Thoughts on Reiki

Reiki has become very popular generally over the last 20 years, and has grown and greatly changed during that time.

Sometimes however I believe it is necessary to get back to basics where healing is concerned.

When we were first introduced to Reiki in this country, it was all very straightforward.  We needed to find a Reiki Master or teacher who would take us through the basics and then attune us to the various levels (at that time Reiki level one, Reiki level two, and Reiki Master's.)

We then, after a suitable period of time of practice, became Reiki practitioners.  At the time there was no need to be insured (it was known that it was very difficult to harm anyone with Reiki, or indeed with any sort of healing that did not involve manipulations or ‘ touch’ Today, insurance is essential if we mean to work with others.

Today we have many different sorts of Reiki!  In some places it has almost been taken into the realms of fantasy!  We have different symbols for different attunements…. levels broken up into smaller levels…. so now we have a Reiki 1, broken down into many smaller attunements that we must first attain!

Reiki Master's have become almost ‘ God-like’ and not simply facilitators and teachers of healing!

To my mind and to some extent the whole thing has gone quite mad!!!

Let us get back down to basics.

1. Reiki is simply a system of channelling healing from where ever we believe it comes from…. to where ever we wish it to go!  It is as simple as that!

2. Everyone!….  Yes, I do mean everyone… is a healer!  Anyone who has felt compassion for another being whether human or animal is a healer in their own right.  In ancient times we knew this and we healed intuitively, we have now to some extent lost that facility and have to do it deliberately. So we need to tap in to that part of ourselves…. but to say “I am a healer” is stating the obvious… We are all healers… We can all run, but some of us can run faster and more efficiently than others… that is all.

3. By far the biggest part of ‘learning to heal’ if we can call it that, is simply having the knowledge and confidence to do what is necessary.  Any time a mother puts her hands out to an injured or sick child, she is channelling healing.  We put our hands out automatically because healing mostly comes through the palm Chakra's in the centre of the hands.

4. The symbols used in Reiki, and in any other healing system are not by any means ‘ Magic’ they were originally a form of writing, and are simply aids to concentration to help us focus the energies where we need them to be.  It is perfectly possible to give Reiki without any symbols at all!

5. Much of the convoluted way of learning Reiki these days, (splitting each level up into sublevels and taking exams to that end) are simply a way of making money! 

Reiki is, and always will be one of the simplest methods of healing, and can be done either lying sitting standing or walking about!  As long as you can put your hands out to someone with the intention of helping to heal them…. you can give Reiki!

Don't let yourself ever be fooled into thinking that you are not good enough or skilled enough to become a Reiki healer! or indeed any sort of Spiritual Healer

As I have said earlier we are all healers, and anyone can be a Reiki healer once attuned. 

The attunements should consist of a workshop first and foremost.  Focusing on how to give Reiki. A background to what Reiki is and where it came from, and then the attunements.  It is perfectly possible to be done over two days or a weekend…. Or for someone who is already some kind of hands-on-healer, half a day workshop will suffice, provided there is lots of back-up.  The important thing then is that the pupil has enough time to practice before they proceed on to the next level of Reiki.

Pupils should not be mastered until they have actively practised Reiki for a year or more after attaining level 2.  I was taken through levels 1.2 and 3. in well under a year, and realised very soon afterwards that I wasn't given time enough to adjust to the energies that I was channelling.

My recommendation would be at least six months between level one and level two, and a full year between level two and level three.  (Master's)

It is possible to do all sorts of varieties of Reiki once you have been attuned, and I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that…. the point I am making is that at its essence, Reiki is simple direct and easy to learn, and should be available to everyone without having to pay enormous prices, and do what amounts to a university degree to attain it!

If you are considering learning Reiki, take great care in choosing who you go to. 

I would not recommend that you go to class where there are more than six pupils. From my own experience, I would find it very difficult to focus adequately on more than six to give them the confidence they need if the classes any bigger than this.

Be sure that the person who you go to is willing to give you a comprehensive amount of literature (their own…. not simply copied from a book, or worse than this a copy of a book to take away with you) something that is their own....their  thoughts and so on from their own experiences.

Be sure that they also offer adequate backup, so that you can come back to them if you have any problems or feel unsure of anything. I offer ‘Reiki Days’ every couple of months to my pupils where we can all get together. This does wonders for confidence!

Ask them about becoming a practitioner if this is what you wish to do, make sure that they have adequate insurance to teach you, and to practise Reiki themselves.

My personal view on this is that it should not be necessary, but in this day and age we seem to be required to have insurance and something like a diploma to hang on the wall for everything we do! 

So if you are intending to become a practitioner, make sure that they are able to give you these things or at least to point you in the direction of where you can find them.  (Ideally they should be a member of the UK Reiki federation, if in the UK. if for no other reason then at least you know that as a full member they are qualified to do what they are doing and you will also get qualifications by association with them)

I myself am a full teacher member of the UK Reiki Association.

Don't allow yourself ever to be put off by some of the snobbery that now surrounds Reiki, and never let anyone tell you that you “ cant to do it that way!”.. You can do it anyway…. standing on your head of you have to!

Do a little research before you begin, and find out from other people what their experiences were of their own Reiki Masters, shop around as you would for anything else, after all you have to pay for it! 

A bad experience will colour the whole episode for you and may interfere with your ability to give healing as 'freely as the birds sing in the trees'…. which is how it should be !

Be happy…

Be free…..

Blessings!

Crystal

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