Other therapies
A conversation with non-complementary therapist colleagues linked questions frequently asked at Reiki training and the need for therapists to continue training to complete more and more Diplomas and to be qualified in a large range of therapies.
My conversation helped me to understand that we, as Reiki practitioners, may be ‘drawn to’ other therapies, yet do we need to do a full diploma in order to realise why we were drawn to that therapy?
From my own experience, Reiki is simple; if we know how it works (channelling healing energy) then we can learn how to pass that on to ourselves and to others in a simple way (hands-on). However, the more we practise Reiki, and the more we are involved with other people’s energies, we become curious about the sensations that we experience and those experienced by others, because Reiki is such an individually experienced therapy. And then the more we are likely to complicate the whole thing.
This curiosity leads us to ask questions of ourselves and then from our internal knowing an encouragement forms and causes us to find out about other mediums of healing where the answer we are seeking may be described simply or easily.
We have to ‘pay attention’ under these circumstances and to these directions. Sometimes we are also not truly paying attention to what our inner knowing or the Universe is offering us. This leads us to seek to follow our guidance in a big way rather than ‘keeping it simple’.
Some simple examples:
- Why do I ‘see’ one colour and the recipient of Reiki another? The ‘draw’ is to colour therapy, yet the answer can be quickly found in a good colour therapy book
- Why do pendulums do what they do and what does it mean? The draw is to dowsing, and again the answers can be found by looking in books that are connected with Reiki like Barbara Brennen’s work with pendulums as well as Dowsing with Pendulums books
- I love crystals and I am really drawn to the way I feel these improve my Reiki work. The draw then is to crystal therapy, yet the discussions on vibrational energy and crystals can be found in most crystal therapy books and can be integrated into our knowledge of Reiki as a vibrational energy
And so it goes on. I am not against people studying other therapies, or against the gaining of qualifications.
However, I know from my own ‘being drawn to…’ experiences that this can be a good way of increasing knowledge and having more strings to your bow. However, I have on many occasions found that the answer I have been seeking comes from one simple discussion in the course material or from the books associated with the course rather than from the whole course per se. An ‘ah ha!’ moment rather than hours and hours of determined study.
So when you are ‘drawn to …whatever’ stay a little longer with this and see if books fall off the shelves in bookstores, or you can find the answer by spending a little time on the internet exploring the “What is …” and insert your desired therapy, before investing your hard-earned cash into a course which – whilst it is enjoyable, fun and increases your knowledge – is not a therapy you wish to practise in a way that will recoup the cost of the course.
Another perspective. I once had a student ask me “Why can’t I get on a course on ’x’ – every college I ask the courses are full”. My response was “And what do they offer you instead?” To which she replied, “Reflexology”. I wondered if she would like to do reflexology, and she did, and booked on a course. It was very soon after she enrolled on the course, she emailed me and said, “I know why I am not doing ‘x’, the answer to my yearning to study it has been given in this course.”
Oh, and simply enjoy exploring and being a ‘seeker’ until you are sure another course is really what you wish to do.
Image – Joseph Barrientos – Unsplash
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