Category Archives: meditation

Can I Do Hatsurei if I Can’t Visualise?

reiki self treatment meditations

 

Hatsurei ho is one of the basic energy exercises found in Japanese-style Reiki, an extension or elaboration of the original two exercises that Usui Sensei has his students perform at First Degree: Kenyoku and Joshin Kokkyu ho. Part of what you do when you practise Hatsurei ho is to draw energy to your Tanden, which is an energy centre found two fingerbreadths below your tummy button and 1/3rd of the way into your body; it is the centre of your personal energetic universe, the place where your creativity and intuition lie.

Someone contacted me recently wanting to know whether they would be able to do Hatsurei properly because “they couldn’t visualise”, so I thought I would talk about the whole issue of visualising and controlling or directing energy.

The answer is “yes” by the way: you can do Hatsurei ho effectively even though you can’t visualise.

We are visual beings

Firstly, and this is a complete aside, I wanted to say that humans are visual beings. During evolution, there has been a veritable ‘arms race’ between our different senses, battling it out to achieve supremacy, and the visual sense has won that war hands down! We are successful as a species because of our binocular, colour vision and our ability to be a pattern-matching supercomputer.

In fact, 50% of our brain’s immense processing power is dealing with visual information, so even if you are a person who believes that thay aren’t a visual person, or that can’t visualise, in the background your mind is spending half of its capability dealing with visual images! And in fact there are things that you can do to develop that awareness of your visual sense, and become more comfortable with visualising and accessing images internally, but that isn’t really a Reiki topic.

Another point is that visual memory is a bit grainy, rather like the photos that the first mobile phones with cameras used to take, and some people who say that they “aren’t visual” or “can’t visualise” just have too high expectations of their internal visions: they are expecting Panavision or Technicolor, whereas in reality our internal visual ability is decidedly low grade. You may be as ‘visual’ as anyone else, but just don’t think so!

Unfortunate choice of words

When you read instructions about working with Reiki, often they will involve following an exhortation to ‘imagine’ or ‘visualise’ that the energy is doing a particular thing or moving to a particular place. The majority of people can visualise well enough for most practical purposes so it makes sense to use those sort of words, and working visually is quick and easily achievable for most people.

But we do not need to use our visual sense, or imagine anything in our minds, to be able to control or direct the energy. Reiki is a very flexible and adaptible energy and will accommodate many ways of working.

Energy follows intent

The reason for this is that Reiki follows your intent, however you might choose to express or frame that intent. Where you focus your attention is where the energy directs itself, and how you want the energy to move will guide the energy to move in the manner you intend, no matter how that intention is expressed. Certainly if you can “see” the energy moving in a particular way or to a particular place, that will work well, but there are alternatives.

For example, you can:

  • Have in mind…
  • Know…
  • Be aware of…
  • Feel…
  • Experience…

… the energy, say, moving down through your crown, down the centre of your body, down to your Tanden.

All these words refer to a way of knowing or experiencing that do not require any visual images and will work just as well.

Move energy without seeing

Let’s try a simple experiment. I want you to become aware of your right hand. Feel energy flowing down your arm into your right hand and notice the energy build there. Now take your attention to your left hand: feel the energy travelling down your left arm into your left hand, where the energy builds in intensity.

You just controlled the movement of energy without visualising anything.

Try this: be aware of the energy flowing down through your body, like a free-flowing river, through your torso and down your right leg, and the energy concentrates itself in your right foot. Experience the energy there for a little while. Now notice how the energy pulls back, so that a strong bubble of energy now sits within your right knee. Experience the energy there for a while.

Again, you directed the flow of energy without visualising anything. What you did was to experience energy in one place and notice it moving; your “noticing” it moving caused it to move because the energy follows your focus and your attention.

Hatsurei ho without seeing

Now let’s try an exercise more directly related to Hatsurei ho:  focus your attention on your forehead/third eye, and notice whatever sensation that arises there: maybe some pressure or fizzing or tingling; you’ll probably like this sensation! Now, slowly move that feeling to the very crown of your head; this may take a little while and you’ll need to concentrate. Notice the sensation moving as the energy traces a path to your crown. Let the energy fizz on your crown for a short while. I had you do this so you can see what fine control you can have over the movement and location of the energy.

Anyway: back to Hatsurei ho: now notice that the sensation starts to move vertically downwards, from your crown, down through the centre of your body. Don’t worry if you can’t feel it every single step of the way because you can reconnect with it as it descends. And be aware as the energy reaches and builds in your Tanden. This is a small part of the Joshin Kokkyu ho stage, where you draw energy from the universe, down through your crown to your Tanden, then having the energy spread through your body and then flood out to infinity. All these stages are accessible to you whether or not you can specifically “visualise” something.

Remember, you can:

  • Have in mind…
  • Know…
  • Be aware of…
  • Feel…
  • Experience…

… that the energy moves in a particular way or rests in a particular place.

The energy is accommodating

Reiki is a very accommodating energy. It is happy to flow as it wishes, drawn to areas of need, and it will also follow your focus, however your focus might be achieved. It will follow your intention, moving, behaving, framing itself, in whatever way you intend, however that intention is expressed.

So you don’t have to worry about “not being able to visualise” because Reiki doesn’t need you to.

