The following is taken from The Three Pillars of Zen, compiled and edited by Philip Kapleau, a seminal work on Zen Buddhism. While there are certain references specific to Zen, the appeal of the hara and its cultivation is obvious.

Hara literally denotes the stomach and abdomen and the functions of digestion, absorption, and elimination connected with them. But it has parallel psychic¹ and spiritual significance. According to Hindu and Buddhist yogic systems, there are a number of psychic centers in the body through which vital cosmic force or energy flows. Of the two such centers embraced within the hara, one is associated with the solar plexus, whose system of nerves governs the digestive processes and organs of elimination. Hara is thus a wellspring of vital psychic energies. Harada-roshi, one of the most celebrated Zen masters of his day, in urging his disciples to concentrate their mind’s eye (i.e., the attention, the summation point of the total being) in their hara, would declare: “You must realize”—i.e., make real—”that the center of the universe is the pit of your belly!

To facilitate his experience of this fundamental truth, the Zen novice is instructed to focus his mind constantly at the bottom of his hara (specifically, between the navel and the pelvis) and to radiate all mental and bodily activities from that region. With the body-mind’s equilibrium centered in the hara, gradually a seat of consciousness, a focus of vital energy, is established there which influences the entire organism.

That consciousness is by no means confined to the brain is shown by Lama Govinda, who writes as follows: “While, according to Western conceptions, the brain is the exclusive seat of consciousness, yogic experience shows that our brain-consciousness is only one among a number of possible forms of consciousness, and that these, according to their function and nature, can be localized or centered in various organs of the body. These ‘organs,’ which collect, transform, and distribute the forces flowing through them, are called cakras, or centers of force. From them radiate secondary streams of psychic force, comparable to the spokes of a wheel, the ribs of an umbrella, or the petals of a lotus. In other words, these cakras are the points in which psychic forces and bodily functions merge into each other or penetrate each other. They are the focal points in which cosmic and psychic energies crystallize into bodily qualities, and in which bodily qualities are dissolved or transmuted again into psychic forces.

Settling the body’s center of gravity below the navel, that is, establishing a center of consciousness in the hara, automatically relaxes tensions arising from the habitual hunching of the shoulders, straining of the neck, and squeezing in of the stomach. As this rigidity disappears, an enhanced vitality and new sense of freedom are experienced throughout the body and mind, which are felt more and more to be a unity.

Zazen (meditation) has clearly demonstrated that with the mind’s eye centered in the hara the proliferation of random ideas is diminished and the attainment of one-pointedness accelerated, since a plethora of blood from the head is drawn down to the abdomen, “cooling” the brain and soothing the autonomic nervous system. This in turn leads to a greater degree of mental and emotional stability. One who functions from his hara, therefore, is not easily disturbed. He is, moreover, able to act quickly and decisively in an emergency owing to the fact that his mind, anchored in his hara, does not waver.

With the mind in the hara, narrow and egocentric thinking is superseded by a broadness of outlook and a magnanimity of spirit. This is because thinking from the vital hara center, being free of mediation by the limited discursive intellect, is spontaneous and all embracing. Perception from the hara tends toward integration and unity rather than division and fragmentation. In short, it is thinking which sees things steadily and whole.

The figure of the Buddha seated on his lotus throne—serene, stable, all-knowing and all-encompassing, radiating boundless light and compassion—is the foremost example of hara expressed through perfect enlightenment. Rodin’s “Thinker,” on the other hand, a solitary figure “lost” in thought and contorted in body, remote and isolated from his Self, typifies the opposite state.

¹ “Psychic” here does not relate to extrasensory phenomena or powers but to energies and body-mind states which cannot be classified either as physiological or psychological.

Serene Buddha and The Thinker

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Having provided free content for over two years, the Reiki Help Blog is now asking for your support. Actually, the content remains free, but your support is needed. The button or link below will take you to a secure PayPal page where you can give any amount of your choosing.

“Pamir, I really enjoy reading your blog. I would like to make a wee contribution to support your work. Thanks for doing what you do! Many, many Reiki blessings!” — J.A.P

Please donate what feels right. Each post is a considerable investment of thought, heart, energy and time.

Donate to this blog. Thank you!

What are some of the common symptoms people want Reiki to address?

Physical conditions

Back pain. Migraines. Fibromyalgia. Chronic Fatigue. TMJ. Skin disorders. Cancer. Autoimmune disorders. Thyroid imbalances.

Emotional conditions

Low self-esteem. Emotional distance & unavailability. Hot emotions like anger or jealousy. Panic. Fears. Inability to cope. Feeling uncomfortable in your skin. Feeling out of place. Grief.

Mental conditions

Stress. Depression. Anxiety. Lack of concentration. ADD and ADHD. Insomnia. Confusion. Negative thinking. Mental burdens.

Spiritual conditions

Disconnection from self and life. Loss of meaning. Dark night of the soul. Spiritual seeking. Loss of personal power. Soul loss. Not knowing life direction or purpose. Inability to forgive. Fear of death.

Reiki helps the person. What kind of person? A person with chronic pain. A person living with cancer. A depressed person.

• Do you suffer from migraines or anxiety?
• Does arthritis make every day tasks difficult?
• Have you tried different mattresses for your back pain?
• Do you feel ill at ease, unable to cope, or lack energy?
• Are you just existing and don’t feel well, but can’t put your finger on it?
• Is your family or partner driving you crazy?

