Wanderings' Wanderings

healing of karmic illusions

I’ve visited Mexico City many times in my life and each time I would watch in wonder as people would process towards the Basilica de Guadalupe on their knees. At that time I did not understand why these people would suffer so much so that suffering would end, but ultimately their faith would help pave the way for change in their lives. They believed they would be helped if they paid a price. As I grow in the Reiki healing modality, I begin to understand that one’s frame of mind has everything to do with one’s ability to heal.

If we are so engrossed in our own discomforts and can not see past our infirmities, we struggle with moving beyond what is keeping us from health, but when we can see a clear path to health we often travel the path much faster and with little, if any complications.

What brought this up? I read an article today where someone was in the hospital and saw an event which concluded with negative results. The person witnessed someone else experiencing severe pain. A passing nurse offered Reiki to help ease the pain. The nurse claimed she was a Reiki master and so the person experiencing the pain agreed.  The “master” placed a hand above the person’s head and one behind her back while concentrating with her eyes closed. After a few moments she made motions like she was pulling something out of the person’s body and throwing it away. The nurse repeated the motion several times with her hands in different positions. The whole process took 5 to 6 minutes. The nurse stopped when she was paged to a patient’s room. The person receiving the treatment never noticed the nurse left because her pain was overwhelming. The person’s response was, “I just need my morphine.” The writer of the article then goes on to say they suspected the person was addicted to the morphine. The writer also stated that Reiki was “bullshit” because of that one experience.  If that was my only experience with Reiki, I might say the very same thing.

There are of course several things going on in this example, the first of which is that the alleged Reiki master should have known better than to offer Reiki to someone in acute distress. Reiki is NEVER a substitute for real medical emergency care and should only be offered when the person is not in critical need. Reiki is not a crutch, it is a tool to help a person grow towards health and wellness; not some quick fix. A real Reiki master would know that, especially given that the alleged master in this case was also a nurse.

You were my favorite drug

Second, the person experiencing the pain was under the influence of a highly addictive narcotic which just happens to also cloud the mind. If I see someone in excruciating pain, the first thing I’m going to ask is did they take something for the pain. We would have gotten to the fact this person was using harsh pain killers in which case the alleged master should have again recommended immediate emergency care and NOT Reiki.

All this brings us to the third thing: what was the person’s intention? If all they wanted was their morphine then the alleged master asserted their own dominance and control over the situation by not asking for the person’s intent. Reiki practitioners are not supposed to be ego driven miracle workers. We are supposed to be people who help others walk their own paths of health and wellness.

This brings us to the third thing: what was the person’s intention? If all they wanted was their morphine then the alleged master asserted their own dominance and control over the situation by not asking for the person’s intent. Reiki practitioners are not supposed to be ego driven miracle workers. We are supposed to be people who help others walk their own paths of health and wellness. The practitioner was passing by and inserted themselves in a situation that could have proven disastrous.

The person experiencing the pain may have been going through withdrawals from the narcotic, there is just no way of knowing, and an alleged master broke with ethical practice to help where they may not have been wanted, but more to the point, the person on the morphine may not have been in any frame of mind for healing. A drug addict only wants the next fix, not the solution. Because of the actions of one alleged master, one person has a negative opinion of this wonderful healing modality.

Healing must first begin with a person wanting to be healed. All the best medicine in the world will never be enough if a person does not actually want to be healed. There are people who thrive on illness because it provides them attention. They will never reach full health because their minds will continue creating one illness after another.  Care must be given to empower a person to want to heal, then and only then can true healing begin.

Healing must begin with the willingness to heal.  When a person wants to heal, they will find the right path and avenue to achieve that end result.

