June 29, 2008

Anatomy of a Reiki Training

As previously announced here, Oasis Reiki (that would be me) held Shoden/Level I Reiki Training at Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, in Boca Raton, Florida. I can’t rave enough about the space that has been designed there for a nursing program deeply rooted in caring. So first let me share a slideshow. Please read below to get a real sense of what transpires in Reiki Training.

Reiki is a way of living with wisdom and compassion. It’s a way to reclaim your authentic self. To move out of the past, return from the future and live fully awake in the present. Reiki shifts your paradigm too, revealing the many layers of reality. It helps you find energetic integrity. Reiki heals the human condition. It transforms your consciousness so you can be your true self. Your heart and mind become unified and you’re empowered to walk in peace. Reiki brings you what you need. Through the years, I’ve witnessed with inner joy and gratitude everything student practitioners share about their Reiki training experiences. These are nothing less thanpoetic and I’ll now attempt to convey some measure of what I was privileged to witness this past weekend.

An ocean, cloud and light was received. Plans changed many moons ago came to completion and an ordination was received. Tears inspired by sheer beauty flowed. Peace was tangible. Never before reached depth in meditation was commonplace. After lunch heartburn relieved completely. Back pain healed. Several first-time spiritual awakenings. The courage to face things one doesn’t want to. A young person’s talent validated. Success affirmed. Shoulders lightened. Realization of inner powers. Wonder. Recognition.

And hugs. Heart on heart hugs.

Always heart on heart hugs.

Updated July 2, 2008

An early testimonial:

“…Now that I have had a little time to reflect and absorb, I want to thank you for being YOU and what you brought to me this weekend. I can already notice changes in me, there is a deepening sense of calm within, much more energy both physically and spiritually. It has been both a fulfillment and rebirth of sorts. I am different, I am one with myself, and my surroundings. The teaching and empowerments brought through you this weekend are amazing. Thank you for thus far guiding and teaching me. The teaching and tools you brought to me will continue to aid and guide my journey…”

–J.G., West Palm Beach, Fla

June 27, 2008

Reiki as consciousness III

Consciousness is the substratum of everything, the first thing created that creates everything else.
–Dr. David Frawley

We all know there’s a brain in each of our craniums and it is what ‘thinks.’ Yet our brain is 90% fat and water. How exactly does fat and water ‘think’ as well as self-organize and self-regulate? After all, the brain really doesn’t have a direct experience of the world.

Wisdom traditions such as Vedanta and Buddhism accept that before creation there is a nondual state. To make a simplistic correlation to quantum physics, this is the unified field. Wisdom traditions identify this field as Pure Consciousness; Chit in Sanskrit. Pure Consciousness is unborn.

Chitta on the other hand, is conditioned consciousness (thought) and is the primordial state out of which the universe is born. This field of thought is high vibration subtle energy which is the basis of material creation. Thought creates all, but this is at a primordial level compared to our ordinary mental reactions.

The ghost in the machine is consciousness! A consistently effective and reliable way of outing consciousness and working with it to our benefit is to implement an authentic spiritual practice. Reiki is one such practice.

Neuroscience has mapped mindbody functioning in terms of electrical, chemical and hormonal signals from one part to another. The brain has been identified in all of its parts: cerebrum, cerebellum, limbic and reptilian. Each has a specific function; thought and action, movement and balance, with feeding, fighting, fleeing and procreation assigned to the remaining two brain structures.

Yet, we are still unhappy, depressed and ill. The observation and tweaking of the physical components of the mindbody web is inadequate in finding wellbeing.

At the moment of enlightenment the Buddha said, “How strange–all living beings have the fully awakened nature, but none of them knows it….” Luckily it doesn’t have to remain unknowable. The Buddha and every authentic wisdom tradition advocates a return to the ground state of consciousness.

You may have heard of Reiki or even experienced it. What you may not know is that Reiki is much more than a healing modality alone. Reiki is an authentic wisdom tradition. It’s a path of enlightenment, with healing being a natural part of personal evolution.

We have to turn to wisdom teachings and practices to first understand consciousness and then delve deeply into it. Consciousness is our true nature. It also has the capacity to remember our divinity. This is true memory and not the false memory of our personal history.

Going back to the question of how our mindbody does in fact have the capacity to self-organize and -regulate…Dr. Frawley again:

Consciousness is responsible for the existence and movement of the cosmos. It functions behind all forms of matter and energy. Some type of consciousness exists everywhere in Nature, even in inanimate objects. It sustains the cosmic process on all levels, staring with the atom itself. Whatever exists must contain some degree of consciousness or it could not be perceived.

So there is a vast intelligence with which we are inextricably linked. This intelligence naturally produces methods with which it can be accessed. The human spiritual software is perfectly matched to run on this cosmic operating system, while harmonizing and balancing human hardware.

