The
Evolution of hands on healers
By
Erik Carlson, lmt, rmt
Last June I wrote an article entitled "There are no Reiki Masters", which explains that all Hands on Healing modalities, even Usui Reiki is a constantly evolving process for the practitioner and Reiki Levels are an American illusion. This month I thought you would like to read about my personal starts in Reiki and why some folks falter or walk away from this wonderful healing practice.
In
the Beginning
When
anyone first starts channeling hands on healing work (whether it is
Reiki or other channeled healing work), beginners feel unsure of
themselves and I was no exception.
Many
years ago, I quite literally stumbled into my first Reiki class. My
limited understanding of Japanese gave me a clue that “Rei” meant
spirit and “Ki” meant energy, but at the time I figured it might
be similar to Chinese Qigong (or inner energy work) and I was in for
a surprise.
Today,
Reiki is well known as a form of hands on healing practice. In this
country it is taught in a series of attunement levels. After my level
one attunement, I was working with healing energy, but as a newbie I
was not comfortable. This initial attunement prompted me to question
what I was doing with my life, what I was doing for a vocation,
challenging a lot of old truths. At this early stage I had thoughts
like; “Am I really channeling healing energy?”, “Am I any good
at this?” and “I'm not sure if this works”.
Fortunately,
my Reiki Master stretched the level I Reiki class instruction over
four consecutive Thursday evenings. This gave the entire class time
to practice on each other and to get a sense of what Reiki feels like
and how the channel feels when we are moving energy. We were also
attuned to level one more than once during this four week class. In
one of those attunement sessions I saw a symbol in my mind's eye
during the attunement. Which for a soon not to be muggle was amazing.
My
Master teacher (Deborah O'Brien) also told me of a local Reiki Master
who ran monthly Reiki shares in my area. I participated in some of
these shares and gained more insights of this energy work. As
beginners soon learn, the channel works best when the ego is not
involved. This quieting of the monkey mind is very similar to mindful
meditation; which is another practice I highly recommend, whether you
are a healer or not.
After
my level I classes, I spent one summer taking my oldest into Boston
for summer art classes at Art Institute of Boston and I spent the
mornings at the MFA or in Chinatown and the afternoons at Barnes and
Noble reading anything and everything related to Reiki. When I read
Diane Stein's book on Reiki I had confirmation of the Cho ku rei
symbol I saw in my mind's eye and noticed that she used a form of
Qigong breath work when passing attunements.
Distance
Healing
A
year after my Reiki I attunement, I received mail from my Master
teacher for an upcoming Level II class. Deborah believed in putting
time between attunements so students can gain from their own
experiences and to allow time for the mind/body/spirit to grow and
evolve.
The
Evolving Channel
Reiki
attunements are like healing events and clearing events on multiple
levels for the recipient. During an attunement, the body is raised in
vibration from the process and it does open the chakras and creates
subtle shifts in our belief system. Like kundalini events,
meditation, Prana work and Qigong - all of these exercises open up
questions about our connection to Spirit, with other people and in
walking our true path.
After
the Reiki II attunement, my teacher gave us period of meditation on
her back porch. During this meditation, I visioned the Reiki symbols
and hundreds of other symbols and a view of Kamakura Japan. Even
today these new symbols are slowly being revealed to me and are part
of a larger healing practice yet to be realized.
My
Reiki teacher also recommended to keep a journal of my distant
healing practices, because you might not hear from the distant
recipient right away (or at all). But, this simple practice over time
provided confirmations of what did work for the remote recipients,
thereby gaining confidence in the distance channel.
Death
as a learning experience
I
once received an email from a friend living in another state about a
family in distress. Their premature infant was in ICU and barely
hanging onto life. That evening I quieted myself and began to distant
send Reiki. About four minutes into the sending, my arms begin to
vibrate and then flay back and forth. I stopped sending and an inner
voice said that the child had passed. I emailed my friend and she
confirmed that during the time of my sending the child had crossed.
Not
long after this event, I lost a cousin to ALS. My brother and I
traveled to be with our other cousins for the funeral. We were some
of the first to arrive at the hall, I could already feel the growing
distress of the mourners. After my prayers over my cousin's body, I
sat down and decided to Reiki the entire group at the funeral hall.
I worded my Reiki request carefully, so that those who needed to
mourn and release could and allowed spirit to choose who could be
connected with the channel. Instead of a mournful viewing and
service; happier memories were exchanged and reminisced over. Pain
and crying turned into a celebration of his life.
The
Evolution continues
The
original fears of practice evolved into a joy of offering service to
others. It also created a natural curiosity of learning new
techniques and holistic tools. My inner evolution has become filled
with inner work, and feeling comfortable with energy fields we live
in.
Several
years passed before I took the Master level of Reiki training. I was
close to the end of my engineering career and had been training in
sound therapy, Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong (internal energy cultivation)
and was looking at alternative career choices. By 2000, my Tai Chi
Sifu had given me permission to teach Tai Chi Chuan.
One
day I had a business meeting at another Corporate site and showed up
early to work out at their fitness center. They also had an aerobics
area and I questioned the center's instructor about potential Tai Chi
classes. She told me that there was too many classes running
concurrently, but she did tell me of a yoga studio in Chelmsford, MA
that was looking for a Tai Chi instructor. I made a call to visit
this center and the week before the appointment and in a dream; I met
the owner and walked through the center. Before the start of the
fall season, the center's owner invited me to a faculty party. Again,
I met a woman in the dream time a few days before this party. This
person was to become my next Reiki teacher who gave me the advanced
Reiki training and Master attunement.
When
the Student is ready, the teacher appears
My
time at this yoga center became a rapid learning experience in
mindful meditation, yoga, and other holistic health practices. And my
new master teacher ran many Reiki clinics, which allowed her students
and other practitioners to exchange information and techniques.
Over
the course of several years a new teacher would appear and just as I
would investigate another healing modality. In 2003, I met my current
Shaman teacher and then met a powerful mindful meditation teacher. In
2005. I took an early retirement package from HP and one of my former
Tai Chi students at the center became my boss as he operated an
engineering consulting firm. The timing for this job was perfect,
because it allowed me a day job and the opportunity to go to massage
school to become a therapist.
And
the journey continues as teacher, student, healer..... May your
journey be filled with synchronicity.