Related articles

• Reiki tiki bullshit (mojoey.blogspot.com)
• Why Do People Turn to Energy Healing? (using-spiritual-energy.blogspot.com)
• Can You Really Heal Your Body By Using Your Mind? (hilarytopper.com)
• 10 ways to build a healing mentality (wow.com)

For some unknown reason the song “Put On A Happy Face” has been running through my mind this morning.  Perhaps it is the gray clouds lingering behind from the midnight showers, or perhaps because of a bit of personal apprehension regarding an upcoming presentation in a new and totally unknown forum.  What ever the reason, the way I personally get through the anxiety is to focus on the needs of the people I am serving at that moment, and only that moment.  From the moment I let go of my own anxiety and walk a path mindful of others along the way, I begin to release what ever tensions have built up inside myself.

Hearing all of this is truly nothing new, but I do believe this is the first time I have heard a leader in the religious world actually say that we should not ignore our own needs in favor of someone else’.  I simply can not stress enough how important it is to be aware of your own needs during times of anxiety.

Anxiety and fear make us hyper aware of our immediate surroundings and so we quickly pick up on things which may pose threats to our own well being.  When we ignore those signs in favor of taking care of someone else, we risk hurting ourselves, which can be a subtle form of self-destructive behavior.

A great many professional and religious leaders have said time and time again, that when we are “broken” we are less likely to help others around us because we are unable to do so based on our own state of being.  Basically that means we can’t help others when we are broken.

The aforementioned focusing on others is a tool to focus on something other than our anxiety or fear.  It is not meant to supersede our own needs, but is instead meant to help us through a moment which is perceived to be difficult.

In a nutshell, we can use focusing on others as a tool to get through our own stress.  Another tool we can use is by replaying the following words over and over and over and over and over in your minds.

Gray skies are gonna clear up
Put on a happy face
Wipe off the clouds and cheer up
Put on a happy face

…

So spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face.
~ “Put On A Happy Face” from the musical Bye Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart (That one took some research to figure out… Who’da thunk.  I always thought the lyrics came from the TV commercial for a mop product…)

Light and Love Everyone!

Related articles

• When Anxiety Hits, Do You Take Charge or Freak Out? (lifescript.com)
• Overcoming Fear (lifescript.com)
• Overcoming Anxiety with Mindfulness Therapy (psychologytoday.com)
• Panic Attacks and How to Overcome Them (mindbodyfitness.suite101.com)
• Is Your Anxiety Worse than You Thought? (healthadel.com)

We all live in our own bubbles

Imagine for a moment you are walking down the street and can actually create the world in which you live.

This past week we had a client who continually said they didn’t want to be around negative or incompetent people, and she kept saying that over and over again, and then it hit me: the reason she was surrounded by those types of people is because she was continually focusing on that type of energy.  She was subconsciously drawing in the negative energy she was trying to keep out because her focus was on the negative, not the positive. When we brought this to her attention she looked like someone had slapped her in the face.

We sometimes become so focused on what we don’t want in this life that we forget to focus on what it is we DO want.  When become mired in the difficulties we never see that the path actually deviates around the problems.   Then we sit on our pity-pots crying the world is unfair and that we are incapable of positive things in our lives.

The world is exactly what we make it.  When we see only the strife and hardships,  then we are really focusing in on that type of energy and draw it towards ourselves, allowing it to feed upon our fears, and upon our own negativity.  When we are able to look beyond the mess in front of us to the possibility of hope and joy, then we allow for the opportunity for growth and new life.

When negative stuff happens, learn from it.  Take something positive away with you when you leave the negative behind.  Find a lesson worth learning and turn the page to a new chapter.

What do you want in this lifetime? Set a goal.  Now go get it and stop focusing on why you can not achieve your goal.  Focus instead on the goal and think of it as already achieved.

As you begin to focus on the positive in life, so too will you reflect that positivity to others.  When you show a positive and loving light, so too will you attract that positivity to your own life.

Go forth and reflect.

Waterfall With Sunrays

With all that happens in the world, how do you take time for yourself?  Do you take time for yourself?

Self Care is much more than personal health maintenance [Wikipedia:Self_care], it is an assurance that you are looking after your own needs in a way that keeps you both healthy and happy.

