Practice Makes Simple

One of the things I encourage my students to do is to treat themselves with Reiki every day.  I have noticed that some of them find it as difficult as I did to have a regular practice.

While I managed to practise tai chi most days for a few years, I struggled for a long time to maintain a daily practice of any kind.  Perhaps this came from my resistance to being told to practice my violin as a child, but more likely it came from a resistance to where the practice would take me.

I cam across a quote recently that resonated with me and may be relevant to this question: “The more important an activity is to your soul’s evolution, the more resistance you will feel” (Steven Pressfield).  This illuminated my awareness of what I had resisted practising: tai chi, meditation, singing, violin and of course Reiki.  All of these have the potential to bring me into deeper connection with my whole self: body and soul.  I haven’t always liked my body, so had no particular desire to get to know it better!

However there came a day when I was tired of trying to practice and failing, and decided to

just practice!  Resistance to doing so came up in many forms, but I simply accepted they were there and just practiced.  After a while the resistance grew less and I settled into a daily routine of treating myself with Reiki, which I continue to this day.

What I discovered amongst other things was that the longer I maintained this practice the easier it became to continue doing so.  I also found that the self treatment practice helped my treatment of others; firstly because I was more calm and balanced myself and therefore a better person to receive treatment from, and secondly because the daily connection with Reiki enhanced my understanding of how it can work.

I am now been fortunate to have a growing practice treating others, which I have also found has made the work easier.  Having treated a couple of hundred people with many different problems I am now more confident and again know more what to expect from Reiki (which is sometimes the unexpected!).

It’s true of any Art that practice is needed to really begin to find a way to connect with and express your essential nature.  I remember seeing an exhibition of Picasso’s early drawings in France: he could draw naturalistically really well and had clearly practiced a lot!  I have a Reiki master friend who plays the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) which is very difficult to master.  He’s been playing it regularly for years and still considers himself a beginner.

I also remember learning to drive and how that took a lot of practice before I felt comfortable.  With many years of driving behind me now (I passed my test the same year I became a Reiki master!) driving is no longer the challenge it once was, thanks to all those miles.

So whether you are a beginner or an experienced practitioner, whether you have learned Reiki or your life art is something different I encourage you to just practice.  The more you do the easier it will become and the deeper your connection to your body and soul will be, bringing you joy and fulfilment.

www.katejones-reiki.co.uk

Reiki Listening

At the wonderful Reiki Association Gathering I attended recently one of my Reiki master friends Viv Candlish commented during one of the sessions that she was enjoying being with Reiki people because of the way we listen to each other.  She went on to suggest that this probably has something to do with the way we learn to listen to our hands when practising Reiki.

This resonated with me immediately.  From the very early days of practising Reiki I have learned to ‘listen’ to my hands: feeling the differing sensations giving a Reiki treatment can produce.  The most frequent is warmth or heat in varying degrees, but there can also be tingling – which sometimes feels almost like having my hands in stinging nettles – throbbing, coldness and even a feeling as if there is movement under my hands.  When these sensations occur I (and other Reiki practitioners) pay attention, because they guide the treatment, showing where the person I am treating needs me to rest my hands longer, so that Reiki has enough time to flow to where it is needed.

These various sensations call my attention; invite me to be present with the person I am treating, so that I can be sensitive to changes and to giving the Reiki that is needed at that time.  As I give Reiki treatments in silence, rather than playing background music, this also gives a particular quality to the listening.

What Viv was commenting on is that this same quality of attentive listening is often transferred to our conversations when Reiki people gather together to discuss life with Reiki or Reiki practice.  There is a quality of listening and attention that is often missing in everyday chatter. 

This quality of attention can be very valuable.  It shows the person I am speaking with that I value what they have to say and offers the opportunity to really hear them.  When I do this there is often something valuable to learn!  I have also felt that the attention given when treating is also a form of acceptance, which can be very valuable.  Acceptance is something I used to crave and I have learned that accepting someone as they are, ;warts and all’, can be transformative. 

Working with the Reiki Association Council over the past five years has been a wonderful exploration of the quality of listening we can bring to working with other people.  Sometimes we slipped into argumentative discussions, our quality of listening was not good because we wanted to get our own view accepted.  However we would often stop and do some Reiki when this occurred, re-connecting us with a different kind of communication.  In the silence of Reiki treatment we would often discover a greater wisdom than we as individuals could not access.  When our discussion resumed there would be less conflict and frequently we arrived at quite inspired decisions that moved us forwards together and often rapidly.

So I’m grateful to Viv for pointing out this quality many people practising Reiki share and, like her, it’s something I value in our Reiki community.  She has subsequently been elected to the Reiki Association Council and I wish her, and the rest of Council, as much growth and enjoyment as I have experienced.

