Category Archives: mindfulness

Reiki for Stress

meditation, mindfulness, precepts, self healing

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

meditation, mindfulness, reiki courses, reiki energy

 

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 IV)

intuition, mindfulness, reiki sensations, reiki treatments

reiji ho reiki intuitive technique learn

So, in previous posts I have talked about simple energy exercises that you can carry out every day to clear and cleanse and balance your energy system. I have run through exercises that you can carry out on your own and with a volunteer to start merging with the energy, to help to open you up to your intuition.

We then moved on to practise a Japanese intuitive technique called “Reiji ho” where you allowed your hands to drift with the energy to the right places to treat, different for each person that you work on, based on their individual energy needs.

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

In this post I am going to talk about using Reiji ho with a recipient who is resting on a treatment table in frotn of you, and how you can use Reiji ho in practice when you treat people, when you carry out full treatments.

How to start your Reiji ho

Do this exercise for about 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 lies on a treatment couch and you stand beside 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.

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

kent reiki courses dartford
Student practices allowing energy to guide her hands

Hover your hands in neutral

Move your hands so that they are hovering over the recipient’s torso 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.

Now move to another part of the body, so you are standing next to the hips, or the knees, and repeat the exercise, each time seeing where your hands want to drift, allowing them to come to rest if they want to, and repeating the process to see if they drift to the same area each time.

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.

When your hands come to rest you usually find that there is a lot of energy coming through. This makes sense because you have just put your hands in just the right combination of positions for that person on that occasion.

After a while you will notice that the flow of energy subsides, and you know that it is ok to move on to the next combination of hand positions. If you move your hands away too soon you will simply be guided back to those positions to treat some more!

In practice you will find that you end up with fewer hand positions than you used when following your ‘standard’ hand positions.

In practice I always treat someone’s shoulders for about 10 minutes when I start a treatment.

Then I move on to use Reiji ho on the head. Usually I end up with ‘non-symmetrical’ hand positions. Then after say 25 minutes I move on to the torso and let the energy guide me there, and I stay in each hand position until I feel that it is right to move on.

Over to you

Practise the method I have described on as many people as you can. What you are doing is practising and getting used to ‘giving up and not trying’, just merging with the energy and letting it happen.

That’s the key to success with Reiji ho.

Post a message below to let me know what you did, what happened, and how you felt about working in this way.

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 III)

intuition, meditation, mindfulness, reiki treatments

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)

intuition, meditation, mindfulness, simplicity

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)

intuition, meditation, mindfulness, simplicity

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

 

The Right Time

animal reiki, commitment, intention, intuition, mindfulness

A question often asked of me is: When is the right time? This relates to lots of aspects – When is the right time to start practising Reiki as a profession? When is the right time to meditate? When is the right time to start competing my horse? When is the right time to move on to the next chapter or level?

Unfortunately this is a question for the person asking, not the teacher. It is a question that you can ask as many times as you would like to – and usually the answer doesn’t appear in Big Red Ink infront of you – never say never though!

Inside of us everyone knows the right time, however, we put things off, we make excuses, we’ll promise to make time to sort things out or put more effort in, and then the time will be right for us to make a change or better ourselves.

We all need to remember that: we can’t make time, we can only choose to use the time we have wisely.

So my answer is this: if you are thinking of doing something new, making a change for the better and you’re asking or thinking, when is the right time?…

Then it is time to Go For It! The simple fact that you are thinking about it, shows that your subconscious is hinting at you!

The aspect of making a change may seem scary, but hey, fear is an illusion – fear is the monster that lives in the cupboard and becomes scarier and scarier, until one day, you open the cupboard door and realise there’s nothing there!

The right time is now!

____________________________________________

Sarah Berrisford Reiki Master Teacher, author or the popular books ‘The Handbook of Equine Reiki’ & ‘The Complete Guide to Animal Reiki’. Sarah is based on the Lincolnshire/ Cambridgeshire border, where she teaches Reiki, Equine Reiki Courses and Distant Learning Equine Reiki Courses.

www.epona-equine-reiki.co.uk

 

Mindfulness and compassion

attunements, meditation, mindfulness, precepts, reiju empowerments, reiki treatments, , , , , , , ,

In this article I want to talk about Mindfulness and Compassion, which I believe are two essential components of Reiki practice. Whether we are treating others, working on ourselves, empowering others or living our lives with Reiki, we should grow to embody those two states, the essence of the Reiki precepts.

