Thoughts About a Reiki Meditation Retreat

When someone asks me what happens at Frans’ Reiki meditation retreat, they usually want to know what we did. I tell them that we practiced sitting, standing and moving meditations in a big group, in pairs, and in small groups. I tell them about visualizations, chanting, reijus, hands on/off healing and the camaraderie of hanging out with Frans and other participants during breaks and evenings. I may also tell them about high jinks like “extreme reiki” or the saga of the “weeble-napping” caper.

But these activities merely describe the externals. What keeps me coming back to Frans’ retreats and classes is internal, multifaceted, more complicated to describe, and way more profound. I keep coming back because each time I take off another layer, open up a little more, go a little deeper, and know a little more clearly my True Nature and my interbeing with all that is.

In order to open up to that change and growth, I need to feel that it’s safe to be vulnerable. Frans sets the stage with a loving and welcoming atmosphere for old friends and new faces to quickly come together. In no time at all we are one Reiki family, able to both give and receive acceptance and support to and from each other as needed.

There is also an empowering and loving energy that grows during the retreat which encourages us to accept things as they are and to deal with difficult things as they arise, sometimes in an almost lighthearted way. This energy enables me to enjoy the experience to the fullest and, at the same time, to see more clearly and to give me the courage to tackle whatever comes up. It is so clear in that space that we are all more than simply interconnected, but actually share in a larger inclusive state.

It is the alchemy of the well-chosen activities, the marvelous energy, and the support of my Reiki family that allows me to always go deeper. Each year I grow, fellow students grow, and so does Frans, making our time together an opportunity for all to become less angry, less worried, more grateful, more true to our Nature, and more compassionate to ourselves and others.

Frans begins his retreats with the statement that the purpose of a retreat is to facilitate change and I certainly find it to be true. They have changed my outlook, my relationships, and my life and I look forward with deep gratitude to seeing how things will unfold after this most recent retreat.