Preparing like Janet Baker!

Some time ago I watched a documentary about singer Dame Janet Baker.  I was struck by the preparation she put into her singing.  I believe her focus and dedication to preparing her music is one of the things that made her such a great singer.  I have found that preparation is valuable in Reiki practice too.

 I’ve not always been good at preparation, perhaps because I didn’t really understand its importance.  I am regularly try to do more than there is time for, so often haven’t allowed enough time for preparation.  When I wanted to learn Reiki, I was impatient to get started.  Part of the preparation for learning Reiki is to have the money available, to show a commitment to the Reiki teaching.  This I had put aside, but the Reiki master I wanted to learn with wasn’t teaching a class for months.  I was willing to wait because I was so keen to learn with her.  This was also preparation as I surrendered the timing that was my teacher’s (and perhaps Reiki's), not mine!

 Being an enthusiastic student, I took my 2^nd degree just three months after 1^st degree.  I have often seen this eagerness in students in those first months and have observed that those who wait until after three months have has passed, enjoy a deeper experience of the 2^nd degree class.  Practicing for longer is good preparation for what this next stage of learning offers.  I have seen how students connect with and understand the concepts and practice more quickly because it resonates with their experience, rather than just ideas they have heard.  I sometimes feel a little envious of their preparation!  In effect I had to do the preparation afterwards, which meant it was a couple of years before I really began to develop my 2^nd degree practice.

In those early years of my Reiki practice, I also began offering treatments in a complementary health clinic.  I was doing team treatments with a more experienced practitioner and thought I was ready to ‘go public’.  Again, my eagerness to give Reiki treatments outweighed the recognition of my unpreparedness: I didn’t know what I didn’t know!  I learned a lot through those treatments but ultimately the public practice did not take off and now I think that was because I wasn’t properly prepared.  I learned even more about how much more I needed to learn by participating in discussions about the qualities expected of a Reiki practitioner working with the public through The Reiki Association and Reiki Council.

The current situation has forced a pause in teaching classes and in-person treatments which can be seen as an opportunity to prepare.  Like Dame Janet Baker we have the opportunity to just practice, or to deepen our knowledge and understanding through other explorations.  Those who are keen to learn Reiki can practise by receiving treatment.  Those waiting to progress to 2nd degree can prepare by self-treatment practice and treating family and friends in their bubble.  Practitioners who are eager to begin or return to hands on treatment practice once this is safe, can deepen their understanding through similar practice, or by learning more about some of the theoretical aspects such as what society expects of practitioners in terms of legal requirements, appropriate presentation and preparation of the treatment space - something that has had to be updated in response to the coronavirus.

I have learned about the importance of allowing time to prepare, so this enforced pause has been in some ways a blessing.  30 years on I am still learning and preparing for the year ahead - whatever it may bring.

Lasting Healing in 2021

One of the teachings of Reiki is that for there to be lasting healing, there needs to be a change at the non-physical levels of mind/emotions and spirit.  As we begin 2021 with a worsening Covid-19 situation in the UK, I have been wondering how this teaching applies to this situation.  In the same way that a serious illness can change the direction of a person’s life in a positive way, could this pandemic be the wake-up call that changes some of the assumptions and old patterns in our world, so that we can become healthier? 

I have seen in my own health how, when there is no change at these unseen levels, old patterns will repeat and although there may appear to be healing on the physical level, these symptoms will return because the cause is still there.  Just like when the virus seemed to have gone away because people

were not spreading the infections so much, but returned when people returned to their previous habitual patterns of behaviour before and during Christmas. 

I have experienced this in healing my type 2 diabetes – I can reduce my blood glucose levels by cutting out sugar for a while, but when I go back to old habits of eating high carbohydrate foods, they rise again.  To maintain healthy glucose levels, I needed to change my thinking and remember the consequences of eating more sugar.  Decisions made based on unconscious habit will simply result in a relapse, so I need to be aware of what I’m eating and find other ways to be comforted that do not involve cakes and bread!  It is also helpful to heal the underlying need for comfort, which is where Reiki self-treatment is wonderful, being carbohydrate free and soothing!

