Connection

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better....

This week in the Usui Virtual Retreat our facilitator, Pamela Miles, asked us to think about Reiki as connection, "connection to that which connects us"  and again, she has put into words something that I have felt ever since my Reiki 1 class, but couldn't find the words to express.  Thank you Pamela :)

I don't know that I had ever felt connected, a part of, one with much of anything, at least not on a visceral level, until I became Reiki.  In fact, I often felt the opposite - disconnected, isolated, alone.  And it showed - in the way I viewed myself and the world and in the way treated myself and sometimes others.

Of course there are still moments in my day when I let myself feel stressed in response to something that is going on around me, but when I'm able to step back for moment (even if it's just in my head) and place a Reiki hand on my solar plexus or heart, I feel grounded again, safe, at-one-with, and that feeling allows me to proceed/respond in a way that is life-giving, light-giving and love-giving for myself and whomever else is involved.

Could it be that the sense of disconnection and isolation really is the basis for all that is wrong in our lives, in the world?

Could it be that Reiki is the answer?!

Namaste,
Janet

Just Being

This morning as I sat listening to Pamela Miles' superb guided meditation for Week 2 of the Virtual Usui Retreat the following suggestion jumped out at me: "don't try to fix it....just be present with it" and it got me thinking about all of those times in my life that I have felt an uncomfortable sensation, be it emotional, physical or spiritual, and have gone out of my way to try to "fit it" rather than just be still, sit with it and really feel it, really listen to what it was trying to tell me.  More often than not, I made "it" worse with my efforts, rather than better! 

I wonder what would happen if we were all able to just sit with "it" - whatever "it" may be at any given time - and stopped expending so much energy trying to make "it" go away?

I'm nowhere near the expert that I would like to be on just sitting with my stuff but I do know that when I choose to let it, Reiki will ease the discomfort and soothe my senses.

Namaste,
Janet

The Reiki Precepts

The Reiki Precepts - the foundation around which the system of Reiki was built.  There are several versions but this is the one that really resonates with me:

"Just For Today...

I will let go of anger
I will let go of worry
I will count my many blessings

I will do my work honestly
I will be kind to every living thing"

A wonderful reminder to be in the present moment, to be calm, to use my emotional energy productively, to be grateful, to do my best in all my endeavours, to be compassionate and gentle - with myself and others.  Easier said than done some days, but a very valuable blueprint for living and walking The Reiki Path.

Is there another version that speaks to you?  Tell me about it!