The Proof is in the Practice

Last October, I embarked on two distinct (yet very related) practices that have since changed my life. And not just internally changed — I mean, I have specific physical repercussions that continue to emerge even today. But the physical effects are actually the later manifestations of actions that began as new a-ha’s of understanding in the mind — they are just the effects of specific thoughts, words and actions I have started re-programming in myself.

The first practice stems directly from the Reiki Shinpiden course I took with Frans and Bronwen Steine of The International House of Reiki. This course changed everything about how I understand Reiki as a practitioner and now teacher (as it has for everyone I’ve met who has taken this course) — the Steines have done tremendous work on themselves in accordance with the true, pure path of Reiki, and have dedicated themselves to bringing its roots to light for those of us who first learned Reiki as it evolved (or as some may say, devolved?) in the West. They have helped clear away the brambles of confusion about what Reiki really was in its origins and can be today, and I felt so much lighter and clearer and more focused after that weekend course. I will not delve too deeply into my experience with Shinpiden, other than to recommend that other Reiki practitioners of Level II or above take this course with the Steines when they are presented with the opportunity, and to also comment that because of this course, my personal Reiki practice now breathes with me. It is not stagnant; it is an ancient tool I can access for my own growth and empowerment. The more I practice and work on myself, on a daily basis with commitment and discipline and understanding, the more I can access the Reiki energy within myself, and clear the flow of my energy stream.

Word of the second practice, outlined in a book, arrived to me first via my friend, Sarah, last summer, but I chose then to put off reading it, for whatever reason. During Shinpiden, a fellow classmate mentioned the same book Sarah had raved about, and I knew it finally was time to read it. This book is The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life, by Geshe Michael Roach. Somewhat controversial in traditional Buddhist circles due to its unconventional approach to Buddhist principles, primarily because Roach packages the message with a (very non-Buddhist) material bent to draw in a Western, non-Buddhist audience (along the lines of “Want to make more money and be more successful? Then understand and implement these principles into a daily personal practice.”), the book nonetheless helped me understand very clearly how the universe, and energy itself, works with us and our actions, words and thoughts. I had an interest in but only periphery understanding of Buddhist principles (via limited studies of what Master Usui brought to the system of Reiki), so being able to read about these Buddhist principles as they can be applied in our Western society of ingrained commercialism and business truly opened an entirely new understanding and application for me.

That is understating this book’s impact on me, though. The teachings in this book have gripped me in such an awakening, and as I started applying them as I read, I began to notice subtle, and then not-so-subtle shifts. First these shifts occurred only in my mind. I started paying attention to my thoughts much more than I used to (and I am normally on the introspective side to begin with), but more than just acknowledging each thought running through my mind, I started transforming the kinds of thoughts that would arise. A message at the core of this book is that reality can be perceived in many different ways, depending on one’s perspective. What I may perceive as “bad” may be perceived by another as actually quite a good thing for them. So essentially, effects are neither good nor bad. They just are. To take this a step further, whatever I perceive right now is based on a past thought, word or action of mine. If I did something good for someone in the past, I will at some point be able to see and perceive someone doing something good for me. Or if I acted out of anger toward someone in the past, I at some point will perceive someone acting out of anger toward me. For another example: if I want to be successful in my endeavors, I should recognize and express gratitude as much as possible (sound familiar, all those following “The Secret”?). And these past actions (and our current actions now that later become “past” actions!) magnify and ripple out like waves on a pond — kind of like the power of compounding interest when investing money, only in this we invest energy! And I can take full responsibility for my reality, by first understanding the nature of how this works, and then implementing the principles and monitoring myself. Since I do not want someone to be angry toward me, I can cultivate a peaceful, compassionate mind that bypasses anger. Instead of allowing myself to become upset or angry because of some external circumstance, which puts me in the role of victim, I can instead understand situations as 1) effects of my past actions, and 2) opportunities to end the cycle of violence and plant positive seeds for my own (and others’) futures. Even more, I can then consciously plant positive seeds (what Roach calls “Imprints”) to cultivate a positive perception of my reality for the future. To me, this concept sums up the true meaning of a word that has been thrown around incorrectly under other definitions and confused the hell out of many people, including me: Karma.

Sound simple? Well, it kind of is. But to really understand the concept and the whys of it all, I do suggest you read the actual book, which delves much deeper and into more areas than I just did in my simplistic overview. Roach outlines many different areas on which one can focus, and recommends that we work with a few at a time, and keep track daily, and even more than daily, in a notebook, our progress. Not to judge or feel bad, but to really track ourselves, in each moment.

I feel like so much has shifted since I read The Diamond Cutter and started consciously implementing new imprints. And to tie this back into my new understanding of Reiki as a personal practice, this truly gave me a greater depth of understanding of Reiki’s first precept, “Do not anger.” This book has quickly become a number-one handbook — as my friend, Sarah, says, this book should be required reading by anyone who has a life — or basically, everyone!

