Some Thoughts on Universal Practices of Reiki Practitioners

One of issues that arises frequently in the Reiki World is that everybody is doing something different and calling it Reiki.  So I thought I'd mention some points that I feel are universal to most Reiki practitioners, not only for validation and confirmation for Reiki Practitioners, but to educate the public when they are considering having Reiki sessions.

Setting An Intention: It's a good idea before you start a Reiki session that either your client mentally sets an intention for what they would like to be the results of the session, or that you and the client set an intention out loud before they perform a Reiki session in their space. I used to have my clients just set it mentally, but now we set it together and I feel it is much more powerful.

Phantom Hands: Occasionally a client will report feeling other hands on them other than yours during a session, or feeling like your hands are still in the area you were just in but you've moved to a different area. Some practitioners refer to this phenomenon as "phantom hands". Many of us were taught and believe that there are Spirit Guides, Angels, Archangels, Ascended Masters (Jesus, Mother Mary, Quan Yin, Buddha, etc.) working side by side with us when we channel or run Reiki. Explaining this to your client can be tricky if they are not into "woo woo" stuff , so you'll have to decide who is comfortable with this explanation and who isn't.
Setting Sacred Space:
It is the job of every Reiki practitioner to make sure that the space they perform their healing work in has been cleared of negative, lower vibrational energies, etc., before they start each healing session and after. There are a myriad of ways to do this, either involving smudging with sage or some kind of incense, or using specific Reiki symbols that are drawn in the air in all the corners, walls, ceiling and floor of the room.

Disconnecting from Your Client after the Session: There is an energetic cord established between the practitioner and the client  as the practitioner's and the client's energy fields merge during the session. After the session, this cord needs to be severed. You can do several things to accomplish this:  Running cold water over your hands, even up to your elbows after they've gone, or do a ritual called "Dry Brushing" or "Kenyoku", or place your hands on yourself somewhere and just run Reiki for about 10-15 minutes. You can also smudge yourself if you know how to do that.

Grounding Your Client at the end of the Session: Offering a glass of water right after you get your client sitting up when their session is over is pretty standard procedure.  It grounds them (they might be pretty spacey after the session, especially if they were sleeping through most of it). You may also offer them some chocolate or have them hold some grounding crystals, but you never let them just stand right up immediately after the session, they might fall or stumble.

Instructions for After Their Session:  Reiki is detoxifying, so it's a good idea to instruct your client to drink lots of extra fluids after their session  for the next 48-72 hours to help move those toxins along through the system.   Also many people say that the night after having a Reiki session they sleep better than they have in a long time and may have vivid dreams.

There are a lot more of this little "tips" I could put up here, but I think I'll save them for the next article!

HOW TO USE A REIKI BOX

Sending Distant Reiki Healing to those in need is part and parcel of being a Reiki Practitioner and this skill is learned in Level II traditionally of Usui Reiki.  I recently got asked about how it's done and when I looked it up on Google I found a lot of what I considered to be false, misleading or just plain wrong information and explanations.  Some people say that there are always many ways to do the same thing, and in the Reiki world that is true of almost everything about it.  So I just wanted to put it out there what I was taught and how I do it and teach it.  

Find a box that would be suitable to hold small pieces of paper and also that you will be able to hold in your hand comfortably.  A stationary or greeting card box works well or small wooden jewelry box.  You can decorate your box anyway you like – paint it, glue on small stones or shells, put glitter on it, glue pictures to it, cut out pictures of the Reiki Symbols from the internet and paste those on or draw or paint your own and glue them on it, whatever you feel drawn to do with your box – make it yours, get creative!

Begin by writing the persons name that you wish to send Reiki to (first name, last initial) on a small piece of paper, along with a brief description of the situation that you are sending Reiki for, and their location if you have it, and who asked for the Reiki to be sent if they didn't.  Date the piece of paper in the upper right hand corner.

Whether you’re sending Reiki out to one person or multiple people the formula is the same. Connect to Reiki in whatever way your teacher has instructed you to do so and place the piece of paper in your non-dominant hand. Then draw the Power Symbol, the Mental/Emotional Symbol and the Distance Symbol, in that order above the paper, saying their mantras 3 times while visualizing them and then send Reiki into the paper by hovering your dominant hand above it about two to three inches, and send Reiki through the symbols into the paper.

