Reiki with Mamta Blog

I have been overeating! I can have a perfectly healthy delicious meal. But I can’t stop snacking afterwards. There is a craving. I have been wondering about ‘what am I really craving’!

This morning I discovered the sanskrit word – purya in my meditation text Radiance Sutras*. Purya means to be filled or satisfied. Reading this I realise I have been craving satisfaction. With the word purya, I feel I have discovered the doorway to fulfill the longing for satisfaction. The meditation technique with purya is quite simple – ‘lingering for a moment at the end of an inhalation and enjoying the sensations of being filled to overflowing’. I shall be practising this whenever I find myself longing for satisfaction. It would be so much better for my body to get this sensation from the breath than from trying to fill the belly with food.

The text suggests ‘going to a place of beauty, whatever inspires awe in you and inhaling the wonderfulness in your body. Or recall a memory that delights you.’

This reminds me of recent experiences of sensing the vibrancy of colours of food – red of tomatoes/strawberries, orange of sweet peppers/carrots, yellow of lemons, green of cucumbers, white of turnips, blue of blueberries, purple of red onions/red cabbage/radioccio….

I cannot help wondering if this longing for satisfaction drives all sorts of over consumption. Perhaps this longing for satisfaction is a deeper layer to addictions too. Addictions are everywhere. So many of us are addicted to screens these days. And there are so many addictions that can be much more harmful. After the meditation this morning I cannot help wondering if the solution can be simpler than we can imagine.

The technique is rather simple. Please do try it if you need it. And do let me know how you get on. If you would like a guided meditation to deepen the journey on this path of feeling fulfilled, please let me know. I am a certified Instinctive Meditation teacher. I offer meditation sessions, both in-person or online.

.

*Radiance Sutras is Dr. Lorin Roche’s meditative and poetic interpretation of the teachings from the ancient sanskrit text Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.

I had offered a Reiki Calligraphy session on the 23/6/24. However the Universe had other plans for me that day. Two people who had wanted to come for calligraphy could not make it. The only person who could come that day, I knew she would prefer to do weaving. I checked with her and yes she preferred to do weaving. I myself had been more drawn to weaving during the preceding weeks.

I have been learning to surrender when unexpected things happen, especially more than one! I could have cancelled the event but I chose not to. I decided to go ahead even though there was only two of us.

That morning I took out my notes from the previous session I had offered earlier in the year. I was amazed to notice the date of the previous weaving session was 23/3/24. The two dates were exactly three months apart! I love such synchronicities. It seemed like an affirmation from the Universe that I had made the right choice.

The day felt truly magical. We did hands-on Reiki treatments for each other in the morning, before lunch and did weaving after lunch. There were many insights and aha moments. Perhaps Wanja Twan* would have called such moments ‘A Slight Twinkling In the Atomic Structure’ – title of her last book.

While preparing lunch I was struck by the vibrant colours of the vegetables I was preparing – orange of carrots, yellow of peppers, green of cucumber, red of radishes and tomatoes. The other person helped me see that we were nourishing our bodies with the colours of the food. It truly felt like a gift from the creative power of the Universe. The colours we were yet to choose for the weaving felt even more significant. While weaving during that week I had realised that I was weaving with the colours associated with the chakras. It felt as if something was healing in my being as I wove with these colours.

I had heard that one and one make eleven, not two in the scared space created when two people get together for healing. I had heard that the whole is much more than the sum of individual parts in the sacred space. That day I could feel truth of these words.

I love this line from a Mary Oliver poem:
‘You can have the other words – chance, luck, coincidence,
Serendipity, synchronicity. I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but
I’ll take it.’
To me a synchronicity is an opening for grace to come through. So I have taken the liberty of adding, rather weaving the word synchronicity in.

Following on with this pattern of weaving on the 23^rd, three months apart, I would like to offer the next weaving session on Monday 23/9/24.
Time: 11 am to 5 pm. Cost £80.
I am looking forward to receiving what is waiting to come through in September when we do Reiki and weaving together. Please contact me if you would like to book a place.

.

* Wanja Twan was a Reiki Master initiated by Hawayo Takata. I learnt Reiki in Wanja Twan’s lineage. Before Wanja learnt Reiki she was a master weaver. I feel blessed and inspired by stories of her weaving. It feels as if I have weaving in my spiritual genes.

.

.

A Reiki student mentioned raised liver enzyme levels recently. I myself have had raised blood sugar levels. The next morning I woke up worrying about my frozen/thawing shoulder.

I decided to go for a walk in the park nearby. The Earth helps me remember what I have forgotten. I remembered to bring attention to the body’s innate ability to heal itself from the ailment and the worry. I remembered that Reiki helps boost my body’s innate ability to self heal.