All of the above is a sample list. The point is that symptoms are endless. The list could be 100 times this.

Because Reiki is concerned with the person and not the symptom, it can be effective for you no matter what your life looks like, how your body is doing, or how you feel and think.

Reiki’s most significant remedy is that it helps you embrace your innate or natural spirituality.

Why would you care? Because over and over, research shows that people with a personal sense of spirituality report:

• Less use of medical services
• Less minor illness
• Emotional resiliency in terminal illness
• Pain reduction
• Better immunity
• Accelerated healing
• Less anxiety
• Ability to buffer stress
• Being undefeated by crisis

Personal spirituality brings with it a greater sense of participation and empowerment, purpose and meaning, and a broader perspective, with a strong sense of well-being and not just an absence of disease.

In other words, spiritual health has a direct positive impact on mental, emotional and physical health. What spiritual health means to you is completely up to you.

Reiki simply promotes mindbody states that support your wholeness and wellbeing, gently balancing and harmonizing you in a holistic and individualistic way.

Have you tried Reiki?

Resources: Watch my video The Role Of Spirituality in Wellness.

———
Having provided free content for over two years, the Reiki Help Blog is now asking for your support. Actually, the content remains free, but your support is needed. The button or link below will take you to a secure PayPal page where you can give any amount of your choosing.

“Pamir, I really enjoy reading your blog. I would like to make a wee contribution to support your work. Thanks for doing what you do! Many, many Reiki blessings!” — J.A.P

Please donate what feels right. Each post is a considerable investment of thought, heart, energy and time.

Donate to this blog. Thank you!

This complex system patrols and guards the body against attackers from without and within, regulating susceptibility to cancers, infectious diseases, allergies, and autoimmune disorders. The organs of the immune system include the bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes, spleen, tonsils, appendix and certain tissues in the small intestine (Peyer’s patches). These are known as the lymphoid organs as they are involved with the development and deployment of lymphocytes, the white blood cells that are crucial to the healthy functioning of the immune system.

Today there are multiple “stressors” that negatively affect the immune system: age, virusesn and bacteria, drugs and certain medical therapies, allergies, autoimmune disorders, malignancies, immunodeficiencies, environmental toxins, and even thoughts and emotions.

In a normally functioning immune system, cells that are destined to become lymphocytes are produced in the bone marrow. There are two major classes: T cells processed in the thymus, and B cells which mature outside of the thymus. T cells act as messengers and destroyers against pathogens. B cells secrete antibodies that match a specific invading antigen. In addition there are granulocytes, macrophages and monocytes, all capable of enveloping and destroying invaders. There’s also a strong connection between the immune system and the brain hormonally and chemically, as well as psychosocially.

Using Reiki to boost immunity is a natural and holistic way to energetically stimulate the immune system. Fresh supplies of vital life energy are provided to all major organs of the immune system in high concentrations. This creates a balancing action which is deeply restorative and supportive to the immune system, regenerating it to function at optimal capacity. The immune system is revived and all of its components once again communicate and work as they were originally designed.

To strengthen and balance the immune system with Reiki concentrate on these areas:

• The brain as the focal point of all bodily organization.
• The thymus as the master gland of the immune system.
• Long bones of the arms and legs as sites of the bone marrow.
• White cell producers: lymph nodes, spleen, tonsils and small intestine.
• The blood as there are inactive proteins there which act as immune system’s complement system.
• The skin as a primary boundary, together with the eyes, nose and mouth as entry points.
• Guided imagery to enhance stimulation, if needed.

=========
Having provided free content for over two years, the Reiki Help Blog is now asking for your support. The button or link below will take you to a secure PayPal page where you can give any amount of your choosing.

Please donate what feels right. Each post is a considerable investment of thought, heart, energy and time.

Donate to this blog. Thank you!

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 Twitter and Plurk everyday between Monday and Friday, with breaks of a few days since its inception.

Read the first 50.

Read the next 50.

Read third 50.

Here, presented in alphabetical order rather than the order they went out are 50 more Reiki One-Liners:

1. At the core of anxiety, Reiki is abiding calm.
2. At the core of fear, Reiki is solid knowing of self.
3. At the core of illness, Reiki is a bottomless resource.
4. At the core of pain, Reiki is the presence of love.
5. At the core of sadness, Reiki is unending joy and comfort.
6. Reiki activates the dormant divinity in your cells.
7. Reiki beckons the soul.
8. Reiki busts hardened habits and beliefs, opening many new possibilities.
9. Reiki declutters mind space, personal/work space and heart space.
10. Reiki deepens meaning.
11. Reiki deepens your consciousness.
12. Reiki deepens your heart.
13. Reiki deepens your humanity.
14. Reiki deepens your relationships.
15. Reiki expands the accuracy of your intuition and your trust in it.
16. Reiki expands the heart past personal dramas.
17. Reiki expands the mind to perceive more than the five senses tell it.
18. Reiki expands your horizon.
19. Reiki expands your orientation from personality to soul.
20. Reiki gives Heart when life seems heartless.
21. Reiki helps you know who you are before personality and possessions.
22. Reiki increases the soul’s magnetic power.
23. Reiki is a celestial waterfall.
24. Reiki is a cool spring in the heat of trials.
25. Reiki is a nonphysical umbilical cord between you and the great Mother universe.
26. Reiki is a series of stepping-stones across the pond of life.
27. Reiki is Heart solace.
28. Reiki is spring rain on your weary soul mind body.
29. Reiki is springtime renewal all year round.
30. Reiki is tête–à–tête with your soul.
31. Reiki is the light of the Heart on the pathway of life.
32. Reiki is the Universe saying “pssst!”
33. Reiki is the Universe’s 411.
34. Reiki is the Universe’s 911.
35. Reiki is the way of the Heart through the pathway of life.
36. Reiki opens a Heart-based relation with all.
37. Reiki opens you to your soul.
38. Reiki replaces neurosis with bliss.
39. Reiki restores your original codes.
40. Reiki restores your original power.
41. Reiki returns you to the divine self-worth of your origin.
42. Reiki reveals what your name is before you take birth.
43. Reiki takes you from particle to wave and back to particle at a different location.
44. Reiki warms the soul.
45. There’s a truth before and after your lifespan. Reiki will reveal it to you.
46. With Reiki the Earth finds succor.
47. With Reiki there are no losers.
48. With Reiki there is refuge.
49. With Reiki you can be like a multi-armed deity.
50. With Reiki you can converse with Life.

