…or how the use of hypnotic techniques and trance states with Reiki can do quite amazing things for people.

Through experimentation – and I would like to thank the hundred or so Reiki people who volunteered to be my guinea pigs when I trialled my first three “Reiki Hypno meditations” – I discovered that using a combination of a Reiki-style meditation with gentle suggestion patterns had a tremendous effect on people in just a few weeks of listening to a 10 minute audio track most days.

As well as being a Reiki teacher I am also a qualified Cognitive Hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner. I trained at Regent’s College in London with the internationally respected Quest Institute and a lot of the course involved perfecting the art of making hypnotic suggestions, a series of elegant and subtle suggestion patterns that can help guide people’s subconscious minds so that a person lets go of whatever is holding them back in their life, and enhances their potential.

To begin with I focused on what I think are quite common challenges for people starting out with Reiki:

• Calming your mind so that you can be in more of a mindful state
• Developing your intuitive side
• Enhancing your sensitivity to the energy

This is what some of my students said after listening to the Reiki Hypno meditations for a few weeks…

“The constant activity in my mind feels to have calmed down. I still have random thoughts, but I now have the ability to let them pass, without grabbing hold of them and picking the bones clean.”
Anne MacKenzie
“Certainly, without any question, the MP3 has been a huge benefit to me. I have often wanted to learn meditation but never found the medium or created the opportunity. Your track has changed things to such an extent I would like to learn more and develop my meditation skills.”
Jim Furze
“I just seem to be able to get on with life without so much worry. I don’t think i realised how very different i have been feeling and how much calmer not just i am but my family and my life is until i sat down to write this.”
Jo Cole
“I have often felt no sensitivity to the energy but found that this changed quickly once i started listening to the MP3. I have become much more aware of heat and energy in my hands when using the MP3 and giving treatments. I have been very pleased with the results.”
Pauline
“In all I’m delighted with the results. The trial has helped me more than I believed imaginable. My confidence has grown immensely and I’m raring to take my second degree and start working as a practitioner.”
Wanda
“My Reiki sessions have definitely altered for the better. I do tend to be more flexible in my approach… I am being ‘drawn’ to lay my hands on areas that I might not have been before…..and it is certainly a whole lot easier and less structured than before. I have ‘let go’ of all my former expectations of how the Reiki session ought to proceed…and the results are quite eye opening at times. It is as if I have been ‘attuned’ to Reiki in a new way ….all over again. I can’t quite explain it really!”
Carol Leslie

And this quite astounded me, actually. I was sure that the meditations would work, but I didn’t realise how well they would work and how quickly! I think what’s going on here is that when you meditate using Reiki you enter quite a deep trance state, where your subconscious mind is quite receptive to positive suggestion. Within Reiki, some people already use Nentatsu ho, where you rest your hands on your head and send an affirmation that is intended to be accepted by your subconscious, so what I am doing could be seen a a turbo-charged version of this, using the best of Ericksonian suggestion patterns with the supporting and boosting effect of Reiki energy work.

Since I was so enthused by the feedback I was getting, I decided to put together three tracks that dealt with the Reiki precepts, creating suggestion patterns that focused on:

• Releasing anger and worry/being ‘in the moment’
• Embodying humility and honesty
• Experiencing compassion and forgiveness.

Here are a couple of the responses that I received from people working with these Reiki meditations…

“I have all of Taggart’s hypno meditations and use them on a regular basis. I started with Compassion — a beautiful piece, relatively short, which means it can be fitted in any time. I have also found it a great starting point for work on the other precepts. I often listen to Compassion before I give Reiki or Indian Head Massage to someone. Humility and honesty are fantastic reminders for basic and decent behaviours, with humility constantly urging me to step back a bit, listen more actively, be more thoughtful … But the meditation I use most is Be free from Anger/Worry, and it has paid enormous dividends. In recent weeks, I can’t remember the last time I really felt angry or wanted to express anger. And it’s not that it’s suppressed — it simply doesn’t seem to be there at all. This meditation is a genuinely useful reminder of the futility of worry in many circumstances.”
SS, Cambridgeshire
” I am very pleased with the Reiki precept downloads. I have used them both personally and in group. I think what attracts me the most is their sincere simplicity. It allows one to relax and let the words wash over you. As my own Reiki path develops I am re-energized by new approaches.”
M J Perdue, West Virginia

It’s really fulfilling for me to be able to make a difference to people in this way. And so I moved on to a third collection of MP3s, this time dealing with:

• Building self-confidence, confidence in your Reiki abilities
• Establishing a good regular routine of working on yourself
• Finding your own distinctive way with the energy, finding your own approach