 

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This book is suitable for people at all Reiki levels: beginners, those who are developing their Reiki, and Reiki Masters/Master Teachers. You will find advice about self-treatment meditations, energy exercises to build your ability as a channel, you will discover how to work with your intuition and embrace the power of intent.

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Reiki for Aggressive Dogs – by Sarah Berrisford

reiki for angry aggressive dogs

Bringing peace to the household

One of the great things about Reiki is that it works just as well from across a room as it does being hands on. This means that if you find yourself in a situation whereby an animal is showing aggressive tendencies, there is no need to put yourself in harm’s way.

Aggression in dogs can happen for many reasons and can be directed towards many things. Today I’ll be talking about one of the most common issues I have encountered – when dogs are at war in the household!

Of course, we can simply send Reiki to the situation and circumstances. This is a very good starting point.

We can also look deeper into the issue and help the owner understand what is happening with their dogs’ energies, which is in turn affecting their behaviour.

Becoming aware of the dog’s energies

When an owner becomes aware of how the dogs’ energies change before the aggression is shown. They can often stop the undesired behaviour before it escalates into a full blown dog fight.

When one dog is attacking another in the household, it is important to take into account the energy of both dogs. You will often find that the dog who is being attacked isn’t acting in the correct ‘doggy manner’ – he isn’t portraying the energy that he should be. Perhaps his energy becomes nervous or over excited. This in turn can cause the other dog to ‘tell him off’. It is common for the issue to start with the dog who is being attacked. I’m not saying that this is his fault; in fact it’s not a case of blame at all. It is a case of one dog being highly sensitive, probably due to inherited factors.

From a dog training point of view it is important to only reward desired behaviour. I often see a dog ‘misbehaving’, said dog is then told ‘no’, he may then sit and the owner says good boy. This is rewarding the undesired behaviour.

When a dog has exhibited any signs of unwanted behaviour we must be careful to not give him a reward. For example, if I walked into my house and one of the dogs growled at another, I would send the growling dog out of the room and then ignore him until it is all forgotten about. When taking this approach it is also important to reward the good behaviour. So when I walk into my house and the aggressive dog doesn’t growl at the other I tell him he’s a good boy, stroke him etc.

How to feel your pet’s energies

In order to help the owner feel the energy of their dogs, we can point out obvious physical signs, but we can also talk them through the following exercise where they firstly become aware of their own energy and after some practice they can more easily and readily perceive their pets’ energies.

  • Sit or stand comfortably
  • Close your eyes
  • Take a few deep breaths, each exhale brings your body to a calmer, more relaxed state
  • Continue breathing and relaxing for a few minutes
  • Become aware of the energy around your head – does it feel light/thick/heavy? Does it feel calm or erratic? Is there a colour that comes to mind?
  • Continue focusing one at a time on each part of your body – shoulders – arms – elbows – hands – torso – pelvis and lower back – thighs – knees – lower legs – feet.
  • Once aware of the energy around your own body you can think of calming it and bringing it to a nice feeling.
  • After a few times of trying out this exercise on yourself, you may be ready to try it out on your pets

It is important to do this exercise regularly. In return you will begin to pick up the energies of your dogs without having to try. You’ll simply feel it, rather than having to go through the exercise.

Once you are able to feel the energy of your dogs, you’ll be more susceptible to the energy changes that they have before an issue occurs. This meaning that whilst the dogs are still relatively calm , you can either send one of them out or ask them to sit and send them Reiki to calm the situation.

 

Interested in learning more about Animal Reiki?

equine reiki for horses courseSarah Berrisford specialises in writing about and teaching Equine and Animal Reiki. If you’re interested in learning more about how to treat dogs and other animals, then follow these links:

Animal Reiki book or Animal Reiki eBook

Animal Reiki practitioner live training course

Animal Reiki home study course

 

 

Photo credit: bkang83

Energopsychograms for the Reiki kotodama

energopsychogram focus kotodama

So this is my fourth post on the subject of  energopsychograms, which started with What are energopsychograms.

I have talked about these special images and how they can be meditated upon to elicit a particular energy, just like meditating on a symbol or a sound can frame the energy in a particular way, or produce a particular Reiki frequency that you can experience in a distinctive way.

I have shared the images that represent the energies of CKR and SHK, and the state elicited when you use HSZSN.

In this post I wanted to share images that represent the sounds of the Reiki kotodama, Shinto mantras that pre-date the use of symbols within Reiki and which elicit earth ki, heavenly ki and a state of oneness. The names of the kotodama are: focus, harmony and connection.

Above, you can see an energopsychogram that represents the energy of the focus kotodama, which elicits the energy of earth ki,

To meditate on the energopsychogram, just sit calmly with the image in front of you. Stare at the image. let it wash over you, defocus your eyes.

Notice the quality of the energy that is being elicited within you. What is the nature of the energy? Where do you feel it? How does it feel. Bathe in the energy of the image.

Harmony energopsychogram

Here is the energopsychogram for the harmony kotodama, which elicits the energy of heavenly ki.

energopsychogram harmony kotodama

Connection energopsychogram

And here is the energypsychogram that represents the state of oneness that is elicited by using the ‘connection’ kotodama.

energopsychogram connection kotodama

Over to you

Time to experiment, then!