Mindfulness

According to Usui Sensei’s surviving students, Mikao Usui introduced his students to the practice of mindfulness at First Degree level, and emphasised this more at Second Degree level. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary (9th Edition), to be mindful is to take heed or care, to be conscious. Mindfulness or being mindful is being aware of your present moment. You are not judging, reflecting or thinking. You are simply observing the moment in which you find yourself, fully aware. Moments are like a breath. Each breath is replaced by the next breath. You are there with no other purpose than being awake and aware of that moment.

So mindfulness is a state of living in the moment, of being relaxed, calm and fully engaged in what we are doing. Mindfulness is being fully aware of what is happening right now and giving ourselves completely to our task without distraction. By learning how to enjoy and be in the present moment we can find peace within ourselves.

Like precepts, mindfulness is largely associated with Buddhism and it is a meditative practice that is not reserved for special meditation sessions: it is a practice that you can embrace as part of your daily life and when carrying out routine and mundane tasks.

The best guide that I have found to the use of mindfulness as part of your daily life is the following book, written by Thich Nhat Hanh: “The Miracle of Mindfulness” and I recommend that all Reiki practitioners and teachers obtain a copy and practise being mindful during their daily activities.

I believe that Mikao Usui’s precepts are all about mindfulness, and that when we are exhorted by the precepts to “just for today” release anger and worry, we are being guided to exist as far as we can in a mindful state. Anger and worry are distractions, you see, and if we can exist in the moment by being mindful then we will not dwell on the past and beat ourselves up for things that did not go the way we wanted, and we will not dwell on the future, perhaps worrying about things that have not yet happened. We can learn to release our attachments to the past and the future and just “be” now, content and accepting in the moment, by learning to be mindful.

Compassion

The final precept, that of being “compassionate towards ourselves and others” is for me an exhortation to be gentle with ourselves, to be patient, to be light-hearted, to not take ourselves quite so seriously and above all to be forgiving – first of all of ourselves but also of others. By accepting and forgiving ourselves we start to release our anger and our worry, and move towards a state of contentment in the moment.

The original system was a spiritual path, a path to enlightenment, and the precepts were what Usui Sensei’s system was all about. These principles are a foundation for everything we do with Reiki: the states of mindfulness and compassion arise from following the precepts and from working with Reiki.

For example, how do we feel when we carry out a Reiki treatment? Treating someone with Reiki is a special, special gift. We feel a closeness, an intimacy, a merging with the recipient; we receive trust and we experience compassion. Ideally we should just be there in the moment, with the energy, with the recipient, with no expectations. We do not treat someone with the intention to resolve their health problem or eliminate their headache. We just merge with the energy and allow Reiki to do its work; we create a sacred space for healing to occur. If our mind wanders, as it may do, then we notice this and gently but firmly bring our attention back to the present and what we are doing. We become one with the energy as it flows through us, we become one with the recipient, and we experience that blissful contentment in the moment. When we treat we are mindful: we are an observer, not a participant.

Though some are taught that you can hold a conversation with someone as you treat, or watch television at the same time, this really will not lead to the best being given to the recipient. To be the most effective channel we can be, we need to be there with the energy, fully and gently engaged in our work, giving ourselves fully to the task without distraction.

Those same principles apply when working on ourselves, whether carrying out Hatsurei ho or self-treating. The state we should seek to achieve is that of being fully engaged in the endeavour, of being with the energy without distraction, merged, aware and simply existing in the moment, with a gentle feeling of forgiveness, love and compassion towards ourselves.

So both Mindfulness and Compassion are fundamental to our life with Reiki, fundamental to the Reiki precepts, to working on others and working on ourselves. Not surprisingly they are also an essential component of the transmission of Reiki to another person through carrying out Reiju empowerments. Reiju is the ‘connection ritual’ that Usui Sensei used, and taught to his surviving students. It is simple, elegant and powerful, free from the clutter and detail that surrounds most Western attunement styles. When we perform Reiju we have no expectations: we are there in the moment with the energy, following the prescribed movements. We are relaxed and fully engaged in what we are doing, aware of what is happening right now, and we give ourselves completely to our task without distraction. That is the essence of Reiju, the essence of treatments, the essence of the precepts, and the essence of our life with Reiki.

Get out of the way!

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In this short article I want to talk about the best way to approach working on other people, whether giving treatments or carrying out distant healing. I want to talk about our state of mind and our intent when channelling the energy.

