Sometimes nature makes it easy to see new growth, announcing it with bright color.

With people, healing and new growth may not be so visible.

We have to be steady and mindful.

Steady enough to practice daily self-treatment. Mindful enough to notice spaciousness as it opens within us.

In spaciousness lies the possibility of choice where before there was only reaction. And we know where reaction takes us…

The next time you feel cramped, reach for self-practice. As your awareness becomes spacious, bring the Reiki Precepts to mind.

Today only,
Do not worry,
Do not anger.

With thankfulness,
Work diligently.

Be kind to others.*

Engaging the Precepts invites new understanding. Reflecting on them clarifies whether to take action in this moment, or refrain from acting.

With steady, mindful practice, we grow true happiness.

What new growth and happiness has your Reiki practice brought you? Click here to share in a comment.

*This is the translation of the Precepts offered by my dear friend and esteemed colleague, Japanese Reiki master and monk Hyakuten Inamoto.

___________________

INVITING HAPPINESS: Exploring the Reiki Precepts deepens your experience of the Precepts so you can access them moment to moment. You will leave this workshop feeling refreshed and empowered.
Saturday, July 14, 10 AM to 7 PM
Upper West Side Manhattan location
Special early registration available.
Please click here to learn more.

Are you part of our Reiki, Medicine and Self-Care community on Facebook? Join our daily conversations about Reiki practice and communication to broaden your perspective, deepen your understanding, and strengthen your communication skills.

Please click here to to receive the blog in your inbox each weekend. You can unsubscribe instantly if you change your mind, and of course I would never share your information with anyone, any time, any way.

Flower buds hold such promise,

And need our protection.

A frost,

Strong wind,

Heavy rain,

Cause irreparable damage.

The buds of practice are fragile,

Vulnerable to

Chilly reception from a friend,

A surge of emotion,

Over thinking.

Protect your practice now;

Soon it will protect you.

 _____________________

INVITING HAPPINESS: Exploring the Reiki Precepts deepens your experience of the Precepts so you can access them moment to moment. You will leave this workshop feeling refreshed and empowered.
Saturday, July 14, 10 AM to 7 PM
Special early registration available.
Please click here to learn more.

My client emailed, clearly fried and in pain, hoping for a last minute opening.

Once on the table, her deep sigh launched a litany of stresses. It was not time to suggest silence.

Another sigh.

Reaching for resolution, she said, “I know everything is all right. Everything is going to be all right.”

I let her words hang in the air a few moments.

Now, or later?

“Which is it?” I asked.

Her expression turned quizzical.

“You just made two very different statements,” I said. “Is everything all right, or is everything going to be all right?”

She laughed and confirmed, “Everything is all right.”

Today only…

When we are truly present in the moment, Today only, we know everything is all right. We can feel it. The rightness of each moment is palpable, there for us to experience when we give the present moment our full attention.

“Everything is all right” centers us.

“Everything is going to be all right” projects us out of the present into an unattainable future fantasy, leaving us powerless, joyless, lost and vulnerable.

What to do?

Everything-is-all-right doesn’t mean it’s spiritual to be passive. Not at all. There are times that require an active response.

How can we know whether to be still or take action?

Start with the stillness of your practice. Once we connect with:

Today only,

Right now,

Everything is all right,

We are better able to recognize if action is required, and to take action with skill and compassion.

Being present relocates us from a fantasy fixing land into a place of powerful, joyful creativity.

How has connecting with the present transformed your experience of life, and of yourself? Please click here to share with us in a comment.

_______________

Come explore the sweet power of the Reiki Precepts on Saturday, July 14: Inviting Happiness. Click here for more information.

I’m still bubbling with gratitude that Leslie Kaminoff called to invite me to the Breathing Project for a presentation by Philip Goldberg, author of American Veda.

Phil led us on a delightful sprint (for me down Memory Lane), visiting teachers and books — such as Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and Autobiography of a Yogi – that had illumined my spiritual yearning when I was just about the age of the rest of the audience.

Two days later, Phil and I traded stories over Eggs Benedict at San Ambroeus in the West Village. By then I’d read enough of American Veda to admire his journalistic perspective. Spirituality and journalism are not an easy mix, and it takes spiritual maturity to give a balanced overview.