And then I remembered to bring curiosity to what is happening. I feel curiosity is a more powerful motivator than fear. I loved learning how asking a question can allow space for curiosity to bloom. So I started with the question ‘If my blood sugar levels lower to a healthy level for my body, what would it feel like’. I love this technique of being with a question from Aikido. I discovered it in Wendy Palmer’s book – The Intuitive Body. The technique is rather simple. I start with the question, bring attention to the breath and observe the sensations in the body.

A few days later, I am realising that I need to welcome what is. I realise that I have been trying to fix it, I have been wishing it away. And this takes me away from the present moment. I have been tying myself in knots about what do I need to do, what do I eat. I have been feeling sorry for myself that I cannot eat a whole lot of my favourite foods anymore.  I am remembering my favourite go to poem in such situations - Guesthouse by Rumi.

The question has evolved to ‘If I am able to welcome the raised blood sugar levels with gratitude, what would it feel like’.  I am finding that getting the question right is the key. If I get the question right, answers start to come. Although they come in their own time.

As I hone the ability to welcome and embrace what is – the part of me that craves sugar or sweetness, the part that feels sorry for myself, I trust that I will be able to stay open and present to receive the next step on the path of healing. As I embrace these guides from beyond, and invite them in, I can look forward to some new delights. At the moment I feel as if a subconscious worry about health, being diagnosed with a serious health condition is easing deep within my being. I feel as if I am learning to love some more unacknowledged, unclaimed parts of my being.

If this resonates, please feel free to find your own question to allow curiosity to guide your healing process. Do remember to let me know how you get on.

.

You are invited to an online celebration of the birth anniversary of Mikao Usui, the founder of Reiki.

Birthdays, anniversaries can provide an opening for blessings from our ancestors and elders to come through. Perhaps a blessing is coming through the opening of Usui’s birthday that is needed at this time.

This celebration is open to all Reiki students.

We will practise Reiki self treatment, the foundation of our Reiki practice. We will also share Reiki precepts in our first language. Reiki Precepts are an integral part of our practice and another gift from Usui. We might also read excerpts from Hawayo Takata’s books about Dr. Usui, and share any insights/experiences from the stories of Mikao Usui’s journey.

Date: Thursday August 15th, 2024
Time: 6 pm BST, 7 pm CET, 10 am PST, 1 pm EST
Duration: 75-90 minutes
Cost: free

Let’s honor the remarkable legacy of Mikao Usui.

Register now to receive the zoom link and mark your calendars for this special online event!

.

.

How do you feel about your mind? How do you relate to it? Are you aware of the power embedded in the mind?

One of my favourite meditation practices is to ask ‘what do I need to know in this moment’ and open my Instinctive Meditation book Radiance Sutras* randomly, trusting my body wisdom to help.

Recently, when I was feeling very unsettled, I opened the book Radiance Sutras and discovered sutra¹ 81. Each sutra has a keyword with a meditation technique. The keyword for this sutra is manas – meaning mind. The meditation practice felt rather simple – let your attention rest on each word of the definition of manas, for one breath. I was skeptical but I tried it – and the experience was mind blowing! I started to feel the body, tears started to flow, I started to feel pulsation of the life force in my body. I started to feel better. It felt as if I was home.

I know that I will not remember all the meanings of the word manas. I learnt Sanskrit at school in India. It helps me remember the sanskrit words easily. So I have started to meditate with the word manas. It is not necessary to meditate with a sanskrit word. You can choose a word in your own language. One of the teachings from Instinctive Meditation I love is that any word can be a mantra. I can simply say it out aloud once, then whisper it with the next breath and then be with the word in silence for the next breath.

I cannot help wondering if this simple meditation may help with the mental/emotional health issues that so many of us are struggling with at this time. What if the healing is possible and simpler than we can imagine!

Meditating with manas is helping me make friends with the mind. It feels like I have found a treasure. All that I have been longing for is in the word manas. I had heard from my meditation teacher Dr. Lorin Roche that we don’t need to control the mind. It seems as if I am beginning to understand what he means. Today I feel that by making friends with the mind, giving it attention, acknowledging the power embedded in the mind I am more likely to receive what I need to not just survive but thrive in the world.

I love questions. So I am playing with the question – If I can cherish the mind/manas, what would it feel like? I trust that my continued meditation practice will help hone this ability to befriend the mind.

I am a certified Instinctive Meditation teacher. You can contact me for a guided meditation session. I offer meditation sessions, both in-person or online.

*Radiance Sutras is Dr. Lorin Roche’s meditative and poetic interpretation of the teachings from the ancient sanskrit text Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.