So what sort of change is needed for the world to heal from the coronavirus?  I would suggest that our only way out of the repeating patterns of reduction then increase of infections is for there to be change in people’s thinking, emotional and spiritual state.  Why do some people find it difficult to follow the guidance that protects us from catching and spreading the virus?  Do they really not care about the well-being of others?  Or is it that they lack the capacity to think beyond their own lives and understand the consequences of their actions?  What is the mental/emotional/spiritual state that causes this?

What can we, as Reiki practitioners, do to help the world to heal?  The Reiki Principles invite us to change our thinking and emotional state, so one thing we can do is to remember and act on them.  Our Reiki practice encourages self- responsibility and also care for others, so we can remember these qualities too in all that we do.  I have also found that simply by giving and receiving Reiki treatments change happens – often quietly and simply, through the shift from stress to a relaxed and creative state of being. 

I believe this pandemic is a tremendous opportunity for our world to change and heal on many levels.  My wish for 2021, therefore, is for global healing that comes through change that fosters greater consciousness and a willingness to engage with difficulty to expand our capabilities, so that all humans can thrive.

Deep Peace

 Recently I helped to host The Reiki Association’s Global Reiki Lights Festival which this year was, of course, online.  We spent a lot of the time together in silence and I was touched by how many people commented on the sense of connection and community even though we were physically far apart. 

Reiki, in these moments of stillness and quiet, gave us this connection.

For many, this Christmas has the potential to be quieter because there will not be the usual large social and family gatherings.   Although some will find this sad, others may find it a relief.  It offers time for quiet rest without expectations from the outside world.

It has been the still, quiet times that have helped me get through the past year, with all its challenges.  My daily walks in Nature, the meditative quality of sending distant Reiki treatments, the restful times receiving Reiki through distant treatment or self-healing have all been times that helped bring calm in spite of the inevitable stress resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Some nights, especially during the first lockdown, I was unable to sleep or disturbed by vivid dreams which left me feeling tired and anxious.  After making a conscious and deliberate effort to relax and re-connect with my inner peace, sleep came more easily and was restful, giving me more energy to offer my support to others.  In those quiet times I also found it easier to accept the difficult changes and restrictions placed on life by the pandemic.

Recognising this reminded me of the first time I received a full Reiki treatment shortly after my father’s death.  His death was unexpected, so – like Covid – was a shock.  It was the first major loss in my life and I felt overwhelmed by the emotions of grief.  I experienced the classic denial, depression and anxiety – just as many have during this past year.  The peace of mind that I experienced as a result of that first Reiki treatment was also completely unexpected and felt miraculous.  After weeks of agitation and lack of sleep, I felt relaxed and calm.  The fact that I experienced the same peace through the treatments week after week amazed me even more and helped me to move through the grieving process to acceptance and emerge stronger and with a lasting passion for Reiki!  

It reminded me of an experience of deep peace I had as a child one Christmas.  I was walking home from school, where we had been making Christmas decorations, and it was cold and frosty.  I was looking at the sparkle of the frost on the pavement and was filled with joy.  It was not an easy time in my family, my parents having just separated, and yet here was a sense of peace that helped me to feel that all would be well.

This quality of peace of mind, of relaxation and joy even in the midst of difficulties, of comfort and a feeling of safety, is something that is not unique to Reiki.  It is most often experienced through spiritual practice of some kind, but Reiki practice is the easiest and fastest way to access it I know, so I am grateful to have discovered it!

Christmas is a time when thoughts often turn peace on earth – even the First World War was paused at Christmas.  Some difficulties cannot be paused, however much we might wish them to be.  In those circumstances we need something to remind us that peace and joy are always with us if we can relax, be still and listen inwardly.  Offering kindness to others is another way to experience these peaceful feelings and this year has offered many opportunities for many small but significant acts of kindness and comfort in support of our neighbours and wider community.

