How Reiki has improved my life, awakened my dreams, and generally just made everything better

I love Reiki. I love teaching it, self-healing with it, and helping others with it. The list of ways that it has substantially improved my life is a long, long, long list. But here is a start…

The five principles and one Master G

Just for today:

1. I will not anger.
2. I will not worry.
3. I will be grateful for my many blessings.
4. I will do my work (meditative practice) honestly.
5. I will be kind to every living thing (including myself).

Just doing a quick check in on my level (from 1 to 10) on each of these principles lets me know where I am going in life. I have the chance to course correct before things go off the rails. I start with my anger level. Today, I am pretty happy so my level is at a 2. Next, I visualize how it would feel in my body if my anger was at a 1, and then at 0. I picture a sliding switch in my mind, like the ones you see in a sound studio. I slide the level down to 0 and then I stick it there with imaginary chewing gum.

Then I move on to worry. This can be a tricky one for me. I am continually striving to rein in my capacity to blindly worry about everything and everyone. This one principle has probably given me the greatest benefit from my practice of Reiki. Today, my worry level is at 4. Pretty great day for me. But worry, just like anger, can spike up for me depending on what is happening in my world. Even if it is at a 10, I still find this process incredibly helpful. It feels like draining out the bad before you put in the good. It’s like changing the dishwater in the sink. So, I’m at 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0. Stick!

Next is gratitude or appreciation. I’m at 8 today. Gratitude feels like a warm fuzzy emerald hug from the inside out. I let the feeling envelope me. I slide the gratitude switch up to 10. 8, 9, 10, Stick!

Now for doing my work! My true work as a Reiki Master  is to master myself. Mastery of the self, the mind, the emotions and the spirit are gained through meditation and self-healing. Today, I am at a 4. Oops. It is okay though, because I always have room and time to improve. Some days are 10, some days are 0. The most important thing is to keep returning, again and again. Back to the zafu, back to the mat, back to the page. I meditate when I sit in mediation, but also in yoga and in writing. I find these activities to be really effective in calming the mind and body so that spirit may enter. So, I can feel in my body how it would feel if I was at a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 , 10. Hold. Stick! It feels like bright and warm gold and white light flowing up my chest and into my brain and physical heart.

And now, kindness. I’m at a 4 for myself and 8 for others. I find it so easy, natural even, to be kind to everyone else. But me. That has been a work in progress. I am a recovering perfectionist. The antidote is kindness. This also has been a transformative part of Reiki for me. I deliberately choose better thoughts about myself and my feelings toward myself also change. When that happens I feel wonderful, courageous and powerful. I become immune to the opinions (good or bad) of others because I love myself. So, it is okay that right now I am at a 4, because I know I have the ability to shift it. It is also cool, because kindness toward others, goes up on its own when I am kind to myself. Time to shift! 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Stay. Stick! I feel a full body relaxation, like a deep breath, and at the same time, I am sitting up straighter, taller, more ease in my true and powerful Self.

And just like that, I am different. More myself. More centered. More whole.

Test it out! Let me know how it works for you!