It is really helpful to develop a healing language for yourself. I think this is one of the main reasons people are attracted to organised religion. It gives their healing and spiritual life a framework and a language. It gives them the code.

I think this is a huge part of growing along your reiki healing path too.

From a reiki point of view we are always talking about energy. And we are usually talking about blocked or stagnating energy when it comes to healing. So, it would make sense that one of the ways you can understand your healing path with Reiki has to do with energy centers. Although it is not automatically part of the Reiki healing system, one of the easiest frameworks with which to de-code the messages you get from your energy is via the chakra system.

Indian Chakra System

Perhaps because I am a Tibetan Buddhist. And perhaps because Tibetan Buddhism comes originally from India and as a result draws heavily on Indian thought.. I personally follow the Indian Chakra system and that is the system I understand best.. So, in this series I am only going to talk about the Indian 7 Chakra system. But, perhaps (if enough people send me emails..) I will research and write up an explanation series on the other chakra system (for now I can confidently refer you to Reiki Blogger friends Frans and Bronwen Stiene for some reading material if you are interested in a broader perspective..)

Using The Chakra System to Understand Your Emotions

I have found along my reiki path that the chakra system can give me a lot of very useful information about what is going on with my energy and my mind. It can also give me an indication about what might be the areas in my clients’ energy that are blocked.

By being quietly and impartially observant on my thoughts, and by knowing a bit about the different stories associated with the different chakras, I can get a relatively clear picture about what is going on with the energy.

Which for me, someone who does not see auras, talk to spirit guides, levitate or anything else out of the ordinary (dont feel bad if you do happen to be someone who can fly..) is pretty helpful.

Do not get me wrong. I do in fact believe it is possible for us all to evolve into great spiritual siddhis (abilities), but probably not today.

Each Chakra Has a Story

Every chakra has a theme that it relates to within the energy system of the person. What those themes are and how they manifest is the topic of the next posts in this series. Each chakra has a unique sphere of influence and once you become familiar with the stories and characters of your chakras’ you will feel in a lot more control of the contents of your heart and mind.

Everything in Energy

I always think it is helpful to remember that everything is energy. No-thing-ness. This goes for the memories that give rise to anger. Or the tasty lunch that gives rise to happiness (and sleepiness!). And it goes for your body and the tree and the car and the text book. Just energy/force. (Sunyata to our Buddhist readers)

So, every thought that comes up is just energy taking the form of a thought (remembering the idea that while the energy shows up as a “thought” to us.. it is in fact just energy.. not a “thought” as such.. just a movement of energy).

If you could narrow down your spiritual path to the most important thing what would it be?

Courage?

Dignity?

Diligence?

For me it is self honesty.

Because I am a Buddhist I would say mindfulness or self awareness. Which is a good way of putting it, I think. Because we all have self awareness. But, sometimes we are not sure if we have self honesty. At least I am not sure. And it is sometimes very hard to be confident that we are not kidding ourselves either.

But for me the trickiest of them all is when I did not even realize I had been kidding myself.

Just for today

So, just for today let me be clear and strong in my self awareness and may I not kid myself about the things that need healing. May I seek comfort in my evolution and nurture my natural growth and life’s changes. May I not try to hold onto what I have, but enjoy the experiences for what they are.

Letting go of the need to control

By letting go our need to control our life situation and the contents we have the chance to move into something infinitely more stable and indestructible. Genuine self honesty and self awareness cannot be disturbed by the ups and downs of our life. The chance of daily living. Because there is nothing to uncover. Nothing we do not already know about. No shadow unseen or skeleton in our closet.

Move into fearlessness

If we can strive to embrace self honesty and living in the authentic presence that comes naturally with it, we can move from fear to fearlessness. From worry to contentment.

May that be YOUR experience today!

Welcome to The 81st Carnival of Healing. The carnival of healing is a weekly round-up of blogs across the Internet featuring information about healing, self empowerment, and spirituality.

The carnival is a great way to find new blogs and to read great healing related posts, each week.

You will find loads of great stuff in this week’s edition, and for those that might like to check previous carnivals you can find last weeks carnival at Wisdom of Healing and the carnival’s archives here.

So, let’s get started!

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Exercise FAQs from Brain Fitness Blog Why is brain exercise important, what are common “brain drains”, 3 quick exercises for mental fitness, good brain food.. and lots more in this post on brain fitness.

Patricia presents 7 Behaviors That Mess Up Communication: Are You Making A Good Impression? from A Better You Blog. “Have you ever felt puzzled by how others react to you? Do you want to improve communication in your family, your marriage, or other relationships? Are you wondering how to get along better with others at work? Here are 7 behaviors you can quickly change to smooth out differences and improve communication.”