In the next part we’ll look at how Reiki is able to reestablish this link between the personal and the universal.

Reiki links personal & spiritual consciousness

We’re encased in skin, our largest organ. We have mind and ego to navigate this plane. All three have specific functions to make the physical experience work.

Yet all three also separate and disconnect us, even in mundane terms. We may feel disconnected from our heart, loved ones, our job, our friends and our body.

Still underlying these is a core separation. The skin, ego and mind, separate us from the source of our being. As it is, this happens so easily in a limited physical world where we rely on sensory information to perceive and understand. The separation is compounded by all that is unhealed in us.

Our person needs healing. The little self has healing to do physically, emotionally and mentally. This is important work for it is foundational.

Then there’s the healing of ignorance. Not knowledge ignorance, but spiritual ignorance, which is essentially not knowing that we are only in part skin, ego and mind. Only in part.

Reiki is able to grow us out of personal pain, and out of self-imposed and design limitations because it sources at an non-collapsed level of reality, whatever you may want to term that. Here it’s termed consciousness. Any practice that arises out of consciousness heals the little self and opens the gates to everything beyond the hard and wetware of our being, because consciousness is always overarching and all-encompassing.

Reiki is mostly accepted as energy and a modality. Reiki is in fact a spiritual teaching that doesn’t fit well in the skin of modality.

As for energy, consciousness is really far too subtle and vibrating too quickly to be considered energy. It has to further densify to manifest form. During this densification, ‘energy’ or life force as we understand it begins to show up. This energy is still very subtle, compared to say electromagnetic energy.

To say that Reiki is ‘universal life force energy’ or any of variation of this statement needs to be qualified: Life force is dependent on, supported by and sources out of consciousness. Healing takes place in Reiki at the level of personal consciousness being transformed, with a solid connection to the greater field.

There’s the direct action of life force moving through the mindbody and engendering healing through balance and harmony, but the real transformation takes place in consciousness.

Reiki as Consciousness parts 1 & 2.

June 24, 2008

Reiki Training at FAU’s College of Nursing

Oasis Reiki (yours truly) is conducting Shoden / Level I Reiki Training at Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn’s College of Nursing, in Boca Raton, Florida.

 

The College is deeply grounded in a philosophy of caring. This extends to a holistic approach in all aspects. Even the building is Green, one of the few LEEDS “gold-rated” educational buildings in the United States, featuring Feng Shui principles and environmental sustainability. Included are several spaces for meditation and holistic practice and contemplation.

This foundational training offers specific techniques for tapping into spiritual and healing consciousness and energy. Reiki fosters spiritual evolution, bodily and mental/emotional health; has uses for food, water, environment, relationships and work. Reiki holistically augments care giving, enhanced learning, social projects, global thinking, animal and pet care. See contents of this training.

 

Saturday, June 28 & Sunday, June 29 10 AM-5 PM
College of Nursing Room 116
Presented by Pamir Kiciman, BA, RM, CHt
Prepaid reservations required, space is limited
954-661-4263 or info [at] reikihelp [dot] com

June 23, 2008

Oneness and the Heart of the World

In oneness, I think we can say, there are many onenesses. That is to say this oneness manifests itself, or we come across it in almost infinite number of ways. While it always remains, in a sense, the same, it is always a different oneness. Perhaps this is because God is always happening…For instance, God is so dynamic, it goes so fast that you can never see him…You can’t catch him, and yet there’s nothing to catch because he’s already here. Otherwise, it goes by so fast, that by the time you take peek, he’s already back here…So at every moment this oneness is offered to us in a different way, in a new way. A charming way, sometimes difficult way, sometimes challenging way…So human experience needs to be very diverse in order to adjust to the diversity in which God is oneness…

See video for full speech, very highly recommended. If you get the email version, click back to original post to watch the video.

Father Thomas Keating entertains and enlightens with humor and wisdom, covering such complex subjects as oneness, diversity, nonlinear time, God’s speed, the now, contemplative prayer, and faith (which he calls the 3rd eye: “Another sense that is very important is the awakening of the third eye, which is faith. Faith becoming not just an acceptance of belief systems of one kind or another, however enlightened, but rather the movement of trust in the mystery, in the ultimate reality. In the oneness, dimly perceived, and perceived not even as oneness, but nevertheless, enabling one, little by little, to be sensitive to the divine presence in all creation and in every detail.).

June 12, 2008

Reiki for business people

Do you have personal challenges that stem from your business? Is diet, exercise and turning off the Blackberry on weekends (you wish right?!) not enough to address your challenges?

You’ve heard of relaxation techniques, CDs, gadgets and products. You even have some MP3s on your iPod but have yet to listen. These are inviting and make sense on the surface, but perhaps you’re a ’show me’ person. Do you only operate in two modes? Go, go, go, and crash? Do yourself a favor and read this.

