Reiki and Sharing the Journey

One of the joys of Reiki is being connected

to people who wish to give compassion to others. Recently I have had the opportunity to work on an email project with two Reiki Masters, Lorinda Weatherall www.a-w-etherapies.ca/


and Gabrielle Gietzen
www.jikiden-reiki.ca/ind.html

These Reiki Masters have dedicated a huge portion of their lives to studying Reiki energy, using it to help others, and teaching Reiki.

It has been an honor to work with them, and I recommend both of their web sites.

Lorinda is a student of Rick Rivard, and studied with Inamoto Hyakuten. Gabrielle studied first with Frank Arjava Petter, whose books, "Reiki the Legacy of Dr. Usui" and "The Hayashi Reiki Manual" are major works about Reiki. They have both also studied in the tradition of Tadao Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi Sensei and Inamoto Sensei were both students of Mrs. Yamaguchi, who was a student of Chujiro Hayashi prior to Mrs. Takata.

Without Mrs. Takata, Reiki would doubtless not be known to the world outside Japan, and she made changes that must be considered "inspired." Yet, for many, seeking earlier roots of Reiki is important.

It may sound strange to refer to Mrs. Takata as an American form of Reiki, since she was Japanese, yet, she lived her life as American and indeed began a conformation of Reiki to Western culture. The Japanese forms of Reiki taught by Hiroshi Doi Sensei, Tadao Yamaguchi, and Inamoto Hyakuten, have a special value, and retain much of the spiritual source of Reiki energy.

I appreciate these Master's sharing Reiki with me.

And as to the picture - it reflects a visit my wife and I made to Quebec a year ago. There on the battlefield upon which the British defeated the French for control of North America, French Canadian children were training for a reenactment. Hearing the students who were pretending to be "British" shouting commands in French, brought us to a moment of reflection.

For the British and French were at War, and now, friends and allies, and likewise, the United States and Japan fought a terrible War, and now are friends and allies. And so one might ask, who today, are "enemies" who might someday be friends and allies?

Reiki believes that all living things are connected through a common creator. It is not a "religion," but, it does lead to a path of life, where compassion is encouraged. Hating another reflects on oneself, and being compassionate, changes the essence of who we are.

I pray today for the end of war, and for compassion to all people. May he who brings peace to the heavens bring peace to all the Earth. In the meantime, those of us who work in Hospice, give Caring to each person we can, one day at a time.

Reiki and Influenza

I am being asked a lot of questions about influenza these days. And it has been especially moving in light of 2 events this week, one, that we had a patient admitted to our hospice unit, a young woman under 30 who was dying of H1N1, and the second, that our Reiki share had a request from an RM at Shock Trauma, to send Reiki energy to a another young women under 30 at risk of death from H1N1.

Normally, there are about 25,000 influenza deaths each year in the United States, but the highest proportion of these, in fact almost all of these, have been over 70 years old, and most of those in fact over 80 years old. And while every transition is a sadness, deaths of young people strike us more emotively, and are sensed by almost all of us as more tragic.

So that while the worldwide death rate from the H1N1 pandemic is not large, and there may or may not be more deaths from influenza in the United States, what we are seeing is a tragic loss of life, especially in younger women.

How should Reiki view such as situation? Certainly Holistic Practitioners have concerns about the "flu vaccine," and especially about the fact that the flu vaccine still contains thimersol.

First of all, i want to remind everyone of the quote "Reiki cannot replace modern medicine. Reiki should be used in addition to modern medicine as a supplemental treatment. Modern medicine takes care of physical condition. Reiki activates vital energy, natural healing power and immunity power."

Who said such a thing? Well i am quoting from the Gendai Reiki-ho Essence packed version from Rick Rivard's Reiki web site, and the statement is attributed to Sensei Hiroshi Doi.

So it is clear that it is "good Reiki" to respect modern medicine, and to include Reiki as a "supplement." And modern medicine answers questions based on science, and Reiki goes where science cannot tread.

The best current information from modern medicine on H1N1 is at the CDC web site

www.cdc.gov/flu/

It is important to understand that the CDC are good people, who are seeking to understand what is happening as best they can. Their intentions are good, and they are talented people. They are not right all the time, no one is.