¹ A sutra is an invitation, a doorway to enter and be at home in yourself and in the universe. The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra offers 112 sutras.

.

I love Instinctive Meditation. After trying many different forms of meditation over the years, I have found the meditation practice that works for me. I love the flexibility of the practice. It is not prescriptive. I don’t need to sit still. I am free to follow my instincts and be how I need to be, do what I feel drawn to doing in each meditation session. I can move, dance, sing, read, write, weave, cook, go for a walk – anything that I would like to do! This practice is about love – loving life, loving this breath, welcoming the present moment, discovering what I love so much that I would want to meditate with it so that I look forward to each meditation session. When I find something I love, it feels effortless. I am learning to trust that life loves me and each one of us, unconditionally. I love learning that meditation is an instinct, we already have the ability to meditate, it is not something new we have to learn. This intelligence is built into us just like the stress response is. In fact meditation is the opposite or antidote to stress response. The Instinctive Meditation practice has evolved from:

1. Ancient Yoga tradition from the sanskrit text Vijnana Bhairava Tantra* interpreted by Dr Lorin Roche in the text Radiance Sutras.
2. Scientific research on the physiology of meditation in the last 50 years that proves meditation is the antidote to stress response and it is an effective and powerful way of enhancing wellbeing.
3. Dr Lorin Roche and his wife Camille Maurine’s experience of teaching meditation over the last 50 years working with tens and thousands of people from all walks of life and all levels of experience – from complete beginners to experienced meditation teachers.
4. Camille Maurine’s unique approach to inner exploration and creativity that integrates the fields of meditation, yoga, dance and theater.

* To me Tantra can be interpreted as an instrument for the body, providing meditation techniques for facilitating being in the body; just as the word Mantra can be interpreted as an instrument for the mind.

.

.

I grew up in India watching my mother and women around me put on a bindi, a dot, on their forehead every morning. This ritual used to be for married women. They would apply a red powder called sindoor with a fingertip. Then stick on bindis became popular. Over time it evolved into a mark of beauty. Young unmarried women started wearing a bindi too.

This ritual is not just for women, some men wear a mark on the forehead. It’s called a tika or tilak. It can be different shapes, the tear drop shape is quite popular. Some men apply it everyday. In my family, the women applied it on the men’s forehead on special occasions like weddings and religious festivals.

When I left school, leaving the days of school uniform behind, I was free to dress as I like. I started wearing a bindi. It started as a dot. Gradually I started being creative with it and used to make patterns with liquid bindi.

What I did not realise till now is the value of this simple ritual. Today I am wondering if touching the middle of the forehead can help bring focus to the mind. What if our ancestors knew the value of touching the middle of the forehead for our mental wellbeing. It seems to me that over time the value of the ritual got lost and it evolved into a beauty ritual.

I stopped wearing bindis with western clothes. I don’t want to start wearing a bindi again. But I can start the day with touching the middle of the forehead every morning greeting the mind, thanking it for all that it helps me with and blessing it. I feel that this simple touch with this awareness can help attune the mind for what is coming in the day.

I feel something new is being activated in me today, something is surfacing from the unconscious to conscious awareness about the sense of touch.

This exploration with bindi, bindu in sanskrit, started with a dot appearing at the top of the calligraphy I brushed a few days ago. I love how the practice of calligraphy, meditation and Reiki enriches me and helps me value what is already there. Deep gratitude to all my teachers and the communities I get to practise with.

.

I love starting the year practising Zen calligraphy with the sangha I am so blessed to have discovered in 2013. This year we brushed a Zen expression Gankō. According to my teacher Sarah Moate, Gankō can be interpreted in English as ‘Cherish the Light’.

Then questions started coming – What is light? What is the source of light? How can I cherish the light?

I love this teaching from Japanese culture – get the question right, don’t worry about the answer. I continue to be amazed by how the answers start to come. Since then many layers of this profound expression are continuing to be revealed.

Firstly I remembered, Reiki is light energy. This expression is helping deepen connection with my daily practice of Reiki.

There is light all around and within each one of us. Fire element or light is essential for our existence. Our body has the ability to generate heat with each breath.

One could think of the Sun as the source of light. Since discovering this poem by Rumi, I am cherishing the dust grains I sometimes see in the light near the window.

On this full moon day, it is a lunar eclipse too, I am also cherishing the light of the moon. As the light wanes towards the new moon, light of the stars grows stronger in the night sky. Eclipses can be transformational. As the caterpillar helps us see in nature, the transformation process is not comfortable, but is so needed. It feels super helpful to receive this quote from James Clear through his newsletter email:
“Some people get addicted to chain-smoking their problems. They spend all day going from sorrow to sorrow. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can live each day going from joy to joy—like a sunflower that turns to face the sun as it moves across the sky. It’s not about having a problem-free life, but about focusing on the light. Sunflowers still have shadows, but they are always behind them.”

