INNER LIGHT – A REIKI NEWSLETTER FOR REIKI PEOPLE
Volume 6 Issue 6 – November 2024
REIJU FOR YOU
It’s not always possible to attend a Reiki Share where Reiju is often part of the Share, so Carole provides Reiju remotely. Any Reiki person can ‘tune in’.
In Traditional Japanese Reiki, students receive Reiju empowerments every time they are with their Reiki Practitioner/Teacher. This tradition is echoed when Reiju is available at Reiki Shares. And in the same way that Reiki can be applied remotely – or ‘by ‘Distance’ – remote Reiju works really well.
Carole ‘broadcasts’ a remote Reiju empowerment every Sunday for the whole week with the intention that it can be experienced by any Reiki person.
The simplest way to experience Reiju is to sit and quietly bring yourself present, breathing down into the Hara with your hands in Gasshô, then think to yourself “I will experience Reiju Empowerment from Carole now”.
It is as simple as that.
REIKI SHARES
Saturday morning Reiki Share:
Evening Reiki Share:
Due to the new variant of Covid taking a while for recovery, Carole is taking a break from Reiki Shares until January 2025.
BEGINNER’S MIND
In working with student and practitioner trainees in Reiki, one thing is certain. At some point they will be overtaken by the need to ‘do’ Reiki and then they forget that Reiki is not a ‘doing’ thing but a ‘being’ thing.
It is a joy working with people when they are so relieved that they do not have to ‘do’ so much, that they can relax into what is known in Japanese as Shoshin – Beginner’s Mind.
Starting with the basics – in the Goklai, Usui-Sensei suggested:
Shôfuku no hihô, Manbyo no rei yaku – The secret method of inviting blessings, the spiritual medicine of many (10,000 according to The Philosophy of the Tao De Ching) illnesses
Kokoro ni nenii – Pray from your heart silently
Kuchi ni tonae yo – Chant from your mouth
Shinshin Kaizen – Reform Heart and Body
Kaizen means through tiny steps to make a difference.
Zen Master Suzuki Roshi suggested that “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few”. When beginning to learn Reiki, students are open, fresh, curious – their brain has not yet decided the concepts of Reiki; they have a ‘don’t know’ brain willing to open to the many aspects of Reiki.
Shoshin – the Japanese for Beginner’s Mind, reminds us we need to return to the child-like wonder we had as small children. Growing up, becoming adults we adopt the wisdom of others and become more fixed in our thinking and our views.
As Reiki Practitioners how do we return to the joy and delight of learning what it is to have Beginner’s Mind. Open and curious? Let’s explore.
The Ten Rules of Reiki by Taggart King is a guide to a daily commitment to ourselves, engaging in some form of routine that is simple and kind towards yourself. It is not striving for perfection or complicating our lives with thoughts and doubts. It is about approaching our Reiki, and our life and healing with a light heart. In this booklet I read Taggart’s words just as I have heard them in his teaching when I was learning Japanese Reiki. Taking apart the ‘Rules’ that others place upon what is one of the simplest things we can imagine, Taggart brings us back to the basics. The Gokai and how we introduce that into our lives on a daily basis.
There is no should, no have to, no must do, just being you and how you are with YOUR Reiki. It is unique to you. It will be received by your unique self if you are working on self-healing and received differently when you are working with another unique person who comes to you for Reiki healing or training.
One of the common things I come across as a Practitioner Teacher, is “I have stopped doing things, it came to be so intrusive in my day, so I gave up.” If we do not remember that delicate, beautiful phrase at the end of the Gokai – Shinshin Kaizen, then we have also forgotten that it is about tiny steps that make a difference.
What would it be like to take one of the Gokai and do a short (1/2/3/4/5 minute) meditation on how that might play out in your day? Paying attention at the end of the day what difference Kyo dake wa … Kyo dakay wah – just for today forget about past and future and live in the moment – which for Frans Stiene means everyday life. It is not the separateness of Reiju, or self-healing, or Shirushi and Jumon, or even the Gokai. It means every day I am soaked in Reiki so that every action I take is Reiki, every word I speak is Reiki, every thought I have is Reiki, and every breath I breathe is Reiki. Kyo means ‘your life’ so make it all you do.
In this present-day world what difference would it really make if we just live in this moment…pausing when we feel anger arising, breathing and then letting anger dissolve away for instance? Or pausing just to give thanks for something in your day? One of the things I learned from the I Can Do It conferences Louise Hay used to run is Louise’s own approach to gratitude. It can seem like over the top if you have never done it, but what if…. Cheryl Richardson said the first time she went to Louise’s house when they were working on a book together, she was surprised at how natural it was for Louise to thank the pan she was making soup in, to thank the hob for heating the soup, to thank the vegetables for being as good as they tasted… etc etc Nothing was allowed to escape Louise’s gratitude.
