REIKI MYTHS

1. Reiki is a Religion.

No. Reiki is spiritual, not a religion. There is no Reiki church, no Reiki liturgy, no priests, no sermons. There are Reiki principles for practitioners. These are not religious, and come from the Japanese Emperor. The Code of Ethics goes hand in hand with the ability to heal. Reiki principles might be (but usually are not) communicated with Reiki recipients. Communication usually completely centers around the recipient’s well-being.

2. A Reiki Practitioner Can Heal a Reiki Recipient.

Well, no. I like to phrase it humbly: a Reiki practitioner is kind of like a ‘garden hose’ pouring Reiki (Universal Life Force) energy onto recipients so they can heal themselves. The Reiki energy comes through the practitioner, but is not the practitioner, and is given to you, the Reiki recipient. The Reiki practitioner is the facilitator of your healing. None but you can heal yourself. This task can not be ‘delegated’.

3. A Reiki Treatment Should Be Free. Reiki is Divine, Thus Free.

It’s true that Reiki is Universal Life Force energy, and therefore is Divine. However, unless the practitioner offers Reiki as a charity or gift, it can not be provided free. The Reiki practitioner must take time to prepare and give the treatment, have previously acquired and paid for the ability and skill to be able to channel Reiki for your healing, and must make an effort to be a professional health service provider. This is why recipients should pay for Reiki, just as they pay for dental surgery.

4. If I Get Reiki Once, I’m Healed Forever.

I wish this was true. Well, sometimes it is true that with a single, short Reiki session, clients heal and cure of something forever. However, that’s working with a too narrow definition. Healing is holistic and as such, healing is a path, a process.

To make significant shifts on this path on significant issues, clients are recommended to take 3-4 sessions at a time. Typically, clients do this. Then they take a break. A few months later they come again. If they come in for another specific issue, we do another few sessions in a row. Alternatively, if we commence a preventative health maintenance program, we do a session about once a month. No matter whether you work on your health preventative or reactive: healing is a process.

5. Reiki is The Same as Therapeutic Touch.

They look similar, but are different. They are similar in that in both a Reiki and a Therapeutic Touch treatment, a practitioner gently places hands in specific positions on or over a person’s body for healing; They are both non-invasive techniques for clearing, energizing and balancing energy of the client’s body and aura. In both cases, a client’s first response is relaxation — the required condition for healing.

But Reiki and Therapeutic Touch are not the same. A Reiki practitioner helps people heal by channeling Universal Life Force Energy (Reiki) into their body. A Reiki practitioner receives the ability to heal and instruction on how to use it from a specially attuned Reiki Master. Reiki was developed in early 1900s by Mr. Usui in Japan. Reiki is also a life philosophy; practitioners are required to work on themselves through self-Reiki.

A Therapeutic Touch practitioner works with people’s individual energy field. With his hands, a practitioner assesses and balances the bio-energetic field around a person’s body. The practitioner manipulates this field to encourage the person’s natural healing. Therapeutic Touch was developed by Dolores Krieger, R.N. in the ’70s, as a tool for patient care by nurses. Later it was shared it with the public for anyone’s healing.

6. All Reiki Practitioners Give The Same Treatment.

Well, yes, Reiki is Reiki, but not all Reiki practitioners are the same. Some combine Reiki with other therapy, other specialize in Reiki. There are also Reiki variants, traditional or non-traditional.

It is desirable to choose someone who does Reiki all the time such as a Reiki Master or very active Reiki II practitioners. Masters & active practitioners’ ability to channel energy is likely to be much greater than someone who is just dabbling in it, or someone who has just done the beginning Reiki level I course.

Most importantly, it is important to choose someone who, energetically, ‘feels right’. I recommend prospective clients to ‘follow your heart and intuition when selecting your Reiki practitioner’. Furthermore, geographic proximity is not a good determinant , but synchronicity is.

7. If You’re Healed, You’re Cured.

Healing may include curing. However, healing is not curing. Healing and curing come from the opposite end of a spectrum of wellness. While curing works on the symptoms and their immediate physical causes, healing works on the root-cause of a problem or physical condition. Reiki healing entails emotional, spiritual and mental unblocking and rebalancing. Dissolving the root-cause of the problem usually also releases the physical problem and its symptoms.