Meditate on the energies of the three energopsychograms and conpare what you experience with the energies/state that you experience when using the corresponding Reiki kotodama.

If you don’t know the kotodama then compare the energies of these energopsychograms with the energies elicited when you meditate on the symbols: CKR, SHK and HSZSN.

What do you notice?

How does what you experience differ from the kotodama or the symbols, if at all?

Post your experiences below so we can all see how things went.

 

 

Author:

 

Energopsychogram for Heavenly ki

energopsychogram shk seiheki sei he ki

In my earlier post, What are energopsychograms, I talked about these special images and how they can be meditated upon to elicit a particular energy, just like meditating on a symbol or a sound can frame the energy in a particular way, or produce a particular Reiki frequency that you can experience in a distinctive way.

Energopsychogram meditations

To meditate on an energopsychogram, just sit calmly with the image in front of you. Stare at the image. let it wash over you, defocus your eyes.

Notice the quality of the energy that is being elicited within you. What is the nature of the energy? Where do you feel it? How does it feel. Bathe in the energy fo the image.

SHK energopsychogram

The image that you can find at the head of this page represents the energy of SHK, which is the energy of heavenly ki.

Why not compare its energy to that of SHK, the symbol. Click to find out how to : Meditate on the energy of a Reiki symbol.

Over to you

What do you notice when you meditate on the energy of the SHK energopsychogram?

How does it differ from the energy of he corresponding symbol, or of the harmony kotodama, if at all?

Post your experiences below so we can all see how the energy manifested itself.

 

 

Author:

What are Energopsychograms?

energopsychogram ckr cho ku rei chokurei

About 13 years ago I was working with a lovely man in Moldova, Benedict Caraush. I was teaching him the Original Japanese Reiki methods and taking him through a distance Reiki Master Teacher course, and he was practising Reiju empowerments on his group of Reiki Master Teacher students.

One of his students had a special ability, a way of representing in graphic form the essence of an energy or an initiation.

This is what Benedict said at that time:

One of this people have the ability to channeling the information on the paper like a drawing – energopsychograma. Some time ago she made for me the energopsychograms for how works Reiki on 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees when people are attuned Western style (Takata). Next week I hope that she will be able to do the same work for the Reiju for 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees in order to compare. If you are interested to see it, just let me know and I can scan it when will have it ready and send to you.

Benedict kindly shared with me a whole series of images detailing different energies and in series of blogs I am going to share them with you.

What to do with energopsychograms

You will know by now that I believe that once you are ‘connected’ to Reiki then you can focus the energy in a whole number of different ways. You can use the Reiki symbols, like CKR and SHK, you can use channelled symbols or symbols from other traditions or sources (whether or not you have been ‘attuned’ to them) and you can use sounds, chanted either out loud or in your head.

All these things will frame the energy in a particular way, producing a particular ‘frequency’.

Energopsychograms will do this too, if you meditate on them.

Like carrying out a symbol meditation, meditating on an energopsychogram will elicit a particular energy within you, and doing so is a form of self-healing.

On our Second Degree courses we teach students to meditate, separately, on the energies of CKR and SHK because these symbols represent the energies of earth ki and heavenly ki in Usui’s original system, two fundamental energies, and in doing so you carry out a powerful self-treatment.

Energopsychogram meditations

To meditate on an energopsychogram, just sit calmly with the image in front of you. Stare at the image. let it wash over you, defocus your eyes.

Notice the quality of the energy that is being elicited within you. What is the nature of the energy? Where do you feel it? How does it feel. Bathe in the energy fo the image.

CKR energopsychogram

The image that you can find at the head of this page represents the energy of CKR, which is the energy of earth ki.

Why not compare its energy to that of CKR, the symbol. Click to find out how to : Meditate on the energy of a Reiki symbol.

Over to you

What do you notice when you meditate on the energy of the CKR energopsychogram?

How does it differ from the energy of he corresponding symbol, or of the focus kotodama, if at all?

Post your experiences below so we can all see how the energy manifested itself.

 

 

Author:

Reiki for Stress

reiki for stress relief

Can Reiki help with Stress?

In my last article I was talking about how Reiki can help with Anxiety and while stress and anxiety are often lumped together as if they were the same things, there is quite a difference between these two experiences in terms of what’s going on.

Where anxiety is a fear of an imagined future, where you feel frightened about things that are yet to happen and may not actually happen, with stress you are reflecting on how you believe you’re going to be able to cope with different tasks or events. Stress is all about “I can’t do this”, “I’m not going to be able to do this”.

So stress is all about how competent you believe you are and becoming frightened about letting yourself down, or letting other people down. Stress is about losing face, not succeeding in a particular task or goal, it’s about fear of showing that you’re not good enough.

Using Reiki for Stress relief

So can Reiki help with stress and, if so, how does that happen?

Well, I think it comes down to the three powerful aspects of the Reiki that we introduce to students on our First Degree courses: mindfulness, the Reiki precepts and regular energy work.