Chakras (click to see artist's site)

Energetic Wellness

In Reiki as it is much was said about the true nature of Reiki, how it is a spiritual teaching and practice first, with healing being a natural extension of its enlightening practices. Yet Usui-san was widely known as a great healer. Teate means hands-on healing in Japanese and was very popular in Usui’s time. In 1923 an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit Tokyo. 100,000 deaths were reported. His Memorial stone states:

“Everywhere there were groans of pains from the wounded. Sensei feeling pity for them went out every morning to go around the town, and he cured and saved innumerable people. This is just a broad outline of his relief activities during such an emergency.”

Fast forward to the 21^st century. We have many options available to us when it comes to healthcare and wellness. Yet few of these options, including other CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) therapies, address energetic wellness. Why is energetic wellness important? Because without it we are not able to be well!

Acupuncture meridians

Most people are experientially familiar with energy as it relates to the ability of their body to function in its daily tasks. This is called “metabolic energy,” provided by the foods and supplements we ingest, sunshine and oxygen. Some of this turns into the raw building blocks of our body and some of it into chemical energy that keeps us active and productive.

Our nervous system, on the other hand communicates through electrical messages. These biochemical and neuroelectrical energy systems are well-accepted by science. There is also growing research that our cells emit weak bursts of ultraviolet light, indicating a light-based energy system. (Gerber 13-15. See below for book references.)

Then there are the contributions of thousands of years of spiritual and healing knowledge from the various cultures and civilizations of our collective history.

Two such contributions are what may be called “life-energy” (or “lifeforce”), and “spiritual energy” systems. One example of a life-energy system is acupuncture with its meridians, responsible for distributing life energy to cells, tissues and organs.

The best known example of spiritual energy distribution is the chakras, the seven major energy centers that play a critical role in our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. (Gerber 16-17)

Nadis

The chakras are also related to a maze of channels that distribute this unique subtle energy. These are known as nadis.

The system of chakras and nadis corresponds to your experiential center, that inner core from which you feel yourself move when you are truly spontaneous. From there you move out to contact the world. The meridian system, on the other hand, reflects how that energy interfaces with the world around you. (Ballentine 408)

Ki

You can read about the system that Reiki utilizes in Reiki as it is. Ki is naturally present in the body and in a special Ki field around the body. The fundamental functions of Ki are to:

• Transform materials, such as food into fuel in the body
• Transport substances, like blood throughout the body’s vessels
• Hold substances in place, such as blood in vessels and viscera in the abdomen
• Protect against pathogens and trauma
• Warm living tissues

When there is overall harmony, Ki flows smoothly and any minor imbalances are rectified naturally. When the body becomes stressed for long periods or there is physical damage, emotional trauma (e.g. anger, worry, fear, grief), or mental inharmony the smooth flow of Ki is disrupted, creating pools of excess and deficiency.

Healthy flow of Ki is known as Genki and disrupted Ki is called Byoki (literally, sick Ki). There are four basic types of Ki disharmony:

Deficient Ki – this can lead to spontaneous sweating, fatigue, lethargy and weakness.

Sinking Ki – which is characterized by organ prolapse (e.g. sagging organs and bagginess), vertigo, weariness, and a very weak pulse.

Stagnant Ki – the flow of Ki is slow or blocked, which can produce swelling, bloating, belching, achiness all over and fidgetiness.

Rebellious Ki – the direction of normal Ki flow is reversed, leading to hiccups, vomiting, coughing, asthma, liver problems and fainting.

The human energy system (HES) continues on. Beyond the scope of this discussion, we are also surrounded and interpenetrated by a set of subtle bodies.

The first of these is the “etheric body,” an almost exact replica of the physical and its template. Another subtle body is the “astral” which relates to feelings and their expression and the influence of our emotions. Each of these spiritual bodies vibrates at a higher rate than the previous one. However they are not to be understood in linear fashion, but more in the sense of expanding and connected fields. The “mental body” of course deals with the energy of thought, creation, invention and inspiration. Lastly, there is the “causal” or “spiritual body.” This obviously relates to our soul and higher Self, and is a divine template. (Gerber 23-31)

As you can see, so much more is going on to create the physical body and enable it to function. So much more is also going on to make our mind and feelings function. Consciousness is not only a mechanical firing of electrochemical signals, but an energy of its own. And a whole lot is going on to make our soul a part of physical existence.

