R is for Reiki

It's week eighteen of Alphabe-Thursday!

R is for Reiki...

When I started this blog three years ago I wrote a post entitled 'My Journey to Reiki and Beyond'. Re-reading that post today I realised that it still sums up so perfectly my feelings about Reiki and its effect on my life. So I'm re-posting it below...  :-)

But first I just wanted to acknowledge the 5 Reiki Precepts -

Just for today do not anger
Just for today do not worry
Honour your parents, teachers and elders
Earn your living honestly
Show gratitude to all living things

It is these precepts that make Reiki much more than just an 'energy healing treatment'. Reiki is a spiritual practice and a way to live one's life. With these precepts in mind, one can move through life with compassion and joy. One can take each day at a time and cherish every single moment.

Reiki is not a religion, but for me it is my faith in something grander than me, something divine.  

Here is my post from 2010 -

My journey to Reiki and beyond

'Reiki came into my life, like all good things, because I listened to my intuition. I’d heard of Reiki but knew next to nothing about it or how it could possibly help me. I was going through a time of change in my life, everything was new, and I had no idea which path to choose or what to do next. And then one day, like a single snowflake falling from the sky, the word ‘Reiki’ came into my mind. I found a local Reiki Master and booked myself in for a session. I didn’t know what to expect, but I trusted that it was the right place for me.

As it turned out, my Reiki Master noticed something in me that day, something that I was not even aware of myself – a desire to study this healing art. So by the end of that first session I’d signed up to do the Reiki First Degree course. The energy had a plan for me, it would seem, and I was grateful to be along for the ride.

I often think that my attunement to the Reiki energy during my First Degree course was really my attunement to life. Not that I wasn’t alive before, but I was living a sort of half-life. A life devoid of real awareness. Reiki became my initiation into the spiritual world. I began to view things differently – with love rather than fear. I began to write - something I’d talked about doing for years. I connected to my creativity. And I began to read - devouring spiritual and New Age books. I felt my mind expanding. I was desperate to know more, to feel more, to live more. I started meditating. I started tuning into my chakras. I bought crystals. My path had become illuminated.

Reiki is energy healing but it is also a spiritual path of self-development. Working with ‘invisible’ energy, feeling and seeing its healing power, had a transformational effect on me. I felt a shift in my consciousness, as though a door had opened. Through that door was the world of unlimited potential, the place where I could connect to my infinite divine essence. A place where love and joy abound. I’ve never looked back.

Since that initial burst of spiritual awareness, I’ve continued to develop regular practices – meditation, chakra balancing, and of course writing – to maintain my connection to the divine. Reiki has become a consistent part of my life (I completed Reiki II in 2008, and the Reiki Master/Teacher course in 2010). I continue to move deeper on my own journey within, the journey of my soul. And Reiki is the light that guides me.'