Moving on to Second Degree Reiki

Like many other Reiki students I had a great enthusiasm for sharing Reiki with others in the first months after my first degree class.  It should therefore be no surprise that when I received a phone call asking if I would be interested in attending a second degree Reiki class in May I said yes at once.

Even the cost (which was considerably more that first degree) was not enough to put me off!   I had certainly been doing lots of practice, mostly on others.  However in retrospect I think it might have been better if I had waited a bit longer and had more time to get to know Reiki through simple hands on practice, including self treatment, before moving on. 

After I became a master, I heard Phyllis Furumoto talk about timing in Usui Shiki Ryoho.  She recommended encouraging students to wait at least 3 months and preferably a year before taking second degree.  I’ve always asked my students to wait at least 3 months, but now I encourage them to wait longer.  I have seen how much more people gain from this next step in their Reiki practice when they have had more time to experience Reiki and wait for a real calling to go further.

Back in 1989 I was not so good at living in the flow of life.  I would either resist or push forwards, often resulting in bad timing.  One of Reiki’s gifts has been to show me how to join the flow, which often means slowing down, trusting the process and enjoying the journey instead of always feeling I have to rush ahead.

As a result of doing second degree so quickly, it took me quite a long time to really appreciate its potential.  I taught second degree classes and passed on the necessary knowledge, but I would say that my second degree teaching is much better now, because I have a deeper understanding based on experience.  This understanding continues to deepen as I use second degree in my treatments and in my life.

I now understand that second degree is not just about being able to give Reiki treatment to a person at a distance.  It is a way to achieve a deeper level of healing because it offers the potential to reach the mind, emotions and spirit more easily and effectively.  Accessing these unseen aspects we have the potential to heal the root cause of suffering. 

We are also no longer limited by the size of our hands; second degree enables us to reach further: to relationships, groups of people, situations and more.  Whatever we can imagine we can send Reiki to!  I have used second degree Reiki to help make difficult decisions and seen it untangle what seem to be impossible situations.  We have used it to guide us forwards in The Reiki Association and Reiki Council.  It’s been a great benefit in my life and, even if it was perhaps a bit premature, I’m very grateful for that phone call inviting me to join the class!

Reiki Flowers

As I was buying flowers for my recent First Degree class in Ludlow, I was reminded of a lovely thing that happened during the weekend when I learned Reiki.  I have always enjoyed having fresh flowers around, but at the time I learned Reiki this wasn’t often possible because I was unemployed and didn’t have spare money to buy flowers.

As I was walking to the Reiki class on the Saturday morning I noticed a wallet lying on the pavement.  I picked it up and as the police station was just across the road I just had time to drop it in.  I left my name and address as this was requested, but didn’t expect to hear anything further.  I went on to the class and in the excitement of learning Reiki completely forgot about it.

On the following afternoon, after I had finished learning Reiki, there was a knock at my door.  When I opened it I found an elderly man and a young woman I didn’t know.  They asked for me by name and it turned out that it was this man’s wallet I had found.  He was delighted to have it returned to him and said “Thank you. Buy yourself some flowers with this.”   So saying he took out £10 and gave it to me.

At the time I would never have considered spending that amount on flowers, but I was so pleased with the suggestion I spent most of it as he suggested (probably the rest went on chocolate!).  So the very beginning of my Reiki journey was blessed with flowers.

Later when Alec and I started organising Reiki classes for our Reiki master Martha she would always bring flowers for us.  Now I do the same for those who organise classes for me.

Flowers and plants continue to come to me in beautiful ways through my Reiki life: last year Phyllis brought me some Dutch Spring bulbs which are now beginning to flower in my garden.  Recently a student kindly gave me some snowdrops – something my garden has been missing – so I look forward to them coming up next year with a promise of Spring.

There have been many other gifts of flowers and plants over the years from students and clients and they are always deeply appreciated.

Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh suggests in his book “Being Peace” that if you can’t find a smiling happy Buddha to put in your room a flower will do just as well.  He says “A flower has Buddha nature”.  Buddha nature is one of compassion, so to have flowers in the room can inspire feelings of compassion when I look at or smell them.  I always find my heart opens and I feel more joyful when there are flowers around.  They are a way of bringing a bit of nature inside too.

So I feel it’s no coincidence that Reiki has brought more flowers into my life, which continues to be a blessing and delight to me!  May your life also be blessed with Reiki and flowers!

