I was once the kind of girl who had plans for every waking moment. I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to succeed. I worked hard - quickly working my way up from Assistant to Manager in a Public Relations department of a large retail store - and played hard – every spare minute was accounted for; working out, seeing friends, taking evening classes, and so on. It was a galloping, sometimes exhilarating, yet ultimately exhausting lifestyle. I thought I was in complete control of everything, but I wasn’t really in control of anything.
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Within Shoden level I the most important elements to practise on a daily basis are Joshin Kokyu Ho, meditations on the precepts, and performing hands on healing on yourself. To get the most out of your personal practise these elements need to be worked at on a daily basis. The more we practise, the more we find out who we truly are.
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Dogma; something that is considered to be absolutely true.
Since we entered the world of Reiki we have seen many variations on what is taught and how it is taught. One of the things that has stood out is that the teaching of hands on healing on others is often taught as a dogma rather than a healing practise. These restrictions placed on hand positions have made it very difficult for practitioners and teachers alike to become more fluid with their practise.
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The hara is regarded as one of the most important aspects of Japanese life and of its people’s spiritual practices. But what is it exactly?
Translated from the Japanese hara simply means belly, yet there is so much more to this intriguing word. At a deeper level the word, hara, means one’s true nature; who one truly is as a human being. So it is not just a physical centre in the body but also the centre of one’s true nature.
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We prefer to use the Japanese words for the class levels as the system of Reiki is a Japanese Art and Way. The International House of Reiki also teaches from a Japanese perspective. So, we look at what the influences were on the founder when he began to put this system together. We look at Japanese religions, philosophies and general Japanese culture of the early 1900s and see where they intersect with the practice of Reiki.
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Did Usui Sensei, the founder of the system of Reiki, have a test of some sort to see what level of training his students were at?
Reiki is a spiritual practice. Therefore it does not overtly focus on how you perform a specific technique as that is largely an externally orientated concept. Rather, the importance of a student’s progress lies in how the person is changing. That is, is he or she kinder, more open, calmer etc…
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The system of Reiki was developed in the early 1900s in Japan and includes a number of set elements which we call the five elements. These are Reiki meditations and techniques, four Reiki symbols and mantras, hand positions for healing the self and others, Reiki precepts (codes), and reiju (energetic blessing from your teacher).
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Every student who completes a Level I Okuden class has the same question: “When can I move on to the next level of Reiki?” It is exciting when you begin your Reiki journey and the desire to move forward and get that next bit of information can sometimes feel overpowering.
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