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about mindfulness because I have written about it before on this blog, but when you are mindful you are fully engaged in and engrossed with the task at hand, whether that doing the washing up or going for a walk. You become fully aware of the experience of you doing the task, living fully in the present moment, with no thoughts of the future or the past. You might notice the flow of energy through your nostrils, the feeling in the soles of your feet as you walk, the sounds of birdsong, the myriad of colours that are before you, the sensation of soap suds on your fingertips, the swishing of the water. You notice your thoughts pass by like clouds.

In doing so you start to come into contact with a still, calm centre that we all have within us if we give ourselves a chance to experience it, that place from which we can observe, non-judgmentally.

It is in this still place where we can let go of those feelings of stress, setting us free, and the more we practise mindfulness, the more often and more easily can we ease into that helpful state.

If you’d like to investigate mindfulness and meditation further, I can recommend this site: Headspace.

You can also take a look at this article: Mindfulness: An Everyday Guide.

The Reiki precepts and stress

The Reiki precepts (or the Reiki principles, or ‘Gokai’) are a simple set of ‘rules to live by’ that were established and taught by Reiki’s founder, Mikao Usui. There were said to distil the essence of Tendai Buddhist teachings into a simple set of guiding principles that anyone can follow.

The Reiki precepts emphasise humility and compassion: compassion for ourselves as much as compassion for others.

So how can we be compassionate towards ourselves and how can that help with stress? Well, we can forgive ourselves, we can give ourselves a break and forgive ourselves for not being perfect. If we expect ourselves to be perfect then no matter how hard we work, no matter how much we achieve, no matter what we do or try to do, we will never be happy.

So we can give ourselves some self-love and understanding, we can nurture ourselves, and the best place from which to do this is from that still, calm centre that we gain a glimpse of when we are mindful.

Reiki energy and Stress

Tying these strands together – the mindfulness and the compassion and self-forgiveness – is the use of Reiki energy on ourselves.

By having a good, regular routine of working on ourselves using Reiki – by carrying out daily energy exercises and some form of self-treatment – we nudge our energy system more into a state of balance, bathing us in calm, helping us to fully experience that content, still core, and putting us in the best possible position to really benefit from this wonderful system.

Oh, and I just wanted to mention that although in this blog I am talking about learning Reiki as a way of managing your stress, receiving Reiki treatments on a regular basis is also a wonderful way of experiencing the powerful balancing effect of this simple hands-on therapy.

Time to learn Reiki?

learn reiki south london
Learn Reiki with Reiki Evolution

If you haven’t learned Reiki yet, and you are interested in experiencing the benefits of Reiki for yourself, why not enrol on one of “Reiki for beginners” courses (Reiki First Degree).

You’ll discover how mindfulness, the Reiki precepts and a regular routine of self-treatments with Reiki can make a tremendous difference to you.

You can attend a live Reiki course with one of my team of trusted teachers at locations all over England and Scotland, or you can enrol on my Reiki First Degree home study course.

Reiki for Anxiety

 

reiki for anxiety, stress, treatment

Does Reiki work for Anxiety?

I think a lot of people come to Reiki wondering if it can help ease their anxiety, and I think that there is a general sense that Reiki can help you to become more calm and chilled. So is Reiki good for anxiety? Will it help you to let go of those worries?

Well in my experience, yes, Reiki does really work to help reduce anxiety and there are three ways that it does this, I think.

  1. Through mindfulness
  2. Through the use of the Reiki precepts
  3. Through meditating on and using the Reiki energy

What is Anxiety?

When we worry, we are thinking about the future and what might happen to us or the people we care about. We imagine a frightening or unhappy future and that makes us scared.

And since we have fairly prehistoric brains and responses, we respond to this future threat like it was some sort of sabre-toothed tiger in front of us: we go into ‘flight, fright or freeze’ mode, with elevated heart rate, high blood pressure and the like. Long term, this is not good for our bodies since our immune system is dampened down and blood is rerouted away from our digestive systems, so we end up run down, prone to infection and with digestive disturbances.

All because we are responding to an imaginary future.

How can Reiki help Anxiety?

There are two important aspects of Reiki training that work together to ease anxiety: mindfulness and the Reiki precepts. I’m not going to go into detail about these in this blog, since I have spoken about them elsewhere, but these two aspects of Reiki training very much work with each other to reduce anxiety.

The Reiki precepts start with the phrase “just for today” and that emphasises the idea of mindfulness, where you are fully immersed in the moment, fully engaged with what you are doing. “Just for today” exhorts us, just for this moment, to be content, to be compassionate and forgiving of ourselves, to be aware of the many blessings that we have in our lives.

If you are mindful then there are no thoughts about the past or the future: you are embracing the present moment, and when you do this it’s not easy to worry (because you can only do this when you send yourself off into an imagined negative future).

Although mindfulness isn’t emphasised or even mentioned on a lot of Reiki courses, it is an important part of the original system that  Mikao Usui taught and is something that we explain and encourage as soon as you start your Reiki training with us.

Reiki energy and Anxiety

But beyond the practice of mindfulness, and the benefits that come when introducing the Reiki principles into your daily life, there is something else going on too. because when you are ‘connected’ to Reiki, when you are aware of and working with the energy through daily energy exercises and meditations, changes take place within you that very much echo the benefits of mindfulness and precepts-work.