8. You Need to Believe in Reiki for It to Work. Based on Placebo Principles, It Is A Self-fulfilling Prophesy.

Well, I have good news for non-believers: you don’t actually need to believe in Reiki for it to work for you. All you need is to be open to healing, and to the possibility that it might work. In addition, I ask particularly my clients with racy minds during treatment to give themselves the mantra: “I’m open and receptive to good” or similar.

9. Healing is Lineair: You’re Unwell — You’re 1/2 Fixed — You’re Done.

It does not work like this. I would say that healing is a spiral process taking huge re-iterative loops up. Every loop we heal from something, making us lighter and our light shine brighter. Therefore, every loop we go a bit (or a lot) higher on the spiral. Then, we take our next loop, where we will work on something else. As we are now higher up in the spiral, we have and operate from a different and more spiritually more evolved viewpoint.

10. People in the healing profession never get sick.

Oh, I wish… and then again, I don’t. I don’t want to rob anyone of their process of healing and of the insights they obtain along the way.

Clear and square: Reiki practitioners and masters are mere mortals. We are not above the human condition of spiritual evolution. I hope that many have landed at an advanced spiritual developmental level, but that’s not even so. It is however my observation that people in the healing professions do tend to use their healing tools for self health maintenance. Furthermore, it is a group of people that regularly exchanges alternative health therapy with each other.

Now that the 10 Reiki Healing myths are debunked, consider the wonderful health benefits of Reiki for yourself: relax, re-balance, rejoice.

By Therapeutic Reiki, Astrid Lee, Reiki Master Teacher

© 2008

Technorati tags: reiki

Copyright 2008

About the Author

Astrid Lee is Reiki Master Teacher. To learn how Reiki heals and book a Reiki session, visit http://www.TherapeuticReiki.com

Reiki, spiritual healing, alternative therapy, healing energy, Usui Reiki,
laying on hands, Universal Life Force, distant Reiki, absent healing

You may wonder, as I did then, “What is an aka cord ?”

The insights of aka cords come from the sacred Huna teachings from Hawaii. In these teachings, ‘aka’ is described as a sticky, elastic connecting substance, which conducts vital force and thought forms over its threads and cords. (Yes, thoughts are also connected. Each thought is linked by an aka thread to the thought threads that came before it. This explains our association of ideas.)

Aka threads and cords connect you to everyone & everything. Every time you contact a person or object, you are sending out aka threads. Each contact with the same person/thing adds a thread till these become braided together into an aka cord. When you have a strong aka cord connection with someone, you communicate telepathically, as well as in person or by phone.

The aka threads of attraction are stronger between people, as we are usually more attached to people rather than things. However, I can also see aka threads between me and my favorite slippers, and the connection to my aunt via the little statue she once gave me that now features in my home.

People are usually unconscious of aka cord formations. The cords are a normal connection between family, friends and lovers to exchange empathy, love and information. With most other people, these threads/cords are flimsy and fade quickly.

Why manage Aka cords

The aka cords can become negative attachments which drain your energy. Even aka cords amongst loving family members. For example, you can imagine the ‘drain’ from a mother who wants a son to go to graduate school doing accounting, while he knows inside himself that he must pursue a music career.

For professionals (eg Reiki practitioners) who do healing energy work for others, knowing how to manage aka cords is important. Clients may want to continue to draw energy from you after the session is over. This can be draining for the professional energy working. In addition, it can be ‘addictive’ for clients.

Anybody in my Reiki healing energy classes knows that I insist that after every session they first close the aura of the client and ‘lock in’ the Reiki healing energy in their client. Subsequently, they are to sweep their own aura and cut off all connections to the person they just worked on. Taking it one step further, when the client has left, I want them to wash their hands under cold water to further purify their own body. This way, clients don’t continue to draw energy through the aka cord.

Beyond this, when I after a client treatment find myself thinking about this client more than once, I do the ritual of cutting our aka cord again. It is not fair to myself nor other clients to have a continuous drain leading to someone else.

And last but not least, about once a month or so, I conduct an overall aka cutting ritual.

How to manage Aka cords, overall

In the Huna teachings, you first ask to be shown the beneficial cords. You send love, gratitude and blessings down these cords. Then, you ask to be shown ones that do no longer serve you. You cut these.

You can manage your own aka threads once you’ve first become aware of them. If you work with angels, you could ask your guardian angel to do it for you.

Sometimes, I cut all aka cords, knowing that the important ones (e.g. with my loved ones and family) will reestablish themselves. This simple ritual is particularly useful when I feel tired or drained and I can’t seem to figure out why I feel drained. The ritual results in an immediate shift whereby I feel much lighter.