That the book is such a comfortable read — both instructive and fun — is a testament to both the writer’s skill and to the truth of what he documents: the extent to which American culture has been affected by Indian spirituality, starting in the 1800s.

Spirituality, science and methodology

American Veda turns again and again to the theme of spirituality and science, a theme of particular interest to Reiki practitioners, yoga enthusiasts, and spiritual seekers who are also critical thinkers. Whereas spirituality and journalism are antithetical, spirituality and science definitely are not.

The Indian spiritual teachers who found a large following in the United States — Swami Vivekananda, Paramanhansa Yogananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, etc. — all reached out to scientists (as does His Holiness the Dalai Lama, originally from Tibet and currently in residence in exile in Dharamasala, India).

Their message is clear: spirituality and science are compatible. (Religion is another matter entirely. Its affinity for science depends on religious dogma and how that dogma is interpreted by a particular sect.)

The Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement set out to quickly make meditation a household word, and succeeded. American Veda outlines and documents the process. This sentence from page 163 is particularly instructive:

He [Maharishi] trained his representatives to make logical presentations in language suitable for their audiences, and he equipped them with a methodical procedure for imparting meditation instructions.

Speaking to people in language relevant to them is Communication 101.

It’s not just a matter of eschewing jargon. Relevant language makes connections that have immediate meaning to the listener.

For example, people today often live less-than-joyful, spiritually isolated, stressful lives. Thanks to TM, most of us know that meditation is a simple, non-dogmatic practice to connect more deeply to ourselves and counter the daily onslaught of stress. People are ripe to know that Reiki is another option, and a practice that many find even easier than meditation.

Practice, not just preaching

The passage above continues, noting that methodical instructions ensured that meditation “would be practiced, not just preached.”

Using a method to teach meditation is not unlike imparting a simple protocol that beginning Reiki students can take home and practice with confidence, and practice for life.

It’s true that the Maharishi had celebrities like the Beatles, Mia Farrow, and popular talk show host Merv Griffin to catch the public’s attention.

It’s also true that, thanks to TM, when Reiki practice is presented in a straightforward manner, it is not as far from today’s culture as meditation was when TM came to the US.

And ironically, given the current celebrity obsession and the glut of media that feeds it, what celebrities do today likely has less impact on mass awareness than it did 40 years ago..

We don’t need celebrities to walk the path mapped out by those who have succeeded before us. And the more of us who walk and communicate that path, the more Reiki practice reaches the mainstream public.

_______________________

Want to communicate Reiki in a straightforward way that is meaningful to doctors? I’m coming to Atlanta to share what I’ve learned over 20 years collaborating in conventional health care, including presenting Reiki at Harvard Medical School and teaching Reiki at Yale Medical School. Join us in Philadelphia for Top 3 Secrets of A Medical Reiki Master Friday, June 22, 6:30 – 8 PM. Click here to register.

Click here to subscribe and receive the blog as an email each weekend. You can unsubscribe instantly if you change your mind, and of course I would never share your information with anyone, any time, any way.

Are you part of our Reiki, Medicine and Self-Care community on Facebook? Join our daily conversations about Reiki practice and communication to broaden your perspective, deepen your understanding, and strengthen your communication skills.

I rounded the corner, colliding with a woman who had come for Reiki healing a couple of years ago. She looked radiant and ageless.

We laughed and hugged, sputtering apologies and greetings. Her ebullience and joy were infectious. Nothing about her presence belied the frenzy with which she was packing up her apartment to swap Manhattan’s breathtaking skyline and bright lights for acres of quiet unspoiled forest, diving into a new life with the man she mentioned at our first session.

They’d had just a handful of dates at that point, but she was cautiously sensing this might break a string of heartaches.

She moved easily from Reiki treatment to a seat in my next First degree Reiki class. A savvy New York shopper, she quickly recognized daily Reiki self-practice as a sensible investment in her health and well-being.

This time, as her relationship became more day-to-day, it also deepened. Respect and love grew hand-in-hand. She reorganized her business to free her geographically.

The secret method for inviting happiness

“I can’t believe how wonderful my life is,” she said. “Every morning I wake up next to the man I love, surrounded by the beauty of nature that feeds me so deeply. I’m actually living the life I dreamed of.”

