Reiki Practice: Not for Today Only

Rainbow Reiki SeaGoal-setting is all but lost on me.

I recognize goals in hindsight, looking back and noticing how I spent my time.

How I spend time depends on my values; I tend to do what I enjoy, and I enjoy applying myself to what I value.

When I started the Reiki, Medicine and Self-Care Facebook page in November 2009, I did not have a goal to have 60,000 people like the page. That would have seemed absurd.

Yet as I write this four years later, the number of likes has passed 57,000.

How did that happen? I simply did what I enjoy: writing about Reiki practice, interacting with you, offering what I have to offer.

I did what I value and enjoy, offered it consistently, and it touched something in you. You recognized a shared value.

Reiki practice for the mainstream public

I knew when I started the Facebook page what I knew when I started this blog in May 2009, which is also what I knew when I set up a Reiki program at Gay Men’s Health Crisis in the early 90s: I want a thoughtful approach to Reiki practice to be available to the mainstream public.

By “mainstream public,” I mean the people you see when you go about your day, people who — like you — want to live with greater health, harmony, and meaning. Reiki practice helps people do just that, but in this culture, mainstream people are not likely drawn to Reiki practice in the way it is commonly presented.

It seems nearly 60,000 of you agree.

Sixty-thousand was once an unimaginable number to me. Now I wonder: Why only 60,000? Why not 100,000? Or 500,000? Or more?

How many of us might come together to actualize a goal we value, to actively shape the future of Reiki practice, to bring a thoughtful approach to Reiki practice to the community where we live?

Creating Reiki’s future together

In order to collectively, consciously shape the future of Reiki practice — how it will be seen and how accessible it will become — it is important we each start with ourselves and our own practice.

When we are established in daily self-practice, we have the confidence to engage our Reiki colleagues, students, and buddies in a practice-based conversation about how our individual Reiki stories impact the story of Reiki practice.

The question to me is never about the details of anyone’s particular practice style; the question is always whether we actually practice. Daily self-practice is where we start, and remains the foundation of everything we offer. As Hawayo Takata told her students: First yourself.

Your Reiki commitment

If you would like to bring Reiki practice to greater visibility in the mainstream, please consider the following:

  • Hands-on self-treatment, every day.
  • Contemplation of your practice experience and of the Reiki Precepts.
  • Mindfulness of how you represent Reiki practice to others.

Isn’t this a commitment you want to make to yourself and the practice you cherish? Isn’t this something you would enjoy doing?

Continuing Reiki practice support

My commitment to the Reiki community is that my website, Facebook page and blog will continue to provide open support to Reiki practitioners of diverse practice styles and lineage. (The website is being redesigned, so watch for a new look and easier navigation in the coming months.)

Additionally, I am creating a Reiki Round Table, a limited enrollment online program in which Reiki professionals or professionals-in-training will develop the skills needed to bring Reiki practice mainstream, so that it is available to relieve the suffering of a broad swath of the population, while maintaining traditional practice values (in other words, as Hawayo Takata often said, First yourself).

The program will become available in the first quarter of 2014.

State your practice commitment

Please leave a brief statement of your commitment to continue — or start — daily self-practice in the comment section. A simple “I’m in!” or “Count on me!” will do it.

Making a public statement enables you to experience the support, acknowledgement and gratitude of our broad Reiki community. In the words of Hawayo Takata, Just do it!

Daily self-practice — today only — is the most powerful way to create the future of Reiki practice, so that Reiki practice is not only for today.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your love of Reiki practice and all you do to make it more possible for others to share the treasure we carry in our hands.

 ________________

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103 thoughts on “Reiki Practice: Not for Today Only”

  1. I’m in… an look forward to hearing more about the Roundtable. Reiki self-practice is something I always instill in my students. On occasion I slack but always notice the difference. So 2014 is my year to grow and no more slacking across the board. Thanks for all you do and being such a great inspiration. Namaste

  2. It took me a while to overcome my resistance to daily self treatment – I was more interested in helping others. I now have a daily self treatment practice that is as important as all my other self care routines like washing my teeth and brushing my hair. In fact I’d rather not brush my teeth or hair than not to my Reiki self treatment! I also see now that the daily self treatment makes me a better practitioner, so I’m able to help others much better now that I look after myself more.

    So I’m in! Oh yes!