Self Care regimens should include one or more of the following:

1. Taking time out of a busy day to relax and breath; if everyday is busy then this should be done everyday.
2. Making sure you are physically healthy.
3. Making sure you are emotionally healthy.
4. Making sure you are psychologically healthy.
   (The above three should really be considered as one large point, but they are equally valid independent of the others.)
5. If you are a spiritual person, then you should also make sure you are spiritually healthy.
6. Take time away from work (in other words do not go into, or bring home work from the office on your days off.)
7. Continuing education (no matter what kind of class you take you should continue to learn and grow.)
8. Making sure you are ethical in all things.

Innerworks has a wonderful chart of 60 ways to nurture the self located at: http://www.innerworkspublishing.com/news/vol1/selfcare.htm

One of the ways I used to take care of myself was by driving out of town once a week to a remote location.  The actual location didn’t much matter, but the driving and getting away from my normal surroundings was a very important routine which helped me decompress and let go of the stuff which may have come up during the week.  I would often find secluded spots in the mountains or near a lake, and I would spend hours just staring off into the beauty that surrounded me.  I let go of that routine a long time ago in favor of the more… harried …pace and have noticed a change within my core being, until my wife and I finally took a much needed vacation.  Three years without a vacation equals not good.  Add to that rarely taking days off, or on those days off doing nothing but chores.

The consequence for not taking care of the self can be devastating.

Find a way to ensure you are taking care of yourself.  Let go of bad habits and negative people which may surround you, and remember this: if you are ill or unable to take care of yourself, how can you expect to take care of someone else?

Related articles

• Desiring a Happy and Successful Life (socyberty.com)
• Happy, Happy Things (weirdomatic.com)
• The Key To Happiness (selfimprovementbase.com)
• Find Happiness (lifescript.com)
• Charting Happiness: Study Finds It Comes With Age (npr.org)
• Self-Care Tips (innerworkspublishing.com)

the path

I sometimes reflect on a song by Michael Card and John Michael Talbot called “One Faith”.  It’s a great song.  I like it.  It gets my toes to wiggling, and my foot to tapping, but sometimes I sit with a very specific line from the chorus, “There is one faith, one hope, and one baptism, one God and father of all.”  No matter who you are, where you are from, or what you believe, there is something in that sentence which binds us all to one another.

One Faith
We share a common bond that we exist together with the understanding that first and foremost, we exist. We have faith we exist not because we think we exist, but because we are aware enough to realize we do exist. We have individual thoughts, and we are not all the same.  It is our common bond which unites all people everywhere.

We are not talking belief here, we are talking true acceptance of a thing which we know exists because we experience it in the fullness in which it exists.  It is corporeal and others share in its reality.

One Hope
Let’s be honest in that one thing we can all agree upon is that we all have a hope of some sort, whether that hope is of something tangible or intangible, or secret or common knowledge.  Our hope is for something which personally affects us in some way even if the affect is that we are happy our hope has been fulfilled.  Our hopes may not be for the same thing, but we do hope.

One Baptism
Yes, even those who are not religious have One, and only one baptism: birth.  We are all born.  We have all come into existence.  Our existence takes on a ceremonial significance through our emergence into this world through our births, and with us comes the water of life which sustained us through our growth in the womb.  We enter the world soaking wet from head to toes and our life is in itself a celebration.

One God
Despite its name, there exists only one unifying force of the Universe.  It has gone by many names throughout the history of this world and to be honest, it really doesn’t matter how many different names there are; what matters is only that it exists regardless of its function or name.  This force exists through, with, and in all things everywhere in the known and unknown.  It’s up to each of us to decide for ourselves how we celebrate that unifying force.

One Father
I could go the easy route and say that yes, we each have a male parent because scientifically we each have male and female parts which have combined to create cellular division in the womb.

I could also go the other easy route and say that the One God, or the one unifying force of all creation is God the Father as represented by the Holy Bible, and exists as the Only God who shepherds us and takes care of us like a father with His children.