In light of this information, energetic wellness takes on new meaning. It becomes a priority, vital to health, prevention, wholeness and a life of fulfillment.

Reiki as a Healing Art

Reiki is organized, orderly Ki. It is intelligent, compassionate and wise. There is a harmony to it.

Reiki is not dependent on the practitioner’s ability to sense disruptions in the energy or Ki field of the recipient to diagnose their energy flow and patterns. There is no need to direct or manipulate the energy, and no need to “correct” in any way.

Reiki treatments are gently balancing and support the wellbeing of the recipient in a holistic and individualistic way. Relaxation, pain relief, physical healing, reduced emotional distress, mental acuity, and a deepened awareness of spiritual connection are commonly reported benefits.

Reiki:

• dissolves stagnant ki
• eliminates deficient ki
• balances rebellious ki
• tones sinking ki
• neutralizes incompatible energies
• re-balances the human energy system
• flows healingly through both the meridians and the nadis
• addresses the recipient at a causal level, not masking symptoms

Reiki offers a direct link to starting and growing an energetic relationship with yourself in the deepest, most meaningful sense. What is interesting about Reiki is that it runs the entire energetic spectrum, from life energy to spiritual energy. It is both the chi (ki) of the meridians, webbed out more on the surface of our body, and the prana­ of the chakras and nadis, webbed in the more nonphysical aspect of our being.

Reiki treatments are richly nutritive to body, mind and soul, and help one to make the changes needed for optimal living. With so much at stake, an experienced and sensitive practitioner is essential.

The word “practitioner” does not only mean one who practices Reiki on others, but more significantly, one who practices Reiki as part of their personal spirituality.

Find a Reiki healer who is not merely using techniques, but comes from the sincerity of inner understanding, who embodies the sacred space needed for true change and wellness to take place. The healing relationship you will have with this practitioner is based on trust and mutual resonance. There needs to be trust in the process also.

A remarkable feature of Reiki is that it creates access to your own answers, insights and revelations. It is second to none in receiving your own spiritual and healing information. Your commitment level to your own growth and healing is vitally important. Personal growth and healing occur in an environment of partnership, cooperation, discipline and real willingness on your part to better some aspect of yourself. It takes courage to embark on a journey of self-development and many twists and turns are common. Hurdles and obstacles do come up. Open communication is the best way to move your inner work ahead and succeed.

Reference books:

A Practical Guide to Vibrational Medicine: Energy Healing and Spiritual Transformation

Richard Gerber, MD

Radical Healing: Integrating the World’s Great Therapeutic Traditions to Create a New Transformative Medicine

Rudolph M. Ballentine, MD

Flowering trees near the Zigzag Bridge (Yatsuhashi) in the Japanese Garden, Seiwa-en. Photo credit: Jack Jennings, Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden.

Reiki is a highly-effective but simple and practical teaching originally developed by Mikao Usui¹ designed for:

• Spiritual growth
• Personal development
• Life enrichment
• Energy healing for self and others

In this age of instant gratification, ready information and marketplace spirituality, Reiki is a pure light that’s most beautiful and beneficial when savored with care.

Reiki is more popular than ever, and available almost anywhere in different formats. You can be trained online; receive all three Levels in a weekend; or go from teacher to teacher.

Apart from traditional and contemporary Usui Reiki, whether it’s Japanese or Western, there are an endless array of new schools and styles. There are also many Reiki websites, blogs, forums and e-mail lists. All kinds of Reiki information is circulated on Facebook, and microblogging sites such as Twitter.

Choosing a Teacher

Choose a Reiki teacher who is equipped in every way to serve you all the way down the winding path. Understand that Reiki is a living teaching, that is it continues to evolve the practitioner with each use. Therefore there are layers of learning and growth even for the teacher. Start with someone who has been guided by Reiki for a number of years and has reached a certain level of maturity. This is someone who has:

1. Inner and outer resources:
   1. Inner: Reiki is lived. Don’t learn Reiki from a parrot.
   2. Outer: Provides well-written, extensive, reference quality Manuals s/he has written and updates when needed. (I see too much dubious photocopied material hastily put together.) Has other resources such as website, blog, and audiovisual.
2. Availability to support and mentor you at all times. A local teacher is best. My phone is on around the clock. My email availability is also near constant. Post-training, it’s very beneficial to have practitioner meetings to deepen students’ Reiki assimilation.
3. Has a school and developed understanding. Look at a Reiki teacher’s body of work. Does s/he have standing in the local community, does outreach, gives presentations and is published (and I don’t mean only on their own site/blog)?
4. Holds terrestrial trainings and these are actual trainings, not only attunements². Reiki is a transmission and this doesn’t happen only during attunements. The entire training experience is a vibrational field that imparts this teaching, transmission and empowerment.
5. What kind of Reiki does s/he teach? Usui’s original, traditional Japanese Reiki is a natural preference and here’s why (the rest of this post also points out why):

• Modern Reiki
• Reiki as Consciousness I
• Reiki as Consciousness II
• Reiki as Consciousness III

Reiki’s Core Teachings

Reiki is a graduated teaching with each Level of training requiring solid integration. Within the full consciousness and energy of Reiki are sub-frequencies (Some of the links above explain this further.)

