My first Reiki teacher encouraged us not to read about Reiki. He told us the story of Dr. Usui and those who followed him, but during most of the Level I weekend what we did was practice on ourselves and each other. He told us to practice every day, to feel the Reiki flowing, and to resist trying to understand or intellectualize that for which there really is no suitable descriptive language. Always a Very Good Student, I followed his advice.
Later, after my Level II attunement, I began looking at books about Reiki. Good lord there are some horrible Reiki books out there. Wow.
But at last I've found a book I think is top notch. It's "Reiki, A Comprehensive Guide," by Pamela Miles. It's available through Amazon and well worth a read if you're interested.
I have some quarrels with Pamela's point of view. She is an ultra-traditional practitioner, a devotee of Mrs. Takata (the person who is responsible for bringing Reiki to the U.S.). Pamela is ultra orthodox, something I always have a problem with, no matter the discipline. Ultra orthodox Jews, Muslims, Christians, Vegans and Reiki masters scare me, they are so rigid. They are right and everyone else is wrong. And, too, she insulted me when I mentioned that I give Reiki to the Washington Monument. She called me "capricious." She said I discredited Reiki with this practice. That wasn't nice, was it? She questioned whether what I was doing with the monument was "real" Reiki. She was very dismissive.
Her life goal is to bring Reiki into modern medicine which means we are not supposed to come off like (as someone on her FB page said) "crystal waving, sage burning crazies." OK, I guess.
But her book is very good. Nobody's perfect.
She says vibration is the substrata of what we call reality. That resonates not only with me, but with modern physicists. (Even resonance is vibration!) She says vibration is the intersection of spirituality and reality.
She describes Reiki as a vibrational adaptogen. According to Pamela, Reiki addresses the substrata of reality, adjusting the rhythm of vibration underlying pain, disease or discomfort to bring balance and a sense of peace.
That is interesting! And, may I add that the Washington Monument is basically a gigantic crystal. Is there some reason that addressing the substrata of vibration there is capricious? You tell me.
As you can see, I'm a bit miffed. I'll get over it. In the meantime, may you find yourself in sync with your body's many rhythms and with the vibrational substrata of life. May it be so! Shalom.
3 comments:
I'm finding Reiki coming up in many and unexpected places recently. But I still don't exactly know what it means.
You may be miffed but you are also open-minded and generous enough to read the Reiki book and be honest about the fact that you like it, even though its author has been less than gracious toward you. Any miffed-ness is a normal human response. You rock!
Nobody's perfect. That would include me of course. But thanks.
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