Instead I think I’m going to take a different tack.  There is another definition of Father which is a singular person who guides (1913 Webster).  There is a guiding force throughout the universe, call it what you will, which helps us on our individual paths of life.  Sometimes the One Father is the biological father in our lives.  Sometimes the Father is the Deity in which we place our faith and trust.  Sometimes the One Father is that nagging feeling in the back of our minds that we left the iron on, or the stove, or something else which just seems amiss and out of the ordinary.  What ever you choose to call it, it is that one guiding force which helps move us along our paths in life.

We exists as single entities of this world interconnected through the Divine or through the common existence we share upon this earth.  We are here and there are those around us with whom we share our being.  We are diverse.  We have our own ways of doing things which sometimes coincides with the ways others do things, but we ARE, first and foremost.

Once we allow ourselves to open to the One-ness which exists in all things, then we can finally open ourselves to the possibility of existing together as One in BEING!  Though we may have many different skin types, colors, and patterns, we are still one LIVING force.

Period.

Ruminating is fun when you really think about it. 

K

Blame Game Meeting

I used to, for a time anyway, look outside myself for what might be wrong with just about everything around me and even including myself.  It wasn’t enough to just sit and watch the world destroy itself, I had to jump in and force my two cents upon anyone within earshot.  Usually my tirades included fits of uncontrolled finger pointing and government blame followed by ensuring everyone knew it wasn’t my fault for voting for the wrong politician.

It was always someone else’s fault.

As a Reiki practitioner I’ve learned it’s not always someone else’s fault, and to throw blame about willy-nilly is actually inexcusable itself.  Take the recent issue with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Yes, the oil spill is their fault.  I didn’t have anything to do with it, or did I???  I drive a car which relies on a petroleum based products.  My car needs both oil and gas in order for it to go down the road when I push on the accelerator.  Many of the plastic parts in my car, actually many of the plastic parts anywhere rely on petroleum based products.  I guess I need to ask myself if there would be oil drilling if we didn’t rely so heavily on oil-based products.  It’s really easy to sit on the couch watching the news and point a finger at a multi-billion dollar company when I continue buying the products which supports those companies.

What about government spending?  That’s not my fault!  Well, I did support tax cuts, and I did support those politicians I thought would do a good job.  It turns out they didn’t do such a great job.  I, along with many other people, put those people in office.  If I didn’t vote, well, then I have no excuse do I?

Rather than berate anymore issues or put myself down any further, let me get right to the point.  As a Reiki practitioner I have learned about self-responsibility and intention.  I have learned that my will CAN NOT come before that of my client, but that doesn’t mean I have to stand in front of my client and allow them to abuse me.  I do have the right to protect myself and to ensure the safety of my home.  Should someone violate that safety then I have the right to ask them to remove themselves from my presence, my home, or my property.  But the key is that I can not take responsibility for someone else; I can only take responsibility for my own actions or inactions.  Likewise I can not force someone else to take responsibility for their actions.  If those people don’t come to that realization on their own, then they have learned nothing!  I can point them in the right direction, but ultimately they are the only ones who can, or should take responsibility for their own actions.

I can only look at what I am doing as a practitioner, client, or as in the above cases, a consumer.  What is paramount is that I not point fingers or absolve myself of blame, but change my own life and help others come to the same realizations so they too may change their lives.  Together as one people can we truly make meaningful change.

The other thing I learned as a Reiki master is that it’s not about blame, but about the resulting healing that matters.  If all I am doing is pointing fingers and assigning blame then what am I doing to help heal the situation?  Where is MY intention when I verbally assault government, companies, or other people?  Am I looking out for my best interest, the best interest of my clients, or the best interest of the country in which I live?  No.  I am not.  I am being selfish and self gratifying.  Personally, I walked away from all that when I decided to follow the path of being a Reiki practitioner.  I should be looking for solutions and healing, not fixating on whose to blame for what.