Between Shinpiden and The Diamond Cutter, my perspective, and in turn, life, has truly changed, and the way I approach everything is so much lighter, with so much greater awareness of imprints and present actions. From even the first day I started implementing not only what I learned in Shinpiden, but also 3 of the principles I focused on from the book, I started noticing the difference. Impacts in my daily life: My life (some aspects of which I used to view as an annoyance and with not just a little frustration) started to feel so much simpler. People whose actions and words once had a tendency to really get under my skin soon became…still there, with them probably still acting in the same manner as before, but my reaction became so much more compassionate, and so much more focused on my own actions and what I bring to the table in each moment. I started to feel that in taking responsibility for every moment as a co-contributor, I could be so much more empowered — and free — to create the positive side I wanted. I let go of attachment to specific outcomes of what I thought I wanted, and instead just focused on what I could control — my thoughts, words and actions, and how to more closely embody the Reiki precepts and the principles of The Diamond Cutter.  Two months later, after I had decided (after reading The Diamond Cutter) to not run from my job, but to stay and work on myself instead, a recruiter called me, seemingly out of the blue. “Oh, I’m not looking for anything right now,” I said, and meant it. But I listened to what she had to offer, in case something sounded right for a friend. And then she mentioned what could be a dream job for me in my design field. It was a stretch from what I was doing at the time, but it was something about which I was and am passionate, and something I can be really great at.

And now? Now I am working at that dream job. I’m working on myself with my daily practices: those from my new Reiki studies, and the tracking of my thoughts and words and actions in accordance with principles outlined in The Diamond Cutter. And I am re-reading the book again.

How Reiki Found Me — Another Story of Once-Upon-A-Time, Meant – To – Be

For most, if not all, of the Reiki practitioners I have met, there is always a story — not of how they found Reiki, but of how Reiki found them. As clichéd as it may sound after hearing it over and over, it resonates so true to my own experience as well. I believe that those who are meant to travel the healing path of Reiki, and perhaps of other energy healing modalities, are found in extraordinary, idiosyncratic and perfect-for-the-individual ways. Something along the lines of the ever-popular and profound synchronicities and “meant-to-be’s.” For me, it was to be a major part of my Saturn Return, and although I hadn’t expected it, it just felt so right once it happened. Call it love at first experience, or coming home to the “I” I hadn’t quite remembered (but which, thankfully, my Soul did!).

Flashback to a couple Springs ago, when a friend of mine received a phone call unexpectedly from Patrizia, a former colleague of his, with whom he had not spoken in about five years. He later told me that when she had contacted him, primarily to say hello and catch up, he kept thinking that the call was really meant to be a connector for me. You see, Patrizia had become a Reiki practitioner since they had last spoken, and my friend, knowing my inclinations toward transformation and personal growth, listened to his intuition and conveyed to me his inner urge that I contact her for a session. Which, being intrigued and open to the universe’s little nudges and suggestions, I did, of course.

I called Patrizia and scheduled a session for the upcoming Saturday. I awoke early that Saturday morning, intent to make it to a blood donation appointment I had so optimistically scheduled earlier that week, for something ridiculous like 9:30 am and 45 minutes away from my apartment. Upping the ante, I was hungover from my previous night of Lower East Side fun. I realized this as I jumped out of bed and juiced a garlic-y elixir of kale and collards, lemons, grapefruit and cucumbers, but being pretty much still drunk on the previous night’s wine and stunted sleep, my brain didn’t fully kick in until I was waiting at the blood center to start the donation process to realize that my blood might not be 100% kosher. I canceled and walked out into the streets of Midtown Manhattan that were sprinkled with a few early-bird shoppers, an empty cab here and there, drizzle and not much else. I bought another vegetable juice in hopes of detoxing my body and mind, window shopped for a few hours and then ate lunch before catching a train to the Upper East Side to meet Patrizia at 3 pm (at which point my equilibrium was approaching closer to center).

Patrizia was lovely, open, informative, and like most Reiki practitioners I have since met, so enthusiastic about how her life had changed since Reiki had found her. Before starting the table portion of the session, she answered all of my questions about Reiki and referred me to additional resources, including her teacher, should I want to pursue my own Reiki training. She told me that it had originated with a Japanese monk, and that it involved channeling energy from the universal life force energy to re-balance the body’s energy systems. At this point, all I knew about Reiki was that, based on my prior studies in and of Japan, the word sounded Japanese, and that it was some form of energy healing. Whatever that meant. It sounded wonderful nonetheless. I really would not have been able to tell you at that point, and I had researched nothing — I had simply trusted and followed a lead. I didn’t know what to expect from the session, so I was open to anything. I really had no idea, though, that what was to happen could have possibly happened, and when it did, I was so incredulous and mind-blown. (Of course, in retrospect, I’m sure the hangover — that irreverent, surreal hangover, at this time neutralized yet not completely released, with its after-effects still lingering to open my senses to those energies behind the veil that I often rush over or fail to notice when sober — called for much more re-balancing, and affected the particular forms in which I would receive the Reiki energy. What’s done is done — no apologies at this stage in the game for the hows!)

