All posts by taggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

Some heresy about Reiki symbols

October 1, 2015attunements, reiki symboltaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

You don’t need to be attuned to a symbol

In my article, Reiki Symbols, Attunements & Beyond, I explain that although it has been a belief of traditional Western Reiki that the Reiki symbols will not work for you until you have been specifically ‘attuned’ to them, this belief is not correct.

I suggest that you zip across and read that article now because if you do then this article here will make more sense to you!

I’ll wait…

Done?

OK, so we have a situation in the modern Reiki world where people can now be initiated into Reiki without any symbols entering into the process and, when that happens, the Reiki symbols – CKR, SHK – still work fine, eliciting the energies of earth ki and heavenly ki, as they are supposed to.

The ‘attunement’ thing isn’t a necessary step.

The energy can be focused and modified in many different ways: you can use chants, you can use intent and you can use *any* symbol that you like, whether that’s a symbol from one of the many Reiki variations, or an entirely new, channelled, or random symbol. They will all focus or frame the energy in a particular way.

Let’s experiment with some symbols

So if you feel drawn to, say, Karuna Reiki, which is heavily symbol-based, and you have access to the symbols used in that system, then explore its symbols. Meditate on them, draw their energies into your body, flood yourself with their quality or essence, and come to your own conclusion about what they are all about.

Here’s a simple experiment that you an carry out to prove to yourself that a symbol that you haven’t been attuned to will frame the energy in a distinctive way.

Meditation on “O”

I would like you to meditate on a simple circle. Rest your hands in your lap, palms up, close your eyes and take a couple of long, deep breaths to release any stress and tension. Then imagine a perfect circle, black & white, up in the air above you. Imagine that energy or light is cascading down to you from that symbol above you, flooding over you, flowing through you, and just bathe in that energy, 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?

Over to you

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

What did it do for you?

How did the energy of the circle differ from the energies of CKR and SHK when you meditate on them?

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: Taggart King
Picture Credit: David Lofink

How to do a Reiki Self-Treatment (Part V)

September 24, 2015meditation, self healing, simplicitytaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

How were you taught to Self-Treat?

Most people who are taught Reiki will have been taught some form of self-treatment, a way of focusing the energy on yourself, for your own benefit, and the most common form of self-treatment is what I would refer to as a “Standard Western hands-on” self-treatment method. This is where you rest your hands in a series of positions covering the head and torso and maybe beyond, and let the energy flow out of your hands into your body.

It works well, though some of the positions can often be uncomfortable to get to, or hold for any amount of time, and that can sometimes detract from the blissfulness of the experience.

So what I’ve been talking about in a series of articles are a number of different ways that you could self-treat, perhaps different from what you have been taught.

This is article #5. In previous articles I have been talking about various approaches to self-treatment, mostly meditative, where you either:

Meditate with the intention to heal… and just let it happen
Follow the flow of energy during meditation and focus your attention on where the energy is focusing itself
Direct the flow of energy during meditation by resting your attention on different areas of the body
Rest your hands on your body, but do this intuitively, different for each session as your energy needs vary

This is the final article in the series, so I thought I would finish by a very simple hands-on method…

Just rest your hands on yourself and close your eyes

That’s it.

That’s the method.

Rest your hands on your heart and solar plexus, close your eyes, and let the Reiki flow.

Or rest your hands on your lower abdomen, like in the photo above.

Bliss out on the energy.

Let it go where it wants to go and do what it wants to do.

And when you’re done, open your eyes.

Over to you

If this self-treatment method is new to you, why not give it a try?

And post a message below to let us all know how you got on with it, how it felt, what you experienced, what it did for you.

Some more self-treatment ideas

reiki self treatment mp3 download If you’d like some help with your self-treatments, or if you’d like some new ideas to experiment with or pass on to your students, why not download my “Reiki Self-Treatment Meditations” collection of MP3s.

They are suitable for all Reiki levels.

In these five meditations, I talk you through the most simple approach ever… and interesting variations like an intuitive healing meditation, a self-healing meditation that was actually taught by Usui Sensei, a “Standard Western hands-on” method and an Intuitive hands-on method.

Price: £13.49. Click to order via PayPal:

Author: Taggart King

How to do a Reiki Self-Treatment (Part IV)

September 17, 2015intuition, meditation, self healing, simplicitytaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

How were you taught to Self-Treat?

It works well, though some of the positions can often be uncomfortable to get to, or hold for any amount of time, and that can sometimes detract from the blissfulness of the experience.

So what I’ve been talking about in a series of articles are a number of different ways that you could self-treat, perhaps different from what you have been taught.

This is article #4. In previous articles I have been talking about meditative approaches to self-treatment, where you either:

Meditate with the intention to heal… and just let it happen
Follow the flow of energy and focus your attention on where the energy is focusing itself
Direct the flow of energy by resting your attention on different areas of the body

Now I’m going to turn my attention to hands-on self-treatments, but with a bit of a twist. Out go standard self-treatment hand-positions and in comes…

Taggart’s Intuitive hands-on self-treatment method

Make yourself comfortable in a seated or supine position, maybe with your hands folded over each other in front of your chest
Close your eyes
Start to become aware of your connection to the energy, your connection to Reiki
Notice how that connection feels, with the energy engulfing you and building within you in just the right way for you in this moment
As the energy flows, just remind yourself that your intention now is to heal, to heal on all levels, to rejuvenate, to rebalance
Just say to yourself, “this is my time to heal now”
And allow the energy to flow, to flow to wherever it needs to go to give you just what you need in this moment
And start to become aware of the energy and where it’s flowing
Where is the Reiki focusing itself, where is it dwelling?
Move your hands to rest on, or near, that area
Allow your hands to drift to the best place for them to be
Stay in that position for as long as you need to
If the energy moves on to another area, if your hands want to move on to another area, let that happen
Allow the energy to guide you
And finally bring yourself back when you feel ready, and open your eyes

Although this method involves resting your hands on your body – whereas in all the previous self-treatment examples I gave you, you were simply meditating – there are no expectations here. You rest your hands, and move your hands, according to your individual energy needs during each session.

