A Reiki Workshop
It is 9.30 on sunday morning. My colleague and friend Rajo and I are at the Eau De Vie Healing and Flotation Centre in East Oxford, about to give a two day teaching workshop on Reiki.
Rajo is a free spirit who has travelled extensively, creating a home wherever she goes. In addition to being a reiki master, she is a social worker caring for homeless and mentally challenged people and a professional artist, making beautiful mosaics.
I learnt reiki in England and India. Working with a dedicated team of reiki masters and a Japanese Zen monk called Shingo, we established an Usui Reiki School in India. Later, I taught small groups in India, Israel and England.
Before our students arrive, Rajo and I have a cup of 'clarity' tea and go upstairs to prepare the rooms, meditation cushions and massage tables.
Our five women students arrive - a multicultural group, which is appropriate, for reiki is not bound by any religious doctrine and can be combined with any path of the heart. Sitting in a circle on cushions we begin with a reiki meditation and talk about the nature and history of reiki.
What Is Reiki?
Reiki can be translated as "universal life force energy." It is a subtle and profound method of healing, with the power to harmonise the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of ourselves.
This healing energy does not come from the Reiki healers but through them, so it does not leave the practitioner drained. On the contrary, when one gives reiki, one also receives reiki.
Like a candle which can light more candles without being extinguished, it operates on a principle of abundance not on debit.
Reiki develops one's intuition. Reiki healers send healing energy where it is needed, in the correct quantity. Sometimes a person comes to reiki with one problem and another problem is inadvertently healed.
Really the role of the reiki practitioner is one of facilitation, providing a safe space in which the patient can reconnect and heal themselves.
We Are All One
After a Level One Reiki Workshop a practitioner is able to transmit reiki to themselves or others through their hands. This works because we do all have the power to conduct and transmute energy, just as energy can be transformed into light or sound through electricity. And also because in reiki we believe we are all connected.
Reiki Levels Two and Three are optional and slightly more complex but we should never lose sight of the simplicity of reiki. A child can become a reiki channel. Reiki can help us to develop sensitivity as healers and the beauty of reiki is that it is available to all of us.
Even animals and plants respond well to reiki. "Only a willingness to be healed is required," it is written in The Joy Of Reiki.
When I lived in Goa I had an adorable kitten called Munchkin. One day, somebody stepped on her by accident as she was darting across the floor. Blood frothed from her mouth and she barely breathed. I scooped her up and ran across the cliffs at dusk, looking for a vet in the village. But suddenly, in a moment of clarity, I held Munchkin to my chest, and did reiki on her. To my amazement, when I put her down on the grass, she could walk. She was absolutely fine!
The History Of Reiki
Reiki is an ancient method of healing. In their book called Reiki, Bodo and Shalila write:
"Thousands of years ago the Tibetans already possessed a deep understanding of the nature of spirit, energy and matter, using this knowledge to harmonise their souls and lead their spirits to an experience of unity. We come across this knowledge later again in India and find modified forms of it in the Japanese, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures, just to mention a few. This knowledge was guarded and preserved by the mystery schools of most ancient cultures and was available in its entirety only to very few people, usually priests or spiritual leaders who in turn passed it on to their disciples by word of mouth."
Dr Usui
The knowledge was lost and rediscovered by Dr. Usui in the ninteenth century. Dr. Usui was the principal of a Christian seminary in Kyoto, Japan. His students asked him how Jesus had performed his miracle healings and whether he could to do this kind of healing for them? Dr. Usui could not answer their questions and in accordance with the Japanese code of honour, he gave up his post and went in search of the answer.
His search led him to America, where he became a doctor of theology but he could not find a satisfactory answer in the Christian texts. He then searched in Chinese texts and in north India he read Sanskrit texts.
But it was after a 21 day retreat on mount Kunyama that he ‘receieved' his understanding of reiki. Supposedly at dawn on his last day a light speeded towards him and struck him on the forehead. He found himself saying," Yes, I remember!"
Dr Usui began to travel around, teaching reiki. His succesor, Dr. Hayashi, opened a reiki clinic in Tokyo, where serious illnesses were treated round the clock.
Hawaya Takata, a Japanese woman living in Hawaii, became his successor. She discovered reiki when she was about to undergo an operation. Lying on the operating table, an inner voice told her the operation was unnecessary. She asked the surgeon about alternative treatments and was directed to Hayashi's reiki clinic where she received reiki daily. She was completely healed and became Hayashi's pupil when he visited Hawaii in 1938. Hawaya Takata began to train reiki masters herself until she died in 1980.
Back In The Workshop
Rajo and I find that our new reiki practitioners do amazing work. The morning session is dedicated to developing intuition and confidence. Rajo and I lie down and encourage the new practitioners to work intuitively as they practice giving us reiki.
After lunch, we all feel a bit tired so I teach some chi gong to renew the energy. I like to include some chi gong in reiki workshops as I find it good for sustaining alertness and bonding the group.
Next, we do group healing. One participant at a time lies down and receives healing from everyone at once. This is a tremendous experience and again we remember our unity. Aftwards in the closing circle, we thank reiki for being here and thank ourselves for being here.