Patrizia asked me if I had any specific intentions I would like to make for my session — on what would I like the Reiki energy to focus? I believe I mentioned something to the effect of coming into my Saturn Return with more clarity about my life path. (I was a bit embarrassed about confessing to the hangover, so I kept it a secret from her — although not from the Reiki energy!) She then prompted me to lie with my back on the table, and supported my head with a small pillow and under my knees with a bolster. She asked if I would like a blanket, which I accepted gladly. So there I was, lying on my back, snug and secure under the blanket, at peace with just being, and enjoying the soft afternoon light filtering through her windows. She guided me to close my eyes if I wanted. Sure, why not. At first I kept my awareness alert to her movements. She stood at the end of the table, hands on my feet, which warmed and then radiated heat at the touch. I sensed hands above my face, hovering. Then she was around the table, but I wasn’t sure where. At one point, I remember consciously thinking about how odd it was that she was at my legs at the same time as she was at my shoulders (what I later would learn is commonly called ghost hands). It wasn’t long before I slipped down into a less focused state of mind. I was aware that my hands were tingling, even when she was not touching them, and they felt heavy yet weightless at the same time — like they wanted to float up, but were heavy to my will’s direction. I felt energy run down my arms and legs now and then. I felt her hands on my head, and I thought my head must have lit up, it felt so ablaze with heat and pulsation. Then I was under. My body sunk into the table, and my mind drifted into swirling colors and visual images, on its own mini-journey. This was not the crazy part.

I awakened (I had been out — not sleeping necessarily, but focusing more from the subconscious) to Patrizia softly asking me to roll over. I felt so relaxed at this point, as if I had just slept such a gratifying afternoon nap, and with the rest of the day still open and full of possibilities. And there was more! I sleepily rolled over, and she guided me to rest my face in the face cradle, which she had lined with tissue. I happily complied, and closed my eyes again. I shifted the rest of my body into a comfortable position, arms at my sides, and gladly sunk back into the table. My third eye was pulsating and my head was still quite on fire. My hands and feet, too, kept tingling and pulsing with energy. She sat at the head of the table, hands on my head. I slipped back under, driftily aware when she moved to a different place on my body — to my shoulders, my upper and then lower back, my legs. I don’t recall at what point it started, but fairly soon after Patrizia spent time on the back of my head, I felt a rush of energy center there — at my temples, my crown, and primarily at the center of my brows — at my third eye. The energy pulsated intensely, and didn’t stop. My awareness returned from its “sleep” and was now sharply focused on my visual sense, very much in the present moment. And then the visions started. Not some dream-like watery image that flitted from one stream of consciousness to the next, but instead very specific and consistent images. And very real. At first there was just one eye — a human-like eye, singular and cyclopic and not un-kind, without a face or body. An eye suspended in a sepia-toned space, staring right back at me. Then more appeared, and the sepia backdrop was full of eyes, completely covering my line of vision, a wallpaper of blinking staggered singular eyes. I blinked my own eyes open, which had been closed. My face rested in the cradle, and I could see through the tissues and down to the floor; the eyes remained even with my eyes open. I kept blinking, alarmed and cognizant that this was not normal dream state/meditation. The eyes remained, and blinked themselves. OK, I thought, still spooked, let’s just go with it. I closed my own eyes again, and kept staring very intently into the sepia screen of my third eye. And then the eyes made room for singular mouths to join them. The mouths had fleshy, deep dusty-rose pink lips, and even tongues, that moved very articulately. They were saying something, forming vowels and consonants, shaping into words. I strained to read the lips, yet to no avail — they were talking too quickly. I thought, maybe I can hear what they are saying, but that didn’t work either. Eyes and mouths, on sepia tone, blinking and forming words so rapidly. My third eye throbbed and my crown burned. What is going on here?

Patrizia brought the table work to a close, sat me up slowly, and brought me a glass of water. I wondered if she had felt and seen what I had, and asked her such. “Every person’s experience is their own,” she replied. I sat in a bit of awe — What had just happened? I was no longer alarmed — just amazed at the experience. The pulsating feeling ended with the session, as did the vision. And I felt relaxed, centered, and much more balanced than when I had entered. And I felt at peace, even if I didn’t understand the experience. Later, after much reflection, I thought that perhaps the eyes and mouths had indicated an opening to a new (to me, at least) awareness of a higher reality, with me able to perceive bits and pieces at that stage, but by no means yet able to understand the higher frequency, which was why I could not read, hear or understand what was so rapidly being said. (The other somewhat-related, if-slightly-more-cynical hypothesis was that, yes, I had tapped into another level of reality — directly related to the chaos of the alcohol-induced, cell-rearranging hangover!) Either way, though, what I had seen was vivid and real, and I was a believer. I enrolled into the next Reiki I class held by Patrizia’s teacher, Margaret Ann Case, which, as synchronicity would have it, was to be held two weeks from that Saturday. (Thank you, Universe, for guiding me onto this path!)