People really struggle to define Reiki.

One thing is that, frustratingly, the more important journey is toward a better question, not a better answer.

In Buddhist training a lot of time is spent clarifying the “view”. Where the “view” is the way things are. Monks will spend 20 years debating and studying the “view”. With the purpose of changing their questions. Changing the way they think about reality.

This is really opposite to the way we normally approach things. Normally, at least in my house, we come at things from the answer side. We argue that the answer is not adequate. Rather than that the question is faulty.

Personally, I do not think it matters what is Reiki. Just that it is, and that it works. (But, I still love to ponder it!)

For what it is worth, especially for the people just starting out on their Reiki journey, I will offer up my back of the weeties packet definition of Reiki.

Reiki is.

Ha! Just kidding.

My best one sentence definition of Reiki is to say it is a force of reality. That flows from a spiritual origin and is accessible by empowerment. Or long term training in compassionate kindness (I guarantee you Mother Teresa would have given Reiki just as well and just as pure as William Rand). And, is a lot like unconditional love.

Is anyone interested in being involved in a distant healing circle? I have been accepting requests for distant healing for a little while now, and I find it really positive to be able to send Reiki to distant friends, that I have not met yet in this life. It gives me a sense of connection. And, it is just cool having a reason to pick up the distant healing box and send reiki.

If you are interested in joining the circle, please just drop me and Donyo an email, and I will add your name.

I think the easiest way would be to make it an email list, and just shoot out an email whenever a new request comes through. And, then also, if anyone in the group has a request themselves (for a client perhaps, or family or whatever..) then they could just use the request page aswell.

We know there is a great deal of research under way by many Reiki people around the globe. Research into the history and origins of Reiki, but especially lots of rigorous academic research into the effects of Reiki on various health conditions.

If any of you have seen anything you like, or think is credible, or better yet, are conducting research projects yourself and would like some exposure, please drop Donyo or me an email.

We would really like to have a corner of Reiki Blogger dedicated to resources for anyone looking to find out more about Reiki. And it would be great to have some links to the findings people have published.

What we think and feel, is not always what is right and true. Sometimes what we are feeling just continues our current cycle and situation. The tricky thing is trying to work out when we should listen to our feelings and when we should not.

Most of our feelings come from our ego. That is just how it is. No matter how gifted you are, and how good at whatever you might be, we are all the same in that fact. We are all very heavily influenced by our ego.

If you are tired, stressed, worried, joyful, angry, peaceful, jealous,  embarrassed, happy, sad.. all those things, it is your ego.

Having an ego is fine. Don’t get me wrong. I am not against the ego. I just think we need to make sure we have one that behaves in a constructive way. We have to be self disciplined.

This is why the Reiki path can sometimes be counter intuitive.

Most people think following a spiritual path is going with the flow. Working out what works and what makes you happy, and then doing that.

I agree. But, you need to also add the extra bit of doing what is helpful in disciplining the ego.

Our ego is just like a child. Loveable, sure. But, if not loved with wisdom will become spoilt and unkind. It is important to recognize that you cannot push and push and push your ego, just like you cannot with a child. You have to find the consistency that develops the discipline you need, in a kind way.

I went along to listen to a visiting Reiki person a little while ago. This person is part of one of the “famous” Reiki groups and had a pretty big budget for marketing the talk and drew a good crowd.

The thing that I found interesting about the talk (which was very good by the way..) was the cross section of people that came and the reasons that they seemed to come for.

1. Physical Healing

One clear group were people that were interested in what Reiki could do for them or loved ones in terms of physical healing. I usually consider, when a person comes to our little Reiki clinic with the primary objective of healing some physical health issue, that they are best served by learning Reiki 1. I should say quickly here, that I always think that it is better if people end up studying Reiki 1, rather than just receive Reiki sessions because, Reiki practise and the Reiki path is a self empowering one, and a lot of effort should be made to help people be self reliant, and not develop a dependency on their Reiki group or teacher.

