After four months of chanting, meditating, practicing the basic hand placements on myself and others, it was time for the second class on my Reiki journey. On September 9, 2017 my fellow musketeers and I arrived for part two of our training. We were ready to build on our skills.
Our morning was filled with learning more in-depth meditations helping to reconnect to our centers. We discussed how the chanting and meditation was helping us with our self-practicing. I admitted that morning chanting and meditation had been challenging given my personal situation. I explained that my then husband was less than crazy about me pursuing something didn’t benefit him personally and thus less than supportive of my journey. I had to push through his selfish and negative actions and words. This made it all too clear that my Reiki journey wasn’t going to be easy, but it was going to be worth it. As others shared their experiences, it was nice to discover that though the challenges were different, I wasn’t alone when making meditation and chanting a daily focus. Lorraine reiterated that Reiki is first a self-healing practice before it can be a healing practice used on others and that daily meditation, chanting and self-hands-on healing are a vital part of the System of Reiki. Like anything else in life, if you want to get better at it, daily practice is required.
As our morning moved forward, we were introduced to symbols and corresponding mantras to aide in focus, harmony and connection. Each symbol and mantra helps to bring our energy and attention to that particular area while meditating. In addition to being used for meditation purposes, these symbols can be used during an energy exchange or to clear an object or space. Lorraine emphasized that these symbols and mantras are tools for us to add to our healing toolbox and to be used when we feel called to do so. These symbols and mantras reiterate and put into practice the old saying: where you put your focus, your energy goes. These symbols and mantras would also be part of our afternoon lessons.
Lunch brought forth in-depth conversations about our individual journeys up to this point. My fellow musketeers had the support of their family and friends, but we all had self-discipline of some sort. While I had the support of friends and certain members of my family back in Colorado, it was painfully obvious that I wanted the same full support from my family my fellow classmates were receiving. I knew that wasn’t going to happen – for several different reasons – and I knew that my Reiki journey was my venture alone. While I wasn’t sure why the Universe placed me on this journey (seemingly alone) I understood that this was my time for spiritual and personal growth.
After lunch we were excited to learn how to share Reiki with others. We learned about the body’s four energetic fields and how they affect us. We learned about the body’s Meridians (energy tracts) and how they supply energy to the body. We learned how these Meridians are connected to the energy centers (Chakras) and how each center is affected when the energy in these areas is overwhelmed or depleted. We also learned which emotions have the greatest affect on each energy center and why it’s important to keep the body in a positive state of being as much as possible. We learned how to scan the body’s energy and follow our intuition as to what areas need Reiki and use the hand placements, previously taught, to provide healing energy to the area in question. This was the lesson I resonated with the most. From our very first class I seemed to know instinctively where to go. Now I was being encouraged to follow my healing intuition. It felt right and I felt in my element. The feedback from my fellow students regarding how they felt after I provided Reiki to them was amazing and supportive. They felt better and I had helped them in areas that they were having issues in. This feedback served as validation that I was on the right path.
The feedback I received made me excited and I looked forward to practicing on my friends and family.
As our class was wrapping up for the day Lorraine stressed that while we were free to practice what we had just learned on others, we needed to continue to work on ourselves as well. I knew that Reiki was pivotal to my future, I knew I was going to have to be resolute as I moved forward to becoming a Reiki Master Teacher. It was clear that discipline and fortitude were to be key elements on my continued journey.
