What is it that make people want to sign up for a course, attend a workshop, get a qualification, or learn something brand new? I believe it’s curiosity + a drive to better yourself and/or others. When you go so far as to sign up to be taught by someone who knows more than you on the topic, that’s more than just being curious with a passing interest. There’s also a desire for change.
I’ve been curious about the duck-billed platypus – it’s a duck-otter combo that lays eggs! – but I’m not going to sign up for a degree in the Animal Sciences or fly to Australia to see one. On the other hand I was curious about energy healing and I did sign up for a Reiki course. The difference? A drive to better myself and to learn how to help others.
Reiki allows us to treat ourselves and to treat others. The Reiki kickstarts a healing process for the recipient, whether healing is needed on a physical, emotional, mental or spiritual level. That in and of itself is absolutely fantastic and the main reason for many – myself included – to have taken up Reiki.
But there is an added bonus to learning Reiki and it’s actually a big one: empowerment.
Having Reiki empowers you to raise your energetic vibration yourself. You can then choose to treat yourself or others. There is no middle-man involved, no deity that you need to ask permission of in order to affect healing. It’s as simple as placing your hands on your body to treat yourself, or to respond to someone’s request* for healing by placing your hands on them. Reiki starts to flow, and the healing process begins. That is hugely empowering and reminds us that we are so much more powerful than we have been made to believe. The moment you feel the heat in your hands you are reminded that we are all energy, we are all connected because we are made of the same “stuff” and we are all connected to Source energy.
Reiki also has no hierarchy – the Reiki energy flows through, and to, anyone who has intended to give or receive Reiki. Whether you are the CEO of a company, a stay-at-home-mom, a priest, or a Reiki Master with 20 years of experience, Reiki makes no distinction. The healing, positive energy is the same for everyone.
Learning Reiki is the expression of your desire, and the means, to bring about positive change.
*As a footnote: Just as much as Reiki is empowering, we also have to remember that we can’t force Reiki onto someone. Therein lies the lesson of letting go and allowing others to follow their own path and find their own way to healing. You might be tempted to go around giving everyone Reiki because you have been empowered to do so, but if they don’t ask you, or give their consent when you suggest it to them, Reiki should not be given. It’s like Uncle Ben said to Spiderman “With great power comes great responsibility”