When you sense that the process is complete, place the paper into the box.  If you’re doing more than one "sending" (meaning sending Reiki to one person), do the same to all the other pieces of paper and place them all in the box, one at a time.  Then close the box, place it in your non-dominant hand, draw all those Reiki symbols over the box  again and Reiki the box as described above (a 5-15 minute process).  Repeat for seven days, and at the end of seven days, take out the papers and re-evaluate the situations.

If more Reiki is required after the 7 days, simply change the date on the paper and start the process again. If their situation has improved or healed, burn the pieces of paper or shred them.

You can have as many pieces of paper in the box as you want, or as few.  Just remember to check the dates often and remove those that have been in the box for over a week and you feeel their situations have improved or healed,  and burn or shred them. I feel it is very important to burn the requests afterwards.  It solidifies the process and is more respectful to the situation that just tossing the papers into the trash.  I also feel that burning it has further healing effect, seals in the healing energy possible or sends one last major shot of energy out to them!

                                                

YOUR TRIBE

So many of my students, Reiki friends and even some of my clients voice their despair often about not having anyone to talk to about Reiki and all the other cool modalities that typically go hand and hand with Reiki and Spiritual Growth like Crystal Healing, Meditation, Shamanic Journeying, Essential Oils, etc.

Finding ones TRIBE is so necessary and so needed among Lightworkers on the planet right now.  If your family members and friends make fun of or patronize you around the things that you love, that light you up, or worse, it makes for a lonely journey.

Finding a teacher who holds regular Reiki Shares/Circles is one way to help you connect with like minded individuals and to have a save space to talk about all your awesome experiences, ask questions, answer a question for someone else, or maybe strike up a friendship so you two can regular chat on the phone or met for coffee/tea, or do trades.

Maybe forming a group of your own for just discussion?  Find your tribe!  Feel accepted and understood!!!!!!!!!!!

IF REIKI IS AN INTELLIGENT ENERGY, WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE INTELLIGENCE?

I just took a two day class in another healing modality. They asked that we practice the techniques we learned in class without incorporating any other healing modalities. Well, this a big problem if you are Reiki.

Reiki activates (as we call it  "turns on") whenever we touch another person or ourselves with the intention of healing happening, whether or not we've consciously perforated any ritual or commanded it to do so. It just turns on.

Reiki is said to be an intelligent energy, so we can surmise that it has somehow made the determination that when we place our hands on another body for the purpose of healing, it activates. But what or who is the entity involved behind Reiki that is making this determination?  

Two of my students that have been retrained by me and were originally trained by someone else, claim that they can just walk by an ailing individuals room (they are both nurses) and they will suddenly became very aware that Reiki has turned on and is flowing strongly from their hands (possible whole body) to the patient in that room. This flips them out, and I can't say I blame them.  They have no control over what's taking place, which is very disconcerting as you can imagine. I mentioned that they were originally trained by someone else for a reason. They feel that whatever the other person did when she attuned them, caused them to have this issue.  However, occasionally one of the students I have trained mentions this happening to them too.  It doesn't happen for me though.

So what's going on here?  We just don't know. I did hear a rumor once that Reiki has some ties with crossed over spirits/souls, as far fetched as that sounds. One of the translations of the Japanese kanji characters for Reiki mentions "spirit directed" energy.  So maybe those spirits involved in the Reiki system are making the determination to have it come on?

Many of us say prayers or invocations when we are about to perform a Reiki session to call in the Spirit Guides, Angels, Archangels, Ascended Masters or other enlightened beings (even Mother Father God for some), who work with us when we channel Reiki to be present to assist us, protect us and guide the session. So there is some kind of link to the world of spirits that I mentioned earlier .

I can't fathom any other explanation. Could energy just have an intelligence of it's on?  How? 

HOW TO STAY FOCUSED WHEN CHANNELING REIKI

The other day I wrote an article on the need to stay focused when you are channeling Reiki for someone. Then I realized I didn't explain just how to do so, so here is my attempt to do just that.

If you meditate you will be able to grasp this immediately, if you don't, you might want to consider taking it up. When you sit in formal mediation you focus your mind on something like the breath, a sound or a word or phrase (mantra). I'm not talking about visualization meditation, that is very different and is not considered "formal" meditation. It's nice for relaxation, etc, but very different results wise. 