Reiki Sharing Groups

At the end of the First degree Reiki class our Reiki master Martha encouraged us to meet with our classmates to exchange Reiki treatments.  For some time after that a group of us would meet every Sunday to share Reiki.  This is something that Reiki students all over the world do and that I continue to offer to my Reiki students.

Not everyone was able to attend each session, but there would always be enough of us to make it worthwhile.  It was lovely to meet my class-mates again; who I had shared the excitement of learning Reiki with, and to take our first steps in giving treatment to others together.

It was helpful in those first months to have each other to remind ourselves of the hand positions and of course we all remembered slightly different things about the class, so it was great to be able to compare notes.

Some of my students also get together in this way and I also run monthly Reiki Shares in Ludlow and Birmingham to offer a space for Reiki students to come together, give each other treatments, be reminded of hand positions and also have time to chat about their Reiki experiences.  I’m always happy to answer questions and share my own experience if this is helpful.

These monthly meetings are open to people who aren’t my students too: either because they have not yet learned Reiki or because they have learned with another master.  People who haven’t learned Reiki clearly can’t participate in the treatments like those initiated into Reiki, but we have a way of including them and they also get a turn on the couch to receive a treatment.  It’s often the first time they have experienced Reiki treatment and it can be quite an amazing experience for people who have not had Reiki before.

Some Reiki students come regularly to the Sharing Group, which creates a feeling of community.  Many people don’t find it easy to talk about Reiki to their friends and family, so it can feel good to be with a group of people who understand and share similar experiences.  Sometimes students feel a bit doubtful about their Reiki ability and by the end of the evening they have usually had an experience that reassures them.

During my Reiki Shares we usually treat in silence.  This can be a welcome rest from the busyness of modern life and gives time for a deeper awareness to arise.  This, I feel, contributes to the sense of connection that many people experience.

In the end the Reiki Shares of my class fizzled out as people got busy with other things.  This often happens with Share Groups because it does require some dedication to keep practising when there are so many other things going on.  This is why I am committed to keeping the Shares going as long as people keep turning up: to create a space that is reliably there for people to connect or re-connect with their Reiki practice.  If you’re in the area you would be welcome!

Have you ever been to a Reiki Share?  Perhaps you go regularly?  What are your experiences?  Please share your comments

Have those New Year Good Intentions Started to Waver?

If you have learned Reiki, you are encouraged to treat yourself every day.  Some students are very good at this and soon see the benefits.  Some, like me, find it a struggle to make it as much of a daily habit as brushing my teeth.  Why is this?

One of my students said she thought it was when she was feeling less good that she didn’t practice her Reiki self-treatments.  However what she also noticed was that when she didn’t do her practice, she felt less good!

Last month I encouraged you to keep a daily gratitude journal.  Have you tried it?  Have you managed to keep going with it?  If you have, well done!  If not: don’t despair!  There may be other New Year Resolutions you are now struggling to keep going too.  Getting into a new habit can be challenging.  For some reason this seems to be especially true if it’s something good for us!
 
So why is it so hard to do something regularly, whether it is Reiki or some other healthy habit we wish to develop?  Why is it so hard to do something that actually makes us feel good and helps to make us happier and healthier?!

Perhaps the answer is that good habits often take us out of our comfort zone at the beginning.  Bad habits, which are usually about giving ourselves comfort in a less healthy way, are all too easy to develop.   To develop a healthy habit we may need to make some effort, face up to some fear or experience some actual discomfort.  We also have to remember to do it, which in a busy life is hard enough!

So what can we do to encourage ourselves to develop a new good habit?  Well, try keeping a record of when you do achieve your practice – maybe give yourself a gold star!  Be kind to yourself: don’t worry about the days you don’t manage to do it – the odd day you miss won’t make a huge difference.  If you can keep going daily for 36 days your subconscious will be convinced and you are laying the foundation for a good habit!  After that it will be easier and soon you will forget it was ever a struggle at all!

Good luck!

From an article originally shared in my February 2007 Newsletter

My Reiki 25th Birthday!

It is 25 years this February since I learned Reiki (as you probably know already).  I had found Reiki treatments comforting following the sudden death of my father and I loved the feeling of peace of mind it brought me.  I decided to learn Reiki so that I could offer other people the same feelings.   I was taught by Martha Sylvester, one of the first Reiki masters teaching in the UK.  Learning 1st degree class was one of the most special weekends of my life (as many of my students will have heard me say!).

I have been re-reading my diary that I wrote at the time.   It is interesting to see what I thought as a very new first degree student, with the hindsight of so many years and so much experience in Reiki – including of course many years of initiating students myself.

Me around the time I learned Reiki!