I’m not saying here that no one else has blame for things that may happen, but I am saying that I need to stop fixating on everyone else and focus on my own actions or inactions.  I need to work together with others to find viable solutions rather that continually stirring the pot to watch it simmer.

One last point to make is that I’ve found myself having less and less patience for those individuals and corporations who enable bad behavior.  Enabling bad behavior happens all too often and through many different ways INCLUDING by ignoring potentially destructive behaviors.  Am I enabling bad behavior by being so dependent on products which cause harm?  Am I enabling bad behavior by not voting?  Am I enabling bad behavior by pointing fingers at everyone else rather than looking at what I can do to help heal and bring about change?  Am I enabling by listening to those who incite, or am I healing by committing to and then acting upon healthy decisions to change for the better?

Pointing fingers does no good in the long run.  Blaming others only incites anger and animosity.  What’s the old adage?  “Tis better to light a candle, than curse the darkness.” ~unknown.

What are you going to do?

K

Dance of the Darkness Monsters (#2)

The old saying really is true, if we account for the concept of individual perception, there can be no light without dark, and we can not know what light is without a concept of shadow.

Have you ever stood over an outcropping and watched the city below you as the clouds roll in?  Ever notice how there are areas which are filled with light and are sunny and bright?  Why are those particular areas standing out?  You’re right of course if you said because everything around that light and sunny area is dark and in the shadows.

So too is it with our lives and the various things we experience on a daily basis.  We could never really know what a bad thing is if we didn’t have good experiences and we’d never know what a good thing is if we didn’t have bad experiences in our lives.

I’d like to challenge each one of you out there. Rather than calling our experiences good or bad, I’d like you to recognize that it’s your own perception of what is good and bad that is commanding how you view life’s situations.  Some experiences which others may think as good, you may view as bad, and visa versa.  It is how we CHOOSE to experience the moment that dictates how we view them, and even how we react to the given situation.  For instance, we talk about how even the “negative” experiences can have positive outcomes if we choose to learn from those experiences.  If we learn something and truly grow from a given experience, then how could it have been a “negative” experience?  It sound more like a negative was turned into a positive, or it sounds as if something good came out of a bad situation.  Is it semantics or is there more going on than one realizes?

I propose, that like energy, our experiences are neither good nor bad; they simply are.  When Christ was asked who he was, he simply replied, “I am”.  Could it be that if we simply take the experience for what it is, and not assigned a negative or positive value to it, that we may actually experience something other than the end affect?  Could we learn more from the experience?  Would we learn less from the experience?  Does it really matter?

We get so caught up in assigning value to something or in defining, and thereby limiting the thing that we forget to learn something from the experience.  It’s not until we let go of the event and forget about positive and negative that we actually grow into what ever we might have been able to learn in the first place.

Sometimes a shadow is nothing more than the absence of light, and sometimes an experience is nothing more than an event that happens.

Try to look at events in your life as things that happen.  I’ll bet more and more things that were once thought to be negative become moments by which you are able to grow and shine.  Look at horrible experiences in your life as moment in which you have grown and become more than you were before the horrible experience.  I have had horrible experiences in my life, but because of them I have grown and evolved.  I have overcome and moved on with my life so that I might be able to help others empower themselves to likewise grow and develop rather than stagnate and fester in self destructive tendencies.

Stop the self flagellation.  Stop the self immolation.  There is enough horror in the world.  It’s time for growth.  It’s time for health and wellness!

Related articles

• Perception Chooses (dragonintuitive.com)
• Achieve Your Most Elusive Goals (selfimprovementbase.com)
• The Fine Line Between Joy and Despair (psychologytoday.com)

Illustration of vibrations.