In simple terms these energies are Earth Ki, Celestial Ki and the principle of Connection. Ki³ is the life vitality of the body, mind and soul, as well as the energy permeating Nature and the material world. Ki is also Cosmic Energy and is all-pervasive in its various forms.

Earth Ki is our physical link to the earth. It’s the energy of the body and its creator, builder and healer. By associating with Earth Ki you also bring order and success to our material existence and concerns.

Celestial Ki is the link to nonphysical aspects of your being; your energy, emotions, thoughts and spirit. It’s the healer of your relationship with yourself, others and the Divine.

For ultimate wellbeing, material success and personal enlightenment, both poles are given equal importance and integrated to engender wholeness, and express the highest and most sacred in us, in a way that is visible and tangible in the physical world.

Connection is a key concept of Mikao Usui’s teachings. It relates to your essential Oneness with:

• Yourself
• Others
• Nature and all its life forms
• The Cosmos
• The Divine which is more personal

Students are sensitized to these energies with the use of primordial vowel sounds, and to a lesser degree with visual representations (in Level II).

Reiki is the full-spectrum consciousness and energy of all there is. As such it can be described as spiritual consciousness and energy. The entire spectrum is spiritual, even though it has an Earth pole and a Celestial pole. This spectrum which fuels all of creation and the Cosmos is also continuous and connected between its poles.

Reiki’s Special Subtle System

The system that Reiki follows is a simple and elegant concentration in three locations known as Hara. The first and main hara (lower) is in the lower belly, approximately midway between the bellybutton and the top of the pubic bone, also known as one-point.

The upper hara is located in the head at a point that corresponds to the middle of the eyebrows and is also known as the spiritual eye.

The middle hara is in the chest, at the sternum (breastbone) and is also known as the heart center.

The main hara is the body’s actual center. It’s equidistant from this location to the feet and to the head. Thus it’s the body’s center of gravity.

The lower hara is considered to be an intuitive and spiritual center. It’s an area into which your energy can settle and into which great vitality is drawn from the environment and the Cosmos.

The lower hara is an endless source of Ki, from which it comes and to which it flows. It’s the origin of balance and stability and not only physically. The mind and thus the emotions can also find calmness and strength here. When you are established in this natural center, Ki flows throughout your body and mind, and creates a healthy Ki field around you. The lower hara is your base support, your foundation.

Many of us are out of balance simply because we put our power and weight in the head (intellect/logic), the shoulders and the chest. Especially in the West, these locations are what are emphasized as being significant in success, self-confidence and health. Most of our education emphasizes the left brain; broad shoulders and barrel-chests are admired, the belly isn’t allowed to protrude making us tense. We are top-heavy! Do you realize how easy it is to literally tip over with such an imbalance?

Look at small kids who have just learned to walk. They push their bellies forward and walk with heavy steps, concentrating on their center. Unfortunately, many people lose contact with their center when they grow up. The immediate effect is bad balance and weakness in movements and an increasing confusion of mind also follows.

If you practice sensing your center in the lower belly and use it to support whatever you do, then certainty about your own being will grow. You will regain contact with yourself, secure in both knowing that you exist and increasingly learning who you are.

The upper hara is the center of mental faculties and higher mind. The energies felt here are lighter and more expansive, and relate to emotions, thoughts and subtle, meditative realizations.

This center is also about learning to use both hemispheres of the brain appropriately, i.e., not to approach matters of the inner self with too much logic and not to approach matters of the outer life with too much of a meditative quality. Ultimately you learn whole-brain thinking, using both hemispheres equally and in balance with each other and what is in front of you.

If undeveloped, this center can be unavailable to the wide range of consciousness and all its possibilities, thus limiting an individual’s choices. The potential for this center is discriminative intelligence, wisdom and realization.

The middle hara expresses Connection. It’s the center where all the elements of being human come to fruition. From the higher faculties of mind and spiritual evolution, including all the creations of right thought, right speech and right action, to the basics of the body and survival, the heart center expresses what is uniquely human.

It’s also where anger or similar emotions may be held. The potential for this center is that it fully expresses our Connection to all there is and embodies the quality of compassion in a real and profound sense.

Conclusion

While Reiki is deeply healing and can be applied to oneself and others, Usui’s teachings really lead to discovering your spiritual path, staying on it with purpose and understanding, and enhancing your experiences until satori emerges. Satori is the Japanese term for the experience of enlightenment, illumination or realization i.e., awakening to one’s true nature and the nature of all existence.

The practices he taught and spread give a clear indication that the real benefit of Reiki Training and practice is to bring out the best qualities of our humanness and reach higher, to a level of spiritual attainment.

This happens naturally when Reiki is utilized as a core practice of spiritual life. This means that apart from the formal use of Reiki’s many helpful functions, there’s less and less separation and difference between ‘Reiki-on’ and ‘Reiki-off.’

In other words, Universal truth, light, wisdom, love and power that Reiki helps us access gradually become an unbroken part of who and what we are.

As with any authentic spiritual teaching, Usui Sensei left behind a living teaching that addresses the whole person. There are several components of spiritual growth that are common to all such teachings. These components are addressed in Usui’s way with various easy-to-do practices. Included are:

• Regular cleansing of body, mind and soul
• Establishing a higher consciousness
• Maintaining energetic integrity
• Bringing wholeness to the subconscious mind
• Hara development
• Conscious Oneness and balance between heaven and earth
• Empowerment to reach the transcendental

His teachings are practical to the core and readily applicable in modern life. Good results are seen with even a little practice and the effects are incremental, leading to greater and higher spiritual experiences and evolution, as well as everyday happiness and success.