“Do you think this would have happened without your daily Reiki self-treatment?” I asked.

She looked startled, as if considering this connection for the first time.

Reflecting a moment, she shook her head. “No.”

“Can you let the life of your dreams be good enough?” I asked.

Another startled look. I knew I was being cheeky but I was willing to push a little to offer a parting gift.

“Yes, I can,” she said with conviction, “as long as I keep practicing Reiki.”

What unexpected happiness has Reiki practice brought to your life, or enabled you to sustain? Please click here to share in a comment.

_______________

Click here to subscribe and receive the blog as an email each weekend. You can unsubscribe instantly if you change your mind, and of course I would never share your information with anyone, any time, any way.

Bringing the healing art of Reiki into conventional health care relieves the suffering of so many patients, families and staff. There are spaces in the 4-day Medical Reiki intensives in both NYC (March 29-April 1) and Atlanta (April 11-15). Please click here for details.

Are you part of our Reiki, Medicine and Self-Care community on Facebook? Join our daily conversations about Reiki practice and communication to broaden your perspective, deepen your understanding, and strengthen your communication skills.

This weekend starts Asia Week here in the Big Apple, with galleries around town sharing Asian Art collections in special weekend open houses. Five galleries have Japanese exhibits.

Reiki master Susan Mitchell and I had a sneak preview of the luscious Sacred Sutras and Profane Pledges exhibit at Scholten Gallery.

We left feeling refreshed and uplifted, much as we feel after a Reiki treatment.

Art stops the mind

Japanese art is of special interest to non-Asian Reiki practitioners. It can save us from our minds, reminding us that Reiki practice arose from a cultural perspective quite different from our own.

The goal of spiritual practice is to live in the open space of the present moment (Today only). But the mind — and perhaps particularly the Western mind — abhors open space.

The mind plasters our practice with assumptions and clutter that can keep us from dropping into the spaciousness revealed by simple, dedicated practice. The busyness and ambition of Western culture has generated many benefits, but simplicity — that magnificent spiritual gem — is not among them.

Making time for healing pleasure

Please take the time to enjoy these images, perhaps with your hand on your heart.

Savor the beauty. Let its pure pleasure stop your mind and uplift your state.

The poem in the Zen scroll above left reads:

If you want this moon
I will give it to you
try to capture it

The poem at right reads:

I have forgotten
it is time to leave
intoxicated by the flowers

The reality of healing is supported by science, but healing remains, after all, an art.

And art is also healing.

__________________

Bringing the healing art of Reiki into conventional health care relieves the suffering of so many patients, families and staff. There are spaces in the 4-day Medical Reiki intensives in both NYC (March 29-April 1) and Atlanta (April 11-15). Please click here for details.

Please click here to receive the blog in your inbox each weekend. You can unsubscribe instantly if you change your mind, and of course I would never share your information with anyone, any time, any way.

From a conventional health care perspective, primary health care happens outside the home. In the US, primary care providers (PCPs) are physicians (usually family physicians or internists), physician assistants, or nurse practitioners.

PCPs provide basic health care, both routine prevention (typically screening and lifestyle counseling) and treatment of illness that does not require a specialist. When a patient requires care from a specialist, the PCP makes referrals and remains on board to coordinate care.

True health care reform

But how can primary health care be given outside the home? Isn’t real primary health care what happens at home? Why can’t a responsible adult be her own primary health care provider, and think of her doctor as a resource to use as needed — and likely needed less?

Given the dire condition of the health care industry, that would seem to be a primary place to refocus.

How can we orchestrate such a turnaround, from people neglecting their health for years and then expecting  doctors to put Humpty-Dumpty back together, to people engaging in their own care day by day, protecting their health and well-being while they still have them?

Information is not enough

It’s not enough for people to be informed, they have to feel empowered, to know that their efforts will bring benefit. And many people have to feel better before they can feel empowered.

That’s where Reiki practice can make a difference, and often make a difference quickly.

People start feeling better when they start practicing Reiki self-treatment. When people feel better, they make better choices. It’s that simple. Reiki practice opens the door to many other health-promoting choices.