Then I discovered Mary Oliver poem – Mindful. I love the thought of being like ‘a needle in the haystack of light’.

At this moment I am loving being with the question – If I could cherish the light – both within and around me – what would it feel like? I know that the ability to cherish the light is already in me, in each one of us. My wish today is for this ability to surface from the unconscious to conscious awareness for the highest good of all.

Feeling deep gratitude to all my teachers and to life itself. Also to Rumi, Mary Oliver and James Clear.

.

.

My desire to weave came from the need for a rug during lockdown. I could not go anywhere to look at a rug and feel it. One day it finally dawned on me that I could weave one myself. I started googling to learn how to weave a rag rug. I chose the simplest technique I could find. I did not have to buy any materials. All I needed was some old clothes, fabric scissors, four safety pins and willingness to weave.

Once I started to weave I have not been able to stop. It helps me feel better when I feel unsettled. It helps me to stay focused while I am listening on a zoom call.  I wove this rug while attending online Instinctive Meditation teacher training. This rug is woven using clothes that would have been thrown away. Most of them were loved so much they were worn out. They were not fit to give to a charity even. It helps me feel better about playing a small part in reducing clothes going to landfill.

When I weave, sometimes it feels as if parts of my being are being woven in a new way. Sometimes when I weave with clothes that belonged to elders/ancestors it feels as if some family/ancestral healing is happening. Weaving can feel very healing and transformational.

I love watching how the colours and patterns emerge as I follow my intuition and choose a colour/fabric. I love how I remember clothes lying forgotten in cupboards that I can use to weave. I was delighted to learn this saying through my meditation teachers  – “Begin to weave and God will give the thread.”

Inspired by Reiki Master, Master Weaver and my Reiki great grand mother, Wanja Twan’s 90th birth anniversary celebration, I am offering a day infused with Reiki and weaving. All are welcome. You do not need to have learnt Reiki to join us.

Wanja wrote how ‘people did not know they could do all that they managed to weave, that all the colours, designs and creativity existed within them. It was just a matter of being shown and helped along a bit and everything would unfold’. Please let me know if you would like to join us to allow your essence and creativity to unfold.

Date: Saturday March 23rd 2024
Time: 11 am to 5 pm
Cost: £80
Venue: my home

All materials will be provided. No previous weaving experience is needed. You are welcome to bring an old/loved garment that you would like to weave with.

If you would like to use your hands to create something beautiful from what may be ready to discard, if you would like to allow your creativity to unfold through weaving, if you would like to experience the joy of weaving with the community using a very simple technique, please join us.

Do let me know if you would like to attend this event. Places are limited, so you would need to book a place by contacting me.

Pete Seeger’s song ‘Turn turn turn’ had been playing in my head since yesterday. I finally remembered to listen to it this morning and felt deeply touched by the lyrics:

“To everything there is a season
And a time to every purpose under heaven…

A time to kill, a time to heal…

A time of love, a time of hate…

A time of war, a time of peace…

A time of peace, I swear it’s not too late…”

I remembered Thich Nhat Hanh’s poem – Please Call Me by My True Names. I was reminded of his teaching – ‘how we cannot separate ourselves from the world around us, even those who do harm.’

It is my turn to experience creation exactly as it is, from exactly where I am.

My wish/prayer at the Pisces New Moon – May I feel oneness with even those who do harm. For I can only heal myself. May I welcome and embrace the part of me that does harm, may I be able to give it a voice and listen to it for it is a part of my wholeness, it is part of the wholeness of life. May I welcome and embrace the inner conflicts.

Oneness does not come easily in this realm of separation and limitation. Maybe, just maybe, it is a tiny bit easier in the Pisces season – season of healing, season of unconditional and universal love – Pisces being the sign of imagination, art and empathy, collective consciousness, and forgiveness.

Please join me if this resonates. Please make your own wish/prayer for the world at this New Moon.

Here is a link to Pete Seeger’s song – Turn turn turn. You can also listen to the poem – Please call me by my true names – in Thay’s voice in the link above.

.

Receiving news of someone suffering is never easy. Lately I have been hearing of many people going through a crisis. It can be overwhelming. I started wondering about how to be. I started asking the question – What is this about?

Eventually it dawned on me that each unsettling news is an invitation, a reminder to regain my centre, be there, show up from my centre as best as is possible. It is not easy but I am learning. At times it seems as if I am being shown the next step on this path. Honing this ability seems much needed with the chaos and turmoil all around us.