Reiki, in itself – Reiki, the energy – helps people to feel more calm, content and serene, better able to cope with difficult situations and people. Working with Reiki helps you to come back into contact with that core part of you that is balanced and centred, a still foundation that can weather the storms that life often throws at us.

Do you already have Reiki?

If so, and if you feel that there is still a bit more work to be done in terms of leaving worry behind, there are a couple of techniques I created that I think will be of great help to you. You can read about them in other blog posts. Here are the links you need:

These exercises allow you to use the Reiki energy as a ‘carrier’ to disperse or dissipate any accumulated worry, and also help you to set a new course, so you respond differently in the future. These exercises are deceptively powerful and should be carried out for several weeks to gain the full benefit from them.

Time to learn Reiki?

learn reiki south london
Learn Reiki with Reiki Evolution

If you haven’t learned Reiki yet, and you are interested in experiencing the benefits of Reiki for yourself, why not enrol on one of “Reiki for beginners” courses (Reiki First Degree).

You’ll discover how mindfulness, the Reiki precepts and a regular routine of self-treatments with Reiki can make a tremendous difference to you.

You can attend a live Reiki course with one of my team of trusted teachers at locations all over England and Scotland, or you can enrol on my Reiki First Degree home study course.

 

Develop your Reiki Intuition (Part III)

reiji ho reiki intuition method

So, in previous posts I have walked you through some simple energy exercises that you can carry out every day to clear and cleanse and balance your energy system. I have also described some exercises that you can carry out on your own, and with a volunteer, to start merging with the energy, and merging with the recipient, opening you up to your intuition.

Here are the links that you need if you’d like to recap:

In this post I am going to describe a Japanese approach to working intuitively, called “Reiji ho”, which means something like “indication of the spirit technique”.

It’s a way of allowing the energy to guide your hands so they drift – rather like being pulled by invisible magnets – to the right place to treat for each person you work on.

How to practise Reiji ho

You will need a willing volunteer for these exercises. Do this exercise for about 10-15 minutes or so for each person you practise on. It doesn’t take very long.

Practise on as many people as you can.

The recipient sits in a straight-backed chair and you stand behind them or to one side of them.

Make yourself comfortable and bring your hands into the prayer position. Close your eyes. Take a few long deep breaths.

Imagine energy flooding down to you from above, into your crown, and the energy flows down the centre of your body to your Dantien. Feel/imagine the energy building in your Dantien.

A continuous flood of energy keeps pouring through your crown into your Dantien, where it builds.

As the energy floods through you, feel yourself disappearing into the energy and merging with it, imagine yourself becoming one with the energy. Just be there with the energy, allowing it to flow. No expectations. Just merge with the energy for a minute or so.

Now, in your mind, focus your attention on the recipient. Feel yourself merging with them, becoming one with them. Merge with them for a little while.

Please let me be guided…

Say silently to yourself “please let me be guided”… “please let my hands be guided” … “ show me where to treat”.

Move your hands so that they are hovering near the recipient’s head in a neutral, comfortable position. Your hands and arms are loose, there is no resistance; your hands will drift smoothly and easily.

Imagine the energy is flooding through you: into your crown, through your arms and out of your hands. Feel yourself disappearing into the energy, merging with the energy, becoming one with the energy… and allow your hands to drift.

There is no resistance; your hands will drift and glide smoothly and easily.

Allow your hands to drift

As you do this you may notice a gentle or subtle pull on your hands.

Allow them to drift until they come to rest. You may now have a feeling that your hands are in the ‘right’ place, and you may feel a lot of energy flowing through your hands. Allow the energy to flow for a minute.

Now bring your hands back to your ‘start’ position (whatever position that was) and repeat the process. You are practising allowing your hands to drift with the energy; you are not practising treating someone at the moment.

Keep on moving your hands back into the start position, and allow them to drift to where they want to go.

Some things to notice

  • Sometimes both hands will drift and come to a stop, and on other occasions only one hand will move.
  • Sometimes a hand will drift further away from the body, or move closer to the body. In the latter case do look to see where your hand is going!
  • Sometimes a hand will not come to rest, but will keep moving in an interesting ‘energy dance’. Just go with the flow and accept what happens as the right thing for the recipient on that occasion.

In practice, wherever your hands come to rest, you would rest your hands on the person to treat, obviously depending on the part of the body your hands are hovering over: some areas should be treated with the hands hovering above the body, not resting on the surface, for the sake of propriety.

Over to you

Practise the Reiji ho method with as many people as you can get your hands on, and see what you notice.

What happens? Where do your hands drift?

Remember that the key to success with this intuitive technique is to give up and stop trying: you can’t force this.

Post a message below to let me know how you got on.

Did you like this blog?

If so, you are going to love this book…

 

Your Reiki Workout

“In this comprehensive, informative and fun book, Taggart provides a multitude of detailed, practical exercises and guidance on strengthening sensitivity and intuition. Additionally, and seldom found in other publications, Taggart explores more advanced techniques on how to work with Reiki, and intent, on a deeper level for the benefit of both you and clients. I highly recommend this book to those who have undergone Reiki training and wish to obtain practical answers to deeper questions that may not have been covered in their tuition courses, and to explore their experiences of Reiki at a higher level.”