Take an hour of Reiki and call me in the morning

How can we help the mainstream public take Reiki practice seriously? Since most people take health care advice most seriously when given by their doctors, let’s reach the mainstream public through conventional health care.

That may sound far-fetched, but I have a plan, one that can be easily implemented by credible, well spoken Reiki practitioners.

Are you with me?

There are so many instances in which Reiki treatment can help patients whose health, for a variety of reasons, isn’t well managed by conventional care. Having a Reiki practitioner available in those situations makes it easy to demonstrate the effectiveness of Reiki practice.

First things first

First we have to get more Reiki practitioners in the health care door. It might be the door to the hospital, or it could be the door to your own doctor’s office.

Extending the scope of health care is in everyone’s best interest. Let’s do it.

How has your Reiki practice improved your health care? Please share in a comment below.

___________________

Are you part of our Reiki, Medicine and Self-Care community on Facebook? Join our daily conversations about Reiki practice and communication to broaden your perspective, deepen your understanding, and strengthen your communication skills.

Join me for the Medical Reiki 4-day intensives in New York City March 29-April 1 and Atlanta April 12-15. This will be an intimate time of learning practical skills and strategies to bring Reiki practice mainstream without whitewashing its inherent spirituality. You’ll leave with deeper conviction and understanding, and knowledge that will inform your personal health care choices.

Please click here to to receive the blog in your inbox each weekend. You can unsubscribe instantly if you change your mind, and of course I would never share your information with anyone, any time, any way.

Click here to find the Learned Doctor doormat on Etsy.

GUESTBLOGGER David Baugnon is a writer and award-winning filmmaker who lives in New York. David had insomnia even before the PTSD he suffered from surviving an earthquake; both worsened with the events of September 11, 2001. I asked him to share his story of healing PTSD and insomnia to help other sufferers appreciate how Reiki healing can help them.

Reiki Healing Changed My Life by David Baugnon

I decided to learn to practice Reiki when my mother was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. I didn’t know much about it, but I felt relaxed and balanced after each of the two Reiki sessions I received. I thought at the very least it could help my mother relax, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking for a miracle.

So it was with Mom in mind that I arrived at a First degree Reiki training with Pamela Miles in August, 2011. Little did I know the class would immediately change my life for the better. That night, for the first time in two decades, I got a good night’s sleep.

I’ve always had trouble getting to bed at a reasonable hour. This habit was exacerbated by my late work schedule, usually 2 PM to 10 PM, but after I survived the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, my sleeping habits worsened dramatically. I had been hitting the mattress around 2 or 3 AM. After the quake, it became 5 or 6 AM.

The human body is amazingly adaptable and I continued my life on only four to six hours of sleep.

When my son was born in 2010, I realized I could not continue like this. I didn’t know what to do. A PTSD specialist was extremely helpful, but it wasn’t until I started practicing Reiki self-treatment that I found real relief for the anxiety that kept me sleepless for so long.

During our very first Reiki practice in class, I noticed a subtle shift into relaxation, as if I were sinking into myself. When I described it to Pamela, she stated simply, “That’s your body down-regulating.” I had never heard the term before, but it seemed right on target.

I arrived home that night eager to do my Reiki homework. I used to stare at the ceiling, thoughts spinning in my head, and many times, my heart racing. That night and pretty much every night since, I practice self-Reiki and fall into a deep, restful sleep.

I now start every day with a 30-minute Reiki session, and that too, has been life-changing. I used to wake up agitated with a billion things to do. Now I ease into my morning and it’s made all the difference in how I approach my day.

I am more patient, less reactive, and that has been invaluable with a toddler in the house. I feel like a better person, a better parent and a better spouse. My wife has seen the change as well (probably the ultimate test) as she says I seem “calmer and less stressed out.”

And as for my mom — truth is, she was reluctant to let me practice Reiki on her (not sure if she did any research and she’s a pretty die hard Catholic) but she did allow me to “pray” over her with my hands upon her, if only for a minute or two. She is currently cancer-free and we’re all happy.

Although I’m just a novice in the practice of Reiki, I’m excited about the path I’ve started and utterly grateful for Pamela’s class and her refined mastery of teaching Reiki.