  3. Dawn Savino Gorey

    I am gratefully in. Thank you for reminding me to reaffirm what I almost had forgotten. I am actually a Reiki Master and have been not as commited lately as I should be. So humbled to have found your page. Many Blessings ????

  4. I started this New Year’s Day, 2014, by offering myself Reiki.
    What a great way to start a new year.
    And, what a great way to start every day.
    I’m in!

  5. For once in my life I have found a gentle way to care for myself without feeling selfish. Day by day, as I practice every morning, life is beginning to have more flavor. I am certainly in!

  6. Most definitely in.
    Ever since I have been given this awesome gift. Reiki has become just as important as to me as breathing.

  7. I have used my Reiki hands to relieve severe pain rather than have morphine. My Reiki hands have been my first aid kit over the years. But, most of all, my Reiki practice has given me a calm acceptance of all that is, & a deep trust in my own ability to handle whatever comes my way. This radiates out to others in a very subtle way. I am so grateful that I found Reiki & so…..I’m in!

  8. I’m in! I strive to practice daily and notice the difference both when I do and don’t! Thank you Pamela for all you do to inform and educate the world about Reiki and its benefits and also for your support of budding practitioners. That has made a world of difference for me since spending the day with you during a Reiki convention in Vermont.

  9. I’m in and happy to be part of this broad community of Reiki practitioners. I very much appreciate the encouragement and the challenge to dig ever deeper into my practice. Happy New Year to all.

  10. I’m in and don’t ever want to stray from the practice. It’s a ritual that is precious to me and has changed me in so many ways. Thank you Pamela for all the support and encouragement you give to all of us.

  11. Count me in as well. Reiki has blessed my life in innumerable ways, and I constantly strive to find ways to use it and connect with others. Although I am new to the practice, I am open and willing.

  12. I’m in! I started that when I first got into Reiki and kinda tapered off. I’m definitely going to commit to doing it everyday, no exception! I know how amazing I feel when I do it everyday. Don’t know why I stopped! 😀

  13. Nadine Wormsbacher

    I’m recomitting myself to daily self practice. It’s too easy to worry about others and forget about treating myself!! This is perfect timing for me, because I will be bringing reiki into the local hospitals in 2014. What better way to add credibility and compassion to myself?
    Inner peace to all in the New Year.

  14. I’m definitely in! Reinforcing one’s daily commitment is a wonderful way to start the year.
    Ditto, ditto, ditto too on all the comments!
    Thanks for this opportunity to be aware of the larger community out there Pamela and for reinforcing our commitment.

  15. Yes, I am definitely in! Over the many years I have been a Reiki Practitioner, daily self practice has not always been constant. It is absolutely time to make this serious commitment to myself & to make it publicly.

  16. I am in! I use the 5 Principles each morning as part of my daily mantra. Doing this one simple thing has made such a difference in my life! The key is “Just For Today”… And as a result I am more centered and able to focus on the moment of today.

  17. Yes, I’m definitely in. My daily Reiki self-practice has helped me to stay centered, even during the most stressful parts of my day. I have become more grateful and more mindful of being “in the now.”

  18. I am in! Thank you for your teachings and for sharing your thoughts and insights with all of us. You have certainly helped me grow ~ Hugs!

  19. Count me in Pamela! I renew my commitment to daily hands on self-practice, and to contemplating my practice and its precepts. This fits in perfectly with the direction this new year is taking in my Reiki practice. For Christmas this year, I asked my husband not to buy me any gifts and asked only for his support in my relearning Reiki the Traditional Japanese way. I have his full support, and enrolled in class this January. I learned the western way in 2008, I learned so much this past two years following Pamela Miles and her advice on daily self practice. My desire is to keep practicing, keep learning, and becoming a knowledgeable advocate for mainstream Reiki. The future looks so bright!

  20. So excited–if everything works out I will be receiving my first training tomorrow! Can’t wait to start practicing!

  21. Cherie Whittington

    I’m in! I haven’t done daily practice for quite some time now. This commitment will get me “doing” again. I appreciate reading everyone’s comments about their practice…makes realize what I’ve forgotten about the benefits of Reiki. Happy New Year filled with Reiki, peace and love!

  22. Absolutely! Can’t do without it. My husband and I have both been practicing for many years and have been able to compare notes on the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) changes that have occurred. Such a simple gift!