The phrase ‘being in the eye of the storm’ came up. Just the thought of being in the serene, unshakeable, unwavering space seems amazing! I cannot help wondering if it is easier to be in our centre than we can imagine! What if we already have this ability and we need to simply let it surface from the unconscious to conscious awareness!

I remembered a poem by the Mystic Sufi poet Kabir from India:
Chaaki chaaki sab kahein, kili kahe na koye
jo kili se lagaa rahe, vako baal na baanka hoye!
Here is my attempt at translating it – The two plates of a traditional flour mill(chaaki) are like the heaven and Earth. We are between these two realms. Those of us who get caught between the two get crushed. Those who stay aligned with the centre, the centre axis (kili), do not get crushed/harmed.

I invite you to an in-person session to invoke and strengthen the intelligence inherent in the body to be centred and aligned with the centre axis. Please join me, let’s explore this together.

Date: Sunday March 31st. We will be exploring this with Guided Meditation and Zen Calligraphy. We will be brushing the Zen circle – Enzo.
All welcome. You don’t need to be a Reiki student to join this session.
Time: 11 am to 5 pm
Cost: £80
Venue: my home
All materials will be provided. No previous calligraphy experience is needed.

Please let me know soon if you would like to join us, before March 31^st, 2024.

.

How are you? Are you feeling the intensity? I am. I am practising accepting, welcoming and integrating it. It is not easy. But it is inspiring me to do a second degree Reiki treatment for myself everyday for at least one week, this week of the new moon on February 9^th.

I could do it by myself. But I have experienced the power of practising with the community, even when we are not in the same physical location. New moon can be a time of new beginnings. I also find astrology super helpful at such times to figure out the next step. The text in purple is about astrology.
If you are interested, the New moon is in the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius is about the power of coming together as a community/collective, work together for a better world, seeking solutions that benefit all. So I am inviting you to join me. Let’s practise together.

I have been wondering about why does this New moon feel so intense. Then I realised the planet Pluto moved into Aquarius recently, January 21st. Pluto represents transformation, endings and new beginnings. Apart from brief time spans, Pluto will stay in Aquarius till 2044. So we really need to take on board what Pluto is helping us to integrate. It seems to be a time for purging, letting go of what is no longer serving us and create space for the new.

The last time Pluto was in Aquarius was 1700s. So we will not have this experience again in this lifetime. In Aquarius Pluto seems to be asking each one of us to play our part, to trust and hone our creativity, our intuition, our connection to the Divine. In this digital age of artificial intelligence, we seem to be called to deepen our innate intelligence. If you know your natal astrology chart, you could look up which house does Aquarius represent and what other planets do you have in Aquarius.

So I invite you to practice together to heal, nourish and strengthen ourselves, prepare ourselves for what is needed at this time.

This invitation is offline. There is no online session and it is free. We simply practice at 9 am local time for 30 minutes with the knowing that we are practising with the community. You are welcome to practise at a time of your own convenience if you are unable to do 9 am. Please feel free to do what you can, when you can. If you are a level 1 Reiki student, you are welcome to join with first degree Reiki self treatment.

You can let me know if you would like to practise together. I will also set up a WhatsApp group to allow us to connect with each other to share our experience, ask questions. Do send me your phone number if you would like to join the group.

.

You are invited to an online celebration of Reiki Master Wanja Twan’s 90th birth anniversary. Wanja was one of the 22 Reiki Masters initiated by Mrs. Hawayo Takata.

Birthdays can provide an opening for blessings from our ancestors and elders to come through. Perhaps some special blessing is coming through the opening of Wanja’s birthday that is needed at this time.

This celebration is open to all Reiki students. Wanja’s daughter, Reiki Master Anneli Twan is going to join us. When Wanja retired from teaching Reiki she passed the stewardship of the Twan Reiki Lineage to Anneli. Wanja’s daughter-in-law, Reiki Master Michelle Beauregard will be with us too.

We will self treat, read excerpts from Wanja’s books, and share memories of Wanja. We will also be able to listen to a recording of Wanja’s voice in the oral tradition.

Date: Tuesday February 20th, 2024
Time: 7 pm GMT, 8 pm CET, 11 am PST, 2 pm EST
duration: 75-90 minutes
cost: free

Let’s honor the remarkable life and legacy of Reiki Master Wanja Twan.

Register now to receive the zoom link and mark your calendars for this special online event!

.

‘Begin to weave, God will provide the thread’. When I discovered this phrase recently, it felt as if this is exactly what I have been experiencing while weaving. When I begin, I do not know what colour or fabric I will use next. I never buy the fabric. It is always old clothes, used and worn with love. I still continue to be amazed by how I start to find fabric around the house, clothes that I had forgotten about! Sometimes a theme that is playing in my life seems to be woven into the next round of the spiral.