In previous posts we have discussed how we are simply beings of energy vibrating at specific frequencies.  There is no mumbo-jumbo about that concept, it’s easy enough to explain, and easy enough to understand, not to mention its scientifically measurable; body heat being one of the most obvious results. but let’s examine this concept just a little further and delve into the mysterious world of the human thought.  If we are energy, and the world around us is energy, and we all vibrate at specific frequencies, then what do you think is thought is going to be?

Thought is energy, but in another form.  Scientists have been able to monitor brainwave activity for quite some time through EEG machines and most recently through CAT scans and MRI‘s, so we already know the brain has the capacity to produce it’s own vibrations and energy patterns.  It controls our bodily functions and sends electrical impulses to our muscles which allow us to walk and talk.  The brain has even been known to control computers, remotely control televisions (through special electronic interpreting devices) as well as biofeedback devices.  I know this is all rather simple, but we aren’t here for a biology lecture, we’re just taking a moment to refresh our minds on the rudimentary concepts of the brain as an energy producer.

Why then is it a stretch for some people to recognize that the thoughts we manifest in our minds can and do leave our brains and bodies and travel through space to their intended destinations?  After all, energy is mass in motion (remember e=mc²?)

So here we are.  Thoughts can leave the mind and travel.  (I know it was such a circuitous route getting here, but…)

Think about this for a moment.  If you send out a loving thought to a loved one, what do you think the possible reaction might be from that loved one?  Chances are they are going to feel loved or something similar.  But what happens if you send out hateful or destructive thoughts to someone; it probably will not be pleasant.  Are the results either way going to be instant?  Chances are they will not be instant, but they can, and often do have lingering consequences, both positive and negative, for both the producer of the thoughts and the person at whom the thoughts are directed.  The negative repercussions of negative thoughts is continued feelings of  anger with the possibility of escalation, and for the positive thoughts, continued  feelings of peace and tranquility with the possibility of reciprocity.

A person may be able to mask their true feelings and thoughts from other people, but they can never, and I do mean never mask their true feelings or intentions from themselves and so one way or another, their thoughts will eventually make themselves manifest in the oddest of ways; but that’s another topic for another day.

Now, imagine for a moment that you are sending a barrage of thoughts to a person or group of people.  Someone else begins thinking along the same lines as you and starts sending the same thoughts.  Then more people join in and do the same thing.  Soon you have hundreds of people thinking the same thoughts directed at the same person, or group of people.  Can you honestly say those thoughts won’t have some sort of reaction or impact.  What if those thoughts are negatively charge, or in other words, are hateful and wish only negative things.  The results?  I’m afraid to even think of what the consequences could be to such destructiveness and divisiveness, and I truly feel sorry for the person at the other end of those thoughts; not the receiver, but the sender.  Their life must be so totally miserable for them to wish harm on another person.  The receiver can and will recover, but the sender…  …theirs is a truly horrific world of violence and hatred.

Likewise the person who sends loving and compassionate thoughts lives in exactly the same type of world and are able to see the delicate boundaries between health and dis-ease.

Regardless of the how and why, the end result of sending thoughts to another can be something either pleasant or destructive for both the sender and receiver.  If we establish a positive way of thinking within ourselves, we can overcome any obstacle no matter the size, but if we maintain a negative vision of ourselves and/or the world around us, then we perpetuate, and even set ourselves up for continued negativity.  What would you rather have in your lives?

And let’s be clear here, thinking negative thoughts for a positive goal or action is still a negative thought no matter how you cloud the subject.  As I said, you might be able to fool those around you, but you can never fool yourself.  A negative thought is a negative though no matter the intention behind the negative thought.

So, think positively about your life and your life situations and continue your growth.  You’ll be glad you did!

Related articles

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• Brain Training Centers Bring Miracles to South Florida (eon.businesswire.com)
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…healing flows.

Jan and I quote that every chance we get, but seldom do we ever expound on the concept.