Each treatment you carry out will most likely be different in some way, as your energy needs vary from one occasion to another.

You might be following the energy, noticing where it wants to flow, and moving your hands to a suitable nearby area.

Or you might find that the hands start to move and drift by themselves, again guided by the energy, giving you exactly what you need on each occasion.

Over to you

If this self-treatment method is new to you, why not give it a try?

And post a message below to let us all know how you got on with it, how it felt, what you experienced, what it did for you.

Some more self-treatment ideas

They are suitable for all Reiki levels.

Price: £13.49. Click to order via PayPal:

Author: Taggart King

How to do a Reiki Self-Treatment (Part III)

September 10, 2015intention, meditation, self healing, simplicitytaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

How were you taught to Self-Treat?

Most people who are taught Reiki will have been taught how to heal yourself using Reiki, a way of focusing the energy on yourself, for your own benefit, and the most common form of self-treatment is what I would refer to as a “Standard Western hands-on” self-treatment method. This is where you rest your hands in a series of positions covering the head and torso and maybe beyond, and let the energy flow out of your hands into your body.

It works well, though some of the positions can often be uncomfortable to get to, or hold for any amount of time, and that can sometimes detract from the blissfulness of the experience.

So what I’m going to talk about in a series of articles are a number of different ways that you could self-treat, perhaps different from what you have been taught.

This is article #3. Last time I described my “intuitive Reiki self-healing meditation” where you followed the flow of energy and focused your attention on the areas where the energy wanted to go. This was a beneficial practice because resting your attention somewhere helps to boost the flow of Reiki, making the treatment more intense and focused in the areas that your attention is dwelling on.

So now we can build on the idea of the energy focusing itself where your attention is dwelling, by carrying out a meditation where you allow your attention to rest on five different areas of the head, spending a few minutes focusing on each position. This is a self-treatment method taught by Reiki’s founder, Mikao Usui.

The Usui self-treatment meditation

Here’s what to do.

Make yourself comfortable in a seated position, maybe with your hands resting in your lap, and close your eyes
Start to become aware of your connection to the energy, your connection to Reiki
Notice how that connection feels, with the energy engulfing you and building within you in just the right way for you in this moment
As the energy flows, just remind yourself that your intention now is to heal, to heal on all levels, to rejuvenate, to rebalance
Just say to yourself, “this is my time to heal now”
Allow your attention to focus on your forehead, by the hairline, and allow the energy to dwell there, building, intensifying
Move your attention so you focus on your temples, on both sides of your head at the same time
Move your attention so that you focus on the back of the head, and on the forehead, those two areas at the same time
Move your focus so your attention comes to rest on the back of your neck, the base of your skull
Move your attention to the crown, the crown of your head, focus your attention there
And finally bring yourself back when you feel ready, and open your eyes

So this method doesn’t involve physical hand positions, or symbols, and it doesn’t necessarily require visualisation either, because while you might choose to imagine that there are hands treating those areas, you can just as simple allow your attention to rest on those areas and the energy will flow there.

In each position, you merge with the energy and you allow it to flow, to do what it needs to do.

What is different about this meditation, though, is your attention: you direct the flow of energy by focus your attention on a particular area. This is a powerful thing to do because where you focus your attention is where the energy focuses itself.

By allowing your attention to rest on the areas of need, you intensify and boost the flow of energy because “where thought goes, energy flows”.

And you can just be there as a bystander in the process, observing, experiencing, in a neutral way: merged with the energy and following the flow of energy.

Over to you

If this self-treatment method is new to you, why not give it a try?

And post a message below to let us all know how you got on with it, how it felt, what you experienced, what it did for you.

Some more self-treatment ideas

reiki self treatment mp3 download If you’d like to learn more about how to heal yourself using Reiki, if you’d like some help with your self-treatments, or if you’d like some new ideas to experiment with or pass on to your students, why not download my “Reiki Self-Treatment Meditations” collection of MP3s.

They are suitable for all Reiki levels.

Price: £13.49. Click to order via PayPal:

Author: Taggart King
Picture credit: L’Ubuesque Boîte à Savon

How to do a Reiki Self-Treatment (Part II)

September 3, 2015intuition, meditation, self healing, simplicitytaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

How were you taught to Self-Treat?

Most people who are taught Reiki will have been taught how to do Reiki on yourself, a way of focusing the energy on yourself, for your own benefit, and the most common form of self-treatment is what I would refer to as a “Standard Western hands-on” self-treatment method. This is where you rest your hands in a series of positions covering the head and torso and maybe beyond, and let the energy flow out of your hands into your body.

It works well, though some of the positions can often be uncomfortable to get to, or hold for any amount of time, and that can sometimes detract from the blissfulness of the experience.

So what I’m going to talk about in a series of articles are a number of different ways that you could self-treat, perhaps different from what you have been taught.

This is article #2. Last time I described my “simplest Reiki self-treatment method ever” and now we can add some intuition into the mix with a new self-treatment method for you:

Taggart’s “Intuitive self-healing meditation”

This is still a very simple self-treatment method, where you’re not resting your hnads on yourself, but allowing the self-healing to occur through meditating.

