Reiki Help Blog

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

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.).

Nneka over at Balanced Life Center has written an excellent post on Consciousness. Yes, capital C is on purpose, but we also deal with the lowercase c.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to echo her with some content from archives here and expand the conversation:

The Self

I have always been; I am now and ever shall be. There was never a time when I was not. This I is not the me-of-today, but the continuous thread of the Self. The me-of-today is a precious pearl adorning the Self. There are many such pearls and I am all of them.

Self & Divine

The Self is a spark of the Divine; the me-of-today a spark of the Self. I knew nothing of the bridge between me, Self and Divine. Experience separated me further and further, until I was sure I was me. Now this me stifles and hurts. This me stubbornly asserts its rightful existence.

Wholeness / Duality

The me exists in duality; the Self in wholeness. There is wholeness in duality. The existence of me-in-today is a seeming separation from the simultaneous existence of Self-in-Consciousness. The realm of pure Consciousness is hurt-free. The membrane of separation being highly permeable, Self and me dance intertwined. I let one seep into the other, dissolving ignorance in the unity of conscious existence.

Wholeness in duality is realized by the unity of conscious existence.

I exist in a physical body and I am simultaneously conscious in the nonphysical Self.

I occupy the vast region between matter and Consciousness. In this vast region Spirit always prevails. Spirit is hurt-free. And for that I give countless thanks.

Before all that there is:

Awakening

Between birth and death is the hopscotch of daily despondency. Dimly in the background, the whoosh of eternity is coursing through my cells. The alarm clock of awakening is on perpetual snooze. It rings at regular intervals, yet an automatic programming silences it. Until the next time. And the next. And the next.

And of course:

Reiki as Consciousness parts 1 & 2.

Original goodness. How come we don’t hear that more often? We certainly hear its opposite in many world religions, and also psychotherapy which is based on pathology. Perhaps we don’t hear it more often because it’s easier to believe it doesn’t exist. Afterall if it exists at all it’s buried somewhere in the coal of our being. It’s hidden under many layers of protective armoring. We have all encountered suffering and threatening situations and have had to come up with survival or coping strategies. What we may not remember is that none of this changes our essential nature.

There’s an equally hidden motive force within us that seeks something worthy and true. In this seeking we may end up with the teachings of Reiki. Reiki is primarily a practice of wisdom and compassion. It answers our longing for freedom. In that answer we find our original beauty, goodness, nobility, and blessedness. It’s inevitable that we find these qualities of our true nature because they are woven into the fabric of our being. And so starts a sacred relationship with ourself.

Finding the sacred is the purpose of the various practices and trainings of Reiki. Each of these helps us recognize and uproot unwholesome patterns that create suffering and develop wholesome patterns instead. The emphasis in Reiki on training and practice, together with growing insight and understanding gives us a bedrock that is very reliable and nourishing. Through a practical and inspirational set of practices and further training, Reiki returns us to our innate wisdom and compassion, and directs us toward unity.

In Reiki when we meet each other we put palms together over the heart and bow in gassho. There are entire societies that practice this as routine. Gassho means to put the two palms together. It signifies the oneness of all beings. It’s the natural expression of reverence and gratitude. It’s also a sharing of love and in that, resonance. We acknowledge the healed version of the person, the seed of healing that coexists with all that is unhealed.

We also gassho at the start and end of all Reiki practices when on our own, bowing to the already healed, whole and divine being peering from behind all that’s unhealed in ourself. It seems that the world wants us to give too much attention to our protective armoring of fear, depression, confusion, aggression and worry. We all have areas that can be improved. However, we start with a recognition of an abiding goodness and wholeness.

As with any authentic wisdom teaching, Reiki gives us the opportunity to make the coal of our being the diamond that it really is, through the applied pressure of practice over time.

The word “Buddha” comes from the root buddh, which means to wake up. A Buddha is someone who is awake. When Buddhists greet one another, we hold our palms together like a lotus flower, breathe in and out mindfully, bow, and say silently, “A lotus for you, a Buddha to be.” This kind of greeting produces two Buddhas as the same time. We acknowledge the seeds of awakening, Buddhahood, that are within the other person, whatever his or her age or status. And we practice mindful breathing to touch the seed of Buddhahood within ourselves….