For the purposes of this article, let’s define ego as your own identity.  It is that part of you that recognizes your individual-ness and helps you focus purely on yourself.  Again, for the purpose of this article, we are going to include the more common definition and also say that ego is synonymous with conceit.  In the strictest sense, this analogy is closer to the truth than saying ego is only self identity.  Ego is more our individual emotional response to our perception of self.  Please understand that in talking about ego, we are not talking about those with superiority complexes, we are only talking about an individual’s perception of the self.

In healing of any kind, whether it’s through Western medicine, Chinese medicine, alternative and/or complementary medicine, or any other form of healing, the ego must be removed from the practitioner’s conscious, and subconscious mind.

Why?

If someone comes to you for relief of an ailment, what ever it might be, they are coming to you because THEY need the relief, not because you need the client.

That was so important, I think it’s worth repeating, but differently…  Clients go to healing practitioners because of their needs, not because of the practitioners needs!

Pills

Healers should be focused on the needs of their clients and not on their own needs.  If a healing practitioner is more focused on their own needs, then they will do a disservice to their clients, by focusing NOT on their client, but their mind will “accidentally” wander, or they may suggest something not in keeping with the client’s real treatment.  You don’t think that’s possible???  What about Western Medicine Doctors who prescribe medications that kill people rather than make them healthier?  Have you heard the lists of side effects of some of these medications out on the market today?  Some of the side effects include, “Death“, “Suicidal Thoughts”, “Difficulty Breathing”, “Chest Pains”, “Heart Attack“, and in some cases “Stroke“, “Uncontrolled Bleeding”, and other horrific effects.  Those are all aside from the normal constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, and other more “common” side effects.  What doctor in their right mind would ever prescribe something which has the potential to do more harm than good?  The Answer: those who are more concerned with the bottom dollar than their patients health.  It is that simple.

Now think of this in the field of CAM (complementary and alternative medicine).  Someone goes to a massage therapist who is having a bad hair day.  They present with mild back pain due to tension or stress and need relief.  The therapist is still stuck on the jackass who cut her off in traffic on the way into the office.  Take a few moments to think about the possible harm which could be done to the client.  Instead, the massage therapist goes to the back room, focuses for a moment, clears her mind and lets go of the outside world so she can focus purely on her clients’ needs.  When she walks back into the room, she is able to give her client her full attention.  This is letting go of the self or the ego.  This is putting someone else’s needs before the self.  This is when true healing can occur.

In Reiki we are always reminded we do not control the energy, nor are we the actual healers.  We are merely tools which help (as in assist) the energy to go where it is needed most.  If we impose our will over someone else, then the  energy still goes where it is needed most, but we might be thinking more about our bills, or relationship, or something to which we put more energy than our client’s needs.  In that case, the energy will flow to our needs rather than our clients.  When we let go of our own needs and focus on our clients, we are able to be better facilitators of the Reiki energy.

There is another aspect to this whole thing of ego which is the individual concept of importance.  Over the course of time, a practitioner may begin inflating their own ego due to so many people being helped by their services.  This can lead to a type of conceit whereby a practitioner may begin to think they are better than other practitioners or even better than their own clients.  This type of dangerous thinking can later lead to complexes of superiority whereby the practitioner begins to believe they are far superior to any other person around them.  This leads to belittling, name calling, and all sorts of other issues which should be avoided at all costs.

So, the saying truly does hold true, if you remove ego from the picture, you are able to focus better on your client/patient.  Healing is not about what the practitioner is doing, but about how the client is feeling!  The client must come first in any healing industry.

There is just one more thing with letting the ego go, when you finally realize you are no better, nor lower than anyone else around you, you can begin to understand the connectivity of all things not only on this world, but throughout the entire universe.  When you rid yourself of superiority you begin to allow for understanding and continued learning of the diversity of energies which dances all around us.  When you let go of ego, you begin a path of a deeper awareness of all things and how they relate to one another.  Let things be as they truly exist, not how you want them to exist.

Let go, let flow!

There was a discussion on a board I am a part of somewhere else, in another galaxy maybe, which had a discussion about the varied amounts people charge for their Reiki services.