Kevin Kinchen presents Creative Power of Thought - Thoughts Become Things from Creative Power of Thought. Discussions on the law of attraction. And creating the life you want.

Albert Foong presents How to be a rock in a chaotic world from Urban Monk. When hot be thoroughly hot, when cold be thoroughly cold. A post about going with the flow and rolling with the punches, without becoming a punching bag yourself. Interesting.

Lexi Sundell presents Road Reiki For Travelers from Energies of Creation. This post certainly pricked my attention, being a reiki person. Some interesting reading for both reiki and non-reiki people here. Lexi also explains a little about what is reiki.

Anmol Mehta presents 3 Most Powerful Yoga Pranayamas and Kriyas - Part 1 from Mastery of Meditation, Enlightenment & Kundalini Yoga Pranayama is breathing and breath control (says the post). This is a very detailed post and well worth a look if you find meditation and yoga interesting. I actually liked this so much I had to include another post from the site The secret on How to Become an Early Riser. Which to quickly summarize is all about passion. Not strapping your alarm clock to your forehead. But, finding the things that really drive you.

gia combs-ramirez presents We All Read Energy from The Science of Energy Healing. “Reading energy is our ability to perceive vibrations in our surrounding environment and interpret them correctly”

Aparna presents Bhramari Pranayam from Beauty and Personality Grooming. Another pranayama post, written in a very readable and personal style. I really liked this post too. Steps it out nicely for us, with method and benefits, very easy read.

Arun presents From Chubby to Studdly Part 1 from Arun is bringing you…Your Daily Remedy. Nice clear post. Down to earth and practical advice. I was a little un-sure what I was going to find when I read the title.. and I thought the before and after photos were nice. Good one Arun!

Shelly presents A chance to grow posted at Heart, Soul, and Body. About loss and grief. A post from the heart.

Raymond David Salas presents How to Reach Your Potential posted at ZenChill.com Power Tools Blog. I love zenchill, and Raymond serves us up another great post. Check it out!

Reb Chaim HaQoton presents Holy Songs posted at Reb HaQoton. “The term “song” as used in the Holy Scriptures (Shir and/or Shirah) refers not only to mere singing, but also to a unique type of spiritual phenomenon..”

Hueina Su presents The Most Important Relationship in Your Life posted at Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul. “Most people are either looking for love in all the wrong places, or entering/staying in a relationship for the wrong reasons.”

therapydoc presents When the Little Things Go Wrong posted at Everyone needs therapy? Lessons from a family therapist. Putting things in perspective. Relatively speaking. (Great blog)

Ririan presents 15 Warnings From Mom That You Needn’t Worry About posted at Ririan Project. This is a GREAT post. Ririan Project is yet another great blog you will hopefully discover (if you have not already) in this edition of the carnival of healing.. You will laugh out loud at this stuff.. it is just so true!

Shelly presents Changing your mind posted at Heart, Soul, and Body. “The power your mind has - both negative and positive is astounding”

David Richeson presents How to Keep Yourself Healthy posted at 360 Degree Success. “Let’s face it, getting sick sucks. If you’re working to accomplish goals and better yourself, you have to keep yourself healthy.”

Craig Harper presents Do It Yourself Prison posted at Motivational Speaker. We have left one of the best till last. The general consensus seems to be that Craig’s posts are getting EVEN better.. Check out the funny pics down the sides of the post too..

Well, I hope you found lots of great reading in this weeks carnival of healing, next week OptimistLab will be hosting, hope to see you there!

Be well,
TC

Can you believe it! This is Reiki Blogger’s 100th post! Hard to believe there is that much to write about Reiki! (lol). Seriously, it amazes me how beautiful it is to be able to practise reiki. And even more (for this reiki person), to be able to talk about it here with you. Pretty special.

Speaking of special, I have been saving this post up for some time.. and for a birthday treat (turning 100!) I have decided to bring out the big guns and offer this post to you.. I also decided to give Reiki Blogger a present with a new design for her birthday aswell. I hope you like it.

Thankyou for making Reiki Blogger one of the most popular Reiki sites on the web, and please vote below if you would like to see a Reiki forum grow out of this place that so many of you have decided to call your reiki home. I for one think we have a pretty special little community starting here.. very down to earth and clear sighted.. with lots of warmth and laughter too!

Wu Wei

Quick Tangent –> whenever I think of wu wei (pronounced woo wee) I invariably start to drift off to one of my favourite blogs Respectful Insolence who hates Reiki practitioners (it seems..) with a passion and has often threatened to take exception to the general practise of reiki in one of his Friday rants named (here is the tangent) friday dose of “woo”. (By the way the author is a medical doctor and surgeon.. so we can forgive him for mis-trusting us “energy” healers..)