There is an all-around lifestyle enhancer and it’s called Reiki. You can receive Reiki from a qualified practitioner until your challenges dissolve. You can also further invest in yourself and become Reiki-trained for lifelong benefit. In either case ROI is through the roof!

Reiki stimulates all factors involved in whole-person wellbeing simply and effectively. Meet Peter, a 30-something upper management guy with a wife and two kids. He has chronic back pain, doesn’t see much of his family and despite all the hours he puts in, his productivity is plummeting. It’s harder and harder for him to wake up after having trouble falling asleep. The day drags on, he doubts himself and low grade anxiety has become near panic for him in meetings, conference calls and in front of his team. He feels he’s losing his edge, his eyesight and acumen.

Out of sheer desperation and dislike of mood medications, he opts for Reiki. After only a little time, he starts to demonstrate observable changes. He feels much less pressure and is sleeping better. His back improves although the pain returns when he compromises his self-care. There’s more spaciousness around his anxiety and it escalates less frequently. His team is responding better and he feels more confident once again. He still struggles with productivity and seeing his family.

After a little more time, he starts to develop a crucial self-awareness. This helps him observe his mental and behavioral patterns. The insight he receives from such observation gives him the ability to be responsive and adjust his patterns. This in turn brings more spaciousness and his back begins to feel very solid and comfortable. His mind is sharper and anxiety only returns when there’s a real fire to put out. He’s much happier and realizes that when he commits to family time, all his work deadlines are met anyhow.

Reiki helps you physically but also helps with everything that is human in you. For anyone in business (corporate or home office) in the computerized and digitized world here, are some common challenges Reiki will alleviate:

Physical:

  • Postural/Musculoskeletal
  • Repetitive strain injury (RSI)
  • Eye strain
  • Headaches/Migraines
  • Dizziness
  • Insomnia
  • Longterm effects of being sedentary
  • Sick building toxicity
  • Exhaustion
  • Loss of sex drive
  • Weight gain or loss
  • High blood pressure
  • Ulcers

Emotional & Mental:

  • Overwhelm
  • Lack of focus
  • Depression
  • Interpersonal issues
  • Job dissatisfaction
  • Ennui
  • Lack of motivation
  • Emotional eating
  • Mental dullness
  • Lack of creativity
  • Worry
  • Multitasking drain
  • Stress
  • Work/Life imbalance
  • Fear of layoff/Fearful anticipation
  • Poor memory
  • Powerlessness

Living our life deeply and with happiness, having time to care for our loved ones–this is another kind of success, another kind of power, and it is much more important. There is only one kind of success that really matters: the success of transforming ourselves, transforming our afflictions, fear, and anger. This is the kind of success, the kind of power, that will benefit us and others without causing any damage.

–Thich Nhat Hanh

June 9, 2008

Weather, earth & humanity

June 1 marked the start of the Atlantic Hurricane season. Recently we’ve witnessed the cyclone in Myanmar (Burma) and the earthquake in China. Weather events especially tornadoes have been ongoing in the USA. Working with the weather and other earth events has been part of my spirituality since hurricane Andrew hit South Florida quite some time ago. This post is an effort to draw our healing intentions to these phenomena and do our part which is totally crucial. First a healing focus:

  • Safety, recovery & healing for all affected by the Myanmar cyclone, China earthquake, USA tornadoes.
  • Committing to a serious personal responsibility on environmental concerns & climate change & holding those in power accountable with our voices, demanding action.
  • World food prices to normalize & shortages to correct.
  • Oil prices to normalize & correct.

Here’s how we’re all a part of the challenge and the solution.

The sudden cataclysms that occur in nature, creating havoc and mass injury, are not ‘acts of God.’ Such disasters result from the thoughts and actions of man. Wherever the world’s vibratory balance of good and evil is disturbed by an accumulation of harmful vibrations, the result of man’s wrong thinking and wrong doing, you will see devastation….

Wars are brought about not by fateful divine action but by widespread material selfishness….When materiality predominates in man’s consciousness, there is an emission of subtle negative rays; their cumulative power disturbs the electrical balance of nature, and that is when earthquakes, floods, and other disasters happen.

–Paramahansa Yogananda

My good friend Bonnee over at Greening of Me blog has some beautiful ideas to share regarding all of this and I hope this will prompt her to share about working with the Elementals too:

The more practitioners that join together doing Reiki for change (for the greatest good of all sentient beings) the more intense the results.

Winds and fires are angels at work, waters purify and cleanse. Angels of destruction help us understand our errant thoughts, words, deeds.

This is ultimately the result of wrong focus. Self absorbtion. Too much focus on money, greed/lack causing imbalance. Nothing seen as sacred.