The rug I began weaving around the new moon in December 2023 had quite a lot of colour in the middle, just like a star. Then I found a purple silk saree that had belonged to my mother-in-law. It was quite old and the fabric was falling apart. It could not be used as a saree anymore. So I decided to weave it in the rug.

A few days later I realised that I had started reading the book ‘In the light of a distant star’ by Wanja Twan, in the book club with some of Wanja’s Reiki Masters at the time of the New Moon in December 2023. Before being a Reiki Master, Wanja was a Master weaver. Wanja was also a wonderful mystic. The book is quite magical. Reading it with a group makes it even more magical. And the cover of the book is purple!

I feel grateful for my Reiki lineage. Around the time Wanja discovered Reiki, she also found her way to the meditation practice of Siddha Yoga. Thanks to Wanja saying yes to Reiki and dedicating her life to Reiki, not only do I have Reiki, I have weaving and meditation in my spiritual genes too.

I started weaving during lockdown when I needed a rug and could not go out and buy one. It occured to me one day that I could make one myself. Google helped me find a very simple technique to weave a rag rug. A few months later I discovered the practice of Instinctive Meditation and learned about the value of weaving. A very practical need transformed into a love of weaving. I had started to weave with old everyday clothes that were not suitable for donation even. Then I started to weave with old silk sarees and scarves. As I weave sarees and scarves together worn by me and my family, it feels as if there is some ancestral healing happening.

I am grateful to the Radiance Sutras School of Meditation (RSSM), the meditation community of wonderful teachers and students that helped me learn
“Divine Presence vibrates in the impulse to weave, the many threads we gather, and the perfection of the Design.
Cherish the impulse, honour the threads, and come to honest gratitude for the noble design.”

I am sure that the saying ‘Begin to weave, God will provide the thread’ has many layers to it. I feel grateful for having experienced this layer. I feel that the weaving process is not just meditative and therapeutic, it is also very symbolic. Sometimes it seems as if I am weaving the old threads of my life in a new way, inviting beauty in, and the invisible thread of Divine Presence is being woven into each creation.

If you are feeling the impulse to weave, please let me know. I would love to weave together.

.

.

Reiki offers a whole range of benefits at every level that we need – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Some benefits we are conscious of and some are yet to be revealed.

The day after exploring the Aspects and Elements of the Reiki practice with some Reiki students, I feel as if a framework/structure has been put in place inside me for the essence of Reiki to thrive. The Nine Elements of Usui Shiki Ryoho define the form of the practice. The Four Aspects of Usui Shiki Ryoho help express the philosophy and deepen understanding of the system. Together they define the practice of Reiki, Usui Shiki Ryoho that is practised in the spiritual lineage of Mikao Usui, Chujiro Hayashi, Hawayo Takata, Phyllis Lei Furumoto and Johannes Reindl.

Previous Lineage bearer for Reiki, Usui Shiki Ryoho, Phyllis Lei Furumoto gave us the four aspects and nine elements. She also gave us the phrase balancing form and essence through Reiki Talk Shows. Today I feel that while we focussed on the form, the essence of Reiki has been strengthened in our being.

Serendipity had recently led me to an article written by Reiki Master, Paul Mitchell The Usui System of Reiki: A Return to the Sacred. In Paul’s words – ‘The practice of the Usui System brings us back in contact with mystery. It brings us back to a sense of awe and wonder in the face of that which we know is bigger than and beyond the scope of the human mind.’ Paul is one of the 22 Reiki Masters initiated by Mrs Hawayo Takata. He has also held the role of Head of Discipline with the lineage bearer for the Office of Grand Master (OGM).

Learning about how experiencing awe and wonder can be a doorway to our wellbeing, I remembered a phrase I heard many years ago about Reiki from Rick Bockner, another one of the 22 Reiki Masters initiated by Mrs Hawayo Takata about Reiki – ‘Experience the wonder and wonder about the experience’. Practising Reiki for over 22 years now, I have been experiencing many many benefits. Today I realise that my ability to experience awe and wonder was also being honed over the years. I have been looking for awe and wonder in the external. It is indeed easier to connect with awe and wonder in nature. But awe and wonder is all around us, in simple everyday life, in our body. It is easy to experience and wonder with Reiki, through the simple act of placing Reiki hands on the body.

Learning Reiki helps us experience the benefits of Reiki at a time of one’s own choice and convenience. It is also possible to experience awe and wonder through receiving a Reiki treatment from a Reiki practitioner.

