Last week, YoursPositively brought to you the practice of Pranic Healing. This week, REENA SINGH focusses on Reiki
I have never regretted learning both Reiki and Pranic Healing. And although, I admit that I don’t practise either technique regularly, its learnings are ingrained and often, I catch myself using these healing techniques to cure simple ailments or to send positive energy to people around me.
I remember asking my Reiki trainer whether any preparation was required to attend a Reiki level one course. I was told that no preparation was required barring the simple command that one turns vegetarian for two days and abstains from cigarettes and booze. Since, I have been vegetarian since years, and don’t take recourse in these other vices, it was a diktat I found easy to follow.
The class was fairly crowded; but once the introductions were over, our Kolkata-based grandmaster, Amar Kumar settled down to introduce us to Reiki in greater detail. This Japanese term was coined by Mikao Usui who rediscovered it towards the end of the 19th century after a divine experience atop a mountain. Rei stands for universal, and ki for life force energy. In simple terms, reiki invokes the cosmic energy that sustains life and enters our body through our seven chakras. We regulate the flow of reiki to our body through these chakras. If these chakras are blocked, the flow of Reiki is interrupted, and we feel sick or diseased.
Next on the agenda was learning self-healing techniques for 24 important body points such as eyes, neck, ears, heart, pancreas, liver, our seven chakras — even our sex organs. It is not something that you can learn on your own, for the third eye and crown chakra have to go through a process of attunement by a Reiki master or grandmaster. Attunement lets the reiki master open and activate a few of the key chakras so that the new shishya or practitioner of Reiki can channelise sublime life energy through their own healing hands.
Once attuned, you can practise reiki for life — whether you are regular or not.
To become qualified, you have to undertake a continuous daily healing session for three minutes on each of the 24 body points. So, for the first three weeks, at least, if you are serious about Reiki, you have to set aside these 72 minutes every day for your own self-healing.
Once you have done this practise for 21 consecutive days, you are eligible for Reiki level 2. This self-healing routine for three weeks also ensures your body is now tuned to this universal life force energy for all time. Don’t be daunted by this 72-minute a day routine for 21 days. It becomes easier by the day and you will soon discover that every minute spent on your self-healing was worth it.
Reiki’s next level comes with several more benefits — you can use shortcuts, besides symbols that make reiki more effective and you can practise distance healing.
The motley group I was in – that included yoga teachers, a medical student, two sisters who had lost four of their family members in the devastating Uttarakhand floods a few years ago and more – took to Reiki easily. Reiki, we learnt, was easy and effective, needed no props, except for a three-minute clip of soothing music – and this three-minute clip can even be a nice Hindi Bollywood instrumental number.
Reiki teaches you to pray to the Divine daily. You have to begin with the Attitude of Gratitude prayer, one that is easy to learn and teaches you the importance of being in a state of gratitude at all times. The prayer is a simple invocation to allow Reiki, the cosmic energy to flow through your healing hands, but you can invoke this energy only after you have thanked your parents, your reiki master and God for being there for you.
Our grandmaster, Amar Kumar, did not tire of telling us that reiki is “completely unconditional and demands nothing of either the giver or the receiver.” He added that, “Reiki heals the body and emotions, bringing them into balance promoting health, happiness, prosperity and long life.”
I have also asked Reiki healers to cure me and my family on a regular long-term basis. Suffice it to say that the healing works without fail – every time.
Reiki also teaches you to think positively and to send out healing, positive energy to people around you. You can also send it to yourself. Just visualise yourself and see yourself bathed in divine white light as you focus on your own self-healing. Besides, it is easy to do – you can do it while commuting in a train or in a car, so long as you are not doing the driving. Alternatively, you can sit on your office desk during lunch hour and practise some Reiki on yourself or on your near and dear ones. It always works.
Reena Singh has more than 37 years’ experience in senior editorial positions in The Times of India (TOI) and Genpact. She was Deputy Editor with TOI’s spiritual newspaper, The Speaking Tree, where she spent nine years.
Featured Image by Karin Henseler from Pixabay