Our true home is in the present moment…The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment. Peace is all around us—in the world and in nature–and within us–in our bodies and our spirits. Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed…We need only to bring our body and mind into the present moment, and we will touch what is refreshing, healing, and wondrous.

–Thich Nhat Hanh

I just love how online technology is able to bring such intentions forward.

Don Alverto Taxo, a Quichua elder and Iachak (community leader/healer), speaks of the ancient prophecy of the eagle and the condor meeting to bring a new harmony into the world. Don Alverto invites us all to trust the universal human intuition to bring greater harmony into our lives, and to seek after life’s deeper meaning. (Video below…if you have an email subscription, click to the original post to view it.)

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story of recovery and awareness — of how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another. Below is the video and its transcript.

Here is the latter part of the transcript:

When I awoke later that afternoon I was shocked to discover that I was still alive. When I felt my spirit surrender, I said goodbye to my life, and my mind is now suspended between two very opposite planes of reality. Stimulation coming in through my sensory systems felt like pure pain. Light burned my brain like wildfire and sounds were so loud and chaotic that I could not pick a voice out from the background noise and I just wanted to escape. Because I could not identify the position of my body in space, I felt enormous and expensive, like a genie just liberated from her bottle. And my spirit soared free like a great whale gliding through the sea of silent euphoria. Harmonic. I remember thinking there’s no way I would ever be able to squeeze the enormousness of myself back inside this tiny little body.

But I realized “But I’m still alive! I’m still alive and I have found Nirvana. And if I have found Nirvana and I’m still alive, then everyone who is alive can find Nirvana.” I picture a world filled with beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, loving people who knew that they could come to this space at any time. And that they could purposely choose to step to the right of their left hemispheres and find this peace. And then I realized what a tremendous gift this experience could be, what a stroke of insight this could be to how we live our lives. And it motivated my to recover.

Two and a half weeks after the hemorrhage, the surgeons went in and they removed a blood clot the size of a golf ball that was pushing on my language centers. Here I am with my mama, who’s a true angel in my life. It took me eight years to completely recover.

So who are we? We are the life force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. And we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. Right here right now, I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere where we are — I am — the life force power of the universe, and the life force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form. At one with all that is. Or I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere. where I become a single individual, a solid, separate from the flow, separate from you. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, intellectual, neuroanatomist. These are the “we” inside of me.

Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when? I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world and the more peaceful our planet will be. And I thought that was an idea worth spreading.

Read the first half of the transcript…it’s worth it!

[read more…]

The previous entry on this began:

What does it mean to be a Healer? The Healer is first a unifier. This can be at a political level or in the psyche.

Let’s explore what this means in the psyche. There’s a simple 5-body model of our makeup:

1. Energy or etheric body
2. Physical body
3. Emotional body
4. Mental body
5. Spiritual body

This describes what we are in the holistic and spiritual view. We are this whole, interacting, layered being, with all parts influencing and dependent on each other. The wellbeing of any one body depends on all the others. We want to function well as a whole, addressing all bodies.

It’s key to understand that there isn’t a hierarchy here. Each body is significant. There are natural strengths, likes and dislikes. You’ve probably observed that you may be comfortable with physical activity and sports, or perhaps best when putting your intellect to use, or feel confident dealing with your emotions, or perhaps your spirit is where you find the most joy. All of us have bodies which make sense to us, that we’re good at maintaining and excelling. Then there are those bodies that feel out of reach for us or confusing. Sometimes we even don’t know that a certain body exits.

From the Healer’s viewpoint integration is the answer to knowing ourself as a whole. When we spend all our time on parts we know intimately, parts we can wield well, our other bodies feel left out, like they don’t have keys to our home, or the key doesn’t fit. With no other recourse, these parts draw our attention in unhealthy ways, leading to imbalances and suffering that could’ve been easily avoided with a little care for the whole self.

It’s well known that “heal” simply means to make whole, but it’s worth repeating here. We originate as a whole, then through life experiences we fragment and focus on the fragments. Sometime we entirely forget parts of ourself for years and years. Or we let others and circumstances steal these parts.

When the Healer finally shows up, it acts like a giant magnet, pulling essential parts of yourself back to you, and reinstalling them once again in their rightful place in your being. The Healer also acts as great communicator between your bodies so each knows about the other, what ails or redeems it, what it needs, what it can offer the rest of the team that is you.

With unconditional love the Healer coalesces us to our unified origin.

to be continued…