All is Love and we are in Grace. So ultimately all we need do is be that…Love. Love earth, each other, ourselves and all unconditionally.

June 6, 2008

Soul as operating system

Recently Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist) posted a quote from his Manual of the Warrior of Light, to which I commented. This morning a piece I wrote last year is tugging at me. Here it is:

Soul as operating system

Soul is the human being’s operating system. Your computer has an operating system that makes it work. Additionally, it has specific software for e-mail, documents or graphics. And all of it works together with the hardware of drives, monitors and keyboards.

Your soul is your operating system. One kind of software you have is the ego. Another is the mind, or wetware, which includes the brain and the nervous system. The physical body is of course your hardware.

It can be easy to miss the soul, because unlike Windows or Mac OS, its logo is much muted. It doesn’t shout out its presence when you look in the mirror. When you look in the mirror, you see a round or square face, perhaps a crooked nose and full lips. And your face needs to be shaved, or made up, your hair needs combing and your body covered in clothing.

What covers your soul? Is it your skin? Perhaps you think your soul is elsewhere, waiting in some standby mode while your body gets used up and your mind gets more and more lost. When, helpless at last you die, you’ll be reunited with your soul. Is that what you think?

You can’t deny your physical body, it’s so there, all your senses tell you it’s alive. You’re able to experience your feelings and emotions everyday too. And you have enough self-awareness to track at least some of your thoughts. “I’m a thinking, feeling, breathing being,” you say. And you are!

Yet without your operating system what would you be, what would animate you? We bandy about this word “soul.” We talk about soul music, soul kitchen, soulful, soulmate, and good for or feeds my soul; it has soul, or what a great soul. Certainly, soulfulness can infuse daily experience: going below the surface, finding depth, meaning and connection, being inwardly warmed by intangibles. We tend to seek such moments, but too soon, a deadline or crashing chore closes the opening, the entryway, and the expansion of our set perceptions skids to a halt.

The moment is then gone, it disappears, perhaps to appear never again. But the soul doesn’t go away, it doesn’t disappear or disconnect. In fact, soul is always present. It beckons, guides, and experiences all you do, feel and think. Soul is inseparable from you. It commiserates all your losses and cheers all your successes. Your every pain and sorrow is a chance for your soul to befriend you more. Your every joy and celebration is forever cherished by your soul.

Without the soul, you’d be hollow, rudderless, without wisdom. Your eyes would be dull; no evidence of light in you would exist. Your skin would be sallow and your voice mechanical. You wouldn’t display even simple intelligence. You’d be unoriginal, without qualities and talents. You’d have no power, no love, nothing to give and receive. You’d always be hungry, never sated, interminably bored and irremovably sad. Beauty would elude you and you’d be perpetually tortured. You’d be collapsed and invisible and no breath of life could give you dimension.

Since none of these are true, for you are reading this and it stirs you, and since soul is the very source of your being, then surely your forgetfulness and indifference are harmful to you. You attend to a thousand insignificant things a day, thinking that the damage would be too great if you didn’t. Yet to soul memory, you give only a random glance.

Yes, the soul is shy and sensitive. It is subtle and plays hide-and-seek with us. It prefers a rarefied atmosphere. Always approachable and willing to build an aware relationship with you, its language is intuition. Intuition bridges the gap between the soul and the ego’s thoughts and sensations. Of fine vibrations not found in the material realm, its colors are gossamer, not merely pigment hues. The body is usually not conscious of the soul, but the soul is aware of the body. Soul is present from the very pinpoint of conception and continuously directs the shaping and growth of the physical form, and the individual. The soul commands certain cells to become brain or muscle tissue. With conscious intelligence behind it, the body develops in symmetrical fashion.

The soul’s nature is pure bliss and wisdom. Human intelligence models soul intuition. To illustrate progressively: the soul’s directing intelligence creates mind, then the senses, then the body.

Since soul comes first, it makes sense to put it first in our life. As soul has the blueprint for the body, it has the blueprint for your entire life. It is an awesome databank that contains all of your potential and the power to actualize it. Ever watchful, it is an insider helping you understand life, your place in it, your work here, opening the right doors, creating the right circumstances, meeting the right people to bring to fruition your purpose. Soul is your essence, your very spark of life. It functions as a wellspring of all your qualities and talents, inspiration and creativity, your uniqueness. It is a map, a resource, a GPS, a ray forever lighting your way through the eons.

All you have to do is get quiet, get close, and be open and willing enough to hear your soul whisper its harmonics to you. You won’t be disappointed. You’ll have come home to the hearth where it’s warm, blissful, loving and eternal. Thus, you’ll find yourself and all suffering will be gone. Go now and receive the blessings of your soul.

No weapon can pierce the soul; no fire can burn it; no water can moisten it; nor can any wind wither it.

–The Bhagavad Gita

© Pamir Kiciman 2007