What is new in this meditation is that we are going is to notice where the energy is flowing, and we are going to focus our attention on those areas.

Here’s what to do.

Make yourself comfortable in a seated position, maybe with your hands resting in your lap, and close your eyes
Start to become aware of your connection to the energy, your connection to Reiki
Notice how that connection feels, with the energy engulfing you and building within you in just the right way for you in this moment
As the energy flows, just remind yourself that your intention now is to heal, to heal on all levels, to rejuvenate, to rebalance
Just say to yourself, “this is my time to heal now”
And allow the energy to flow, to flow to wherever it needs to go to give you just what you need in this moment
And start to become aware of the energy and where it’s flowing
Where is the Reiki focusing itself, where is it dwelling?
Allow your attention to rest on that area; bring your awareness there
If the energy moves on to another area, bring your attention to that new area, and notice the energy there
Stay in this safe space, allowing the energy to provide balance, and healing
And finally bring yourself back when you feel ready, and open your eyes

So this method doesn’t involve hand positions, or symbols, it doesn’t require visualisation, it doesn’t direct the energy in any way. You sit, you merge with the energy and you allow it to flow, to do what it needs to do.

What is different, though, is your attention: you follow the flow of energy and wherever the energy is directing itself, you focus your attention there too.

This is a powerful thing to do because where you focus your attention is where the energy focuses itself.

By allowing your attention to rest on the areas of need, you intensify and boost the flow of energy because “where thought goes, energy flows”.

And you can just be there as a bystander in the process, observing, experiencing, in a neutral way: merged with the energy and following the flow of energy.

Over to you

If this self-treatment method is new to you, why not give it a try?

And post a message below to let us all know how you got on with it, how it felt, what you experienced, what it did for you.

Some more self-treatment ideas

reiki self treatment mp3 download If you’d like to learn more about how to self-heal with Reiki, if you need some help with your self-treatments, or if you’d like some new ideas to experiment with or pass on to your students, why not download my “Reiki Self-Treatment Meditations” collection of MP3s.

They are suitable for all Reiki levels.

Price: £13.49. Click to order via PayPal:

Author: Taggart King
Picture credit: Jeff Kubina

How to do a Reiki Self-Treatment (Part I)

August 27, 2015meditation, self healing, simplicitytaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

How were you taught to Self-Treat?

This is where you rest your hands in a series of positions covering the head and torso and maybe beyond, and let the energy flow out of your hands into your body.

It works well, though some of the positions can often be uncomfortable to get to, or hold for any amount of time, and that can often detract from the blissfulness of the experience.

So what I’m going to talk about in a series of articles are how to do Reiki on yourself in a number of different ways, ways to Reiki self-treat that are perhaps different from what you have been taught.

And I’d like to start with what you might call “The simplest self-treatment method ever”!

Taggart’s “Meditation with the intention to heal”

It is possible to self-treat without resting your hands on your body at all, using your intention or visualisation or pure intent. In this example, what you are doing is, basically, setting a definite intent and letting the energy do what it wants to do.

Here are some instructions:

Make yourself comfortable in a seated position, maybe with your hands resting in your lap
Close your eyes
Start to become aware of your connection to the energy, your connection to Reiki
Notice how that connection feels, with the energy engulfing you and building within you in just the right way for you in this moment
As the energy flows, just remind yourself that your intention now is to heal, to heal on all levels, to rejuvenate, to rebalance
Just say to yourself, “this is my time to heal now”
And allow the energy to flow, to flow to wherever it needs to go to give you just what you need in this moment
Stay in this safe space, allowing the energy to provide balance, and healing
And finally bring yourself back when you feel ready, and open your eyes

And you can just be there as a bystander in the process, observing, experiencing, in a neutral way: merged with the energy.

Over to you

If this self-treatment method is new to you, why not give it a try?

And post a message below to let us all know how you got on with it, how it felt, what you experienced, what it did for you.

Some more self-treatment ideas

They are suitable for all Reiki levels.

Price: £13.49. Click to order via PayPal:

Author: Taggart King
Picture credit: Tony Armstrong

Something new for you: “Precepts Rehearsal”

February 25, 2014Uncategorizedtaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

A powerful new way to experience the Reiki precepts

I thought I would share with you a technique that I created, something that allows you to really embrace one of the Reiki precepts, in fact any of the precepts that you feel would benefit you more if it could become more fully a part of how you are.

I call this method “Precepts Rehearsal” and it is a form of meditation based on a powerful hypnotherapy technique called ‘future pacing’.

Future pacing is all about getting yourself into a meditative state (or a trance state: they are the same thing) and spending some time imagining yourself behaving in a way that shows your subconscious mind how you want to be… you are rehearsing being the person that you wish to be, the person that you are becoming.

How to carry out Precepts Rehearsal

So, let’s assume that you would like to experience compassion more in your life.

Continue reading Something new for you: “Precepts Rehearsal” →

Your 10 Day Reiki Challenge: the “Releasing Exercise”

February 8, 2014Uncategorizedtaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

What is the Releasing Exercise?

I love the way that the Reiki precepts, and the effects of learning Reiki, blend and merge with each other. So if you could encapsulate in words the effects of Reiki on a person, you would probably say that they were largely free from anger and worry and that they were more mindful.

And at the same time we have a set of precepts that encourage us to be mindful, and to let go of worry and anger.

Mikao Usui’s precepts are such an important part of the original system and something that can sometimes become overlooked during the head-long rush to get to all the cool energy stuff! But they are really the foundation of Reiki, there to guide us and also to represent and give form to the many changes that Reiki can bring us.

