Reiki Help Blog

Deepak Chopra has started a movement remarkable for the way it has spread. It’s not a new vow. It is a new time. Deepak has the intent “to have at least a 100 million” join him in taking the vow above. Yes, 100 million. It’s a simple vow.

I took this vow many moons ago. I’ve since renewed it many times. And just recently took it again at I Take The Vow.

Join me!

Intention is a powerful force.

Intention is the core of all conscious life. It is our intentions that create karma, our intentions that help others, our intentions that lead us away from the delusions of individuality toward the immutable verities of enlightened awareness. Conscious intention colors and moves everything.

–Master Hsing Yun

There is another wonderful new site that brings the best “wellness destination for capturing and sharing peoples intentions – personal, social, spiritual and environmental.” The badge below will take you there:

But let’s keep talking about this vow. What is it? How is it? Is it? Is it…even?

Yes it is.

What is IT? It is that. Tat. Tvam. Asi.

That.
Thou.
Art.

Yeah, I had to go all Sanskrit on ya! It simply means that the underlying Reality of everything in the Universe is the same as the Divinity within us. It is? Yes!

Then why do we need to take a vow and get very clear what intentional living means. Well, because…uh…we’re deluded!

Into believing That Thou Aren’t.

Thus we have to take responsibility for how we live in this world. We have to take vows. We have to employ intentional living. And of course to bring it all to fruition, we have to

take action.

There’s no way around it.

Change is the only constant. The more crucial question is does change when it happens raise us collectively, or push us down? By all indicators the change we’re in right now is the kind that gives to all. It is a change in consciousness, and a change that has its own momentum. When power doesn’t recognize right thought, leading to right action, then some change is forced, prompted by such factors as the trouble in global financial markets and the economy, the housing and mortgage industries, and the auto industry.

Outdated systems eventually get replaced. Yet this forced renewal is slow and painful. Watch this video of Tibetan Buddhist nun Ven. Tenzin Palmo and we’ll pick up the ideas on the other side:

(Note: If you’re subscribed via email to this blog, you must click to the blog itself to be able to watch this video.)

When we look at the world in a general way, our challenges seem to outweigh our ideas to bring about sustainable solutions. As Tenzin Palmo says, we’re creating more and more suffering in the search for happiness, and this is delusion. At the same time, we’re not powerless. We can think, say and then behave accordingly:

I take the vow of non-violence in my thoughts, my speech and my actions.

It’s a serious commitment. It has the potential of breakthrough. One of the most important factors of positive change is consistency of application and a guarding against wrongs that necessitated change in the first place. A vow creates a thread that runs through, that grabs and anchors you when life throws its all at you and you may falter. And a collective intention carves the way to collective awakening.

Tenzin Palmo wonders out loud if a collective awakening can happen. She plainly states it hasn’t yet, and I would agree. With all the profound teachings available to humanity we’re still in our infancy in putting these teachings to good use in our lives and the life of the world. Humanity learns the hard way. We’ve awakened in various pockets. Yet, there’s a trend to learn and implement ahead of the curve. A trend to bring others up as you rise. A trend to acknowledge common ground. A trend to honor one source.

Are you That?

Yes. More and more know it.

A consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation…you have to catch yourself doing it before you can correct it.

–Seneca

If you’re Level II Reiki or above, you’ve been introduced to the infamous Reiki ’symbols.’ I use quotes because they’re not really symbols, but more on that later. The “To or not to” in the title question refers to whether these symbols ought to be published for the general public to see. My position has always been to not make them available to untrained eyes, and my reasons may surprise you.

The often repeated reasoning is that since the symbols don’t work unless one is Reiki-trained, then there’s no harm in publishing. With that reasoning, then why publish them? How does it help the public? And those who’ve been trained already have the needed information. Another perspective may or may not be helpful if one isn’t grounded in the explanations given by your teacher. And such a perspective can always be indulged sans images.

When I think about any Reiki-related subtlety my bottomline is always: Does it contribute to Reiki’s and humanity’s knowledgebase? When it comes to Reiki’s innermost teachings my answer is “no” and here’s why:

1. The symbols suggest Reiki is mechanical.
2. The symbols are misleading because they are merely representative.
3. The practitioner is entrusted with specific teachings, thus it isn’t dinner conversation.
4. The symbols are not a commodity.
5. The symbols are secondary to the use of primordial vowel sounds.