Today I feel inspired to invite you to SOAR – a Space Of Awe and wonder with Reiki. This acronym came to me today. You are welcome to SOAR by learning Reiki or experiencing a Reiki treatment. Please contact me or find a Reiki teacher/practitioner near you.

You can discover more about the four aspects and nine elements for Reiki, Usui Shiki Ryoho on the OGM website. You can also find the Reiki Talk Shows and deepen your connection with the nine elements listening to Phyllis Lei Furumoto discuss them with Reiki students/Masters in the oral tradition. You will need to scroll down the page to September 2009. Phyllis dedicated a month to each element. So you will find all the elements from beginning of September 2009 to end of May 2010.

One of the Usui intensives offered by the OGM for Reiki Masters is Usui 1 to explore the nine elements. If you would like to explore the aspects and elements with me, you are welcome to get in touch. I would love to hear from you.

I am often asked by new Reiki students what should I be doing with the mind during self treatment. In such moments I feel grateful for the simplicity and effortless nature of Reiki practice. I know from personal experience that stilling the mind is impossible, yet Reiki heals despite the mind/attention wandering. I remember Mrs Hawayo Takata’s teaching – hands on Reiki flows, hands off Reiki stops. I share this with the students.

I learnt Reiki in 2001, I have been teaching Reiki since 2008. Over the years I have found it helpful to learn that in moments of stillness and silence, what is held within tends to rise to the surface. The best thing we can do is to welcome it. I remember my Reiki grandmother’s (my Reiki Master’s teacher) words – Reiki cannot put in something new in us, it brings up what is already within us.

I feel as if I got another piece of the jigsaw when I learnt that the mind needs to go through the layers of turmoil to be able to get to the inner stillness. What is needed is the ability to observe the wandering of the mind. What is needed is trust in the innate intelligence of the mind. If I can trust the intelligence of the mind and the effortless nature of Reiki practice, together they can help me come home to inner stillness/light.

All I need to do is to practice

• without expectation of how my experience should be
• welcoming what shows up, trusting the interplay of Rei – Universal life force and Ki – individual life force, two very intelligent forces that each one of us has been blessed with.

Perhaps the time needed to reach the inner stillness is the reason behind the teaching to self treat for 40-60 minutes. If it is not possible to make this time daily or on a regular basis , perhaps we can try to self treat for 40-60 minutes as and when it is possible. A good time to try the longer self treatment may be when the mind seems unsettled or when we are struggling with some physical symptoms. After all the mind and body are deeply interconnected.

Please remember that some Reiki is better than no Reiki. So do continue to self treat for the time duration that is possible for you. Sometimes it is difficult to find the time, and sometimes it is difficult to make the time for self treatment.

If you are struggling to make time for self treatment, especially for a 40-60 minutes self treatment, it may be easier to self treat together with other Reiki students in the group energy.

There are two options to self treat together with the community without leaving the comfort of your own home:

1. Spiritual lineage bearer, Johannes Reindl offers online Reiki self treatment circles every Monday, 10 am and 6 pm UK time. You can sign up to his mailing list to receive the invitation with the zoom link. If the link does not work, you can try email.
2. The Reiki Association offers online Reiki self treatment circles every Wednesday 2 pm UK time for its members. On the last Wednesday of each month, the circle is open to non members too. You can subscribe to the mailing list for non-members to receive the invitation with the zoom link.

Do you find it easy to self treat? Or does it seem difficult at times? How are you with yourself in such moments? I would love to hear your experience of self treatment, especially about the longer one.

.

.

I started the Thursday online Reiki Circle during Covid times while I was serving on the Board of The Reiki Association, with the help of The Reiki Association community. Initially it was offered every week. Gradually it became monthly. Last few months I have been wondering about whether to continue offering it.

Margaret Rose, a very experienced Reiki Master and a member of The Reiki Association since its inception is one of the people who has been helping hold this circle. The December session was facilitated by Margaret Rose. Immediately after the session, one of my Reiki students sent me this drawing. I felt so grateful that our time together helped this student connect with her creative flow and brought out this beautiful expression of her inner essence. Her sharing has nourished me deeply. She has helped me see a tangible evidence of the power of practising Reiki together as a group, with the community.

For now, I will continue to offer this circle. To receive the invitation with the zoom link, you can subscribe to my mailing list and/or The Reiki Association’s mailing list for non members.

We send remote Reiki treatment to everyone who joins the session. Reiki students are invited to practise Reiki together. Level 1 Reiki students can join in with self treatment. Level 2 Reiki students/Reiki Masters can join in with the remote Reiki treatment. A strong group energy field is created through the presence of each person in the session where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. And all of us benefit from it.