The first thing I want to say is that we are just a channel for the energy, not the source of the energy. This seems an obvious thing to say, but we need to remember that we are not healers. We do not heal. We do not have that power. What we do when we treat someone is simply to create a ‘healing space’ that the recipient can use to move more into a state of balance. The recipient is responsible for their own healing, for what they experience or don’t experience; they are responsible for how they react to the treatment. They are healing themselves. We are just necessary bystanders in the process: we do not direct the energy and we do not determine the outcome.

So I am not so happy with the title “Reiki Healer” because it suggests that the Reiki practitioner has the power to heal; they do not. I don’t think that the title “Reiki Necessary Bystander” is going to catch on, so I prefer to use the title “Reiki Practitioner”. It describes what we do: we practise Reiki and it does not imply that we have the power to heal others.

This article is called “Get out of the way” because I believe that this is the best thing we can do when treating someone or when sending distant healing. We are not the source of the healing; we are not the source of the energy, so we do not need to be there, directing and controlling. We can stand aside and if we do so then the energy can flow strongly and clearly, without interference from us.

When we treat someone we are not ‘cheerleading’ for a particular end result: we do not give Reiki to get rid of someone’s head ache, or back ache, or to resolve their Gall Bladder problem, though of course these things may result from channelling Reiki. End results are out of our hands and to focus strongly on a particular purpose for the treatment is not helpful. Reiki will not be controlled by us in terms of end results and attempts to control the energy in this way just puts up barriers that prevent the energy from doing what it needs to do. Rather like the well-meaning amateur who gets in the way and prevents the professional from doing their job properly, our attempts to focus the energy to produce a particular end result will hinder the process for the recipient.

So our intent when treating someone or sending distant healing is that the energy should do whatever is appropriate for the recipient. We are neutral, we are detached, and we do not focus on outcomes. Ideally we should drift into a gentle meditative state when treating or sending distant healing, and this can be best achieved by our ‘disappearing’ into the energy, feeling ourselves merging with or becoming one with the energy. We merge with the energy and we merge with the recipient; we are empty. We do by not doing.

Though some people are taught that it is ok to talk and chat to people, or bystanders, when giving a Reiki treatment, to do such a thing is neither professional nor does it lead to effective treatments. If we are distracted then the energy flows less strongly, so if we want to do the best for our clients then we need to keep quiet, and encourage the client to keep quiet too. You can try an experiment for yourself if you like, to prove to yourself that distraction lessens the strength of your Reiki. You could try this at a Reiki share, for example. Start by resting your hands on someone’s shoulders and allow the energy to flow for a while. Then deliberately start up a conversation with someone sitting near you: take your attention away from the recipient and fully engage in the conversation. Do this for a few minutes. Then bring your attention back to the recipient, be still and quiet, and allow the energy to flow. How has the recipient’s experience of the energy varied?

Now, we do not need to be in a perfect meditative state in order to be an effective channel for Reiki, but it certainly helps to cultivate a still and empty mind. We are all human and it is perfectly normal for unwanted thoughts to appear in our head. But we should pay them no attention. If we pay the unwanted thoughts attention and try to get rid of them we then have two lots of thoughts: the thoughts we did not want and all the new thoughts about the need to get rid of the first lot of thoughts. We have made things worse!

The best approach to unwanted thoughts, then, is to allow them to drift by like clouds: pay them no attention, do not engage with them. They will leave. Some more may come, but pay them no attention either. In time you should find that your busy mind starts to quieten and some of your treatments will become beautiful meditations, with your mind emptying with the energy, and staying empty. Some treatments will not be like this, of course, but we do not need to be perfect. We can cultivate a more meditative state over time, moving in the right direction, and without worrying too much about individual occasions when our untamed brain kept on talking to us. This is a work-in-progress!

So Reiki is simple: you empty your head, you merge with the energy, do you not direct, you do not control, you do not try; you empty yourself and merge with the recipient, standing aside to allow the energy do what it needs to do, without interference from us.

The 10 Rules of Reiki

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In this article I thought I would set down ten things that you can do – ten principles to take account of – to benefit your practice of Reiki. This is not something that has come from Japan, or from early practitioners of Reiki: it is just something that I have put together myself. I hope that this article will be of interest to people at all Reiki levels.

(1) Reiki is all about you

Although Reiki is sometimes presented in the West as a sort of complementary therapy, a hands-on treatment technique, or a form of Japanese spiritual healing, that is not what Reiki is all about. If your practice of Reiki consists mainly of treating other people then you are missing the point because Reiki is all about you! Reiki is a personal practice for your self-healing and your spiritual and self-development. You are the priority here.

