The Value of Rest

 One of the great benefits of Reiki is that it encourages us to rest.  Reiki treatment, whether self-treatment, hands on or distant, is not generally received while doing something else or rushing around.  We are encouraged to lie down or sit for thirty minutes to an hour to receive the treatment.  One of the people I regularly send distant Reiki to commented that if nothing else it means she lies down and rests for half an hour.

We need to rest because it is during the body’s resting state that we heal, both physically and mentally.  When we are in a stressful state most of our energy is diverted away from our immune system and other important bodily functions such as digestion, to make energy available for fighting for our lives or running away.  When your life is at stake you have no time to digest a steak!  At a time when we need our immune systems to be strong in the face of the novel coronavirus, it is therefore more important than ever that we remain as much as possible in the resting state.

Sleep is the obvious time we rest and quality of sleep also matters.  A stressful day can cause poor sleep, because there is an echo of any daytime rise in adrenaline (the stress hormone) during the night, which can cause us to wake up and possibly find it difficult to go back to sleep.  We need a certain amount of deep sleep during each night, which is

the time when repair of the body mostly occurs.  We also need to dream, which is healing for the mind.  To strengthen my immune system, I always prioritise getting the best sleep I can and I find having Reiki in my hands very helpful for this.  I know that many of my students practice their self-treatment at bed-time because it helps them to drift easily into sleep (they often report falling asleep before finishing the hand position sequence).  Those who wake in the night also find that it is beneficial to be able to give themselves Reiki which, if it doesn’t help them go back to sleep, is at least healing.

It is important to ensure rest for the mind too.  Modern life is full of distractions that keep our minds busy even when we think we are relaxing.  Many people find it difficult to stop checking emails or social media on their phones.  TV programmes that are violent or where the characters undergo emotional stress, especially if it resonates with our own experience, will get our stress hormones flowing, even though we are slouched on the sofa.  This is not real rest.

Some people turn to mindfulness practices or meditation to help to relax their mind.  Reiki is often described as bringing peace of mind, with many people finding it calms their thinking effortlessly.  I remember the first time I experienced this in the early days of grieving for my father, whose sudden and unexpected death certainly caused me a high level of stress.  The first full Reiki treatment I received helped me to relax and bring my mind out of the stressful state into the resting phase.  I could not recall ever feeling so calm and peaceful.  It was wonderful!

Lockdown has offered some people a chance to rest, but for some this situation is creating more stress.  I hope you are able to find some time to rest and perhaps Reiki can help.

"Gathering a bouquet at full gallop"

After a holiday by the seaside I am feeling refreshed and enjoyed having time and space to simply be, instead of rushing to make the next deadline.  My life is full of many things:  Reiki treatments and teaching, singing groups, family and keeping the house and garden in order.  There is always something to be done!  I often find I am busy just about every day of the week.  The holiday reminded me how important it is to stop once in a while and have time to re-connect with myself and nature.  There’s a Chinese proverb that describes this perfectly: “It’s like trying to gather a bouquet at full gallop”.

To gather a beautiful bouquet, it is necessary to take time, to look carefully and consider what flowers to include.   This can’t be done when moving at speed.  It’s necessary therefore to slow down, take time and be more present.  This is something that can be quite a challenge in modern life, with all its distractions from computers, phones and other people!

While I usually start my day with a peaceful time giving myself Reiki, I often don’t pause for the rest of the day.  With an ever-increasing list of ‘things to do’ it is tempting to just keep going.  What Reiki has taught me, however, is that for my health and well-being I need to make space and have pauses.

I heard recently about how in the midst of the busiest Japanese cities there are temples and shrines that people visit regularly.  I encountered this myself when I visited Kyoto last year.  On my last day there I was exploring a busy shopping street and saw an entrance to a Shinto shrine.  I went in and found a delightful small space where people were able to find an oasis of peace, a few feet from the hustle and bustle of the street outside.  Here there was a place to re-connect with nature, to refresh the soul, to find sanctuary.

I had also visited many Buddhist temples where the gardens are peaceful places to re-connect with nature and refresh the soul, inviting me into the present moment with their simple beauty.  The tea ceremony we participated in had a similar effect and I realised that this seems to be an important aspect of Japanese culture: the ability to find time and space to re-connect with nature and spirituality.

I see that Reiki, like those shrines and temples, offers space to re-connect with natural energy and find sanctuary for the soul.  It invites me to be present, slows my mind and helps my body to relax (unlike going at full gallop).  It is even more accessible than the Japanese temples and shrines, because it’s available in my own hands, anywhere and at any time.  All I need to do is remember to stop for a few minutes and place my hands on myself.  I have discovered that pausing and slowing down my mind is actually really good for my work because a relaxed mind is more creative, enabling me to find creative solutions to problems.

