Why I am a Reiki Practitioner

The thing about Reiki is......it pretty much defies explanation.....

End of blog (hah!). One of the trickiest things I find about talking about Reiki is that unless you experience it for yourself, there are simply not the words to express the kind of feeling you get when in the Reiki ‘zone’, either by giving a treatment or receiving one, or giving the Reiju empowerments that are part of my reiki style and lineage when initiating students.

Some of the words that have been coming up when I think about what reiki energy feels like are peace, purity, magic, stillness, timelessness, pure awareness and sacred space. Reiki takes me to a place where all is good, I am totally connected to my inner self and it brings in a deeper sense of intuitive knowing that maybe I had lost touch with. It makes me aware of the vastness of life itself, the utter beauty of the stillest moment and the amazing creative power that we all have within us.

This pure creative power is a sacred tool for living and this is where Reiki energy takes you, to your own inner power and ability to create yourself anew, every day. The treatment session holds you in that space of peace and stillness, so that you might find your way back to a renewed sense of who you are and what you are about. 

My experience of reiki is that it ‘resets’ you, it is a resounding ‘hello again, where have you been all this time, let’s get on with life again’ sort of frequency, if you have gone off course for a while. It allows your own energy to starting flowing clearly again by pushing through the dark spaces and blocks and bringing in the light of your own energy, so that you are able to function better on every level. It is like one long, deep prayer or meditation, a gentle wakeup call to your spirit within to come out to play; his is one of the reasons I call myself a light player, and one of the main reasons I am a Reiki practitioner. For me, Reiki is a source of self empowerment, self love, spiritual growth, peace and joy.

*Ahem*..... Thanks for the Mercury Retrograde...

If you follow Astrology at all, you will know that we have just been through what is termed a 'mercury retrograde' phase, when communications of all sorts get jangly, computers crash, we sometimes say things we didn't mean, things generally can go off course if we are not careful. With this being the last day of this current phase, it's a good time to reflect on how communication problems can affect us in our everyday lives and what we can do to help ourselves.


It seems as if lately all I see are articles and posts about difficulties with expression and communication and I would like to explore this a little in terms of how this can make us feel and what problems in this area can relate to. If we have a weakness in our throat area, I have found that this can not only relate to blockages in expression (this is an obvious one) but also the feeling of overwhelm and of not having enough time, resources or energy to accomplish everything we want to accomplish.

I am feeling also at the moment that lightworkers (or lightplayers!) are feeling more and more urgency in their missions and things are speeding up and moving at such a rate, it can get us a bit giddy, so it is just as well to take a look at what is happening within ourselves energetically and how we are coping with world energies, as well as those in our direct orbit.

Fifth Chakra colours in bloom!

In terms of spiritual anatomy of course, the throat is governed by the fifth chakra and imbalances in that chakra can show up in many ways and can have a number of different causes. Sore throats, neck tension/stiffness, coughs, talking incessantly or talking too little, not being comfortable with silence, these can all mean there is a weakness or  bit of an imbalance in that area. How our energy is operating in our energy centres in other parts of the body will also have a bearing on our energy in any one centre, as their is a constant flow within, without and between each centre.

The times we are living in are ones of accelerated consciousness and awareness and sometimes it is helpful to just take a step back and review how we are feeling on all levels and where we can improve things and stabilise ourselves. I am mentioning this because personally, I do find that when I am trying to do too much, I start to have issues in my throat area and it means I need to slow down and take life a little easier. So this is exactly what I am doing in one of my favourite activities, which is to write! I haven't added to my blog posts for a while, so I am energising things on this level. Very often we can get carried along on the wave of the needs and desires of other people, especially if there are many demands on our time. Another aspect of an unbalanced throat chakra is the feeling that we do not have enough, either of time, money, resources.... you name it, it will be felt very often in our throat area. So having a balanced energy centre here will help us to express and also to be aware of the richness already present in our life.

Lotus Blossom

So, as well as self treating with reiki for longer in this area and paying more attention to this energetic area in our meditation sessions, vocal toning, singing or chanting will also help to clear and balance the centre and this forms the latter part of the Lotus Blossom Head Massage that I offer as a therapeutic treatment, using toning to help clear the three upper personal chakras.

It's probably a good time to review what we do actually have (perhaps by having a physical clear out or declutter in our homes) or by acknowledging all the help and kindness we have received from others and keeping a gratitude journal to remind us of all the good that comes our way; another idea is to write little notes about all the good things that happen and save them up in a jar, to review later on in the year, at Christmas time perhaps.

As well as appreciating what we have (to make us ready for further good things and enjoy them), it is also a good to remember on the heart chakra level that we are deserving of them when they do arrive and to know that it is safe to receive what we have asked for (assuming we have asked for what we really want, which is another matter!) It is also useful, I find, to remember that even if we don't yet have what we think we need, it will find it's way to us, one way or another and we don't need to worry about the 'hows' as they say. So, as a final note, dear reader, stay open to what is winging its way to you, be happy with what you have right now, and, know that you will always.......... have enough!

In gratitude (but at the moment, with a bit of a cough, nevertheless!)

Lesley

A New Vocabulary

I have always been interested in the written and spoken word and the power that the way we express ourselves can have. I am frequently a person of few words, this is because I prefer to listen, learn and try to understand people the best way I can. I also think that it is all to easy to mis-use our power of speech, say things perhaps we don't really mean or talk without thinking too much about the impact of what we are saying. In shamanic teachings, our word is very powerful, and people will either trust what we say (because they know us and we have shown ourselves to be true to our word) or will wonder if what we say is really true and if we will make good on everything we say.  It's useful to ponder on how our words can affect ourselves and other people.

