Landing at Birmingham airport from Madrid last month I noticed
a feeling of arriving home. I had spent 10 days with other Reiki masters
who have all completed a 3 year course called 'Responding with Compassion' with
Phyllis Furumoto. Reflecting on the time
away I realised that I had experienced a similar feeling of coming home when I arrived
- except that in that case 'home' was not a place, but the energy of a group of
people. I felt I could be myself there,
knowing I would be welcomed and accepted.
Some people in the group have
been friends for many years, others I didn't know. However I felt a connection with everyone and
this deepened as we explored authentic communication together on our shared
Reiki path. Some of this communication
happened without words: each afternoon we exchanged Reiki treatments, sharing our
common practice, at home with each other.
I experienced a similar feeling of being at home during my
pilgrimage in Japan last year. When we
visited Mount Kurama, where Mikao Usui meditated, Phyllis suggested we made our
first visit the mountain alone. We had
plenty of time to climb to the top and either return the same way or go down
the other side, returning a different way.
The way up the mountain has well built paths, shrines and temples,
surrounded by trees. Above the large
Buddhist temple near the top of the mountain is a wilder area, with a small
shrine and spring among trees. The path
down from there is rough and less well built.
You feel much more as if you are in the wild place where bears and deer
live! I chose to return by this route
and enjoyed the feeling of being connected with nature.
When I arrived back at the hotel at dusk, Phyllis greeted me
with the words "Welcome home!".
I responded immediately " thank you - but I've been home all day!". After these words jumped out of my mouth I
realised their truth: walking on the mountain, being present to everything
around me, I had indeed had a feeling of being at home. Even though I was in a land very far from my
own, among people who spoke a language I didn't understand, I felt the same
connection with nature and Reiki as I experience at home in Shropshire.
Many people have described a feeling of coming home when
they receive the initiations during the 1st degree Reiki class. Similar feelings are also experienced through Reiki practice and when people who have
learned Reiki come together.
I believe it is a sign of coming home to our essence - the
deepest part of ourselves that is connected with our fullest potential and connects
us with all that surrounds us. My experience is that the most important
aspect of this is to welcome this part of myself, let go of self judgement and to
trust my intuition.
My friend and fellow Reiki master Elaine Andres put it
beautifully in her poem "Home" when she said:
"Home is a place of welcome
a place where I am received
just as I am without judgment.
Where I am loved
without any need to be different
a place where I am trusted to find my own way
to create my own path in my own time."
a place where I am received
just as I am without judgment.
Where I am loved
without any need to be different
a place where I am trusted to find my own way
to create my own path in my own time."
(Read the rest of the poem at the bottom of
the page here: http://reikihome.org/)
