What a Difference An Hour Can Make

This month theatre director Peter Brook died at the age of 97.  I first encountered his work way back in the 1980s and found it a deeply moving experience.  He had a way of bringing forth performances from the actors and telling stories that touch my soul.  I feel that seeing the production he directed all those years ago was a significant moment in my spiritual growth.  I started my own theatre company, influenced by his work and had Reiki not come into my life some while later, I might still be doing it.

In fact, I can see that Peter Brook’s work was a part of my Reiki path and I learned the importance of lineage from him.  He was talking about martial arts, but I realised it also applied to Reiki once I encountered it – not that I was looking to learn a Reiki style with lineage, it just happened, but when I did, I appreciated the way lineage is also held as important in the form of Reiki I learned.

 

While I was down in London for a CNHC meeting a few years ago I took the opportunity to go to the National Theatre to see “The Prisoner” a play he co- wrote and directed.   Knowing what wonderful work he created, I was keen to see it and was not disappointed.  It only lasted just over an hour and I felt different when I came out to how I was when I went in.  It struck me that this is what a Reiki treatment can be like – it too only lasts an hour but it can be an hour that changes my outlook on life, restores peace of mind and gives me a similar deep sense that ‘all is well’.  Somehow this hour watching the play also gave me a re-connection with my soul and as a result a feeling of deep contentment and safety.  It also reflected some of my understanding about my Reiki path.

The play spoke about themes that I am familiar with through my Reiki practice: the need to take responsibility for our actions, the struggle to be the best person we can be and the need to keep doing the practice.  In the story a man is told he must sit in front of a prison to atone for his crime – nothing is keeping him there except his own conscience.  It is difficult because he has little to live on and people keep telling him to go away.  After 10 years his Uncle, who told him to stay there, comes and says that he can see that he’s established a life for himself and managed to survive, but that now the work really begins: he must go deeper.

This reminds me of how I began my Reiki practice, needing to have the self-discipline to treat myself daily and receive treatments from others.  It was sometimes difficult and uncomfortable as well as pleasant.  After a number of years, however, it became easier because I got into a routine, it’s almost automatic.  It’s at that point that the work really started because that’s when I needed to go deeper with the exploration.  Perhaps this is why it is recommended in our system that masters should wait 10 years before beginning to initiate masters and that similarly that it may take 10 years for students to prepare for mastery.

At the end of the play the ‘prisoner’ knows that he is free to leave, just as at the time of the initiation as a master, both the student and their master know that this is the right time.

The play was just 1 hour and 10 minutes, a Reiki treatment can be the same time: what a difference such a small amount of time can make!

Equilibrium and Equanimity

Having normal life disrupted by illness is something I have experienced before: when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.  This diagnosis put limitations on my life that I recognised were necessary if I was going to be well.  I needed to change my diet, take more exercise and manage my stress levels better.  This experience has been useful during the Covid-19 outbreak.

My life, and that of everyone around me, has been disrupted by this coronavirus.  I too have experienced trauma, stress and grieving from this situation.  Fortunately, thus far neither I nor any of my family have caught it, for which I am very grateful.  Life is comfortable when it proceeds with an expected routine.  When this routine is disrupted, for whatever reason, there can be a feeling of loss of control, which for most humans is uncomfortable, frightening and painful.

Although for 5 years I have managed my diabetes successfully, this has been by controlling what I eat, exercising and managing stress, which has not been easy to maintain during this time.  For a few weeks my sugar balance was challenged: a normal response to stress is wanting to eat more sweet things and the pandemic has certainly caused a rise in stress! Fortunately, being aware of this, I was able to make certain choices that soon returned my blood sugar to normal levels.  

One thing I can remain in control of is my Reiki practice, which has helped me to maintain my equilibrium and equanimity.  My daily self-treatment offers a time of tranquillity, stillness, calm and rest which helps my body and mind to relax, lowering the stress hormone levels, making it easier to sleep and heal.