Something that was not said during the talk, which I think is extremely important to make clear to people who are seeking physical healing is that Reiki is not a replacement to traditional healing. There is a tendancy, out of enthusiasm or mis-guided perception to think that Reiki can heal things that traditional medicine cannot. I have heard stories taught during Reiki workshops about how Usui used to heal cancer and how serious health problems can be healed with Reiki. This is something to be wary of promoting.

I think most alternative healing people will agree that there is immense benefit to be gained by using alternative healing recipes and techniques, and that one of those benefits is they work with the causal aspect of the issue rather than purely managing symptoms (now I am not suggesting traditional medicine only deals with symptoms.. but it is certainly a strong focus..), and, that it is a gentle brand of healing and as such should not be rushed and over done.

There is no quick fix in spiritual/alternative healing. To have lasting success, with any modality, it needs to be done consistently, over a long period of time.

2. Mental/Emotional Healing

The next big cross section of the crowd seemed to be very interested in emotional issues. Why do I have so much anger? Why am I always so insecure? I need to heal my… whatever… emotional feeling.

I think this is a very interesting group. And, again a group that needs to be treated with gentle sensitivity. Generally speaking Reiki 2 works beautifully with emotional healing. Joined with daily self treatments. But, it is important to know the limitations and boundaries of our role as a Reiki person, and what we are and are not qualified to counsel someone in. Just to give you an idea about how we do it at our Reiki clinic, but only for sharing the way that works for us, (not to suggest it is the best way..) is we try very hard to create an atmosphere and energy around the healing session and client relationship that re-enforces that we are not trained counselors, that we are just normal family people. We try to make people feel as welcome and safe as we can, and show that we are friendly and warm hearted and happy to listen to people share their stories. But, that if something more serious comes up, they really need to find someone trained to talk about that with. And, then we can recommend a few people, if they want some one good.

3. The Spiritual Seeker

The third, distinct, group that I noticed at the talk were the spiritual seekers. People looking to Reiki for a spiritual connection. And it is out of this group that you will probably find the highest percentage of your Reiki 3 students.

The main issue in group 3, is fundamentalism. Which in Reiki circles, manifests as I have said above as over enthusiasm about what Reiki is able to achieve (generally speaking..) and what kinds of messages you send to your clients/students.

It can also show up as thinking they are on a mission to save the world, a re-incarnated spiritual teacher (or allowing themselves to think they are somewhat “special” because they contemplate their Hara/naval and think about the deeper meanings of life, versus the more “superficial” and “materialistic” people in the world), or just simply so intense that they find it near impossible to act like a “normal” person and have regular everyday activities in their routine.

I am definitely speaking from personal experience on this one! (being a recovering fundamentalist..)

One particular Buddhist teaching that I really loved the first time I read says that you should strive to change on the inside (become more tolerant, more patient, more kind and more loving..) but that you should not change the outside.

I think there is a tendency when we find spiritual things that are so obvious, like Reiki (you can literally feel the energy of the universe), to go a bit over board. Shave our hair off, go live on an ashram, stop seeing all our old friends, whatever.

If we just take it easy. Take it slow. The healing will be lasting..

Conclusion

If you fall in love with the Reiki path, or you find temporary benefit from giving or receiving the energy, you will meet lots of weird and wonderful people along the journey. Each person needs to be met at their level and respected for what is moving them at the time. Reiki 1 is not less important than Reiki 3. How can you say the branches are less important than the tree. Enjoy the journey!

What do you do to keep your energy “on song” day in and day out?

I do not know about you, but when people ask me how I have been, all I can really think to answer, honestly, is “up and down”. I would love to play along with the surface level niceties of life, and just pretend that things have been fantastic all the time. But, it is just not realistic.

Don’t get me wrong. I am pretty lucky, as far as it goes. I have a nice life. And, I actually spend a lot of the time feeling pretty darn grateful about it.

I just think that we are confronted on a daily basis with quite a lot of negativity, and energy competition, that it is pretty well impossible to stay even all the time.

