gift
Self Nurturing: Reiki
I am a firm believer in alternative therapies, especially when it comes to maintaining general health and well-being on all levels. The levels that I refer to are the physical, the mental, the emotional, and the spiritual. If I do not take care of myself on all these levels then I find myself “out of sync” or “off kilter”. Two of My favorite therapies are massage and Reiki. I came to Reiki by way of massage and chose to study this unique and gentle therapy because my massage teacher said I was “predisposed to energy work”. Today I am a Reiki Master. Most people know something about massage, but not very many people know abut Reiki, so let me try and explain it a little.
The word is pronounced “ray-key” and translated from Japanese, Reiki literally means universal life energy. This is a specific frequency of energy that exists everywhere. Its frequency balances all other energies it encounters. It is generated by all forms of life and has been given many names including “chi” and “prana”. Even modern-day scientists acknowledge the fact that everyone, every creature, everything is made up of energy; it’s just slowed down enough to become solid matter.
Today when we use the term “Reiki” we are implying a system of natural healing that uses this universal life energy as a healing tool. The actual techniques applied are more properly called the Usai System of Natural Healing , so named after the modern-day founder of the system, Dr. Mikao Usai. Reiki as it is currently practiced is over 150 years old, but its actual origins date back over 2,500 years.
The beauty of Reiki is that it does not conflict with any other therapy nor does it interfere with medicine. Rather it enhances everything it touches. Because Reiki can be used in every situation it can augment any standard medical course of therapy by encouraging and quickening the body’s own healing ability. Reiki can help find clarity in mental processes and can add calm to emotional situations. Reiki can help ease pain and discomfort. It is also an incredibly effective stress management tool. Even in terminal cases, Reiki can help to comfort those in transition.
So what can you expect to experience during a Reiki treatment? Well each session is completely unique because we are all unique beings. The modality of the session as I was taught is very simple. The person receiving Reiki will lie on his back with arms at his sides in a totally relaxed state. His body will be well supported. There is no need to be undressed. The Reiki Practitioner will then lay hands very gently in specific positions on the body. Some Practitioners do not touch the person, preferring to place the hands inches above the body. My personal opinion is that the gentle touch is very much a part of the person’s healing experience. The normal method is to start with the face and head area then move slowly down the body to the feet. The Practitioner will then ask the person to turn over and will then continue the hand positions down the back of the body.
The sensations that you may feel will change as the Practitioner’s hands move over the body. The most common sensation is a warm gentle glow that is very soothing. Many people talk of finding themselves “floating” or “on another plain”. Some people experience extreme heat coming from the Practitioner’s hands, and yet others experience a type of throbbing sensation. Many people do experience some very specific and strong healing during or within twenty four hours after a Reiki session.
The Master who taught me Reiki made it very clear to all of her students that we were not “doing anything”. We had been attuned, which means our energy channels had been opened, and we were simply offering ourselves as willing and clean conduits for the universal life energy to flow. Ego has nothing to do with Reiki and will in fact interfere with the flow. So for me, a professed Christian, this energy is God’s energy and trying to manipulate it or pretending that I have any say in the matter is rather like saying I know better than God! In preparation for a Reiki session I clear my heart and my mind of self and I enter into the session with no intentions or purposes. If the person receiving wishes to have a special thought or intention for what they would like to receive during the session that is fine.
You see Reiki energy is smart because the universe is a very smart place, and I think God is quite smart too!! The energy flows and knows where to go and what to do once it gets there because God is directing it. The exact amount of energy that is needed for the recipient is drawn through the Practitioner. All this happens without direct conscious intervention by the Practitioner. He or she is just making themselves available to do God’s work. Under these circumstances healing has a different meaning from the widely accepted meaning which seems to be “curing of all symptoms”. Healing in Reiki is simply meant as the return to greater wholeness. Receiving Reiki is one of the most beautiful gifts you can give to yourself.
Vignettes: Young Grief
He wore a bright apple green tee shirt. He was probably about 10 years old, slight in build with mid brown hair. His shoulders were hunched and he clung to his mother’s hand as they came into the church entrance hall. His eyes were red and he had obviously been crying quite a lot.
As his mother made her away across the narthex toward the tables full of photos and other small items, he held back a little – as though afraid. He cuffed His nose with his wrist and his mother put her arm around his shoulder. He leaned in, almost as if he wanted to disappear, perhaps hoping that if he did the whole circumstance would disappear too.
They approached the book where friends and family stopped to sign their names, a testimony of loving memory to Sophia and support to her parents. Yes, we were laying little Sophia to rest. Her parents had had to make that unthinkable decision to switch of life support. They had hung on for a few days so that out of town family could come to say their farewells, and perhaps hoping for a miracle that would bring their Sophia back to them.
The boy was destroyed by grief. His face was drawn and wretched with it. His mother signed and asked if he wanted her to sign for him. He shook his head and held out his hand for the pen. As he bravely added his signature to the growing list, he sniffed a couple of times and hung onto his stomach with his other hand.
I watched as he slowly walked passed the photos looking intently at each one. Tears rolled down his cheeks and my heart felt heavy at the sight of his young grief. And yet I did not wish that he shouldn’t suffer so. I realized he was learning a grand lesson in this grown up world. He was courageously grieving the loss of his little friend openly. He wasn’t trying to do the “manly” thing and cover up his feelings. His heart hurt at his loss and he was crying with the pain, not the least bit embarrassed .
They took seats inside the church along with his Dad and his sister. The funeral Mass started and I saw him lean into his Dad for a while, then once more against his Mom. He was feeling this every step of the way. Finally, it got to be too much, and he and his mother went back out into the narthex and sat on a bench under the window. His slight body was caved in and he clutched onto his stomach with both hands as if in letting go he might lose a part of himself.
So as I prayed for Sophia and her family, I also prayed for the little boy in the green tee shirt. I asked God to comfort him and to heal his broken heart.
After the Mass, my friend Debbie told me she had spoken to him out in the narthex and asked if he was Sophia’s friend. He had nodded yes. She then said that she imagined they had had some very happy times together and told him to think of just one time when they had enjoyed something really special. She then encouraged him that when he said his prayers that night, to tell God to tell Sophia that he was thinking about that one very special happy time they had had, and that he was happy to have that memory. And she told him in the following days to think of other happy times and do the same thing: tell God to tell Sophia about them. Debbie assured him that if he did this he would then always have happy memories when he thought of Sophia.
What an incredibly beautiful and love-filled gift she gave that boy. I know that it was God speaking through her. He has a way of using her in that way – to uplift others with her words. And once again I was grateful; grateful for community and the gift of love that we share with each other.
Shared Wisdom: A Few Quotations
When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package. (John Ruskin)
Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps, if you are not willing to move your feet. (Anonymous)
Half-hearted effort will get you nowhere. You must have a zest, a love, a passion for what is important to you! (Denise Austen)
Since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of time, you are incomparable. (Brenda Ueland)
The greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention to one another’s existence. (Sue Atchley Ebaugh)
Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness. (Shakti Gawain)
I want to get you excited about who you are, what you are, what you have, and what can still be for you. I want to inspire you to see that you can go far beyond where you are right now. (Virginia Satir)
I never heard of anyone stumbling on anything while sitting down. (Charles Kettering)
Here in this body are the sacred rivers; here are the sun and moon as well as all the pilgrimage places ……. I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body. (Saraha)