A lot of questions are being asked specifically about thimersol. A detailed description of the issue occurs at www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228

In brief thimersol contains a mercury substance that could be toxic, it was added to vaccines to combat widespread contamination in vaccines in 1928. It has been eliminated from vaccines of children under 6, but still exists in adult vaccines, including influenza, and there has been no evidence that it has caused harm - i wish it were not present in vaccines - but the problem of combatting contamination is real.

There may be no easy answer here. We do not want to utilize vaccines that can cause harm, but absent vaccines, the death rate from many illnesses was very high.

Measles was a horrid childhood illness that has mostly been wiped off the earth, as has polio. Yet, there are concerns that measles vaccine may cause autism. We have the greatest sympathy for parents battling autism. This is extremely difficult for parents and for all of us. But in fact a study in England not only did not find a link to autism from the vaccines, but did not find a higher incidence of autism after widespread measles vaccines were used, as compared to prior to the vaccine being developed and implemented.

For Reiki and other complementary or alternative methods to be widely respected as they should be, Reiki practitioners must respect traditional practitioners, who though not perfect, and sometimes practicing in the dark with the best tools they have at hand, are struggling as a part of the same effort, to give compassion, and to help other people.

I cannot tell people what to do about the influenza vaccine - the choices this year are difficult. My own tendency is to follow the CDC on scientific matters, and to use Reiki as a supplement. In so doing, I believe I am being true to both my training as a physician, and the principles set forth by Hiroshi Doi Sensei for Reiki in our time.

While using the best scientific knowledge that we have, and attempting to stop a pandemic from taking young people from our midst, let us not ignore the knowledge and light of science. At the same time, let us join in sending Reiki energy to those victims of illness that science has not helped, and follow the principle "Reiki cannot replace modern medicine. Reiki should be used in addition to modern medicine treatment as a supplemental treatment."

We all join in the hope for healing in the world.

Invitation to Reiki Share - November

The Seasons Reiki Share will be Tuesday Nov 3rd from 5:30- 8 pm at our NWHC in patient unit.

All Seasons Team members, employees and volunteers are invited - there is no charge for the share

Email me any questions

Dr Bob

Reiki Spirit in Jerusalem

Last week at this time I was in Jerusalem, or as it would be pronounced in Hebrew "Yer-u-sha-layim." The Hebrew comes from the words for city, pronounced as we would say "ear" and the word for peace, "shalem." City of Peace.

In the pictures above, I am standing in the area before what is called the "Kotel," which means in Hebrew "wall."

In the other picture, taken from higher up - one can see the golden dome of the Mosque built on the spot from which Muslims believe Mohammed ascended to heaven. Not seen, but close by behind me is the Church of the Holy Sepulcre, built on the site of Golgotha, where history holds that Jesus was crucified by the Romans. Such a small geographic area, and so much history.

What does Reiki have to do with such a place? Well - first of all - it is hard to describe to others that which must be experienced to be understood. For some reason that I do not understand, the spiritual forces that one feels within this city, and even more so neat the Holy sites, is very intense.

There is a Kabbalistic tradition that Lord God created mankind as the height of creation, and that man was created in God's image - not the "physical" aspect of man, but man's "spirit." God wanted man to have "free choice" - and this duality is complex, because mankind is at the same time connected to God, and "individual." Humans are at the same time connected to each other, and alone. To facilitate choice that is "free," the tendency" or "gravity" if you will to "evil" must be equal to the tendency to "good." Now - while this question can be made very complex - at some levels it is really very simple - a) in any given place or time, the more the attraction to "good," the more the attraction to "evil" must also be present - (else a person would not really have free will - they would simply be drawn to "good" and have no "choice.") - and so - in a place where God has placed the strongest spiritual forces for Peace and Goodness, compassion, kindness and humanity, there must logically also exist the strongest forces for cruelty, arrogance, and selfishness.

In my prior visits to Jerusalem, before studying Reiki, i felt pummeled by intense emotional forces, but I was unable to separate the waves and currents of the Spiritual energy. And in this visit, it was all very clear. I could sense (how limited the word "see" seems) intense forms of light, and understood the compelling calls to God, and to the rejection of God, to caring for others and the wish to harm others, to humility and to arrogance, to serve and to enslave - and what is really important in Jerusalem, is to understand what one is feeling, and to allow the energy currents that are like "siren calls" to evil pass through one and not touch one, and to accept the energy of kindness and compassion and humility within oneself.