Geometric shapes hold a certain power within a specific pattern. Various geometric symbols have been part of human psyche for eons. Our imagination and unconscious have much invested in symbols. Today this also shows itself in corporate logos, or global signs such as these warning of industrial hazard:

The Reiki ’symbols’ and what they really mean is on an altogether different order. Let’s explore how…

1) The symbols suggest Reiki is mechanical: We’re surrounded my machines and gadgets. We drive a machine to work or take our kids to school in one. We wash our clothes in a machine and stay in touch with a gadget. It’s natural for us to easily relate to the workings of the mechanical and physical world.

But this isn’t the only world we occupy. And Reiki is our means of access to that other one, the one we yearn for and crave. The one that expands possibilities, deepens meaning and propels consciousness.

Reiki has been reduced to a modality by many as it is! Overexposure of the Reiki ’symbols’ perpetuates the fallacy of this toolbox mentality. If Reiki were that, then we could just as easily pop an Aleve or Claritin.

Fortunately, Reiki is a process of inner growth. It’s non-mechanical, non-linear and doesn’t depend on power tools.

2) The symbols are misleading because they are merely representative: While all symbols hold some potency, transformative ones like the Reiki ’symbols’ derive their force from the living energies they represent.

Even if we were to understand them only as symbols, it’s a mistake to limit them to two-dimensional, flat line drawings on a page or online. These shapes are at least three-dimensional, generate certain qualities and initiate a lot of dynamism.

And most importantly, Reiki ’symbols’ stand-in for various living energies and spiritual truths; they are means to an end. In and of themselves, they are nothing but a curiosity.

3) The practitioner is entrusted with specific teachings, thus it isn’t dinner conversation: Let’s settle the most popular interpretation that the Reiki ’symbols’ are sacred but not secret. “Secret” is a derivation from Latin secretus, from past participle of secernere to separate, distinguish, from se- apart + cernere to sift. Another derivation is “to set apart.” How well this fits where we need to be in relation to how we respect the teachings of Reiki. There’s no hint of how we use the word “secret” today to mean “hidden.”

Spiritual teachings help us sift through our patterns and habits, our neuroses and weaknesses. We distinguish the wheat from the chaff. And spiritual teachings are set apart from other types of learning, having a special place in our heart.

Reiki is sacred. This necessarily means that we don’t make everyday fodder from any of its inner workings.

4) The symbols are not a commodity. Thus they have no place on jewelry, T-shirts, bags, CD covers, Reiki manual covers, Reiki webpages as decoration, watermarks, candles, crystals, fountains, art or any other medium.

5) The symbols are secondary to the use of primordial vowel sounds.

Reiki is a living teaching that contains primordial forces, which when utilized with understanding transforms you. I’ve written a lot about Reiki as consciousness on this blog. Before there can be energy, there has to be consciousness. Energy is a densification of consciousness, and matter is a densification of energy.

There are sub-frequencies in the overall spectrum of Reiki that relate to creation in its cosmic and natural formation. Two of these (there’s more) are identified as Earth Ki and Celestial Ki. This is the stuff of life and the universe we get to interact and play with in Reiki, that grows us and gives us an opportunity to enhance life through spiritual practice.

We are actually composed of these polar forces, which actually point to a unity. The founder of these teachings Usui Sensei, emphasized a vibrational approach to better embodying and integrating Earth and Celestial Ki. For a long time he gave his students only primordial vowel sounds that have the ability to open up these energies within us like the morning glory in the warming sun.

Intoning seed syllables is a vibrational practice that brings in a set of qualities associated with each syllable or a certain sequence. It really makes sense to use a vibrational method to become consciously one with energetic forces in and around us; it’s direct and thus much more effective.

The Reiki ’symbols’ were later included to give a visual representation, which was an easier connection for some students. The symbols were and are an additional method, and don’t replace the practice of primordial syllables. These sounds are not the names commonly associated with the symbols.

I don’t send MP3s of Reiki’s sacred sounds to the uninitiated. By the same principle, keep Reiki’s symbols in your heart. Practice sincerely and consistently. There’s no good reason to risk dilution, or making the sacred profane through overexposure. The banal and the mundane are already abundant. Let’s leave some things apart and distinguished. Please.