In Usui’s time the treatment of others was not focused upon or emphasised, in fact treatments were a bit of a distraction from the main thrust of his teachings, which Usui Sensei referred to as a “system to achieve personal perfection”. Right from the start, the system was about personal development, not working on others.

So to gain the greatest benefits for yourself through Reiki, you need to establish a decent routine of working on yourself in whatever way that you were taught. If you were taught Western-style then do your hands-on self-treatment regularly, if you know about Japanese-style Reiki then practise your Hatsurei ho; if you know about Usui Sensei’s original system then add his self-treatment meditation to your regular Hatsurei.

I know that some people seem to have the view that working on yourself is in some way ‘selfish’, but if you cannot look after yourself properly then how can you help other people? By working on yourself regularly you make yourself a better channel and more effective at what you do in terms of treatments, so there are plus points all round for those who make themselves their Reiki priority.

(2) Base your practice on the precepts

Usui Sensei established a simple spiritual system that was rooted in his precepts, his ‘rules to live by’. Rather than being an interesting set of instructions to read on a course and put to one side, Usui’s precepts are at the very heart of his system, and it was said that as much spiritual development could come through following the precepts as would come through doing any of the energy work. If we are consider ourselves as ‘practising Reiki’ then we will follow the precepts.

So we need to think deeply about the precepts and how they affect our lives. We need to consider each precept in turn and reflect on how that precept might impinge upon and guide our thoughts and behaviour and relationships and priorities. And we need to do this regularly, using the precepts as an ongoing source of guidance, the effects of which will make a real difference to us, and the people around us, over time.

The precepts are something that you we drip-feed into our lives, something that we refer to regularly and reflect on regularly, for our own benefit and for the benefit of the people with whom we come into contact.

(3) Practise mindfulness

Although not referred to on most Reiki courses, the practise of mindfulness was as important part of Usui Sensei’s system as were the precepts, and in fact mindfulness is hidden in the precepts! Mindfulness is a form of meditation that one can perform at any time, when carrying out ordinary, mundane activities like walking somewhere or washing dishes or sipping tea, and involves becoming consciously and fully aware of your thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally, existing in the moment.

When you are living ‘in the moment’, fully engaged in what you are doing, fully aware of the present moment, then you are existing in a state where there is no anger and there is no worry. By not dwelling on the past or speculating about the future, by embracing fully the present moment, you are living the precepts, and mindfulness brings with it humility, honesty, compassion and forgiveness.

So mindfulness is a way of experiencing Mikao Usui’s spiritual principles.

(4) Work on yourself daily

Reiki isn’t something that you can pick up once in a while, play around with for a bit, and then drop again… not if you are looking to receive the many benefits that are available from the system, anyway. If you are looking for consistent benefits then you need a consistent practice. The precepts say “just for today”, and that is a good starting point: just do something with Reiki today. You can manage that. It doesn’t have to be hours and hour’s worth. Just do something for 10 minutes: you have ten minutes. Do something for 20 minutes. And if you don’t have ten minutes, get up 10 minutes earlier: problem solved.

Don’t worry about what you will do tomorrow: just focus on today.

When tomorrow comes, do the same. Just do something with Reiki, even for ten minutes. Don’t worry about tomorrow: just do something today.

(5) Commitment is the key

There are spectacular benefits to be enjoyed through practising Reiki, and all you need to do is to work with the energy consistently, focus on the precepts and practise mindfulness. The benefits build up cumulatively, you see, and sporadic and occasional practice isn’t enough if you want the very best out of your Reiki. You will get out of the system what you are prepared to put into it, so Reiki deserves a little of your time each day. You need to plug away at a few simple things, a few simple exercises or routines, and make them a regular part of your day, as regular a part of your routine as brushing your teeth or your hair.

And once you have established a regular habit of working on yourself with Reiki then you will find that it is difficult to stop: you will find that you really miss your hatsurei session or your self-treatment if you miss a day. That is the sort of position you are looking to get yourself into and by committing yourself to working with Reiki each day, even if it is a little inconvenient, you will reach that point.

(6) Don’t try too hard

While we do need to commit ourselves and establish a decent routine of working on ourselves in order to obtain the many benefits that are available to us through Reiki, we should at the same time make sure that we do not try too hard, work for too long, or take our practice too seriously. Reiki is best enjoyed in a gentle, laid-back and light-hearted fashion rather than in a fists-clenched, furrowed-brow, tense, ‘ready for a lot of hard work’ sort of way. We do not force Reiki and we do not force a fierce practice on ourselves.