________________________

¹ Mikao Usui is the founder of the system of Reiki. Mikao Usui was born on the 15th of August 1865, in the village of Taniai-mura in the Yamagata-gun district of the Gifu-ken Prefecture, in Japan. He is mostly commonly referred to as “Usui Sensei,” with sensei meaning teacher or master. Some may use O-Sensei, with “O” being “great”. “San” is another honorific that is more neutral. He left behind a huge legacy. Reiki, as a spiritual teaching, and healing art is a global movement today.

² An attunement, initiation or connection ritual is the energetic opening or awakening that is gifted to the student by the Universe, through a Reiki Teacher. This enables the student to jumpstart their Reiki practice, giving them a clean, healthy beginning for their spiritual journey. It works energetically through the body, mind and soul to increase the student’s spiritual light quotient, which will is maintained by daily practice.

³ Ki is vital energy that enlivens creation, human body and mind, and runs the Cosmos. While it shows up as subtle energy, it isn’t only energy. Ki is also a set of Divine attributes: Wisdom, Compassion, Power, Light and Intelligence.

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 Twitter and Plurk everyday between Monday and Friday, with breaks of a few days since its inception.

Read the first 50.

Read the next 50.

Tonight I tweeted:

Reiki is the Universe saying “pssst!”

One of my Twitter friends responded:

Luv ur 1liners. Had wonderful grocery visit. I was rollin’ along when cart wheels spazzed. Right there, great sale on pasta! Hee hee

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

1. Feeling fragmented? Reiki defrags you quickly and completely.
2. Integrity and clear boundaries in communication are enhanced by Reiki.
3. Mind dissects and separates. Reiki brings a holistic view.
4. Mind over thinks. Reiki settles it into natural, spacious awareness.
5. Reiki beautifies the inner and outer you.
6. Reiki brings balance to your responsibilities and unburdens your shoulders.
7. Reiki brings out your inner gem.
8. Reiki centers you even at a red light.
9. Reiki does good and moves on to the next person or situation.
10. Reiki helps you know mind is not localized in the brain but is everywhere.
11. Reiki helps you notice the 800 pound gorilla in the room.
12. Reiki is a daily dose of good.
13. Reiki is a life and soul app designed by higher Intelligence.
14. Reiki is an ocean of compassion multiplied by awareness.
15. Reiki is an ocean of love multiplied by acceptance.
16. Reiki is context and meaning renewed by an enduring presence.
17. Reiki is daily empowerment.
18. Reiki is daily renewal.
19. Reiki is daily sanity.
20. Reiki is daily vibrational alignment.
21. Reiki is embodied peace.
22. Reiki is Grace.
23. Reiki is insurance for body, mind and soul.
24. Reiki is letting go of control so you can have true control.
25. Reiki is self-knowledge and biofeedback via hands-on and meditation.
26. Reiki is soul poetry.
27. Reiki is soul satisfaction.
28. Reiki is the art of self-communication.
29. Reiki is the in and out breath of the Universe.
30. Reiki is the interface between personal ki and universal Ki.
31. Reiki is the knowing that you are as infinite as the universe.
32. Reiki is the Universe’s way of saying, “Got your back!”
33. Reiki keeps you in grace if you get punk’d.
34. Reiki lets you help others without compromising yourself.
35. Reiki lets you KNOW that which can’t be quantified.
36. Reiki makes soul available in every situation.
37. Reiki places intellect in balance to assist your soul.
38. Reiki places you smack-dab in the lap of the Universe.
39. Reiki rebalances you in the midst of your day.
40. Reiki self-treatments=Self-acceptance and love.
41. Reiki sources your life from the lotus of your being instead of your lower self.
42. Reiki will shift procrastination right out of your system.
43. The body doesn’t lie. Reiki helps you know when the mind does.
44. The body is a vehicle for your spirit. Reiki remembers that and keeps it healthy.
45. The mind powered by Reiki functions higher.
46. The mind succumbs to fear. Reiki restores natural spaciousness.
47. Thoughts become biology. Reiki interrupts that.
48. With Reiki you recover better from setbacks.
49. Your body changes. Reiki stays with you throughout.
50. Your body is a library of you. Reiki is the index.

Semantics

Let’s speak about the language we’ve adopted around Reiki. What first comes to mind is, “I’m doing Reiki” or, “Let me do Reiki on you.” Language frames our reality in a certain way. By changing language we can change our reality. It’s one of the ways in which what we attract and dispel can be set into motion. Hopefully it’s been impressed upon you in your training, with further validation in your own practice, that Reiki is less about “doing” and seriously about BEING!

We’re constantly doing in almost every area of life. We live in an industrial, technological society, mostly motivated by MORE is BETTER and I CONTROL how to get more. Since we’re a breed of “doers,” balance must be found somehow. If we frame Reiki as doing too, it’s hot water where cool is needed; cool, calm, restful.