For the sake of clarity, this discussion of healing crisis will contrast conventional, science-based medicine with natural, tradition-based medicine. Please keep in mind that these two approaches are not mutually exclusive, and that the patient receiving both conventional care and traditional care is likely receiving the best possible health care.

The series on healing crisis (you’ll find links to earlier articles below) started because a physician who is also a Reiki practitioner (not trained by me) asked for advice on “how to deal with the emotional and physical healing crisis/cleansing effect.” He wrote that a healing crisis “can be very severe and even potentially dangerous in some vulnerable individuals.”

The conventional doctor’s confusion is understandable. He knows very well that the body has the capacity to heal itself. Physicians I work with often tell me most of the ailments they see at their offices would resolve without intervention, especially if patients would give the body what it needs to recover (rest and appropriate nourishment).

Healing crisis or adverse reaction?

But doctors are trained to think in terms of adverse reactions and unwanted side effects. When doctors see a patient feeling worse, they tend to see a patient getting worse. They don’t see a healing crisis.

Physicians are taught to intervene in order to manage adverse reactions and reduce the likelihood of a negative outcome. And they are taught to intervene earlier rather than later, hoping to minimize harm to the patient and prevent the situation going from bad to worse. (We won’t get into the unwanted side effects of aggressive treatment.)

A healing crisis, however, is not an adverse reaction in the medical sense. Rather, a healing crisis is an organic development of stimulating the body’s self-healing mechanisms.

Healing crisis and cure…and prevention

Healing crisis doesn’t occur in conventional medical treatment because conventional medicine attacks the disease directly. Rather than engaging the body, conventional interventions take over the fight.

Also, conventional medicine’s definition of cure is very specific. Once the relevant tests are clear, the patient is deemed cured. No attention is paid to healing the underlying causes of disease and degenerative conditions, as they are largely not detectable by conventional scientific tests (this is slowly beginning to change).

Traditional healing systems, however, have a comprehensive vision of cure and don’t treat the disease separately from the person. The goal of natural medicine is to restore the entire human system to balance; acute and chronic conditions are addressed within that context.

Healing crisis demystified

A healing crisis can seem magical, but it is decidedly not magical. It has a cause and it has an effect.

If a healing crisis happens, it happens as a natural consequence of strengthening the body’s own self-healing mechanisms. When the body’s self-healing mechanisms function more effectively, the body’s detox system is also functioning more effectively. If the system is detoxing faster than it is releasing, there may be a temporary exacerbation of symptoms. This malaise abates as soon as the system catches up to itself, at which point the person feels much better.

Healing crisis doesn’t happen in conventional medicine because conventional medicine treats the specific markers of a specific disease, rather than stimulating the human system to rebalance itself.

Beyond healing crisis: Hering’s Law

Nineteenth century physician and homeopath Constantine Hering observed the consistency of the body’s natural healing process and identified three elements in what is now called Hering’s Law:

• the healing process moves from the deepest, most subtle part of the system (emotions, mind, vital organs)
• symptoms reappear and disappear in the reverse timeline in which they originally occurred
• as healing progresses, symptoms move to the surface and extremities (skin, hands, feet)

If a person is consistently using natural medicine over a period of time, the specifics of the healing process described in Hering’s Law may be observed, especially if there is a continuing relationship with a traditional healing practitioner who is tracking the process.

If you have questions about healing crisis, please leave them in the comment section below. If you are reading this as an email, click the title to be taken to the website, where you can leave your question. Thank you for participating in this discussion.

Other articles in the healing crisis series:
Healing Crisis: Part One
Healing Crisis: What Is It?
Conventional Medicine and Traditional Medicine

Would you like to learn First degree Reiki in San Juan? We’re having a one-time only class February 21-23.

Click here to learn more about the upcoming Medical Reiki seminars in Barbados, Atlanta, and New York City.

Did you enjoy REIKI: A Comprehensive Guide? If so, please click here to nominate it as About.com’s Best Reiki Book.

The vintage doctor bag pictured above is available from Etsy’s junquegypsy.

The symptoms suffered in a healing crisis are the same symptoms suffered in disease. Disease states can be dangerous. What’s a practitioner to do?