Reiki is rather like a flowing stream of water, and we are a rough rock sitting in that stream. The rock will become smooth, of course, but this will be achieved gently, through having the water flow consistently, and this will be done in its own time.

We might read about some of the experiences that other Reiki people might have when working on themselves, or receiving attunements/empowerments, or treating others (seeing colours, feeling particular things) and we may not notice all these things ourselves; we may notice very little. We may then think that if only we tried a bit harder then we would notice these things and then we would then be ‘doing it properly’.

But trying hard and trying to force things is the best way there is to put a great big block on your progress. You will progress fastest when you give up trying and just be. Stand aside (metaphorically), do the exercises, treat people, and don’t think or worry about what you do or do not experience. Be a bystander, be neutral and empty, have no expectations. That is the best approach, the approach that will lead you to progress at the right speed for you.

(7) You don’t need to be perfect

Along with the need to be relaxed and laid-back and light-hearted about your practice, you should also make sure that you are not beating yourself up for not being perfect! You do not have to be perfect in order to obtain benefits for yourself through Reiki, or to treat other people successfully. No-one else is perfect, so you don’t have to be either.

So perhaps your mind wanders when you do a treatment or work on yourself. So what? This happens to everybody else. Don’t worry about it (there is something in the precepts about worrying). It you make a big thing about it and try through ‘force of will’ to have an empty mind, you have just made things worse: now you have two lots of thoughts… the first thoughts and then all the new thoughts about getting rid of the first lot of thoughts! Don’t worry. Pay the thoughts no attention. Let them go. Bring your attention gently back to what you were doing. Feel the energy flowing through you; imagine yourself merging with the person on the treatment table. Over time your mind will settle, and you’ll spend more of your time in a nice empty meditative state, but thoughts may well intrude again, and some days will probably be better than others. That’s ok. You’re human. It will sort itself out with time.

(8) Don’t keep trying to puzzle out ‘why’

To get the best out of your Reiki I recommend that you don’t spend too much time trying to puzzle out why you are – or are not – experiencing a particular thing. Don’t keep trying to work out what a particular colour that you or the recipient saw during a treatment means, or ponder the significance of a colour that you saw when self-treating. Don’t keep wondering what a particular sensation in your hand means or why you felt a lot of energy flowing into a particular area of someone’s body, or why you didn’t feel any energy flowing into a particular place. It doesn’t matter.

Your head can really mess up your experience of Reiki if you keep on frantically thinking about, analysing and questioning things. Don’t think! Just be. Empty your mind, merge with the energy, if you are treating someone then merge with the recipient, and let it happen. Follow the flow of energy when you are treating, yes, and allow your hands to stay for longer in areas where more energy is coming through, but don’t start frantically trying to puzzle out what is going on: Reiki works on lots of levels and you won’t know what’s happening so you may as well give up thinking about it and let go: enjoy the process, enjoy your treatments and give up the mental effort! It makes it so much easier that way!

(9) Trust your intuition

Along with not questioning everything that you feel or don’t feel, you should also not keep on doubting the things that you are feeling and noticing. If you feel something, you feel it: you are not making it up. You cannot make yourself feel something.

So if you notice that energy is flowing into you more strongly in a particular area when you are self-treating, accept that and go with it, self-treating for longer there than in other positions. The same applies when treating someone else: if you feel that there is a ‘hot spot’ or ‘fizzy area’ then accept the sensations and treat for longer there. You are not making it up.

Neither are you making it up if you feel strangely drawn to a particular area of the body. You are intuitive and you can work intuitively straight away. All you need to do is to stop second-guessing and doubting yourself, be still, and simply accept what comes to you. It doesn’t need to make sense. Don’t try and puzzle it out: just accept it and treat in the way that feels appropriate.

(10) Ignore silly rules and restrictions

While we are making sure that we are not cluttering our practice with endless thoughts, questions and doubts, we should also thrown out as unnecessary the various rules, regulations and restrictions that we may have been taught. Reiki does not need to be controlled, blunted and restricted by man-made rules that have no basis. Reiki is safe and Reiki is simple, and simple approaches are usually the most effective.