Tiny steps. What will you do? Which step will you take towards ‘being’ Reiki and living to your own rules and not other people’s.
FLEXIBLE BUT DEEPLY ROOTED
Henry Nouwen in his writing poses the question:
Which do you think is the stronger – trees or wild reeds in the field?
His answer?
When a storm comes trees tend to be uprooted, whereas the wild reeds move back and forth in the wind and remain rooted and can stand tall again once the storm has passed.
Nouwen feels that flexibility is a great virtue. Do you cling to your own position – not willing to let your Heart be moved back and forth even a little by the ideas or actions of other people? Do you remain intense, clinging to your own opinions, staying rigid about your views on current issues? If so, prepare to be easily broken because rigidity causes such issues to break the spirit – and in time can lead to individuals feeling bitter.
If you are like the wild reeds, it does not mean you are being wishy-washy, it means you are able to move a little with the winds of change, yet remain solidly anchored in the ground.
With right thought, right words and right action you are more likely to remain deeply rooted and flexible.
SHAMANISM AND REIKI
Shamanism is something that is present in all indigenous cultures and when we think of Reiki we need to think of the indigenous culture of Japan. This is linked to the teachings of Esoteric Buddhism and Japanese Cosmology.
Sometimes in Reiki Shares or when you are training with Carole, you will experience a meditation which starts from the Heart Centre and in particular finding the Crystal Cave that sits within the Heart Centre.
Dr. José Luis Stevens, a leading international trainer, teacher, psychologist and a Shamanic Practitioner, suggests that if we really want to go deep into our spirituality then we need to use the ‘portal’ of the soul or essence or Higher Self or whatever you wish to call it, but which he calls the Inner Shaman.
He suggests that within the heart is a chamber and within that chamber is the sino-atrial node. This node lies in the heart so that if you are asked to point to yourself you will usually point to that part of your chest near the sternum – this is just where that node lies. It is also where Reiki Practitioners work with the Heart Centre (rather than the Heart Chakra).
When Shamans talk about the ‘spirit world’ what they are talking about is the ‘Divine Field’ or ‘Quantum Field’ which is one of the scientific names for it. It is something that the ‘finger cannot touch’ or Fingerspitsengefuhl as we know it. Stevens suggest that this ‘energy that you cannot touch’ is made up of three filaments. Energy, Love and Truth are there, interconnected and available all the time, and they make up the physical universe and they reside in the spirit world and without any one of them, according to Stevens, we would die. This three part ‘core element’ is at the heart of all Shamanic practices anywhere in the world.
The key words that Stevens thinks we need to bear in mind are ‘intend’ and ‘feel’. So when you are being encouraged to ‘intend’ and ‘feel’ your Hara growing warm when you sit with Hatsu Rei Hô or when you ‘intend’ or ‘feel’ your Heart Centre or Mind Centre grow warm in the Three Diamonds, then this is when you are truly connected to the essence that is Reiki Source.
Stevens suggests that when we wish to engage in Right Thought, Right Speech or Right Action we put our hand to our Heart Centre and then allow ourselves to drop down into that place. Allow that to begin the habit of asking for guidance and instruction from the Heart Centre.
In addition to the hand on the Heart Centre, Stevens suggests engaging with your Mind Centre and to use this as a place in which to rest when meditating. Then, with your other hand, put a finger on the spot between your eyebrows and above your nose where you feel you can go about 3 inches inside your head, just ‘fall into a pocket’ there. This is a place where ‘spaciousness’ and ‘no time’ can be experienced. This is what Eckhart Tolle describes as “we are not in time, we aretime”. (Stevens also suggests that in order to do these things properly requires the 3 P’s!)
When you get the sense of the aspect of ‘I have an Inner Shaman’, says Stevens, then you will also get the fact that ALL Inner Shamans are connected – there is only one being experiencing all these things.
Another fascinating aspect that Stevens explores is that in life we are playing a game, and there is an opposing team – that Shamans call the ‘worthy opponent’ – our Ego.
Our Ego is trying to distract us, leading to what the Buddha said in the Eightfold Path is being led into misery or suffering. We are always searching out the worthy opponent, because it is quite a challenge, and one way of knocking out the worthy opponent from time to time is to remember an attitude of gratitude. Whenever you are practising gratitude your own energy level will go up, you are increasing the vibrational qualities of one or more of the three filaments of Truth, Love or Energy. Keep practising with patience and perseverance, says Stevens, and then you will realise that really there is no choice but to go on doing what you are doing if you wish to be happy and truly enjoy life.
Hawkmoon
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