Now, I’ve always taken the route of the Massage Therapists and used them as  a sort of guide for how much I should be charging, so my prices fairly reflect that scope.  But teaching someone to be a practitioner is a whole other bailiwick that no one can seem to agree upon.

I have to admit, I was one of those who paid an enormous sum (a one and 5 zeros), AND spent 3 years training under the one who attuned me.  I could not afford it at the time and suffered a great deal as a result of spending all my savings. Was that the right thing for that master to do?  By her tradition it was and so I respected the process, but just because I had to pay that amount doesn’t mean I will ever come close to charging that amount to anyone!!!!!

Today, I am not a wealthy man, nor am I particularly hurting. So I suppose for me it all depends on the individual.  I’ve taught someone for as much as $150.00 (for the master level) and for as little as a Thank You (for the same level).

We talk about exchange as if we all had the same concept of what it means, but I get the distinct impression many of us are thinking very differently along those lines.

For instance, we all teach there needs to be an exchange, but we too receive Reiki when we share it with others, so there is already a natural exchange happening. I once received a healing while focusing on my client. I didn’t feel right about charging for the session so I didn’t since I had also received healing. My client still tipped me, but must the exchange be monetary, or can it be something all together different?

To say cash is the only type of exchange closes so many doors to so many people, and that somehow just doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve received monetary exchanges, food (I love chicken), massages, doctor visits, car washes, and yes, even hugs.

If someone out there is saying they are only in this field for money, then I for one would seriously have to question the intent of the practitioner. Is the practitioner out for your client’s highest good, or out for their pocketbook? This is where ethics is so desperately needed in our industry. One of the things I say every morning is that I will earn my living honestly. I take that to heart.

$10,000.00… I guess if someone is willing to pay such an amount for such a thing, then that is really on them. I for one will never do so, but I guess some people still do.  Heck I did so there must be others.

If nothing else we should at least respect each others traditions and if a tradition tells someone to charge that much money, then so be it, but for me it’s about the healing, not about the money!

One last thing, My wife and I were once at a healing arts fair and we were asked about how much we charged to teach.  We spoke honestly and spoke about the healing and the such when all of a sudden a woman came out of no where and screamed that it was because of people like my wife and I that the Reiki community was going to the dogs.  I stared at her for a moment and asked her how many clients she has seen in her lifetime.  She said none, she only teaches Reiki and needed to come out of retirement because the industry is going to hell due to people like my wife and I.  For that teacher, it was all about the money.   The healing factor in Reiki had never even been a consideration for her.  The fact it helped people transform their lives was never an issue for her.  It was about becoming rich!

To this day I still feel sorry for that person and I send her loving energy.

For those of you entering the Reiki community, ask yourselves, why are you here?  What has brought you to Reiki and why?  What are your goals, and what are your ethical principles?  How will you BE an example of Reiki to the community, and how will you BE an example of Reiki in your own life?

For those of you already in the Reiki community, let me ask you the following, when tradition begins to interfere with true healing should we still adhere to tradition?  Is it about the money, or about the client’s best interest?  When teaching someone, are you more interested in the check, the green stuff, or who the student is as a healer?

We talk about Celebrating Reiki for people’s highest goods, yet then the almighty dollar takes over and superimposes it’s divine will over health and happiness.  Why are you Reiki?  And if it is about the almighty dollar, then isn’t your services centered on your own needs and not that of your client’s?

I strongly suggest people sit down and reflect on their need to be Reiki.  Draw up your own ethical standards, which should follow closely with other standards.  Examine everything you do, and let the Reiki energy help guide you to true healing, and towards helping empower others to heal as well.

A practitioner should never, never, never control a client or a student!  It’s about the lives we touch, not about our own egos!

I may have angered some out there in the community with these words, but remember, these are just my opinions.  I do not control Reiki so do what you want!  I will make my own choices regarding with whom I associate, or with whom I will not associate.

For everyone else,  Peace…

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