There are stories in the Talmud about Manasseh, son of Hezekiah. I will not detail his evil here, it is all in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, but he was a student o Isaiah, and one of the most learned and most evil Kings. In the Sanhedrin Talmud tractate Yerushalmi 10:9, God accepted repentance even from Manasseh, because no one understood the evil inclination that Manasseh was faced with. It would be well for those who are judgemental in the name of God, in this day, to understand the story God taught the angels as regards Manasseh, and the nature of the inclinations God places in the world to create free will, and that for that reason, only God can be the righteous Judge, and man cannot judge in God's name since no human being knows the degree of difficulty in the life of any other human being.

So - here we have the Temple Mount - there is so much construction, walls and buildings made by the Saracen Turks, after recapturing the city from the Crusaders, that one sometimes forgets the geography that the Temple Mount sits above all that surrounds it - a platform on a mountain top, looking down on valleys below. From the platform itself this perspective is lost.

While the early portions of Genesis are somewhat obscure, the dating that occurs from the time of Joshua's conquest of the land is very linear within the Bible. Today is 5770 in the Hebrew calendar, and, Joshua's death is considered to be 2503 or, 3267 years ago. King Solomon who built the First Temple reigned from 2925 to 2965 of the Jewish calendar, and the Temple built by Solomon was destroyed in 3338 (or 423 BCE - it is noteworthy that the Western Cannon has the destruction of the Fkirst Temple as 586 BCE - but - this is a question for another essay).

Solomon built the first Temple on the Temple Mount that was understood to be the place on earth where Adam was created, where Jacob struggled with the Angel, and where Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed.

When the Second Temple was built - it was reconstructed by Ezra and Nehemia on the same site. History has it that the Second Temple was all but destroyed in Civil War, but rebuilt again by Herod, and that when the Romans burned the Temple to the ground, all that remained was the "Western Wall" built by Herod. I once asked a Rebbe, a famous teacher, why the Kotel or Western Wall was considered a Holy Place, since, it was not at the site of the Holy of Holies, where the Mosque now sits, and he answered, " it was sanctified by generations of tears."

Jesus was killed near this site, and Muslims believe that from this place, Mohammed ascended to Heaven - and so the dilemma we face today - that - this site which should bring humankind together, with humility and compassion, caring and kindness, in an awareness that we are all connected through one guiding spirit, this same site, is that place over which mankind may be headed toward War, and in the name of this site, people kill "in God's name" (whatever the language).

I ask anyone reading this essay to understand what these inclinations mean, and to allow the Spirit of Arrogance and Hatred to pass through you like the wind passing through a tree, and to accept the spirit of Peace and Humility, compassion, and kindness, and be connected that all that God created,

This is the message from Jerusalem.

Pray for Peace. Care for others. Do not worry - have faith that God will find a way to guide us. Do not be angry, no one really understands the difficulties other's face. Be greatful. Work hard and give kindness - all just for today.

"He who makes Peace in His heights, may he make peace upon us and upon all Humankind"

Rick Rivard and Reiki

Rick Rivard is one of the important leadeers in Reiki in our time. His personal story is available at

http://threshold.ca/reiki/my_story.html

Rick not only relates his own personal path in Reiki, he states at the end some goals, and principles, which, are worth meditating on, and ends with Quoting a Moody Blues song.

Rick was one of the principle organizers of URRI (Usui Reiki Ryoho International) which occurred 1999-2003 and brought together Reiki masters of different lineages from all over the world in important sharing sessions.

For those who simply want to use Reiki, and do not care about its historic roots, or understanding the reasons for the different lineages, or theories about how Reiki works - you should know that Rick's site is the epicenter of information on these concepts.

One of the wonderful things about Reiki - is that it is simple - it connects us to the life force within ourselves, and that swirls around us - anyone can learn Reiki -

But - as with so much in life - what we receive from an endeavor has a lot to do with what we put into it - so Reiki may not be "over the mountains or across the seas" - and may be easy to find within ourselves, but to the degree that we practice the basic principles, and commit ourselves to

Not worrying just for today
not being angry just for today
being greatful today
working hard today
and doing an act of kindness today

We get more out of it - and it begins to transform us. Rick offers people tools not simply on how to heal others, but on how to bring Reiki into their own lives.

He calls it "Sharing from the heart" - and - when we share from the heart - we become better healers, and happier people.