Healing crisis is a fixture of traditional, natural medicine. In order to understand healing crisis in the context of today’s health care, let’s compare the paradigm of science-based conventional medicine with that of pre-scientific traditional medicine (sometimes referred to as alternative medicine).

Conventional medicine: it’s all about pathology

For all the talk of prevention, conventional medicine remains overwhelmingly reactive rather than preventive; far more healthcare resources and effort are used to address disease and trauma than to support health and well-being. That is not going to change any time soon.

Why not?

Conventional medicine has no model for health and well-being. All it has is the oft-quoted statement by the World Health Organization (WHO) that health is more than the absence of disease.

The scientific paradigm is based on the ability to measure objectively and replicate results. But how can conventional medicine measure “more than the absence of disease?”

Conventional medicine has few mechanisms to address the subtle components of health and well-being. It cannot notice something is going awry until the measurements are skewed to the threshold of pathology, at which point conventional medicine shifts abruptly into reactive mode.

By the time conventional medicine identifies an approaching train wreck in the human body, it’s rarely possible to prevent the wreck. Instead, the focus is on minimizing damage and prolonging life.

Traditional medicine: it’s all about function

Traditional, indigenous medical systems such as Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine, Native American medicine, and African medicine were used centuries before modern science was a twinkle in Descartes’s eye. Each system developed its own methodology and made use of what was locally available.

The primary goal of traditional medicine is to support balanced function throughout the human system so that the system’s self-healing mechanisms can maintain health. Disease treatment is secondary. Traditional practitioners gather information about their patients subjectively, without using technology.

Whereas conventional medicine gathers objective data and matches it to an appropriate standardized treatment, traditional medicine looks at each individual as a unique situation, customizing treatment accordingly.

Many traditional medical observations are obvious even to an untrained eye, such as the coloration of the tongue. Others — pulse-taking, for example — take a bit of training.

Putting together the various observations is what takes skill and experience. Nonetheless, observing skilled traditional practitioners over many decades, I have seen various practitioners relying on very subjective means make the same observations and similar assessments. As in conventional medicine, traditional practitioners may look at the same information and outline different treatment plans.

Traditional medical practitioners are taught to respect the body and observe with an attitude of watchful waiting, there to assist the body rather than override it. (In conventional health care, the training of midwives come closest to this perspective.) Traditional practitioners are taught to identify what the body is trying to do, and to work with that process as much as possible, gently redirecting rather than overriding the body.

Conventional vs. traditional cure

Conventional medicine is focused on measurable pathology. Traditional medicine is focused on balanced functioning. This difference in focus brings them to different perspectives on cure.

Conventional cure is tied to a specific diagnosis which is tied to specific pathology; the absence of that pathology is seen as cure. The larger picture is largely ignored. A patient can be cured of a disease and still be very sick. In the worst case scenario, the patient dies from attempts to effect cure.

The traditional understanding of cure is more comprehensive. Traditional medicine has models and mechanisms to address those aspects of health that WHO refers to as “more than the absence of disease.”

Traditional medicine detects subtle imbalances in function that are the precursors of physical pathology. Variations in function are tracked not only as the body moves toward disease, but also as it moves away from disease and toward stable health.

Now we have some context in which to understand healing crisis, and we will continue to discuss what healing crisis means in the next article in this series.

Integrative medicine

Meanwhile, there is increasing collaboration among conventional and traditional health care professionals. Sometimes this collaboration happens in integrative medicine clinics, other times the patient chooses to see practitioners from both camps, without the practitioners communicating with one another. Patients often don’t inform their doctors of what else they are doing.

If you have collaborated in an integrative health care situation as a professional, or have chosen to address your health using both conventional and traditional approaches, please click here to share you story, especially what worked well, what didn’t, and how you would do it differently next time.

If you are interested in collaborating with conventional health care providers either in hospitals or through referrals from physicians, the Introduction to Medical Reiki recorded webinar will give you context and detailed strategy, and which you can access whenever you want, as often as you want. Please click here for more information.

Other articles in the healing crisis series:
Healing Crisis: Part One
Healing Crisis: What Is It?
Healing Crisis and Cure

The Antique Chloroform Esmarch’s Dropper Print shown above is from Forgotten Pages.