And that got me thinking about whether there was a way of actually using the energy of Reiki to directly experience a precept.

What I came up with was my “Releasing Exercise”.

The Releasing Exercise is a way of directly experiencing the effects of a precept in terms of energy flow and the people that I have shared this with have found it to be very powerful.

Maybe you’ll find it powerful too.

I am setting you a challenge: to carry out my Releasing Exercise each day for 10 days.

How to perform the Releasing Exercise

I would like to suggest that you do the following, for a couple of minutes at a time, twice a day, for ten days: Sit with your eyes closed and your hands resting in your lap, palms up. You are going to be releasing energy through your hands.

Stage One

Sit comfortably with your eyes closed and your hands resting in your lap, palms up. Take a few long deep breaths and feel yourself becoming peaceful and relaxed. Your mind empties. Say to yourself “I now release all my anger…”; say this three times to yourself if you like. Allow energy to be released through your palms, and be still until the flow of energy subsides. This may take a little while, particularly the first time you try this exercise.

Stage Two

Now say to yourself “I now release all my worry…”; say this three times to yourself if you like. Again allow a flurry of energy to leave your hands and be still until it subsides. Again this may take a little while, particularly the first time you try this exercise.

Try this variation

I really like this variation: try carrying out the releasing exercise in time with your breath. Breathe in gently, say to yourself “I now release all my anger…” and then breathe out, allowing your anger to flood out of you on the out breath, flooding out of your palms. Gently breathe in, and repeat.

Let Taggart Talk You Through It

If you’d like me to talk you through the exercise, use the audio track below. Click play and then get yourself comfy during the several seconds of silence that begins the track:

Here’s what people experienced

I have included some representative feedback below, so you can see the sort of thing that the exercise has done for people.

Here’s what I received from Loretta in Iowa, who has started to use the exercise with her clients:

“I use the release in the morning as I lay in Relaxation pose after finishing yoga and when I feel an emotion I need to work with during the day. I use it for more than anger and worries and the feeling leaving my hands is very emotional. I have also begun using in it in my Reiki practice. I take my clients through breathing exercises and relaxation steps and depending on what is going on with them I introduce the releasing exercise either before the Reiki session or at the end of the session.

Practicing the release is so healing on many levels, it allows us to focus on one issue at a time, allows us to take time for ourself, to dig deep on issues we may want to push to the background. This process makes my day wonderful, I feel so much more on an even keel with the world and with myself.”

Emma in Scotland has experimented with the exercise, focusing the energy on releasing other emotions:

“I have tried the 10 day releasing exercise and found it really beneficial – I’m going to continue doing it everyday. It’s really effective and so simple! I have a lot of bottled up emotion and I feel much more relaxed after doing this and feel quite a powerful flow of energy leaving my body.

I have tried other variations which also seem to work such as saying “I release sadness” or “regret” or sometimes even “I release any unnecessary or unhelpful emotion”. I even tried it lying down imagining the energy flowing out through the soles of my feet so that I could do it last thing at night before going to sleep. I’m not sure that’s as effective but I did feel relaxed! Anyway, thank you for the idea and I will continue to use it.”

Here’s what I received from Vivien in the UK, who found the exercise worked well when dealing with a difficult issue that arose:

“Well your exercises arrived at a very good time for me. We had a very difficult “political/social” issue at work whereby I got so angry (on someone else’s behalf). This person had offloaded her problems to me and I was surprised how angry I felt inside at the injustice that she had suffered. It was one of those situations I took home with me.

I did offer her advice and suggested various courses of action which helped her but, despite that, I still had this real burning anger inside me which I took home with me on a Friday. I did your ‘anger releasing’exercises on the Friday and over the weekend and it certainly helped! I practiced it a few times each day and hey presto, I was chilled by the Monday and everything has now been resolved thankfully!

I didn’t need to do it for 10 days but in future if I find myself in a similar situation, I will know what to do. I will also try out the others. So a big thank you!!!!”

Teresa in the UK sent me her feedback, and she found that the exercise helped her to just ‘be’:

“This is a wonderful exercise for letting go of anger and worry. The more I practised this the more I became lighter and freer in my thoughts and actions. Being in the present, no past, no future, simply alive in the moment.

Thank you very much for this.”

Paul from the UK contacted me to say that the exercise helped to change his perception of things:

“I’m very new to Reiki and started your releasing exercise as another “string to my bow”. Before starting my Reiki journey, I was already practicing mindful meditation. I’ve found your release exercise a natural extension of this.

I work in a quite highly stressed office environment, a place where small irritations can rapidly grow into something more. I’m generally very relaxed and laid back anyway, but over the last ten days my colleagues have seen fit to comment about how even MORE laid back I seem to have become.

I’ve been self-reflecting on this. At first I thought the exercise was helping me become more tolerant, but I now realise that’s not the case at all. “Tolerance” is more about “putting up with the irritation”. I think I would say I now have more “acceptance”. Because I’m free from anger and worry, I can “accept” things that would have been seen as irritants. Because I “accept” them, I don’t have to “tolerate” them.

I’ve passed your exercise to a number of my Reiki friends who expressed an interest. I’m waiting to hear back from them.”

Pat explained how the exercise has helped her with two specific situations recently:

“I started the releasing exercise before Chistmas and have found it very effective. I felt the release of energy in my palms and very often in my third eye area. I sometimes felt warmth, almost like a hot flush!!!

Two things happened during the time that I was doing the exercise which would have normally been very upsetting under normal circumstances but I dealt with it using this practice. I have tried both ways of the practice as you suggested and they were both equally effective.