Reiki is a state of non-action. The more you flow with incoming energy, the more it will flow and you’ll experience greater harmony and balance. Personal evolution and healing can’t be forced. We’re connected to the electromagnetic field of Earth; there are seasons, cycles and rhythms. Similarly, healing and transformation happen in a layered, spiral fashion. Life is interdependent and imbued with an ageless wisdom. Reiki gives us a huge chance to listen to this wisdom.

“Give” and “receive” Reiki, reserving doing to other areas of your life that respond well to that. Practice Reiki on and with yourself, others, Nature and its lifeforms. Remember, non-action isn’t inaction. Right action has its place as we conceive, mount, produce and materialize our life and work, with all of its details.

Neither is Reiki “sent” at-a-distance. Rather, we’re constantly helping the evolution and healing of others when we sincerely work on our own opacity versus our stuckness. And when we do formally sit to practice nonlocal healing, it’s a becoming of Oneness with the receiver, whoever or whatever that may be. We merge and participate in an eternal moment that lingers the entire course of the energy flow; a subtly pulsing dance of intention and sharing of this Divine gift, sans space and time limits.

Meditative Reiki

One of the gems that has appeared in the surfacing of the original Usui teachings, is the integral place of meditation in Reiki for the practitioner. This isn’t someone’s creative idea of how to meditate with Reiki, or guided meditation, or simple quiet sitting.

Reiki meditations are based on a perennial understanding of Ki, breath, the spiritual spine, significant points along it, and the cornerstones of personal evolution.

Posture is important, without becoming too rigid about it. You can sit cross-legged on the floor or furniture; sit on furniture with your legs uncrossed, feet flat on the ground; or sit on the floor Japanese style (seiza) on your knees.

Head and torso are aligned; spine is upright but flexible. Cast your eyes down about 2 feet in front of you, looking at the floor and close or half close your eyes. Your focal point is always the hara region, in particular your tanden.

The breath is smooth, continuous and lengthened, i.e., slowed down. You want to breathe abdominally, letting the diaphragm do its intended job, filling the lungs from the bottom-up, without the use of other muscles around the ribcage and chest. Essentially, your belly expands on inhalation and contracts on exhalation, with little movement elsewhere. If you’re practicing bringing Light in through the crown (one of the specific Reiki meditations), it can feel like the opening and closing of a flap or valve, about two inches above the hairline.

Most importantly relax in body and mind. Drop your striving; it’s not the place for it. Practice sincerely and observe without judgment or expectation. As Universal Ki interacts with you and your consciousness is elevated, you may find that the breath becomes finer and finer. You can cease whatever technique you’re practicing and actually meditate at this point. Just don’t make it too soon, without this natural development taking place, because breathing in certain ways has many other benefits than leading you into meditation alone.

Self-Treatment

Some of these pointers will also help with giving Reiki to others. What I see most that may detract from the experience is an uncertainty in the hands, how they contact your body and at which locations. The main correction here is to make as much contact with the surface area of your body, with as much of the underside of your hands as possible. Mold your hands to make good, solid contact with your body, centering the palms over the main body part being addressed. The hands are relaxed, fingers and thumbs together. As your sensitivity increases, you’ll find the palms lock-in to place, whether it’s a physical location, organ, or an aspect of your subtle body. (Off-body Reiki is not addressed here.)

Practicing with others

Always position yourself so that you can observe the recipient’s face. If you’re working from their RIGHT, your RIGHT hand reaches to the LEFT of their body. This automatically turns your torso and head so you can see their face. If you’re working from their LEFT, your LEFT hand reaches across.

You don’t have to look at their face constantly; often your eyes are closed. The face registers experiences and it’s good to be observant. By the time you reach the legs, this is less of a factor, but do look up once in a while.

It’s also absolutely vital that you take a stance with feet shoulder-width apart, weight distributed equally on both feet, legs bent a little. Even if you sit on a stool, this posture can be adapted. Centered and moving from the hara.

Hands-on Reiki is vibratory healing. Delicacy of touch, graceful movements around the table, quietude, lightness in every way greatly contribute to the overall experience, and significantly to the recipient’s ability to receive, go within and have insight, and further to really deepen their spiritual connection.

Precision and sensitive awareness is the name of the game. We live most other times in a speedy race to succeed or at least survive.

Reiki is a chance for all parts of us to be in the same room at the same time and catch up.

Our divinity and humanity thus align and life is meaningful again, purposeful, a joy.

To address this gap in information and knowledge, a new category is being added with this post: “Reiki 411.” Look for in-depth articles in the future by selecting this category.

I received this question:

I am Reiki III and started learning Reiki four years ago. I used to self-heal by placing my hands on my chakras at least once a day for a few years but in the last year or so, I have noticed I don’t regularly at all. The last time I did was about a month ago. I do however meditate daily with a combination of angel meditation…general mindfulness and some guided ones including chakra meditations but not hands on.

I don’t feel this is an issue as I naturally moved away from self-healing but I am curious as to whether I should be doing hands-on self-healing regularly still. I don’t really give anyone Reiki traditionally but use energy in my coaching, teleclasses and all I do really. It seems that Reiki was a way into other stuff but I’ve never had a desire so far to be a hands-on healer but more of a general energy worker in less of a traditional way, kind of like incorporating energy into everyday life for me and others.

So what do you reckon, should I be self-healing?

Hands-on-self Reiki

There isn’t a single answer. Everyone comes to Reiki for different reasons and stays with Reiki for their own reasons. The hands-on aspect of Reiki and that it can be shared with yourself is both unique and powerful. Just the wonder of it may be enough to keep practicing.