If you have experienced grief and loss this year, I wish you peace this Christmas and may the New Year bring healing and joy.

The Reiki Principles In Challenging Times

The Reiki Principles, which you can ponder whether or not you are initiated into Reiki, were   developed by Mikao Usui to encourage us to become more conscious in our thinking to extend the practice of Reiki beyond a simple hands-on healing technique. I find they are particularly helpful during challenging times such as the one we are currently experiencing.  

Just for today do not worry – When I worry, I find that it separates me from other people.  Lost in my own thoughts and feelings, I am less aware of what is going on around me.  I don’t notice the needs of others because I am so preoccupied with my own inner drama.  So this invitation to let go of my worry just for today is a useful practice that helps me to re-connect with those around me and often this leads to me offering or receiving the support that’s needed. 

Just for today do not anger – Being in a state of anger also separates me from other people.  I am in opposition, ready to fight.  This is a normal response to stress, but not a state that helps me feel good.  I experience temporary release of my feelings by having good shout or bashing a pillow, but what transforms it into better feelings is acceptance.  When I accept what is ‘just so’, I re-connect with reality and my kinder self, which is much more effective at creating change.  The changes I make may only be very small and might not be what I wanted to happen when I became angry, but I can feel less helpless when I start to do something, especially if it is some kindness for another person.

Honour your parents, teachers and elders – I have been fortunate to be able to stay in close contact with my mother during the lockdowns.  Many people have found themselves unexpectedly separated from parents and grandparents during the pandemic.  Teachers have also been separated from their students.  Many people have found creative new ways to connect with loved ones and students.  Perhaps we are all more aware of how we honour our parents, teachers and elders by remaining connected with them in whatever way we can.

Earn your living honestly – Not being able to teach in person raised the question of whether I would teach 1^st and 2^nd degree classes online.  For me this would not be earning my living honestly, because the way I teach Reiki is in the Oral Tradition and giving initiations without being physically present with the student is not in integrity with this.  However, I have discovered new ways to connect with people who have already learned Reiki via the internet.  I’ve discovered there are different ways to help Reiki students develop with a creative approach to online sessions.

Show gratitude to every living thing –Walking in nature every day, no matter what else is happening, I give my grateful attention to the trees, birds, flowers and insects that surround me.  And reptiles!  To my complete surprise I encountered a lizard in my garden this summer and we spent several minutes watching each other.  I was grateful for the beauty of this encounter, which lifted my spirits.  Connection with living things through gratitude is healing and supportive in these challenging times.  Remembering not just to be grateful, but also to show my gratitude I find a useful practice as it takes me out of my busy head and reconnects me with something much greater than myself and offers the perspective that ‘this too shall pass’.

Healing for the World

 When there are dramatic world events, such as the pandemic, it is natural to want to send healing to the world.  When we are touched by such events, empathising with those who are suffering, it is natural to want to do something.

However, I recall hearing Phyllis Furumoto advising against sending Reiki to world events.  Instead she suggested we examine what it is in ourselves that is touched by this particular event and send Reiki to that.  I resonate with this suggestion.

I too am touched by things I hear on the news.  I would like to be able to help, but given that I do not know the people involved how can I know whether my help would be welcomed or my assessment of the situation accurate?  Am I trying to fix something that isn’t broken due to my own filters and assumptions about how I would feel in the same situation?  Does this event resonate with something in myself that needs healing?

When my thoughts caught up in an external drama, I can miss things that are closer to hand, like when I was out walking with a dog recently and, preoccupied with some world drama, failed to notice that the dog was having difficulty walking due to the thistles and nettles that were pricking her paws!  In a similar way we can miss signs and clues about our own health and that of those around us, while worrying about the problems of someone we don’t even know.