Conclusion

Whether you choose to detach aka cords one by one as they materialize, or if you prefer to conduct a more rigorous aka cord cutting ritual from time to time, it is important to maintain only those that serve you.

By Astrid Lee, Reiki Master & Distant Healing
© TherapeuticReiki.com, copyright 2009

Technorati tags: reiki

Aromatherapy uses the purest, most essential forms of nature to heal a person wholistically. Even a few drops may produce significant results.

For healing, it is important to use high-quality essential oils: pesticide-free wild-crafted or organic, tested for purity. It is also vital to read up on aromatherapy before commencing. For instance, when pregnant, we should stay away from quite a few essential oils. Properly administered essential oils are a natural, safe and effective way to enhance your health and well-being and may produce satisfying results when other healing methods have failed. You must consult your doctor for serious health concerns. Do not self-diagnose.

Essential oils have the ability to unblock, clear and balance the energy centers in one’s body, called chakras. Chakras bridge one’s physical body with subtle bodies. By healing the chakras, we help heal the issues, organs and body parts that these chakras relate to. Collectively, when addressing all chakras, aromatherapy in a way helps you along your spiritual path enlightenment.

The seven core energy centers are: 1. Root Chakra, at the base of the spine, 2. Sacral Chakra, 3. Solar Plexus Chakra, 4. Heart Chakra, 5. Throat Chakra, 6. Third Eye Chakra, and 7. Crown Chakra, on top of the head. I’m going to address each chakra in turn.

The most universally usable essential oil is Lavender, which can be used to clear & balance all seven chakras. Beyond this, there are several other oils each particularly suitable for individual chakra.

Chakra Meditation Lotus Flowers

1. Root Chakra (Muladhara)

Essential oils that help you to connect to the Earth and to ground you, include benzoin, patchouli and vetiver. Also Rosewood. Other good essential oils for this chakra are: lavender, frankincense, myrrh, helichrysum, ylang ylang. Collectively these oils help with balance and heal issues around tribe, community or family, the sense of not belonging, frustration, rage and blocked passion. Develop, nurture and stabilize your sense of Absolute Safety and Well-being. Related physical imbalances may include: sciatica, prostrate, uterine, ovarian and hemorrhoid conditions.

2. Sacral Chakra (Svadisthana)

Aphrodisiac oils are appropriate here, which include such as jasmine, neroli, rose otto, sandalwood, ylang ylang, and also marjoram.

Other suitable oils for this chakra include: vetiver, myrrh, patchouli, petitigrain, sweet orange, and helichrysum.

Strengthen your immune system, heal issues around self esteem, rejection and victimization, toxic environmental conditions (both internal and external), anxiety, fear and worry. Divorce, lawsuits and warring with yourself and others are common manifestations of an imbalanced 2nd Chakra. Related physical imbalances may include: lumbar tension, chronic lower back pain, toxic and infectious conditions, kidney and bladder infections, immune disorders, chronic fatigue, cancer and diabetes.

3. Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura)

A suitable blends for this chakra would include juniper (for cleansing), neroli, petitgrain and vetiver.
Oils to relax, balance mood swings, protect the solar plexus and increase confidence such as benzoin, chamomile, clary sage, geranium, jasmine, juniper, lavender, lemon, mandarin, melissa, palmarosa, sage (protects), yarrow (protects). Also consider atlas cedarwook, myrrh, helichrysum, ylang ylang and sandalwood.

Collectively these will help balance and heal issues around Stress, Self Esteem, Desire, Frustration, Fear, Guilt and Doubt. Related physical imbalances may include: Diaphragm, Adrenals, Kidney, Respiratory, Hormonal & Digestive Systems, Ulcers and Gallstones.

4. Heart Chakra (Anahata)

Oils to open up and heal the heart include benzoin, bergamot, geranium, jasmine, lime, mandarin, melissa, neroli, rose, ylang ylang. Other suitable oils for this chakra include sweet orange, frankincense, himalayan cedarwood, heilchrysum and vetiver.

Collectively these essential oils can help you to balance and heal emotional issues around grief and loss, emotional heaviness, sadness, feelings of despair and depression or anger turned inward, feelings of lack, loss, less than, never having enough or being good enough or not being quite up to the task of your life, obsessive/compulsive feelings of being unloved, unappreciated, unaccepted, disconnected, restricted, or in some way limited and unable to find your niche in the world.