I would love to be the one that sits here and tells you with a straight face that all you will ever need is Reiki. And, that actually could be true, if we were the kinds of reiki people like Hayashi or Usui, or maybe even William Lee Rand. But, for people like you and me, just Reiki and nothing else, is probably not enough.

I am not talking about anything fancy (although at the end of the post I would like to share with you an ayurvedic secret), I am interested in what little things you do to keep yourself on track each day.

Obviously, being reiki people we are at an advantage and keeping a strong connection to reiki is one of the biggest things we can do.

What else, though. What have you found is good?

My wife, Donyo, for example, spends a couple of hours each day outside on our property, gardening and getting her hands dirty in the soil. Which is great for our little kids, and for me (who works from home, and appreciates the space and quiet).. and she says it keeps her literally grounded.

What do you do, to keep yourself balanced?

Something I do, is to check in during the day with my teachers, in some way. I look up a website, read a page from a book, or just glance over at a picture on the altar, and I try to do it every hour. It helps me remember which way my inner compass points (or could be pointing).

The little ayurvedic secret that I would love to share, helps me almost more than anything else, combined. It is a simple herb, called Brahmi.

Some of the things it is said to do:

# Improves short and long-term memory, may help to increase intelligence
# Reduces depression, promotes longevity, and decreases senility
# Treats the symptoms associated with ADHD

I cannot vouch for ADHD, (or the senility for that matter) but, I can tell you that the memory and intelligence stuff is 100% accurate. It is brilliant stuff. I first saw it on a late night infomercial here in Australia (I know, very credible..) which was basically just a story about this Aussie rugby player that had suffered a brain injury, as a result of which he had significant memory and concentration issues. Long story short the Brahmi worked miracles with him, and I was impressed enough to pull out the credit card a give it a try.

This stuff is awesome. Give it 4 weeks to really work. (Although, the first time I started taking it I noticed a huge change after about 3 days..) And you will be amazed.

If you have any little tips or tricks that you could share with other Reiki Blogger readers, I would love to hear them.

Phyl over at the healing blog on About.com has a good post up about some of the common Reiki Myths that still seep out into the reiki community.

The one about thinking being attuned to Reiki is going to open up a channel to guardian angels or spirit guides is a very common one. We still see a lot of coming through our little Reiki House that think Reiki has “guides” that are involved in the process of healing.

Ofcourse, this is probably fine if you understand “guides” as being your own inner clarity/wisdom/intuition/higher self. And as long as you are able to strengthen that wisdom without developing a split personality disorder.

Every time you choose a healthy, less selfish, more compassionate course of action/re-action the closer you take yourself to your own true and stable inner guide. We see much more clearly the truths of life when we see with kind eyes, and a warm heart.

If you are approaching Reiki as a self development path, or better still as a support on your spiritual path, then one turn of phrase that you may have encountered a long the way is “self honesty”.

I really like self honesty. I think it is one of the most important supports for personal growth. But, I also think it is a tricky game to play.

When we think about the “self” in this context we are talking about the relative self. The little self. Or the ego. All meaning the same thing. And our normal self is something that has gotten pretty good at having things go pretty much all its own way. But, at the same time it is also the very best witness, because it is always there. We can never escape ourselves.

I was thinking about this, while sitting listening to one of my Buddhist teachers give a talk the other night. He was saying that for him, the best person to judge whether his practise is genuine is himself. Because he always sees himself, he is always there. Whether he is feeling happy or sad, acting polite or not, he is always there. He cannot hide from himself.

And, I think this is the really positive aspect of self awareness/self honesty. Because, we carry that witness always, we can use it to keep ourselves “honest”, so to speak.

The tricky thing is, as I said above, our ego has had such a great time up until now, pretty much having free reign over our decisions, that it is very good at “acting” like it is being raw and true. When in fact it is keeping some aspects back.

Which usually shows when we justify something to ourselves. Like having lost our temper (we were being righteous..) or skipped one too many daily self treatment sessions (I should only do it when it feels “sacred”..) or whatever..

Obviously, everyone is different. And the stories are going to be different. But, everyone should approach their feelings with a little bit of skepticism, because, self honesty is a perspective not so easily won.