A Gordon

Your Reiki Workout

Exercises and Meditations to Explore the Wonder of Reiki

This book started its life as a collection of ‘self-help guides’ that focused on: getting started with Reiki, becoming more sensitive to the energy, developing your intuitive side and exploring the use of intent.

What I have done is to take these guides and re-write and expand upon them, so that you have here a practical workbook that you can use over time to explore the potentials that Reiki has to offer.

I have also included all the work that I have done in developing “Reiki synthesis”: a way of using questions, language forms and a breathing technique to create bespoke symbols for yourself and others, and to deal with unhelpful emotions or beliefs. Reiki synthesis focuses specific energies on freeing you from what is holding you back in your life, releases negative emotions and beliefs and creates specific energies to move you forward in the most powerful and positive way.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring and experimenting with the energy and who wants to learn a unique and powerful system for self-transformation.

This professionally-printed Reiki book has 210 A5 pages, a glossy soft cover and we will send it to anywhere in the world!

Read the contents list before you order, if you like, by clicking on this link: Table of contents

Book: 210 pages.

Price: £15.99 + p&p




Or Download a PDF version now for only £12.49

 

 

 

Author:

Develop your Reiki Intuition (Part II)

reiki intuition compassion exercise

In my last post – Develop your Reiki intuition (Part I) – I described some simple exercises that you could carry out to build your Reiki and start to get yourself in the best state of mind for working intuitively and developing your intuitive side.

Now we’re going to start practising intuitive working with someone else, not just on your own, so you’ll need to find some willing volunteers to practise on.

Do this exercise for about five minutes or so for each person you practise on. It doesn’t take very long.

Practise on as many people as you can.

Practise compassionate intuition

The recipient sits in a chair or lies on a treatment couch. It doesn’t matter which.

Sit near the recipient.

Make yourself comfortable and rest your hands in your lap. Close your eyes.

Take a few long deep breaths.

Imagine energy flooding down to you from above, into your crown, and the energy flows down the centre of your body to your Dantien. Feel/imagine the energy building in your Dantien.

A continuous flood of energy keeps pouring through your crown into your Dantien, where it builds.

As the energy floods through you, feel yourself disappearing into the energy and merging with it, imagine yourself becoming one with the energy. Just be there with the energy, allowing it to flow.

No expectations.

Just merge with the energy for a minute or so.

Now, in your mind, focus your attention on the recipient. Feel yourself merging with them, becoming one with them.

Merge with them for a while.

Take your time with this. There’s no rush.

Open your eyes and look at the person with a feeling of gentle compassion, no expectations.

  • Do you feel drawn to a particular area or areas of their body?
  • Is your attention being pulled towards an area?
  • Allow your eyes to drift across their body; do your eyes want to dwell on a particular area?
  • Do you feel a physical pull towards a particular area?

Over to you

So, practise this exercise on a variety of people if you can.

See how it becomes more comfortable just letting go and merging with the energy and the recipient.

Post a message below to let me know what happened and what you noticed, or how you felt.

Did you like this blog?

If so, you are going to love this book…

 

Your Reiki Workout

“In this comprehensive, informative and fun book, Taggart provides a multitude of detailed, practical exercises and guidance on strengthening sensitivity and intuition. Additionally, and seldom found in other publications, Taggart explores more advanced techniques on how to work with Reiki, and intent, on a deeper level for the benefit of both you and clients. I highly recommend this book to those who have undergone Reiki training and wish to obtain practical answers to deeper questions that may not have been covered in their tuition courses, and to explore their experiences of Reiki at a higher level.”

A Gordon

Your Reiki Workout

Exercises and Meditations to Explore the Wonder of Reiki

This book started its life as a collection of ‘self-help guides’ that focused on: getting started with Reiki, becoming more sensitive to the energy, developing your intuitive side and exploring the use of intent.

What I have done is to take these guides and re-write and expand upon them, so that you have here a practical workbook that you can use over time to explore the potentials that Reiki has to offer.

I have also included all the work that I have done in developing “Reiki synthesis”: a way of using questions, language forms and a breathing technique to create bespoke symbols for yourself and others, and to deal with unhelpful emotions or beliefs. Reiki synthesis focuses specific energies on freeing you from what is holding you back in your life, releases negative emotions and beliefs and creates specific energies to move you forward in the most powerful and positive way.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring and experimenting with the energy and who wants to learn a unique and powerful system for self-transformation.

This professionally-printed Reiki book has 210 A5 pages, a glossy soft cover and we will send it to anywhere in the world!

Read the contents list before you order, if you like, by clicking on this link: Table of contents

Book: 210 pages.

Price: £15.99 + p&p




Or Download a PDF version now for only £12.49

 

 

 

Author:
Photo credit: U.S. Army

 

Develop your Reiki Intuition (Part I)

reiki intuition exercise state

Start by getting the energy flowing

The Reiki attunements give everyone a baseline ability, so you all start off on the same footing.

However, how effective or how ‘clear’ a channel you are depends on what you do with the energy. It is important to get regular practice, and a good way of getting into a beneficial routine is to spend some time each day carrying out some energy exercises used in Japanese Reiki.

Mikao Usui taught a couple simple Reiki energy exercises to his students when they first started their training with him. The exercises cleanse and purify, start to balance your energy system, and develop the strength of your Reiki channel. They will help to develop your sensitivity to the energy too.