 “Friday 3^rd February 1989

I went to the first part of the Reiki course this evening. I have now received the first initiation and it felt like a light or joy coming into me from the top of my head. We actually did our first practice on each other this evening which was good.   Martha told us to Reiki ourselves tonight so I'm sure I will sleep well!”

I remember well the excitement of feeling Reiki in my own hands for the first time and that this was possible on the first evening!  I had forgotten about the feeling of “light or joy” in the first initiation, but this is a feeling I’m very familiar with now when practising Reiki.  

In the following extract you may notice that I received both the second and third initiations on the same day.  This was common practice at the time, when Reiki masters travelled a lot to do classes.  Some of you will remember that’s how Alec and I taught at the beginning too.  Subsequently we were encouraged by Phyllis Furumoto (Lineage Bearer of Usui Shiki Ryoho) to teach over four days.  I was resistant at first (three days seems more ‘convenient’) but having tried it I found 4 days better, giving students more time to integrate the changes that take place during the class. 

“Saturday 4^th February 

I’ve now received the 2^nd and 3^rd initiations and it’s been an amazing day.  We learned the head positions, practised those on each other and in the afternoon learned the positions for the front of the body, so we all got treated twice by 5 people at once!  While I was treating I thought of how much I’d looked forward to this .... it was not only as good as I’d hoped but an even more wonderful experience.

I had different sensations with the other two initiations.  With the second this morning I felt a real warmth rush to my hands.  The feeling of the third was more subtle and hard to describe.  Again it was a kind of joy and opening deep inside.”

I can still remember that rush of heat in my hands during the initiation and many of my students have described something similar.   I have also heard many Reiki students attempt to describe the feelings that arise when learning Reiki: it’s often described it as a feeling of ‘coming home’.

 “Saturday 4^th February (continued)

At the end of  the day Martha taught us the positions for treating ourselves.  Earlier in the day I realised what a wonderful gift I am giving to myself since I will be able to use it to heal myself as well as other people.  I’d always thought that First Degree Reiki was only healing on the physical level, but as I understand it now it works “from the inside out” as Martha put it, the emotional and spiritual is healed as well.  

It’s funny, waiting so long for the Reiki course I’d almost forgotten what it was.  I keep being delighted at what I am now able to do.  I feel my hands becoming hot and know they can heal and it is wonderful.”

I’m interested to note that we were taught self treatment and encouraged to use it – and that it was something I intended to do.  How wonderful that I recognised the gift I had given myself.  However what happened over the next few years was that I became much more focused on giving than receiving, helping others rather than taking care of myself.  As you may know it took a long time for my self treatment practice to become daily.  I’m always delighted when my students come back and tell me they are self treating regularly because now I know how beneficial it is!

“Sunday 5^th February

I woke as if from a nightmare, feeling the new energy trembling in me and at the same time not frightened by the dream. It was this: I was in a place where there was a house a bit like my childhood home.  Then a tremendous wind came.  It started ripping tiles off the roof.  A man (possibly my father) was in the house, dodging the falling tiles.  They were smashing onto the ground all around, but although there were other people there, there didn’t seem to be any risk of anyone really being hurt.  Then, with most of the tiles gone, the chimneys began to fall and the rest of the roof go.  Soon the house was little more than a roofless shell, the wind still ripping it apart.    I told Martha about it today and conveyed my feeling of it being a cleansing wind.  She said it was perhaps breaking down old defences.   She thought it was very positive anyway.

Today I received the fourth and final initiation.  I did not have any very strong sensation this time, was only very aware of what she did, pressing my head, blowing on me etc. although my hands did get hot again.

So I am now certified as having achieved First Degree Reiki.  

I had a very good experience with the treatment I gave today.  At the end of it the bloke jumped off the table and said “You’re so strong!”  He’d had really strong sensations (including fleetingly being in touch with being a kid again!) and felt my hands very hot in some places.  In others he’d felt emotions about to come out.  He was totally bowled over by the experience and it was wonderful to have such a positive response.”

An interesting dream!  It remains vivid and certainly seems to have been connected with learning Reiki.  

Another thing I remember is that when the certificates were handed out, there wasn’t one for me!  I had to pluck up the courage to ask for it (I was shyer in those days) and Martha apologised and said she was sure it was significant.  Perhaps it was an early lesson in asking for what I need!

It’s lovely to read again how much I enjoyed giving that treatment – I still experience the same joy when helping people with Reiki treatments, although with many years’ experience I think I’m better at getting less over-involved now!

Thank you, thank you, thank you: to Alec for introducing me to Reiki, to Martha for teaching me Reiki and to myself for deciding to learn!

I’d love to hear your own experiences of learning Reiki.  Did you keep a journal at the time too?  Did you have any similar experiences?