Some parts of us never grow up.
There is, for example, the part of us that is timeless and ageless, that inner core of our being that exists beyond limitations, that most profound heart to which we return in our daily self-practice.
And there is the child part of us, our own inner Peter Pan.
This part of us can feel hurt or somehow less-than for no rational reason. It can feel so trapped in a rush of negativity that it doesn’t reach for understanding; it just throws blame at whatever or whoever was the catalyst, some outer thing or person it imagines to be the cause of its distress.
Of course, we may need to attend to the outside something or someone that triggers a cascade of negative emotion, but attending to that alone is shortsighted.
Holistic practitioners reach for whole person healing
Holistic practitioners seek to heal the whole person, to rebalance each system from its own inner core. As Hawayo Takata* often said, “Remove the cause, and you remove the effect.”
Such depth of healing is nothing short of transformation.
Transformation takes time, but if we are truly holistic practitioners, we want–we demand–that profound healing for ourselves. We demand it through our relentless commitment to daily Reiki self-treatment and our on-going engagement with the Reiki Precepts.
With thankfulness, work diligently.
Reaching for our own healing every day creates our integrity as Reiki practitioners. This integrity is essential to those of us who are professionals, who are paid to offer Reiki treatment to others. After all:
- How can we help others if we are not helping ourselves?
- How can we inspire self-acceptance and self-confidence in others if we lack that relationship with ourselves?
- And how can our understanding be transformed if we are blinded by emotion?
Today only: gaining perspective on our emotions
Emotions are important, but they’re not a smart foundation for decision-making, because when we are emotional, we don’t see the full range of choices before us.
When we are emotional, we’re not mindful in our creativity, and so even if we succeed in responding differently (usually the opposite of what we used to do or what our parents did), we’re not really healing; we’re just creating more of the same, wrapped in a different package.
That is not transformation.
With consistent daily hands-on self-treatment and constant mindful engagement with the Reiki Precepts, we are empowered to attend to our emotional upset with steady kindness, and release the self-defeating habit of blaming others.
With thankfulness, work diligently.
It takes work to transform our understanding and profoundly heal what truly ails us. It takes discipline. It takes mindfulness. It takes practice. And it does happen.
How has your daily self-treatment and contemplation of the Reiki Precepts enabled you to expand into a new understanding of yourself, of others, and even life itself? Please share your experience in the comment section below.
*Hawayo Takata and her Reiki master, Chujiro Hayashi, brought Reiki practice from Japan to the U.S. in the late 1930s. Hayashi Sensei was trained as a Reiki master by the lineage founder, Mikao Usui.
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Related reading:Â When Reiki Diversity Becomes Reiki Adversity
It has taken me a few years of daily practice to transform from a person driven by their emotions, (I thought I was being passionate, but I think now it was more like irrational at times.), to a calmer, more contemplative, less reactionary person. The change was so subtle I didn’t even see it coming. A daily practice has made my relationship with myself better and has allowed me to respond to life rather than react to things that crop up. And I agree with Edith, a noticeable authentic connection to what is meaningful.
To be clear, I’m not a Reiki professional but a fully attuned practitioner. I first heard of Reiki years ago, as the means a friend had used to overcome the effects of a childhood trauma–being interned behind barbed wire for all of World War II. I self-treated daily for a couple of years, with calming and strengthening results–then realized a couple of provocative things. One, the back of the head position directly addresses the amygdala, a brain area especially in want of healing and reprogramming in the wake of childhood trauma and two, that one of the Reiki symbols can be used during self treatment to address and heal emotional wounds from the past. Maybe everyone else already knew this, but when I added these linked understandings and intentions to my practice, a deeper and more transformative healing process seemed to begin.
Anyone else?
Daily self treatment has quieted my emotions so much so that now I am no longer blinded by fear or led by anger. Without worry I am happier and open to my intuition. I feel confident.. I am prepared for challenges as they arise and can make clear and steady decisions for myself. I am authentically closer to the people in my life and I know they feel authentically connected to me.