I wrote about these energy exercises a few weeks ago, so click this link to practise Simple Reiki energy exercises.

Practising these energy exercises daily will put you in a very good position, energetically-speaking, to practise intuitive working.

Cultivate the right state of mind for Reiki intuition

Here is a solo exercise for you. You can do this by yourself anytime.

Do this exercise for ten minutes each day.

Make yourself comfortable and rest your hands in your lap. Close your eyes. Take a few long deep breaths.

Imagine energy flooding down to you from above, into your crown, and the energy flows down the centre of your body to your Dantien. Feel/imagine the energy building in your Dantien.

A continuous flood of energy keeps pouring through your crown into your Dantien, where it builds.

As the energy floods through you, feel yourself disappearing into the energy and merging with it, imagine yourself becoming one with the energy.

Just be there with the energy, allowing it to flow. No expectations. Just merge with the energy. This is the state that you will be cultivating as you progress through this course.

Over to you

Practise this simple exercise for a week or so.

How does it make you feel? What do you notice?

Post a message below to let me know.

Did you like this blog?

If so, you are going to love this book…

 

Your Reiki Workout

“In this comprehensive, informative and fun book, Taggart provides a multitude of detailed, practical exercises and guidance on strengthening sensitivity and intuition. Additionally, and seldom found in other publications, Taggart explores more advanced techniques on how to work with Reiki, and intent, on a deeper level for the benefit of both you and clients. I highly recommend this book to those who have undergone Reiki training and wish to obtain practical answers to deeper questions that may not have been covered in their tuition courses, and to explore their experiences of Reiki at a higher level.”

A Gordon

Your Reiki Workout

Exercises and Meditations to Explore the Wonder of Reiki

This book started its life as a collection of ‘self-help guides’ that focused on: getting started with Reiki, becoming more sensitive to the energy, developing your intuitive side and exploring the use of intent.

What I have done is to take these guides and re-write and expand upon them, so that you have here a practical workbook that you can use over time to explore the potentials that Reiki has to offer.

I have also included all the work that I have done in developing “Reiki synthesis”: a way of using questions, language forms and a breathing technique to create bespoke symbols for yourself and others, and to deal with unhelpful emotions or beliefs. Reiki synthesis focuses specific energies on freeing you from what is holding you back in your life, releases negative emotions and beliefs and creates specific energies to move you forward in the most powerful and positive way.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring and experimenting with the energy and who wants to learn a unique and powerful system for self-transformation.

This professionally-printed Reiki book has 210 A5 pages, a glossy soft cover and we will send it to anywhere in the world!

Read the contents list before you order, if you like, by clicking on this link: Table of contents

Book: 210 pages.

Price: £15.99 + p&p




Or Download a PDF version now for only £12.49

 

 

 

Author:
Photo credit: Ashley Van Haeften

 

Simple Reiki energy exercises get the energy flowing

reiki energy exercises kenyoku joshin kokkyu ho

In this post I’d like to share a couple of simple Reiki energy exercises that you can use to clear and cleanse, and balance your energy system. These exercises come from Original Japanese Reiki, were taught by Mikao Usui, and can be used every day.

They would be a lovely way to start your day, in fact.

The exercises are referred to as kenyoku, which means “dry bathing” and joshin kokkyu ho, which means something like “soul cleansing breathing method”. You carry out the exercises in order, starting with a quick kenyoku and then moving on to a blissful experience when carrying out joshin kokkyu ho for several minutes.

Here’s what to do:

Relax

Sit in a comfortable chair. Relax and close your eyes, and place your hands palms down on your lap.

Focus your attention on your Dantien point: an energy centre two fingerbreadths (3-5 cm) below your tummy button and 1/3 of the way into your body.

Say to yourself “I’m starting my energy exercises now”.

Kenyoku

Kenyoku can be seen as a way of getting rid of negative energy.

Brush across your torso

Place the fingertips of your right hand near the top of the left shoulder, where the collarbone meets the bulge of the shoulder. The hand is lying flat on your chest. Draw your flat hand down and across the chest in a straight line, over the base of the sternum (where your breastbone stops and your abdomen starts, in the midline) and down to the right hip.

Exhale as you do this.

Do the same on the right side, using your left hand. Draw your left hand from the right shoulder, in a straight line across the sternum, to the left hip, and again exhale as you make the downward movement.

Do the same on the left side again (like you did at the start), so you will have carried out movements with your right hand, left hand, and right hand again.

Brush down your arms

Now put your right fingertips on the outer edge of the left shoulder, at the top of your slightly outstretched left arm, with your fingertips pointing sideways away from your body.

Move your right hand, flattened, along the outside of your arm, all the way to the fingertips and beyond, all the while keeping the left arm straight. Exhale as you do this.

Repeat this process on the right side, with the left hand placed on the right shoulder, and move it down the right arm to the fingertips and beyond. Exhale as you do this.

Repeat the process on the left side again, so you will have carried out movements with your right hand, left hand, and right hand again, like before.

Watch this video demonstration

This is a lot easier to watch than describe, so take a look at this YouTube demonstration that I found:

Once you have carried out kenyoku, move straight on to joshin kokkyu ho.