Every first Thursday of the month, 10 am to 11 am UK time.

Please feel free to invite any friends/family who would like to benefit from Reiki, or any Reiki students who may be interested in joining this experience.

If you have found this circle beneficial, please do let me know. You can leave a comment below or send me an email.

.

Global Reiki Lights festival is an annual offering in December from The Reiki Association. Inspired by previous experiences of self treatment in-person as a group, and wanting to keep it simple this year, I invited Reiki students to join in-person at my home.  After the Reiki self treatment, there is an invitation to light candles near the still point meditation. Rather than give each student a separate candle holder, I chose to offer floating candles in one bowl filled with water. Each one of us lit a candle and placed it in the same bowl.

I was feeling curious about why I made this choice. Understanding started to dawn on reading this excerpt the next day about relationships – “Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits – islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.”

The day after Reiki Lights, I feel that we are all in the same ocean of relationships.

I trust that each one of us who was able to join or wished to join the Reiki Lights was lit up by the healing light of Reiki. One of the invitations was to connect with loving kindness that is present in each one of us and send it to each other and all the places where it is needed in the world at this time. Today my wish is – May the healing light of inner loving kindness radiate in all our relationships.

It feels so appropriate to have this celebration of light at this time of long dark nights in the northern hemisphere. After all light is visible only in the dark.

Deep gratitude to The Reiki Association for continuing this offering over the years, since 2014. It was inspired by Phyllis Lei Furumoto, the Spiritual Lineage bearer at the time.

The Reiki Association welcomes all Reiki students who have received Reiki initiations in-person from their Reiki Master. I have been a member since 2004. There are many benefits of belonging to this Reiki community. Over the years it has helped me grow in many many ways. Being part of this community often feels like going for a walk in woods with many mature trees.

Here is the full excerpt from the book: Gift from the Sea “by Anne Morrow Lindbergh:

“When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is an impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.

The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits – islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.

.

One layer of grounding is our connection to the Earth. Thankfully this intelligence is built into us, each one of us has the sense of gravity. Earth is one of the elements our body is made of.

We connect with the Earth in many ways, more particularly through our lower body. At this time of the year, Universe seems to be inviting us to bring our attention to the lower body.

This morning, during Reiki self treatment, when I became aware of my hands on my thighs, it dawned on me that the body part for the sign of Sagittarius is the thighs and hips. Currently Sun is in the sign of Sagittarius. It changes sign around 20^th of each month.

Last month the Sun was in the sign of Scorpio. The Scorpio body part is the pelvis. Sun moves to the sign of Capricorn on November 22, 2023. One of the body parts for the sign of Capricorn is the knees. On January 20^th, 2024, Sun moves into the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius rules the calves, shins and ankles. On February 19^th 2024, Sun moves into Pisces, the last sign of the Zodiac. Pisces body part is the feet. And on March 20^th a new astrological cycle begins with Sun entering Aries, Aries body part being the head!

My invitation is to hold this lightly in your awareness. Bring attention to the body parts the Sun is shining light of awareness on. Allow the attention to continue to move lower down the body and legs over the next few months and be open to what surfaces.

I would love to hear what this awareness brings up for you.

I love how astrology can help raise consciousness and align with what the Universe is facilitating at the time.

I have been contemplating grounding while healing from an injury to the right shoulder when I slipped on some wet autumn leaves last month. I have found it helpful to realise since this experience that I tend to leave the body and lose my centre when I feel hurt, or when I am leap frogging from one thing to another! Do you know what takes you away from your centre?

Most of us know how valuable grounding is, and we long for it. Just longing for efficiency does not work. In fact it can create imbalance. I am learning to remember the polar opposite for balance, I need to remember the inefficient part also. Trying to hide it, or pushing it away does not help. One of the least helpful things I can do is try to fix it! I feel so glad when I catch myself trying to fix something.

What can help is welcoming this inefficient part, holding it with love and compassion, accepting it in the heart can allow it to be integrated, it is part of wholeness of life. I am learning to give this inefficient part time and attention, give it a voice and listen to it. Journalling can be very helpful with this. Allowing this part to take as much time as it needs can sometimes help the transformation happen in the time needed to blink the eye. I hope and trust that if I can give the inefficient part attention at a time of my choice, it may not need to catch my attention repeatedly and unexpectedly.

There are many layers in the process of grounding, centering and presence. I am asking life to teach me to be present in the moment, in the body and help me find the next step on this path. Perhaps each one of us holds a piece of this jigsaw. I would love to hear what helps you to be present, especially in the moments when the inefficient part shows up!

I love how Reiki can help bring thoughts together and help progress healing.

.