As you sit there trying to focus the mind on a singular thing, you will begin to notice that the "mind" takes you off somewhere: to the phone call you just had, the laundry list of things you need to do after you meditate, a memory from the past, and a zillion other things. That's the job of the mind, to create thought - 24/7. Your job in meditation is to bring the focus of your thoughts/mind back to the object of your meditation (breath/sound/mantra). Thich Knat Hanh (famous Vietnamese Buddhist Monk who published many books and CD's, Dvd's on Mindfulness Meditation) stated that bringing the mind back to the focus of your meditation 1,000 times is meditation.

So you see, this is not an easy task. But just as in meditation, when you are channeling Reiki for someone and sitting there trying to focus on what is going on in your hands, under your hands, in the receiver's body and what you are feeling, seeing, and knowing, you are in a constant struggle with the mind that wants to take you off to your vacation plans, the news, your aches and pains, struggles with your marriage, etc.,etc.etc). So your goal is to keep coming back to your hands, to their body, to the feelings, to the guidance, over, and over and over. 

I have been aware for a long time (I've been doing Reiki professionally for over a decade) that I enter very deep meditative states when I channel Reiki, because I AM FOCUSED and stay focused. Yes, my mind does wander, that is to be expected, but the moment that I am aware of it, I bring my awareness back to my receiver, my hands and what I'm feeling, sensing and knowing.

One of the many benefits from doing this is that it is much more likely that you will receive guidance during the session as you focus and quiet your mind - only when you quiet the mind can you hear guidance, a well known fact.

CAN'T JUST LET YOUR MIND WANDER

Yesterday a client of mine contacted me for a Reiki session appointment. She lives over an hour away and winters are deadly in Wisconsin, so she's been seeing locals for Reiki. Her chief complaint about them is she just knows they may have their hands on her body intending to be channeling Reiki for her, but their minds are not in the room.

I cannot tell you how disappointed and disgusted I am to hear this. A practitioner who does this sort of thing is likely to have been poorly trained, or just don't get it at all. When we are channeling Reiki for our clients we need to be absolutely focused on what we're doing. THIS IS PARAMOUNT AND A ABSOLUTE MUST. 

First of all both she and I are highly Intuitive. We're going to know if you are not focused on the task at hand. We're going to know that the session is inferior and we're getting ripped off.  How? You have to focusing on what's going on in your hands, under your hands, what's going on with your client, and what you are "hearing", "seeing", "knowing" and "feeling" in order to give your client the maximum experience that they are paying you for. You can't do that if you are sitting their thinking of a laundry list of stuff you are going to do after the session, or tomorrow or the next day, or the argument you just had with your kids, friend or partner, or how bored you are just sitting there with your hands on a body.

Your job as a practitioner is to be "totally" there for your client. Again, either you were trained improperly and this wasn't stressed enough, or you're just lazy and don't get the importance of this. You need to be able to report back to your client what you were experiencing during the session, and what you were aware of they were experiencing, and be open to any guidance you are getting on where your hands needs to be, what symbols you need to be using, etc., and if you are an Intuitive, what kind of spiritual guidance you are receiving. All of which you cannot get or do when you are checked out! 

IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE?

When I became Reiki, meaning I was attuned to Reiki and took all the classes, I was taught and teach even now that the Reiki symbols are sacred and therefore should not be shared with anyone that is not Reiki.  They can't do anything with them anyway - only those who are connected to them in the Reiki attunements are able to access their power, but that is not the point. 

Diane Stein in her book "Essential Reiki"  was the first person to openly display them for all to see, angering and disgusting the Reiki world.  Now you can find them openly on Google, also as GIF's and Meme's, and in many books on Reiki, as well as how to perform the attunements, something even more unethical and disrespectful than just making the symbols public.

In my opinion, this is nothing but blatant greed and self aggrandizement - profiting off of the sale of the sacred and secret knowledge of Reiki for noting but your gain.  It has nothing to do with the "oh let's share everything with everybody for the good of planet" do gooder's. Yes we need to get the word out about Reiki to help everyone heal and the planet, but this has nothing to do with that - not at all - anything to make a buck -  ANYTHING!

When did this attitude and behavior become the norm and acceptable conduct for anyone who claims to be a Reiki Practitioner?  Just another sad state of affairs that we are finding ourselves in in many countries all across the globe, from stealing public lands and peoples savings, to slaughtering endangered species and posting pics of yourself on Facebook with their carcasses  ANYTHING TO MAKE A BUCK. ANYTHING - nothing is sacred, nothing is respected, and to hell with ethics and morality.

Surely Dr. Usui is turning over in his grave.