however at one time people thought energy ‘travelled’. Advocates of the 21 day fast say you must give up coffee and sex and all kinds of nice things during this time, but this is not so. I had my big breakthrough only two days after my first workshop, and I had been drinking coffee throughout that time, I even had some beer afterwards too, not to mention the other! Of course, there are many physical and spiritual benefits from fasting. Sometimes I practice what is known as ‘body mastery’ or one-day-fasts. So do that if you’re drawn to it. But just to put it on the record it’s not compulsory for Reiki to work.

I still continue to practice Reiki every day. I love its calming, healing nature, and the wonderful benefits that flow from it.

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the Healing Power of Reiki [1]

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