I've had an interesting time today... I met with my Reiki teacher, who I'd not seen in a good two years or so, as we live in different countries. We spent some time catching up and then did a joint treatment on my sister, who is currently waiting to have back surgery. It was lovely to see her and to work together again.
It reminded me of how integral bodywork is to my Reiki practice. I would encourage any new practitioners to try and do treatments for other people as often as possible. There's nothing more really that has enriched my own practice and understanding of Reiki than the opportunity to work with those in need. It's a blessing o be of service to others in that way.
Again, it is the practice itself that teaches. An attunement is only the beginning. I learned a good deal from my teacher, but learned far more through practice, experimentation and intuition.
I view and teach Reiki as both a holistic therapy and a spiritual practice in its own right. In my opinion, there is no room whatsoever for dogma in Reiki, and training should be easily available to anyone who would desire to learn in that way.
I find the historical aspects of Usui's life to be quite fascinating, and learning about these things has been enriching to both my practice and my understanding of Reiki in general. When I was first exposed to Reiki about 10 years ago, I was given the standard, Western version of its history as presented by Hawayo Takata to her students. Little research on the lives of Mikao Usui and Churijo Hayashi had been done at that time, and much has since come to light. To deny oneself the understanding of the roots of this system of healing, its history, philosophy and development over the past century seems a bit short sighted, to me at least. And although the practice of Reiki is indeed intuitive, I don't think that an individual would have anything to lose by being well versed in such knowledge. Ignorance never serves anything.
As far as the "energy paradigm", that's a bit tricky as well. Many people get divided over what they consider to be Reiki and what they don't. Personally, I find Reiki to be farily distinct from both my personal ki, the ki of others, or the energetic signatures associated with other currents I work within. I distinguish as well between Reiki, the energy, and the healing system of Usui Reiki Ryoho, which is a bit more involved, encompassing technique, history and philosopy in addition to practice.
However, Reiki is pretty user friendly, gentle, and entirely positive. I think there is probably a different way of working with it for each individual, and what is of interest to one person may be of no use whatsoever to another. And so it should be, I think.
As far as online resources, that can be tricky. There's a lot of misinformation out there. I'd reccommend Vincent Amador's site though...
It's quite informative, non-dogmatic and very down to earth.
xxx |