The first situation that I mentioned above was a very cutting comment made by someone which was hurtful and as soon as it happened, I did the release exercise and the effect was very comforting. The second was some health news that made me angry and concerned. I again used the practice to release the anger, worry and blame. I found the exercise very helpful in both of those situations.

I have continued to do the practice and yesterday started to add fear as well as anger and worry to my routine. I will definitely continue with this exercise. I am very grateful to you and thank you very much for telling us about this.”

Finally, Marilynne explains how she feels that this exercise is very much in line with the way that we do things at Reiki Evolution:

“I have not done the releasing exercise regularly over 10 days. However when I do use it, it is very effective in releasing thoughts of both worry and anger, the two detrimental, mischievous little devils that can be so disruptive in their negativity. I cherish the precepts and accept them as powerful ideals and daily reminders. I have just had my Reiki 2 session last weekend and feel the energy so much stronger now through my hand and down to the tan-den. The releasing exercise seems so natural, and very much ‘in tune’ with all that I have learned and experienced through Reiki Evolution. Practicing control of the flow of Reiki energy, including the release of worry and anger, is just a wonderful privilege.”

Time For You To Take The 10 Day Releasing Exercise Challenge!

So now it’s over to you: your turn to carry out my releasing exercise for ten days, if you want to!

Post your feedback below to let me know what you did, how it went and how you feel now.

Pass this exercise on to another Reiki person!

Make sure that you pass this exercise on to another Reiki person: someone you meet or someone who you are in contact with over Facebook or Twitter or other Interweb thingy.

Show them or tell them how to do the exercise, and see how they get on with it.

Author: Taggart King
Photo credit: Marina Boyarkina

Tune Into Our Weekly Distant Reiju Empowerments

December 13, 2013Uncategorizedtaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

Bliss out on our distant Reiju every week

For the benefit of Reiki people who are not able to get along to a Reiki share to receive a regular Reiju empowerment, or for people who simply do not even know anyone who can carry out Reiju empowerments on them, I have decided to provide Reiju at a distance.

In the original Japanese form of Reiki, empowerments would have been received week in, week out, throughout a student’s life with Reiki, at First Degree, Second Degree and beyond.

And some people are making Reiju empowerments available at their Reiki Shares by way of echoing this tradition, but not all students can attend evening get-togethers.

Many people within the Reiki world do not have access to empowerments at all: maybe their Reiki Master has not learned the technique yet, or maybe they have lost contact with their teacher.

Distant attunements or empowerments work incredibly well: they provide you with a lovely ‘boost’. They are not essential, but a lovely way to ‘re-set’ and help you on your journey with Reiki

What to do to receive your distant Reiju

Each week I will perform a distant Reiju empowerment, done with the intention that it will be received by any Reiki person who wants to ‘tune themselves in’ to the ‘broadcast’. The empowerment can be received any time on a Monday, whenever that is, local time.

This is what you can do to receive the empowerment:

If you know about Hatsu Rei Ho, the basic energy exercises of Japanese ‘Gakkai’ Reiki, then go through the sequence as normal. When you have performed Seishin Toitsu for a few minutes, stay with your hands in Gassho and say to yourself ‘I will receive my empowerment from Taggart now’.
If you are not familiar with Hatsu Rei Ho, simply get yourself comfortable in a chair, with your eyes closed and your hands in the prayer position. Take a few deep breaths to calm yourself, and then say to yourself ‘I will receive my empowerment from Taggart now’.

You may notice a lot happening; you may notice very little.

What you notice may continue for less than minute, or you might be experiencing things for 5-10 minutes.

What might you experience?

You might notice a lot happening, you might notice something happening, you might notice very little, you might notice nothing!

It varies.

To give you an idea of the sort of things that you might experience when on the receiving end of Reiju, here are some recent comments from some of my students who were on the receiving end of a Distant Reiju ‘Experiment’:

“… at 9:00pm waves of energy washed over me. Hardly any vibrating, just a light, fizzy energy. My hands and feet were full of Reiki.”
Essex

“I sat down a little before 9.15pm cleared my mind…. there was a wonderful feeling of being light and a faint buzzing around my head, then gentle pressure on my crown….plenty of warmth followed. As things progressed I could sense movement around me. It was as if you were standing in front of me…had the impression of gentle swaying…for a moment the room was light. I felt a need to put my hands in the prayer position…felt movement and warmth, with some tingling. Don’t remember putting my hands down, but I did!!”
Hertfordshire

“I felt very peaceful and could feel the energy coming from the front, my crown was filled with the energy expanding , then as if you were standing in front of me , the various positions with energy softly expanding. The third eye was throbbing and continued to do so after I felt the transmission was completed. I thought I had been sat for ages, when I felt the process was complete ,I thanked the Reiki Guides and realised it had only been 10 minutes from my sitting to completion.”
Australia

“I went up to bed at 8.45pm and laid down, I felt really warm and fuzzy and went out like a light!!!”
Wiltshire

“I am going thru’ quite a sad time right now and I can feel that this reiju empowerment has given me the courage and strength I need to assist and empower me to walk peacefully thru’ this part of my journey. I could see the shimmering light come down into my crown and spread throughout my whole being, “telling me that all is well, we are with you always dearest one”. Today, there has been a lot of tears and releasing and I “know” that I am being guided out of this mist of despair.”
Scotland

“After a few minutes I felt A great deal of energy, followed by a strong feeling of heat in my solar plexus amd then my heart chakra. I then saw waves of purple and greeny gold coming towards me and breaking over me,my fingers were tingling the whole time, and then it all suddenly stopped.”
Essex