So I hope you have some time to pause your usual routine during the summer.  To assist this, I invite you to enter the sanctuary of Reiki – whether by placing your hands on yourself if you have learned Reiki or by receiving treatment from someone else if you haven’t.  May the bouquet you gather be fragrant, abundant and gathered slowly!

The Importance of Rest

There's a Spanish saying: "How lovely to do nothing and then to rest afterwards" which I often find as challenging as the Reiki Principles!  In the modern world it is too easy to be busy all the time and for rest to be a problem.  My Reiki practice has taught me the value of time to do 'nothing' and helped me understand the importance of rest.

Practicing self Reiki treatment is a good way to take time out and have a rest - I recommend a 'Reiki nap' to my students!  However, it's also possible to have an un-restful time while self treating if my mind is busy on some problem.  What I find, in common with many other people who practice Reiki, is that something about the energy of Reiki fosters the slowing down of the mind.  It has often been commented on that people experience a meditative state while giving Reiki treatments.  This can be further enhanced by focusing my attention on my hands, which encourages my mind into the present moment.

In today's world of mobile phones and computers it can be difficult to give the mind time to rest.  I now follow the 'rule' of being off all screens by 8pm and having a day without turning on my computer.  This can be very healing!  I was recently struggling with trying to get an email about GDPR out to my two mailing lists (Reiki and Singing), but the website wasn’t working properly. It was very frustrating!  So I gave up and went to dig weeds in the garden.  It was much more satisfying to dig and pull out weeds - instant result: very satisfying!   I found this quite restful compared to the stress of trying to do something on the computer that I was unable to finish.  So even though it was hard physical work it was good rest for my mind.

I have also learned that it's only in the resting state that our bodies really heal.  A stressful state is particularly counter active to healing because our energy is diverted from repair functions to the essential organs and tissues to deal with 'fight or flight'.  There are more and more discoveries about how modern life which puts many of us in an almost constant state of stress is causing long term harm to our bodies and also mental health. 

Of course, one of the best ways to rest is to get good sleep and many people find that difficult these days.  With a few 'golden rules' and Reiki self treatment I have been able to improve my sleep and really notice the difference now when I don't sleep so well.  Now that I sleep better I realise what a chronic state of un-restedness I lived with! I also found that this lack of rest led to more stressfulness - reacting angrily to difficulty, not making good food choices and so on.

So nowadays I pay more attention to taking rest - in the form of receiving Reiki through self treatment and treatment from others, getting the best sleep I can and trying to manage my work time better to allow myself time off to relax.

Needing To Pause

Life can be constantly busy and this can become overwhelming.  One of the beautiful gifts I have received from my Reiki practice is a way to pause.

I have learned that pauses are necessary for my well being.  For example last month 3 lovely Reiki friends died, all kind generous people, none of whom were old.  Reiki has taught me that when faced with loss like

Gwen, one of my lovely friends who died recently

this I move through the grief more easily when I pause and allow time to feel the sadness and ponder the memories.

There is a well known saying "Keep calm and carry on" which is a typically English approach to challenging situations.  Perhaps this is why so many of us ignore things that are difficult in our lives and, rather than give ourselves time to allow the feelings, 'carry on regardless'.  However what Reiki teaches me is that those feelings don't disappear because I ignore them.  They are still there and if I don't deal with them may become overwhelming at an inappropriate moment or cause imbalance that results in physical illness.

I know that when I used to go down with the flu it was usually because there was something I was ignoring.  Keeping something out of mind is stressful, which depletes the immune system and makes me more vulnerable to illness.  The resulting flu is nature's way of giving me an enforced pause!

What I try to do these days is to avoid this sort of collapse by making space for pauses in my life, dealing with the causes of difficult feelings if there's something that needs to change, or simply allowing things to be as they are if it isn't.  Pauses are also important for the integration of something new I'm learning.  When I learn a new song I know it will work it's way into my memory after I stop singing it.

Reiki practice offers several ways of having a pause.  For those initiated into Reiki the self treatment can be a daily pause: at the start of the day it can be a useful way of not rushing headlong into everything that I need to do.  Instead I pause, reflect and tune in to my body.  During this time I can become aware of intuitions about what nutritional needs my body has.  A self treatment during the working day is a good way to pause and become calm before carrying on!  As Leonardo De Vinci said: "Every now and then go away and have a little relaxation. For when you come back to your work your judgement will be surer."

Receiving a Reiki treatment from someone else (whether or not you are initiated into Reiki) is also a wonderful way to pause for a while from a busy life.  Like the Japanese Tea Ceremony - where "participants withdraw from the stresses of daily life to the peaceful setting of a special tea room" - a Reiki treatment offers time out where the recipient can experience a state of peaceful relaxation.   In the gentle hands of a good practitioner, you are held in a time of non-doing, a pause from responsibilities, a time to see what is really going on and to let go of what is not helpful.

As the Easter holiday approaches I wish you time for a pause, for reflection and for re-connection with yourself and those closest to you.