Painful emotions that are natural when grieving.  A common response is to try to suppress them, but this can lead to imbalance.  I find that Reiki helps to find a healthy balance with these emotions.  So sometimes I do cry or shout, a necessary release that helps me to re-gain my equilibrium.  With Reiki it feels safe to feel my feelings and, from past experience of similar releases, I know I won’t get lost in the emotion, it will simply pass like a storm of rain.

My Reiki practice also includes a life philosophy that I have found helpful.  The Reiki principles bring me back to the present moment, enable me to acknowledge the emotions and thoughts that threaten my equanimity and remind me to give my attention to things around me that will lift my spirits and comfort my soul: family, community and nature.

Enshrined in Reiki practice are two qualities named by the Japanese as ‘shoganai’ and ‘shibu’.  Shogania means accept what can’t be changed, it can’t be helped.  By bringing me into the present, Reiki helps this process of acceptance, releasing me from the anxiety and sense of loss that is caused by wondering what will happen next, when ‘normal’ life might resume and how I might survive financially.  I simply accept that this is how it is and know that I am safe.  I count my blessings as Takata suggested and take things a day at a time.

This enables ‘shibu’: the enjoyment of simple things in life.  Reiki practice is essentially simple, helping me to learn and practice shibu, so that as I take my daily walk during lockdown, I notice and appreciate the wonders of Spring: bluebells, buzzing bees, bright green leaves and soaring swallows.  These things lift my spirits and ease my stress, restoring my equilibrium and equanimity.   

There are always times when life doesn’t go as we hope or expect, so I am finding in the current situation a wonderful opportunity to develop my ability to maintain equilibrium and equanimity, and thereby my health and vitality, in the face of any challenging time, with gratitude for my Reiki practice. 

First Community Reiki Clinic in Ludlow

This month I ran the first community Reiki clinic in Ludlow.  Having booked the room and put out publicity and a request for practitioners to help at first I had no response, so imagined myself sitting alone in a room with an empty treatment couch.  However I'm happy to say this was not the reality!

I was delighted when two of my students got in touch to say they would come and help give treatments.  On the day one of them had a cold, so very sensibly decided not to come, so that she wouldn't pass it on.  So there were two of us giving the treatments.  I had decided on a time that would follow on from the community lunch that is held at Rockspring Community Centre in Ludlow, thinking that some of those who came for the lunch might also enjoy a Reiki treatment to follow. 

Following the model of other Reiki clinics around the world we scheduled 30 minute sessions for each person.  The room was booked for 2 hours, so with the two of us giving treatment together this meant we could do 4 treatments. 

Then the day before I received a phone call from one person to say he wanted to book a treatment at the clinic.  He had seen a poster at Rockspring while there for the community lunch.  So I was pleased to go

along for our inaugural session knowing that there would be 2 of us to do the treatments and at least one person to receive.

Jean and I set up the room and I put up notices around the centre to help people find us.  Before our due start time two more people turned up - a woman from my Singing for Lung Health group and her husband.  As our 1st customer had booked his session for 1.30 pm we treated one of them at 1 pm and the other had to wait until after the other treatment - they were able to watch the treatments as they waited.

As we were treating the first customers two more people came!  This posed a slight problem as we were supposed to finish at 3 pm, which left only one further 30 minute session.  However I was able to extend our time (and Rockspring had kindly given us use of the room free for this first session) so that we could offer a treatment to everyone who came.  They too waited patiently and quietly, observing the other treatments.

It made me realise that more practitioners are needed to offer treatments, so that we can be doing 2 or 3 at once and therefore offer Reiki to more people.  Three of those who came this month have already booked to come again next month which leaves only one appointment available if we only have 2 practitioners again!

So 5 people who had never received a Reiki treatment before had the opportunity to do so and all said that they enjoyed the experience.  Although this session was free, several of them also wished to make a donation, so we have a month's room rent in hand going forwards.  This means that we can offer lower cost treatments without a concern about making a loss.

So if you are a Reiki student, whether 1st or 2nd degree, and can get to Ludlow on a Thursday afternoon to help with the community clinic your hands will be most welcome!  It's good practice and you will hopefully learn from the experience as well as offering the wonderful gift of a Reiki treatment to people who need it.