“I became aware of energy at the third eye and a little later on my hands. Then the eye again, then the hands. When all the wonderful buzzing stopped, I got up, and found myself so relaxed and yet so energised. I don’t think I ever felt Reiju this strongly in person, Taggart. It was wonderful. Thanks.”
Cambridgeshire

Worldwide Reiju broadcast

Here is some more feedback from people who tuned themsleves into the real Worldwide Reiju Broadcast which was carried out for the first time in 2002, and continues to this day:

“Had a wonderful experience just now. This morning I printed out your e-zine and thought I would sit and read it later with my cup of tea! I was reading the Distant Reiju section and had just finished section (1). That’s it, bang it came. A flash went through my mind “what day is it? Oh, Monday”. Never got to read section (2). I just put down my papers, put my hands in Gassho and enjoyed it. Wow! It struck me that it must have only just made it into Monday in England, actually I then worked out that it was 1am there. I would love for you to teach me how to do that, I would love to set that up for my students too.”

Karen Loaring, Australia

“I enjoyed the “Monday-Reiju”, thank you for this. Will be back next week again. I could sense every single movement you made and each position, probably because I know how the Reiju is given. I also had a feeling of being connected to Chris Marsh and could see – like in a tunnel – his lineage back to Usui Sensei in the background. I really liked the experience and I did feel a strong energy coming down. Again I had the intuitive feeling of knowing Usui personally, of having been connected before in another life. But maybe that’s just fantasy, don’t know. I am giving Reiki (western style) and Seichem empowerments, Christ Light Ceremonies and more, so I know the taste of quite a few energyfields, different atmospheres, this Reiju was different in so far that it was very much “down to earth”, less sentimental, less deeply touched in the heart (compared to angelic energyfields), a bit like Za Zen or Aikido practice with its centering at the hara/dantien and with the stress on clarity, which in the end is egolessness, nothingness. It activated a conscousness that can be described in Lao Tse’s words: without doing anything nothing is left undone. So the energy did feel more japanese, or what I imagine this to be, compared to western style Reiki.”

Einar Stier, Germany

“Dee and I tuned into your Reiju Empowerment yesterday at about 1:30pm. Dee felt a heaviness & throbbing in her head. She felt a hotness round her neck & coldness on her knees and lower back (she has an inflammation at lower back and hips). She saw a rainbow & had a feeling of peace. I also felt a heaviness & throbbing in my head at first. Then my left eye started twitching and the eye began to water. (I was at the tail end of a three-day migraine with slight pain still hovering on the left hand side above my eye.) I saw a white light and my knees felt cold. My head finally cleared and I have been fine since. Thank you so much, Taggart. I shall be tuning in every Monday. It is such a wonderful idea & so generous of you to do it for us all. We have a monthly Reiki Sharing Group which happens to fall on a Monday at 7:30pm; so if it is all right with you perhaps we could all join in.”

JBB, UK

“I recieved your empowerment today. My hands became burning hot and fingers trembling , they were still in gasso my fingers then seperated and the palms of my hands were pushed outwards as if I was holding a ball. My hands then seperated and turned upwards as if cupping a ball and I felt a slight pressure as if something was being pressed into my hands at this moment I felt a breeze or a breathe on my crown chakra and on my face. My hands then cooled and became my own again. I carried on my meditation and could see a long crude wooden table with men dressed in black robes and wearing what can describe as pill box hats. The one at the end of the table rose and the others leant forward over the table resting their heads on their arms he then lifted his hands over them as if in blessing. Then to my asonishment he said in very plain english, You are ready you may go now, and the men got up and as they did so they faded into the stone walls and I came very quickly out of my meditation.”

Jo Jones, UK

“Thank you for the beautiful Reiju empowerment. I received you reiki e-zine today and then sat in gassho position and tuned in. The energy came immediately and is still with me as I write this. A wave of energy entered the front of my body, in particular Crown, third eye, heart and solar plexus. It immediately reminded me of what I have come to think of as the essence of reiki attunements, that is, a focussed “beingness” and love. I do not yet have the Reiju process, but as I have grown with Reiki, I now understand that intention and willingness are the essential factors in passing Reiki attunements. I sometimes describe the attunement process as the thing you do to keep your mind occupied whilst Reiki does the work. I have often had the urge to just stand behind the person and let the attunement energy pass through me, but I have followed the familiar process anyway! I wonder if this is along the same lines as the Reiju attunement. I also believe, but have yet to test this out that other healing and empowering frequencies are available in this way, without necessarily having symbols, although symbols, to me, are like transpersonal anchors to particular states of resonance. In other words, they certainly help make a swift connection. I shall wait until it feels right to learn the Japanese techniques – it’s “on the back burner” for now! I can now feel a wave of energy gently working its way down through my body. I feel set up for the rest of the day ahead. Thank you again. It’s good to see another who is taking an open and sharing approach to Reiki. Good luck and God bless!”

Dawn Salter, UK

“Thank you taggart for the reiju empowerment sent last Monday. It felt as though you were standing in the room behind me with your hands above my head. As soon as I said I was ready to receive the empowerment my head started fizzing and vibrating, then it spread down the back of my neck and shoulders. It was so intense it felt like my head was going to explode! Afterwards I felt so relaxed and at peace. What a wonderful way to start the week! love and light,”

Natalie Day, UK

“Hi taggart, yesterdays empowerment was as spectacular as the first one!”

Natalie Day, UK

“I have tuned in every week since I received your Feb. eZine. Each week, after doing Hatsu Rei Ho, I have felt a presence in front of me and tingling and pressure around my head, particularly crown, and sometimes pressure at the 3rd eye. I also see beautiful pink colours. It seems to happen more or less straightaway after I ask to receive the empowerment from you. It stops after a few minutes. Simply magical! Thanks Taggart!”