Update 11/13/08

This post has been republished in The Reiki Digest, a regular roundup of news about Reiki from around the world.

Reiki One-Liner^SM

On July 30, 2008 I started a new service in the microblogging world by sending out this one-liner about Reiki:

Reiki is living with wisdom & compassion.

Since then Reiki One-Liner^SM has gone out to Plurk and Twitter everyday between Monday and Friday, with two breaks of a few days since its inception.

Here, presented in alphabetical order rather than the order they went out are the first 50 Reiki one-liners:

1. Reiki accepts all.
2. Reiki balances & harmonizes.
3. Reiki beautifies.
4. Reiki blesses giver & receiver alike.
5. Reiki blesses you. Reiki is a blessing.
6. Reiki boosts brain power.
7. Reiki boosts intuition.
8. Reiki brings wisdom.
9. Reiki clarifies choices before you.
10. Reiki cools your emotions.
11. Reiki enhances everything.
12. Reiki enhances learning.
13. Reiki gives unconditionally.
14. Reiki gives you the keys to the universe.
15. Reiki heals & uplifts.
16. Reiki heals body, mind & soul.
17. Reiki heals the heart.
18. Reiki heals. Period.
19. Reiki helps the human.
20. Reiki helps you appreciate true prosperity.
21. Reiki helps you see through fear.
22. Reiki helps young & old.
23. Reiki helps. Period.
24. Reiki identifies your strengths & weaknesses.
25. Reiki improves life.
26. Reiki improves sex.
27. Reiki improves your relationship with life.
28. Reiki improves your relationship with others.
29. Reiki improves your relationship with yourself.
30. Reiki increases your light.
31. Reiki is a corner of peace & gentleness in your life.
32. Reiki is a lifestyle enhancer.
33. Reiki is a noun. Also a verb.
34. Reiki is a personal HMO.
35. Reiki is a personal Polaris.
36. Reiki is a way-shower.
37. Reiki is an energy aid on your journey.
38. Reiki is an inner & outer ecology.
39. Reiki is an ocean of compassion.
40. Reiki is certain in uncertainty.
41. Reiki is inspiration.
42. Reiki is living with wisdom & compassion.
43. Reiki is motivational.
44. Reiki is nonharming.
45. Reiki is peace of mind.
46. Reiki is perfect balance between Heaven & Earth.
47. Reiki is portable.
48. Reiki is preventive health.
49. Reiki is rootedness.
50. Reiki is self-organizing.

The holiday gift-giving season is upon us. Pocket-books are on all our minds. I can’t recommend a more rewarding, long-lasting and special gift for yourself or a loved one than these Attars: Divine oils. These are almost exclusively the only ones I use personally and in my work.

ATTARS

Attar is a Persian word meaning “fragrance, scent, or essence.” We use the term Attar because both the manufacture and application of oils that we supply belongs to this East Indian and Persian tradition.

Unfortunately, in the West, the word ‘perfume’ has come to mean a range of products that contain primarily alcohol, and are heavily diluted with synthetic additives. But originally, perfumes meant pure, natural extracted oils, either individual oils, or their blends.

The word perfume comes from the French par fume, meaning ‘through smoke’, as it was common to burn the oils in order to gain access to the essential etheric qualities released by burning. All plants are comprised of carbon-based matter. By igniting the extracted oils of plants, they are convened into light-based matter, which directly acts on the angelic realms, and influences the emotional and spiritual realms.

Attar perfume oils are a specific type of fragrance product derived from natural plant substances, both single ones, and those blended together carefully to produce remarkably rich scents. Although some attars are simply individual oils, which on their own are suitable for fragrance use, such as Amber, Sandalwood or Patchouli, they are usually composed of careful blends of various oils, resins and concretes—two or more—placed in a natural base or carrier oil.

The beauty of using attar oils is that by wearing them you create an aura of tranquility, confidence and mystery around yourself. Because attars contain no alcohol, the scent “clings” within one or two feet of your body, in the “zone of intimacy.”

Attar Bazaar Oils for Healing, Emotional Balance,
Mental Power and Spiritual Upliftment