Every word we express will have it's own frequency or vibration, along with of course our own energy and intention which flavours every communication (consider how someone's tone of voice betrays their inner emotions and feelings) but written words in themselves can also carry the vibrational energy of the person who wrote them. (Hope you are feeling some good vibes from this by the way) Doreen Virtue did some research into the shapes that words make and found that the word Angel expressed in a recording graphic creates a beautiful pattern shaped like angel wings! She looked at how negative words came up small and tight and positive ones had a larger, expansive graphic patterns. She explores this theme in her book Angel Words which encourages the use of positive words to create positive energy and "good vibrations". This in turn creates a boost in your energy and light levels and helps to manifest positive outcomes in your life. This is one of the reasons why hypnotherapy can work so well as it helps to re-programme negative thought patterns, replacing them with positive ones to create healthy change and release from addictive behaviours for instance.



At a talk I attended by Neal Sutton about his book "Buried by the Church" he mentioned how he disliked the words "death" and "dying" as a description of what happens to us at the end of our lives on earth. I must say I have to agree with that, because this would lead you to believe that we cease to exist in any form, which I personally believe is not true. In the Animal Communication community a favourite term now seems to be "transitioned", mediums talk about "passing over" and lightworkers talk about "ascension".  I quite like the word "ascended", because it includes the feeling of moving to a higher, lighter vibration and conjures up the image of our spirit moving up and away from our physical body. I don't suppose that will come into common usage any time soon, but I feel it's a interesting word all the same. What are your feelings about the very final connotations of the word "death"?




What I have also recently been pondering on is the use of the word "lightworker" and how I am not entirely happy with the feeling I get with the word. The word "work" seems to imply effort, will and concentration, when what I feel with Reiki is peace, flow and harmony. 

If, for example, you read a passage in a book that the "the rays of the sun worked over his face" it would not sound half as nice as "the rays of the sun played over his face". So that's it. As a reiki practitioner I have decided I am a "lightplayer". I receive the reiki gift with joy and happiness and let it play where it will according to divine intelligence; with Reiji Ho I allow it to show me where to treat in an effortless dance of energy and light. But hang on. Does that now imply that I don't take my work seriously?......Perhaps you might have some other suggestions? 

I think it is also a good idea, when we are considering playing (!) with the light and energy of reiki in order to heal, that we realise that we are not "healers", we are practitioners. I don't mean to be pedantic about it, but all the same, if our words are powerful then we must realise that calling ourselves "healers" might tickle our egos and blow us up a bit. Whilst we do need to pat ourselves on the back to acknowledge our achievements, and to recognise our commitment to practise reiki, that is after all, essentially what we are doing. It is a practise first and foremost and the energy that comes through us has its own intelligence, so we can't take credit for it even if we might want to. So as a reiki practitioner (and I mean someone who commits to a daily practise not just a professional practitioner) let's simply celebrate our commitment instead to allowing the energy to work through us and for us, for the good of all.


Lesley Sherlock, Reiki Master Practitioner & Teacher (& Lightplayer)
www.roseheartreiki.com 

On the Power of Gratitude

I was listening to somebody speak about overcoming energetic blocks that we feel we may have and I had a bit of an aha! moment that I wanted to share. It was a deep remembering that made me feel grateful for the actual remembering and how wonderful the feeling of putting  it into action can be.  Actually it is a piece of wisdom that I feel I have always carried, known and practised whether knowingly or unknowingly and one that is reflected in reiki.  As I re-process the feeling, I can feel my heart energy expanding and this expansive ripple of energy creating even  deeper relaxation and peace. It is one of the reiki precepts and so it's a useful one to reflect on.

So here it is. Be knowingly grateful for everything. Just cultivate this attitude in whatever  you are doing. Just try this for five minutes, have a look around where you are and you will easily find something to appreciate or praise. I am exceptionally grateful for having come across Reiki and I will continue to practise it every day, in one form or another, either with a meditation or using it to treat my food, my plants, clearing energy in my bedroom (SHK really helps me sleep well) or to send to a person distantly who might be having a rough time. I am very grateful to have a computer that works well and does everything that I need it to do. I am so happy that I am finally living the country life with the beautiful outdoors on my doorstep. I could go on and on. I am going to get back into the habit of reviewing all the good or so called bad things that might have happened at the end of each and thanking whoever or whatever  for the gifts or the lessons, whatever they may be. For it is in acknowledgement of your day, reviewing it daily that you can really find a peaceful place. Being grateful even for the difficulties means you can view them in the light of learning  and acceptance and give you the ability to choose an improved experience by changing whatever you are able to change.

By remembering this precept, we can really feel our heart energy centre blossom! We start to feel  more open, more alive and more able to receive. By feeling gratitude it opens our energy up to even greater blessings that might come in any form and by appreciating all the good things we have, we create a sound base for more to arrive. And when we sense this,  that we have already more than enough, we can then share with others and circulate the abundance that is always within us. The reiki energy that comes from Source is limitless, so let it flow and let your heart blossom with gratitude for all that you have (and all that is  making its way to you!) Not only will it add to your happiness but it will add to your health too.