Shirley Climpson, UK

“We tuned into your empowerment yesterday evening and could definately feel that it worked. We both felt energy flowing down through our crowns, with tingling & a heavy weight on our shoulders and necks. I felt a lot of heat mainly in the heart chakra area. Michelle said her hands began to tingle like the first time you attuned her, in the centre of her palms. We both agreed that it lasted more than a few minutes, I’d say about 10 minutes. We were very light headed afterwards & felt sort of drunk but in a nice way. Anyway, thank you very much Taggart, & we willl look forward to next Monday’s Reiju! Love from,”

Suzanne & Michelle, Spain

“At about 5.30pm I sat down and cleared my mind and very soon felt as though someone was standing behind me with hands around the side of my head, massaging my brow chakra. This continued for a few minutes and then I felt as if that ‘person’ was standing on my right side, with a hand on my forehead and another on the rear of my head. This again continued for a short while and felt good. During this time I was aware of the usual sensation in my hands which continued after I opened my eyes – again for a short while. I must admit I was a bit heady for a few moments after opening my eyes – but having said that, I had a comfortable feeling of strength. Thanks.”

Gavin Morrice, UK

What was it like for you?

Leave a message below to let us know what you noticed when receiving your distant empowerment.

It would be great to hear from you…

Author: Taggart King
Picture credit: L’Ubuesque Boîte à Savon

Guest blog: “Champ”, the rescued Jindo

January 3, 2013animal reiki, distant healing, reiki treatmentsreiki treatmentstaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

I thought you might be interested to read this blog, written by Valerie Mann, from Maryland…

“I have been a Reiki Master/Teacher in Fruitland, Maryland for about six years. It has been my pleasure to see any number of positive results with Reiki. However, when something which seems almost miraculous happens, I still feel a sense of wonder. This was the case with Champ, the rescued Jindo dog in Texas. This breed is not very well known in this country, as they are from Korea and many of them live on the West Coast. However, my good friend Jim Harvey of Flower Mound, Texas, who had one of the biggest hearts in the whole world when it came to animals, fostered Champ. Jim also had two of his own Jindo dogs as well as several others that he fostered and a total of seven cats. Champ had had a very rough start in life. He was originally found chained to a tree at the end of a dirt road in east Texas. All in all, there were over 60 dogs on the property, all living in appalling conditions with very little if any food, water or shelter.

“A regional dog rescue group stepped up and got all the dogs out of there and Champ ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah. That was just a temporary arrangement and he was soon back in Texas living with Jim, who was very protective of Champ, due to the fact that he had had such a terrible life to date. Needless to say, he was devastated when he found a tumor on Champ’s chest. It just seemed to be too much bad luck for any one dog. Fortunately, the vet said that the tumor was not malignant but that it would never go way.

“Jim and I talked on the phone several times about Champ’s condition. I could tell he was still worried and mentioned my Reiki background and how I seen and heard about some dramatic healings. In fact, a friend of mine actually was able to use Reiki to remove a tumor from her own dog. So I told Jim that I would give it a try. I set in place distant Reiki, but also put the request in my master crystal grid that the tumor would shrink. I could tell that Jim, a former Marine and construction supervisor, was open to the idea, believe it or not.

“Lo and behold, Jim called me within two days and said that it had shrunk to about half of its size. It had originally been about the size of a very large walnut and was now the size of a relatively small grape. We had a jubilant telephone conversation about this and really rejoiced. Keep in mind Champ was receiving no treatment whatsoever for this tumor. Another two days went by and the tumor had shrunk to the size of a pea. Jim is now beside himself. I think that between the two of us we developed some substantial positive healing energy which really amplified the Reiki and made it much more active than it would otherwise have been.

“At this point, I remembered that I had put in the Reiki grid the request that the tumor shrink. Intuitively, I knew that I would have to change what I had written on the grid in order for the tumor to completely disappear. I therefore changed the description on the grid to say Champ’s tumor would completely disappear. The very next day, it did disappear. This sold Jim on Reiki. He asked me on a more or less regular basis to send Reiki to various pets that needed it. I remember once sending Reiki energy to his back and having him call me asking if I was sending Reiki at that time because he was feeling beautiful warmth in his back.

“Sadly, Jim died suddenly at home in June of this year. He had no family or close friends in the area so his body was not found for about two weeks. All of the animals survived, except for the oldest cat who died several days after she got to the shelter. She just refused to eat. Champ eventually was adopted by a wonderful family in Tennessee and has the most wonderful life now. If anybody deserves it, it is he. I wanted to tell this story to keep it alive because it was a watershed moment in the life of my friend as well as myself. I know Jim would have been very happy to see Champ finally settled and completely healthy.”

Valerie Mann

http://manifestinganewlife.wordpress.com/

The Ten Rules of Reiki: in one paragraph…

November 9, 2012ten rules of reikitaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

Some of you may have been following my “Ten rules of Reiki” posts in recent weeks, but for those who haven’t, if I was going to try and sum up the ten rules of Reiki in just a few sentences, I would say this: to get the most out of your Reiki, I recommend that you make a commitment to yourself to work on yourself daily in some way as your top priority, but not beating yourself up if you miss the occasional day. Use energy exercises, self-treat, focus on the precepts regularly and drip-feed mindfulness into your daily activities and routines. 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 things simple. Reiki works best when it’s simple.

Here are the rules again:

“The Ten Rules of Reiki” MP3s

“The Ten Rules of Reiki” will help Reiki practitioners and Masters from all lineages to deepen their experience of this wonderful energy we work with.

