Home Again

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."

(Read the rest of the poem at the bottom of the page here: http://reikihome.org/)