  23. I am most definitely in! My daily Reiki self-practice started as palliative (or so I thought) and turned out to be transformative (I had headaches and placing my hands would reduce the intensity of the headache; I had insomnia and placing my hands would put me to sleep)…but over time I noticed that I stopped getting as many headaches, and that I no longer had insomnia. And as I began to look back, I saw that I had more patience with others and myself. I had more access to my creativity, and more trust during creative “dry spells.” I began to understand what it meant to be gentle towards oneself. And my life-long struggle with my judgmental streak began to ease a bit. I often visualize my daily Reiki self-treatment as keeping me from trying to swim up-stream…it keeps me grateful, and more present in each moment. Thank you, Pamela, for all of your work to keep Reiki practice accessible to all.

    1. Martha, we could be Reiki self-practice “twins”. Your experiences with the physical and emotional benefits of Reiki parallel mine almost exactly. It makes me wonder how many other practitioners are also our “twins”! Thank you, Martha, for your honest post.

  24. I, too, am thrilled to get the chance to renew my commitment.

    I renew my commitment to daily hands on self-practice, to contemplating my practice and its precepts. To honoring the significant and profound influence it has on my everyday being.

    I commit to mindfully presenting Reiki to the public and upholding an image (and practice) of self-nurturing, spiritual practice and humility for my role in Reiki and in the lives of those who practice alongside me.

  25. I’m in!
    I am on the path to offering Reiki to those that cross my path, to those that seek stress relief in their lives and to those that are wiling to embrace their own light.

  26. I am definitely in!
    No matter where I am in the world, or what my state of mind is, the moment I start my daily self practice my breath changes and I am home, feeling nurtured, relaxed and happy. Elise’s words, “subtle dynamics, yet concrete benefits” resonate strongly with me, I certainly feel something is missing whenever I skip a day. And I like Pamela’s “hindsight” goals. Often I had looked back at the ideas, wishes and even goals I had and realized that I wasn’t eeally there, but I was actually in a much better place. Thank you for your work Pamela!

  27. I will be continuing my commitment to daily self-practice in 2014. Its balancing effect helps bring a sense of calm and peace to even the busiest day, and the benefits I gain from it are subtle but definitely noticeable.

  28. Count me in! I love my Reiki practice 🙂

    Doing handstands yesterday, I had a realization: ‘ME ME ME’ can become ‘WE WE WE’ very simply. As Kabir Das says, ‘through practice, even dullards become intelligent, just as rope, rubbing against the rock of the well, cqn oeave marks on stone’.

  29. I’m in!

    I really enjoyed reading that you realize what your goals must have been in hindsight, as a result of what you’ve done each and every day.

    My Reiki practice has been this way. No single day stands out, but ten years of daily practice has changed me.

    1. So true, David. Each daily practice changes who we are that day, how we approach our day, and the choices we make, but it can be very subtle at times, especially when we are in maintenance rather than active healing mode.

      Regardless, when we look back over a period of time, it is apparent that our daily practice has contributed to our health and happiness. And the longer the timespan, the more apparent it is.

  30. I have lived Reiki everyday since I learned it. I became a Reiki/Karuna Master and now I teach and live the precepts to others on a daily basis. And always, I check myself first, because in healing myself, I heal the world around me. Om Shanti. Thank you Pamela for your work.

  31. Not just for today, and not just for tomorrow… For every day, I am deeply committed to my daily Reiki self-practice.

    Not just for me, and not just for you… For everyone with whom I come into contact, my daily Reiki self-practice comes into play.

    Not just for when, and not just for what… For everything I do, at any time I do it, my daily Reiki self-practice shows up.

    Reiki self-practice is as intrinsic to me as breathing. In fact, it promotes my breathing. I am, because Reiki is.

    Thank you, Pamela. Peace.

  32. Daily practice for me is highlight of the day- cannot imagine not having that! I appreciate all you offer, Pamela and happily look forward to continuing to benefit from your experience and insights. Thank you again for sharing and Happy New Year!

  33. It is through just such daily practice as you speak of, Pamela, that I have come to trust the teachings, path, and practice of Reiki for myself and for others. I appreciate its subtle dynamics, yet concrete benefits, which we can share with others when we come from a clear, calm, and solid inner space. So, yes, I am fully behind you and the larger Reiki community and make a public commitment to continue daily practice for today and always.
    Thank you!

    1. Thank you for all your support, Elise. Your students are fortunate indeed to have a teacher who is so committed to daily practice.

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