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International Reiki Master Teacher Taggart King has over 20 years of experience in helping people to embrace Reiki healing as a way of life, using the energy to change things for the better on many levels.

During that time he has crafted a number of principles which, when adopted, can really move your experience of the energy onto the next level, principles that feed into and permeate the Reiki Evolution way of teaching.

On this hour-long audio collection you’ll hear Taggart talking about each principle in turn, why they are important and how to implement them in your life with Reiki.

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Author: Taggart King

The Ten Rules of Reiki: Rule #10

November 2, 2012ten rules of reikitaggart@reiki-evolution.co.uk

Ignore silly rules and restrictions

Another problem with thinking too much is that we can start to overcomplicate something that is a very simple and a very safe way of helping ourselves and helping other people to change things for the better. And if we think too much, and particularly if we start to worry too much – and I have to say that there is something in the Reiki precepts about worry – we end up with people speculating about potential dangers, imaginary dangers, problems that have no basis in anyone’s experience, and we start to limit our practice of Reiki.

And you can see that in different lineages, where students are taught long lists of situations where they shouldn’t use Reiki, people that they shouldn’t treat, things that they have to do, or should always do, or should never do, and many of these restrictions and limitations are just complete nonsense, completely divorced from reality.

And students take these teaching on in good faith, and pass them on to their students when they become teachers, never questioning whether what they were taught has any basis in fact or experience.

Reiki contraindications

So what restrictions do we have careering around the world of Reiki?

You shouldn’t treat people who are wearing contact lenses
You shouldn’t treat people who have cancer
You shouldn’t treat babies
You shouldn’t treat people who have a broken bone
You shouldn’t treat pregnant women
You shouldn’t treat people with high blood pressure
You shouldn’t treat people who have pacemakers
You shouldn’t treat diabetics
You shouldn’t treat people who are stressed.

This is nonsense and has no basis because Reiki is a safe and nurturing energy that gives people what they need.

So, where is the evidence that using Reiki makes people’s pacemakers explode? Where is the research paper that proves this? Or even if there isn’t a research paper, where are the anecdotes, where it is clear that Reiki messed up a pacemaker?

Where is the evidence? There is none.

Where is the evidence that you shouldn’t treat people who are stressed?

Good grief this is nonsense isn’t it?

Some people are taught that you shouldn’t treat clients with cancer because the Reiki will ‘feed the cancer’. OK, where’s the evidence? And also, since everyone listening to this track has some cancer cells in their body, cells that have gone wrong and which are mopped up routinely by our immune system, we shouldn’t be treating anyone, including ourselves!

It would be a death sentence.

Some people are taught that they shouldn’t treat pregnant women. OK, where’s the evidence that Reiki is dangerous? There is none, of course. But because sometimes women can be pregnant without knowing it yet, particularly in the early stages, if you believe that Reiki is dangerous to pregnant women then you should be refusing to treat any woman of childbearing age just to make sure that you’re not treating someone who might be pregnant.

And if you’re attuned to Reiki yourself, then of course you would need to make sure that you never had children.

It’s all about worrying too much

What all these rules and restrictions do is to introduce into Reiki something that Reiki is designed to ease: worry, worry about what’s going to happen, restricting what we do ‘just to be on the safe side’, all based on wild and feverish imaginings that are passed on from teacher to student.

Well, Reiki is bigger than that and need not be restricted.

And another area where Reiki does not need to be restricted is in terms of what we are told that we have to do in order to work with Reiki.

There are Reiki people out there who have been taught a fifteen-stage process or ritual that they need to go through before they start a Reiki treatment. If they don’t get it right, well they’ve been told that it isn’t going to work properly and so they worry about that, as you would, but of course such rituals are optional: you don’t have to go through a 15-stage process before you give someone a Reiki treatment.

Someone somewhere made up the ritual and then it’s ended up being passed on to people as gospel, as dogma.

There are some Reiki people out there who have been taught that they have to draw the Reiki symbols on their palms every day because if they don’t then the symbols won’t work for them. People are told that you have to draw the three Reiki symbols over your palms before you give someone a treatment, or that you have to draw the three symbols over every hand position that you use.

Reiki is very simple, you know

You plonk your hands on someone, shut your eyes if you like, and the energy flows.

Much more than that is really gilding the lily.

And I know that some rituals can be useful: they help you to focus your attention, they help you to focus your intent in a particular way, and some people like rituals and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But we should remember that Reiki is a very simple system, it works brilliantly without clutter, and if we use processes and visualisations and set phrases, we should remember that these are actually optional, not compulsory.

We can experiment and find our own comfortable way with the energy, different from the way that other people work, and that’s fine.

About the 10 Rules

The Ten Rules of Reiki were put together by Taggart King as a helpful guide to getting the most out of your Reiki.

If you like what you’ve read, Taggart has a wealth of Reiki resources for you to use to get the very best out of your Reiki.

Read comprehensive manuals, listen to audio CDs or MP3s and follow special guided meditations.

Click below for more info:

You can even use all these resources for your own Reiki students: Click for ordering manuals and CDs at discounted rates.

“The Ten Rules of Reiki” MP3s

“The Ten Rules of Reiki” will help Reiki practitioners and Masters from all lineages to deepen their experience of this wonderful energy we work with.

Learn important Reiki principles that take your practice to the next level

On this hour-long audio collection you’ll hear Taggart talking about each principle in turn, why they are important and how to implement them in your life with Reiki.

Price: £12.98

Author: Taggart King
Picture Credit: U.S. Army