Joshin kokkyu ho

Joshin kokkyu ho means ‘Technique for Purification of the Spirit’ or ‘Soul Cleansing Breathing Method’. It is a meditation that focuses on the Dantien point.

Put your hands on your lap with your palms facing upwards and breathe naturally through your nose. Do not overbreathe: breathe naturally and gently.

Focus on your Dantien point and relax.

When you breathe in, visualise energy or light flooding into your crown chakra and passing into your Dantien and, as you pause before exhaling, feel that energy expand throughout your body, melting all your tensions.

When you breathe out, imagine that the energy floods out of your body in all directions as far as infinity.

Get into a nice gentle even rhythm of drawing the energy down, spreading it through your body, and flooding it out to the universe.

Do this for 10-15 minutes. You may feel energy/tingling in your hands and even in your feet, as the meditation progresses, but don’t worry if you don’t, because everyone is different.

Over to you

Carry out this sequence every day for a couple of weeks and notice what difference it makes to you in terms of:

  • The strength of the energy
  • Your sensitivity to the energy
  • Your general contentment or demeanour

Post a message below to let me know how you got on and what you experienced.

Have fun!

Find out more about daily energy exercises

reiki books first degree manualIf you’d like some guidance about what you can do to build your Reiki, and balance your energy system, I have a whole load of advice and suggestions for you in the Reiki Evolution First Degree course manual, where you can learn a series of enegry exercises called “Hatsurei ho” and discover a Self-treatment meditation that Mikao Usui taught.

These manuals isn’t just available to Reiki Evolution students: anyone can work with our Reiki manuals.

You can order a professionally-printed copy, or you can download your manual right now.

Here are the links that you need:

Reiki First Degree manual

Reiki First Degree eBook

 

 

 


Author:

Let’s Explore some non Reiki symbols

reiki symbol meditation experiment

Where we are now

In my article Some heresy about Reiki symbols I explained that you do not need to be ‘attuned’ to a symbol for that symbol to work for you when you’re channelling the energy, and that any symbol – wherever it came from – will frame and focus the Reiki energy in a distinctive way.

I set you the exercise of meditating on a simple circle, putting the symbol up in the air above you and drawing Reiki down from that symbol, to flood over you and through you.

You were meditating on and experiencing “O” flavour Reiki, or circle-flavour Reiki.

Let’s explore some more simple symbols

This week I would like you to experiment with two more symbols, a triangle and a square. Meditate on each one for 5 minutes or so.

This is what to do: rest your hands in your lap with palms up, close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths to release any tension. Then imagine a perfect triangle – an equilateral – black & white, up in the air above you. Imagine that energy or light is flooding to you from the symbol above you, cascading over you, flowing through you, and bathe in that energy; feel yourself merging with it.

Alternatively, meditate in time with your breath so that on the inbreath you draw energy down from that circle into your tanden, allow the energy to flow and spread through your body, and on the outbreath just flood that energy out of you.

And notice how that energy feels:

  • Where do you feel it most?
  • What quality does it have?
  • What impression do you have of its nature?
  • What does it do to/for you?
  • What is its essence?

Now repeat the exercise using the square.

Go back to the “O” and remind yourself how that felt.

Over to you

Carry out the meditation a few times and post a message below to let me know what the energy of the triangle and square felt like.

What did they do for you?

How did the energy of the triangle and the square differ from the energies of “O” and how were they different from CKR and SHK when you meditate on them?

You’re quite sensitive to the energy, aren’t you?

Did you like this blog?

If so, you are going to love this book…

 

Your Reiki Workout

“In this comprehensive, informative and fun book, Taggart provides a multitude of detailed, practical exercises and guidance on strengthening sensitivity and intuition. Additionally, and seldom found in other publications, Taggart explores more advanced techniques on how to work with Reiki, and intent, on a deeper level for the benefit of both you and clients. I highly recommend this book to those who have undergone Reiki training and wish to obtain practical answers to deeper questions that may not have been covered in their tuition courses, and to explore their experiences of Reiki at a higher level.”

A Gordon

Your Reiki Workout

Exercises and Meditations to Explore the Wonder of Reiki

This book started its life as a collection of ‘self-help guides’ that focused on: getting started with Reiki, becoming more sensitive to the energy, developing your intuitive side and exploring the use of intent.

What I have done is to take these guides and re-write and expand upon them, so that you have here a practical workbook that you can use over time to explore the potentials that Reiki has to offer.

I have also included all the work that I have done in developing “Reiki synthesis”: a way of using questions, language forms and a breathing technique to create bespoke symbols for yourself and others, and to deal with unhelpful emotions or beliefs. Reiki synthesis focuses specific energies on freeing you from what is holding you back in your life, releases negative emotions and beliefs and creates specific energies to move you forward in the most powerful and positive way.

This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in exploring and experimenting with the energy and who wants to learn a unique and powerful system for self-transformation.

This professionally-printed Reiki book has 210 A5 pages, a glossy soft cover and we will send it to anywhere in the world!

Read the contents list before you order, if you like, by clicking on this link: Table of contents

Book: 210 pages.

Price: £15.99 + p&p




Or Download a PDF version now for only £12.49

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Author:
Picture Credit: Institute for the study of the ancient world