So we do not have to slavishly follow a prescribed set of hand positions when treating ourselves or other people and we do not need to say a set form of words for our Reiki to work. We do not need to follow ritualised sets of hand and body movements in a particular sequence to be able to treat someone and we do not need to refrain from treating people with various medical conditions. Reiki is safe and Reiki is adaptable. It allows many different ways of working that are all valid. There is no ‘one’ way that Reiki has to be used, and we should ignore admonitions that we should ‘always’, or ‘never’, do a particular thing.

So, to get the most out of your Reiki, I recommend that you make a commitment to yourself to work on yourself each day as your top priority, but not beating yourself up if you miss the occasional day. Use Hatsurei ho and self-treat, focus on the precepts and drip-feed mindfulness into more and more of your daily activities. Don’t try too hard though: be light-hearted and forgiving towards yourself because you don’t have to be perfect. Try not to clutter your mind with lots of thoughts and doubts and questions: just be neutral, have no expectations, be empty and content. And make sure you keep it simple.

When we need to adapt…

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Sometimes our bodies simply say NO! Enough is enough.  If we don’t listen to what our higher self is trying to tell us then it will act and ensure we have to listen!  So we’ve two choices.  We can bemoan the fact that we are laid up incapable and worry and beat ourselves up for what we may see as our own inadequacies. We can gnash our teeth and wail about the things we are not getting done. We can wallow in self pity and become angry and frustrated but what would all these emotions  achieve exactly?  Would they make ourselves feel better, or simply produce a further dip in our spirits?

We could, on the other hand, surmise that whilst there may not be an apparent reason for our circumstances, nonetheless there is a reason and we can choose to go with the flow instead of fighting against it.

I’d like to share this little story with you, though not I hasten to add for a sympathy vote! Two days ago I was lamenting how little time I had to accomplish everything that needed doing.  My work is at its busiest (not that I’m complaining), the kids need running around here, there and everywhere, paperwork is piling up, household chores have had to be put on a back burner, my studies aren’t getting the attention I feel they need and my weekends are filled with ‘duties’ when surely my time I felt, could be better spent elsewhere. I did start to wonder who was actually in control here,  if it’s not me, then who is?

Yesterday, we travelled twenty miles in one direction for an appointment, turned around and travelled sixty miles in the opposite direction for another commitment  and inbetween all this had various stops to make to fit in other tasks. That morning my lower back started to niggle away at me but guess what? There’s simply no time for that nonsense, I thought, so I ignored it and carried on. Gradually the pain worsened, yet still I smiled and shrugged it off. I laughed at the way I was beginning to walk, cracked ‘old age’ jokes and ignored what my body was trying to tell me.  That was until 4.30am Sunday morning when my back went into spasm and seized up completely!   I couldn’t even writhe around in agony.  I wish I could end my tale by saying I channelled Reiki and lo and behold my back was cured.  The pain, however, was all encompassing and even though I made a squeak for help, I knew deep down there was a lesson here I needed to learn.  Would that lesson be learned if I instantaneously got the pain relief I needed?  Sadly, I think not.

So yesterday I was literally helpless but I still had a choice.  I could watch the dross on the television or I could connect with my higher self, pin back my ears and listen.  I could give my mind and body the attention it has been demanding.  I could work with the beautiful healing energies of Reiki, I could meditate on self healing, I could practise mindfulness and I could use the five Reiki Precepts as they should be used.  And so I did.  Whatever life throws at you, the precepts are a comforting guideline that we can adapt to our present circumstances.  For me,  in the here and now,  just for today…

I will not anger… I will accept that I need to rest and recuperate.

I will not worry….  about all the things that were planned for today, the places I needed to be, the things that simply had to be done because that will not alter my position.

I will be humble… I will accept that there are things I cannot do for myself today; that I have to rely on my family to do things for me.  So just for today I release the control freak as she cannot do anything better than anyone else 😉

Today I will be honest in my work. I will admit my current capabilities and not take on too much, or actually anything at all, I will accept I can do no other.

Today I will be compassionate to myself, as well as others. I will listen to my body and I will allow it to heal.   I will not beat myself up that I chose to ignore the warning signs, I have learned by my mistake!

In future I will not ignore my own needs and understand that if I do, I do so at my own peril.  Can you say the same?   It may be said that hindsight is a wonderful thing, I think a little foresight would serve us better ! 🙂

Reiki Blessings to you all,

Ann xx

yorkshire reiki courseAnn Halstead is one of the Reiki Evolution team of teachers offering Reiki training near the beautiful Summer Wine country in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.  Ann and her husband Jonathan also offer psychic development workshops and spiritual counselling.

Ann’s website can be found here:  www.holistic-wellbeing.co.uk