I’ve always felt and described this application of Reiki as the pinnacle of care and gentleness. It’s loving, nurturing, and healing. It’s such a complete way to embrace yourself. It honors you and your needs without pressure or criticism. There’s an inescapable charm to it: You take your hands and place them intentionally on your head and body, and experience both your hands and yourself in a completely new way each time. It changes your relationship with yourself and the world because you then want to touch people’s lives in the same compassionate way.

Hands-on-self Reiki is also about self-awareness and biofeedback. It’s like having a closed-circuit camera letting you into all parts of your body and being. Regularly communicating with yourself in this manner, keeps you updated and doesn’t allow for the accumulation of undesirable content.

A whole lot more can be said about Reiki’ng yourself. One last benefit that must be mentioned is wellness. Whether you have health insurance or not, go to an allopathic physician or not, when you give yourself Reiki your health is augmented immeasurably. The key here is that it goes past simple health to wellness which is a dynamic state of balance and harmony.

Going deeper

Meditation is an integral to any comprehensive spiritual practice. In fact the founder of Reiki, Usui Sensei, emphasized meditation and included specific meditations in his teachings. Reiki is essentially a two-limbed teaching, with its hands-on application being based on a solid meditation practice.

When students aren’t taught Usui’s meditations, either this valuable practice is ignored, or one has to find meditations from other traditions. The most natural and effective way is to have the native practices of the teaching you’re studying.

Any authentic meditation method is better than no meditation. The advantage of Usui’s meditations is that they are designed to bring the fullness of Reiki to the practitioner. These Reiki-specific methods tone the energy body with all of its intricate pathways, as well as the mind and heart, and establish a true resonance between the individual and the universal.

Reiki certainly opens other avenues of learning. Reiki is certainly valid and effective as a hands-on healing art. However, only the comprehensive training and practice of Reiki lets you experience its full impact. Here’s why:

Reiki is a stand-alone and complete enlightenment teaching.

Conclusion

There’s an energetic version, application and experience of Reiki. For that to be available, there first has to be Consciousness. This isn’t consciousness as brain activity, but Consciousness as a universal template. Better, stronger and more balanced flow of energy is healing and leads to wellness. Hands-on Reiki goes far in helping you create that. Even within this model, however, real healing and transformation takes place at the level of Consciousness. Transformation solidifies beyond the level of energy. Energy is simply an expression of Consciousness, so it’s more efficacious to work directly with it.

Reiki is a two-limbed teaching with inner mastery through meditation being the foundation and source of its hands-on application. The two limbs complete each other and form a whole. It’s tremendously fortunate that we can use our hands to heal and comfort, the hands are such a special part of the body and give the world so much. Yet, with the well of Reiki meditation to draw from, even hands-on Reiki amplifies into a radical shift of self.

Whether for self or others, Reiki’s true power emerges when both sets of practices are passed on and sincerely utilized.

 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 breaks of a few days since its inception.

Read the first 50.

One practitioner who was trained by me, had the idea of printing this list to keep in the car as a kind of mindfulness bell. How would you use these? Please share in comments…

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

1. Dazed and confused? Reiki lets the sun rise again.
2. Have you abandoned the pilothouse? Reiki will help you captain your life again.
3. Have you lost yourself? Reiki will locate and return you.
4. Looking for your true North? Reiki will point the way.
5. Reiki alerts you to your blind spots.
6. Reiki boosts belief and patience.
7. Reiki brings all parts of you to the table.
8. Reiki develops your inner mettle and helps you wield it gently.
9. Reiki eliminates why me, why this, why now and accesses abiding qualities.
10. Reiki fills all the empty places inside.
11. Reiki helps you come home to yourself.
12. Reiki helps you dissociate from bad relationships.
13. Reiki helps you drop from your head to your heart.
14. Reiki helps you listen for peace.
15. Reiki helps you listen for silence.
16. Reiki helps you listen to life.
17. Reiki helps you listen to others.
18. Reiki helps you listen to yourself.
19. Reiki helps you value your relationship with yourself first.
20. Reiki is a personal GPS.
21. Reiki is a unifier.
22. Reiki is a way of seeing deeper.
23. Reiki is brain sex with life.
24. Reiki is life’s ultimate RSS.
25. Reiki is that relationship between you and every atom of life!
26. Reiki is the art of loving.
27. Reiki is the best bubble bath EVER!
28. Reiki is unconditional.
29. Reiki is wholesome.
30. Reiki IS.
31. Reiki joins heart and mind.
32. Reiki joins intent and execution.
33. Reiki joins psyche and soma.
34. Reiki joins purpose and actualization.
35. Reiki joins rational and creative.
36. Reiki keeps the heart & mind steady.
37. Reiki leads to energy integrity.
38. Reiki leads to wholeness.
39. Reiki lets you know your value is real and true.
40. Reiki looks inside & makes adjustments.
41. Reiki looks with you at difficulties.
42. Reiki loves all.
43. Reiki moves you from being in relationship pain, to being in relationship.
44. Reiki neutralizes time.
45. Reiki opens gateways of perception that are authentic and stay open.
46. Reiki purifies body, mind and soul.
47. Reiki removes mental clouds.
48. Reiki sees the unseen.
49. Reiki silences an overzealous inner critic.
50. Reiki sparks creativity.

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.