Anyway, now that I have poked Respectful Insolence enough with the proverbial jousting stick.. Wu Wei.

Wu Wei is a Taoist term.

Essentially it translates as “non doing”. But, more accurately it can be described as effortless effort.

Follow your Bliss

Follow your bliss and “go with the flow” could be put forward as modern day incarnations of the sage old Taoist concept of Wu Wei. Both imply following a path through life that is at once in harmony with all the beauty and goodness of the natural world, while at the same time containing actions that spring forth naturally and with seeming effortless ness. Almost without contrivance or the interference of the individual ego.

Bodhisattva Ideal

I need to digress for a moment. The bodhisattva ideal is the highest type of “belief” or “value” in the Buddhist tradition (Tibetan, Mongolian, Zen). Essentially the bodhisattva motivation is to seek enlightenment so that all beings experience temporary (changeable) and ultimate (unchanging) happiness.

The Question

So, the point of this post is to ask you a simple question. How do you strive for spiritual development (like the bodhisattva) while keeping to a path of non-doing (Wu Wei)? How do you “follow your bliss”

The Answer

The answer lies with a deeper understanding of Wu Wei. Effortless effort does not imply vacillation or procrastination. It also does not imply being a punching bag for society or a door mat for people to walk all over.

Wu Wei implies being in harmony with the natural flow and rythmn of life’s energy. This is done through the transcendence/taming of our personal ego, and of embracing all aspects of ourselves (shadow).

The natural flow of life force energy is already at the summit of personal and spiritual development. So, if our goal is others benefit through achieving enlightenment ourselves, then to be truly practicing Wu Wei is to be fulfilling this ideal perfectly.

It is a Journey not a Destination

Wu Wei is a pathless path. A path that is at the same time not going anywhere, already there, and possesses progression and development.

Do not know about you, but that bakes MY noodle!

But, it is true none-the-less.

The path, Progression and Development

It is always great to remember that we are not expected to be at the finish line before we have even got started. Becoming a reiki person does not mean you have to all of a sudden possess the ability, humility and wisdom of a spiritual master.

We start where we are. And if we can make a little progress each year. Then we are doing well.

The progression and development part of Wu Wei is that you CAN in fact train in it, and become progressively more proficient. More and more in harmony with the ideal of effort less effort, that seeks the benefit of others.

Already there, the Great Irony

Ultimate truth has a great sense of irony. The greatest of all is the fact that we are all already there. We just do not see it. Wu Wei is a practise in irony. Pathless path, effortless effort. It is hilarious!

As we progress along our healing paths, as our energy comes into more and more harmony with the life force of the world in which we find ourselves, it is possible that the fetters and blocks within our soul to the perception of the state of things as they truly are may clear too. (not for this little black duck.. but I am sure it will happen for some in my life-time)

And, this will not be possible without the transcendence of the ego. And taking up an ideal like the bodhisattva. Mipham Rinpoche raps it below..

Reiki Blogger is lucky enough to be hosting the Carnival of Healing this coming Saturday.

It is not too late to submit your post for inclusion. You can either drop me an email or go –> here to submit a post.. We would love to see your great writing.. anything relating to health and healing will be warmly welcomed.

Last weeks carnival was held at Wisdom of Healing if you have not seen the carnival before and want to see what it is all about.

If you do not want things to change in your life you should not practice Reiki.

I was reminded, recently, very clearly, that Reiki is a healing path. It is path that seeks your evolution. It is not a path that seeks to keep things the same, Reiki does not work like that.

Cocoon

It seems in life that we can follow two very distinct paths. One is the path of cocooning. Where we seek safety and to shut out the world. We want to control our life situation. We seek to nest and to maintain our current situation.

Rising Sun

Then there is a path in life that feels more like the rising sun. Where we seek to grow and change and develop. This path is more expansive and inclusive. Perhaps it is accurate to say that the rising sun path is characterized by love, where the cocooning one is shaped by fear. But the truth is that both are the same life force. One is merely more blocked than the other.

Embrace change

The best thing we can do for ourselves is not to be resistive to life and to change. There is an irony in resisting change. Yet we all do it a little. And sometimes it seems almost as if it is easier to fall back into the habit than not.

Faith and Chance

If the world is ruled by faith and chance. Then put your faith in daily practice. Because the unblocking of your life force energy through the healing vibration of Reiki is the best insurance policy for keeping chance on your side.

I hope that you have a great easter, filled with many thoughts of the beauty of our cultural heritage and the wisdom of the Christian faith. For truly Jesus was a great and kind spiritual master.

I hope you enjoy the easter holidays and are with those you love.