I understand the desire to change the world for the better, to heal what we see as wrong or the suffering we perceive.  Working towards a better world is a wonderful thing to do, but to achieve transformation many teachers have counselled that we start with ourselves.  Gandhi for example advised “Be the change you want to see in the world” and as Michael Jackson suggests in his song ‘Man in the Mirror’: “If you want to make the world a better place; Take a look at yourself and then make that change”.   One of the core teachings of Reiki is that we start with self-healing, which prepares us for healing others. 

By becoming a calmer, happier person through our Reiki practice we make a difference in the world.  Once we are healthy and resilient enough, we can be more effective in creating change.  This will be most effective when we focus on something concrete in our immediate sphere, where the help is welcomed and needed. 

A great example of this is a new project – Reiki Medic-Care - that is sending Reiki directly to individual doctors, nurses and paramedics who are suffering stress and burnout through being on the front line in the current circumstances.  If you want to send Reiki to help the pandemic, rather than sending to ‘the NHS’ in a general way, this project offers a way to give concrete help  - more practitioners are needed to meet the anticipated requests. 

There is no issue about permission because the staff request treatment themselves.  Practitioners know who they are sending to and have a time requested by the recipient at which to send.  This exciting project uses Reiki to support people who are in need, improving the well-being of NHS staff.  This will no doubt also benefit the patients they treat whose doctors, nurses and paramedics will be less overwhelmed, stressed and exhausted.

So we can still benefit the wider world by focusing first on our own well-being, then that of our immediate community or another community we have personal connection with.

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.

Accessing the Unseen

Reiki practice offers me a way to connect with the unseen, including emotions, mind and the spiritual energy that I believe flows through and connects all things.  It is understandable that some people are sceptical about this, yet we all have some experience of things we can’t see, hear, touch, smell or taste.  We are all very accustomed now to the invisible waves that connect us via the internet and mobile phones.  Such invisible things also exist in Nature – Reiki is how the Japanese would describe the energy you feel in a beautiful forest.  The understanding that what is unseen can affect the physical world has long been understood by spiritual teachers.  Buddha, for example, said: “We are what we think.  All that we are arises from our thoughts”. 

In the current situation we are facing a virus invisible to the naked eye that has had the power to change all our lives.  Some are sceptical about it, because if you rely primarily on an understanding of the world that is based on your senses, this virus is beyond comprehension.  Similarly, it is understandable that some are sceptical about Reiki as an energy that can be transmitted between people at a distance.

Love is an invisible energy that the current situation is showing us that it can still be shared and felt even when we are not able to touch or even be physically in the same space.  We can still send our love out into the world, in the same way Reiki can also reach any part of the planet.  Perhaps it is when relatives are able to comfort a Covid-19 patient, so that they know they are loved, that gives them a better chance of survival.   It is the one factor doctors have no control over that may explain the differing survival rates of those who are most ill.

At present, unable to give Reiki in person,

I feel blessed to be able to continue to offer comfort and support through distant Reiki treatments.  It can take a leap of faith to accept that receiving Reiki from any distance is possible, yet experience over many years has shown me that, like love, it can be sent through space and time and is safe for all concerned, even with Covid-19. 

The Reiki Association Care Service is available for members to request distant Reiki treatments from a team of volunteers.  We have received many reports of positive outcomes, unexpected by doctors.  We frequently hear of the healing, comfort and peace of mind these treatments bring, including at the end of life.  I’ve received similar reports from the treatments that the Community Clinic volunteers have been doing.  These reports include better sleep and reduction in need for pain medication. 

I am always looking for ways to develop my Reiki practice so, following an inspiration during a self-treatment, I now offer distant Reiki treatments via a live Zoom link, which means that I can be present with the person I am sending to through their treatment via an internet connection and they can be aware of what I am doing.  I don’t even need a photograph to send Reiki but meeting via Zoom we are able to see each other and talk before and after the treatment (we can also talk on the phone).  Reiki offers many ways to explore the unseen and I am enjoying this time and the opportunity to expand my distant treatment practice.