Reiki and Transition

Last week I was having a meeting with a family in hospice. Superb specialists had told the family that his cancer could not be cured, and that he was near death. Everyone had fought as hard as they could. The patient as so often is the case, could no longer speak for himself, and fortunately, he was on a unit where relief of pain was a primary goal. Although further aggressive meaasures such as CPR (cardiopulmonary rescusitation) would no longer be useful, law still placed a burden on me to ask the family the ritual questions about doing or not doing CPR, and gave the family both the power and the emburdenment of deciding on whether to have something done or not, that in this circumstance would not be expected to work absent a celestial miracle.

Familes so often in this situation think they are deciding whether or not someone "will live." For them, to not do CPR implies to "let someone die" - and yet - they have already been told that medical treatments would not work in this circumstances.

We sometimes try a new approach - not directing the discussion at the technical aspects of CPR or why it wouldn't work - but rather, guided by a Reiki perspective focused on the moment, asking questions focused on the moment. Thinking in this moment of the five basic Reiki principles.

And the question I ask then is directed to the reality that is being lived "just for today." "You know him best, if he could speak for himself right now - what would he say he believed would happen to his spirit when his body ceased to function? Does he believe that death ends it all, or has he believed that a spirit continues after the body dies?"

Although no one knows what actually happens after death, and we cannot test or measure or have certainty, many many people think on this question. And as they approach "transition" - what they have believed in their life should matter - do they believe that the end of mortal life ends life, or do they believe they are moving forward to an exciting journey? Are they afraid or do they have faith?

While it is not for a health care professional to ever convert or convince at end of life, neither is it for a health care professional to silence or rebut faith - and so often, if patients and their families are not told that we are willing to listen to what their faith is, and accept their sharing, they think we are not interested, or do not care, or would judge.

Asking simply "what would he believe" can be a powerful act of respect. We can at the least learn a lot more about our patients and their families - and at the point where we cannot cure, demonstrating in this way that we care, at least enough to want to know about the life, can be important.

One day I was telling a friend about my plans to give a talk at a medical meeting on "end of life" care, and this gentleman who was a religious leader for many souls, perhaps tens of thousands of souls, told me as respectfully as he could that, "you young doctor are not an expert on life, only on mortal life. The life that happens after death is beyond doctors training and expertise."

And so, I was told, that if we used our skills to cure, at the point when we could no longer cure, we could at least have the humility to care to listen to what those we were caring for believed.

I have treated many patients who have been near death, and at least for a time returned to us. Almost every one described an experience of perceiving a bright light - like the brightest light they had ever seen. And here is a description of Mikao Usui's vision on Mount Kurama, in a classic version as told to Amy Rowland as told by Beth Gray, as told by Mrs. Takata ("The Complete Book of Traditional Reiki")- this occurs on Mount Kurama after a 21 day fast: "too weak to move and powerless to block the light, he surrendered to it, and he had his vision. He began to see that the intense bright light flowing into him was made of hundreds and hundreds of bubbles of light, like a river is made of droplets of rain. Each of these bubbles was one of the colors of the rainbow and glowed with iridescence."

When we were in Japan, and traveling to Kurama, we had the opportunity to talk with many people, and intentionally we did not simply ask about Reiki, but about Mount Kurama, and we found it had a deep spiritual meaning to many Japanese people - for generations, indeed for centuries, the remains of "noble souls" who might serve as examples and protectors to their families and villages, even in death, seem to have been brought there as a final resting place.

For many people's, places become "holy" based on the memory of the spirits who have gone before - the examples of their lives and joys and tears that went before us.

If we see Usui Sensei in Japanese terms, perhaps we can see the "bubbles of light" as Kami - noble spirits - intending to guide and give compassion to those of us still in mortal life.

There is simply this - Reiki method gives us a non sectarian structure for looking at a situation and a time we cannot control with science. It allows us to connect with people of different backgrounds and different religions and different cultures in a very simple way.

And what of my patient's family last week? I listened to their story of his life, and of what he believed, and of his faith, and his oft stated words that he was going to a "better place" - and they added, "he would not want to be on a machine and he would not want CPR."

Away from worry and in a place of gratefulness for his life, they had found a path to an easier way to face this moment. I had said very little, had asked a simple question, and sat and listened to a story.