Related physical imbalances may include: Stroke, Angina, Arthritis, Heart Disease, Shoulder Girdle Pain and Discomfort, Rotator Cuff Injuries, Tendinitis, Carpal Tunnel, Arm and Hand Pain, Chronic Restrictions in the Upper Back and Thoracic area.

5. Throat Chakra (Visuddha)

Oils to enhance communication and creativity include blue chamomile, black pepper, eucalyptus, ginger, jasmine, and myrrh.
Also consider helichrysum, frankincense, lavendar, ylang ylang,and petitgrain.

Balance and heal issues around repression of one’s thoughts and feelings, not being able, or feeling safe to speak your truth. Related physical imbalances may include: Headache, Neck Tension/Pain, Ringing Ear or Tinnitus, Thyroid Conditions, Frequently Catching the Flu or Colds, Chronic Infections, Allergic Reactions, Eye Problems, Rigid Attitudes, Fears and various Phobias.

6. Third Eye Chakra (Ajna)

Oils to stimulate intuition and to clarify the mind such as basil, black pepper, carrot seed, clary sage, fennel, ginger, peppermint and rosemary. Also consider lavender, neroli, petitgrain, spikenard, and ylang ylang for this chakra.

These essential oils aid in achieving balance and help heal obsessive compulsive thoughts and emotions, recurring nightmares, repetitive unconscious patterns of experience, inability to discern the difference between fact and fantasy, feeling of being ‘out of control’, blocks to creativity, imaginative darkness and inability to focus and manifest your dreams.

Related physical imbalances may include: Pituitary glandular disorders and kidney disease. As the Pituitary gland operates as a master gland, influencing the healthy function of our entire endocrine system and hormonal balance, its healthy function is of paramount importance.

7. Crown Chakra (Sahasrara)

Oils to open up the mind to spiritual levels such as cedarwood, frankincense, linden blossom, neroli, and rosewood.
Furthermore, the essentials oils of lavendar, petitgrain, spikenard and ylang ylang are also of use here. They are to help issues around memory loss, breakdown of mental faculties for organizing and perceiving material reality, loss of inspiration; and to create balance in these areas in one’s life.

Related physical imbalance, include: Pineal gland disorders, depressive states of mind.

Chrysocolla is the primary choice of stone when our intent is to send healing energy to our beloved planet. It acts as a microcosmic representation of Gaia, a tangable object we can use to direct our love, prayers and healing energy into.

Chrysocolla is also resonating with the heart, throat, thymus and root (chakras) in our bodies assisting with heart centered communications, the immune system, and GROUNDING. It grounds the heart. It also assists us to communicate from the heart and purify our environments and relationships.

All of these actions are lending further to healing the planet. As we restore love and respect in our selves, our homes and relationships we affect the bigger picture, one by one. We cleanse ourselves and open up further to being channels of light sending our love right to center of our planet and assisting with raising the vibration of the physical plane.

I suggest working with chrysocolla by placing it on your healing grids and altars and using it as a receiver for your intent for the planet. Also use it in your own lives to purify any stagnant energies around the heart, throat and root and you will open to a greater capacity of light flow from your crown through the root right into the earth.

All stones and crystals are useful with our intent of healing the planet as they come from within her and are like receivers and transmitters, communicating with the matrix of the planet. As we clear ourselves of any blockages using our friends from the mineral kingdom, we become more clear to bring forth more light and send it right to the core of Gaia.

Working with grounding stones so the root chakra is open is of primary importance. We must be hooked in to the physical plane and centered in order for this connection and transmission to occur. Stones like smokey quartz, jet, black and brown tourmaline, obsidian, jade, and jasper are all wonderful for grounding.

Working with any other stones that resonate with you to further purify your vessel with help with your own experience and ability to bring forth high frequencies and expansion, thereby affecting everyone around you and this beautiful planet that we live on.

Lastly I suggest we always work to open our hearts. Stones such as rose quartz, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, pink tourmaline,, sugilite, and kunzite, to name just a few, will assist us in opening further to love, gratitude, compassion, respect, understanding. As we heal ourselves we set the example of how to live a different way for the rest of the world. As each of us in our own little ways raise the vibration we affect the macrocosmic resonance, bringing forth our birthright of love, support, and reverance for each other and all of creation.

**

Favorite Books on Crystal Healing

Share & Enjoy: Facebook – del.icio.us – Digg it – reddit – StumbleUpon