Reiki: Looking Beyond What You Can See

Article by Phillip Hawkins

Sight is our primary physical sense with 80% of all the information our brain receives coming to us through our eyes. Because of this we can be forgiven for making the mistake of looking no further than we can see. We can sometimes fail to look beyond the physical symptom and realise that the pain, illness, and dis-ease are symptomatic of an underlying cause that first needs to be understood and addressed before it can be healed through knowledge and understanding.

What we perceive as a physical body is in reality a complex self contained energy system; and like all things within the known universe governed by the law of cause and effect. This means that all illness and dis-ease must begin at a vibrational level as a vibrational imbalance, this leads to a change in our bio-chemical structure and if prolonged for a sufficient period of time will ultimately express itself as a physical illness or dis-ease. What begins as an electrical impulse manifests itself in the body as a physical symptom as our physiology becomes our biology. External causes that create internal effects will also be experienced at cellular level within the physical body. Healing is never just about taking the pain and discomfort away for good health is much more than the absence of illness and disease, it’s about dealing with the cause that triggers an effect. True healing is always holistic in its approach and implementation; working with the whole person, tackling the whole problem both cause and effect, thus helping the person to arrive at their own holistic solution.

When faced with any problem first and foremost there is something for us to know; something to learn before we can understand what needs to be done, first comes the knowledge and understanding then the remedial action. Knowing what must be done then putting into practice what we have learnt so that the recovery process can begin and healing can take place. The only person we can heal is ourselves; the only lessons to learn are our own.

If we just help heal the effect we are denying the person the opportunity to learn the necessary lessons that created the situation in the first place. True healing requires us to educate ourselves first so that we can facilitate in the education process of others, not all educators are healers but all true healers whatever their background or field of expertise are first and foremost educators. As Reiki teachers and practitioners we have to educate those who come to us for help so that they can understand the nature of illness and dis-ease, the connection between cause and effect, and the role they play in the process. When we heal ourselves or help others in the healing process we arrive at this point through knowledge and understanding with our free will intact to choose whether the lesson learnt becomes a permanent part of our physical, mental and emotional make up, or whether the universe being the ultimate teacher, must present those lessons again and again in different ways to draw our attention to an underlying cause that needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

The universe will never heal us against our will or do for us what we must do for ourselves, nor will it rob us of the opportunity to develop and grow both physically and spiritually by removing us from the consequences of our actions.

Reiki is not a miracle cure all that overrides our freedom of choice; we retain our free will and have choices to make either consciously, sub-consciously, or by the default mechanism of deciding not to make a decision. We are the common denominator in all of our experiences good or bad, we choose how we will experience life for we are the author of our own life story be it happy or sad, we choose to learn the lessons life offers us, or suffer the consequences of our actions. As Reiki teachers and practitioners we have the added responsibility to educate others in order that they can free themselves from fear and ignorance, empowering them to take control over their own lives, learn their own lessons and in doing so restore both balance and harmony in their lives which is one of the first steps to achieving an holistic solution to a healing challenge.

A Reiki practitioner since 1999, Phillip started teaching Reiki in 2000 and using those skills and abilities he has spent the majority of the last seventeen years working with a wide range of social and educational needs including Autism and ADHD. Working with addicts dependent on alcohol and drugs, people whose lives were extremely violent and abusive, and others who had to deal with severe mental health issues. This has enabled him to work extensively in the private sector, schools, colleges, education and care in the community, the prison service and psychiatric units.

In 2016, Phillip decided to semi-retire from full-time employment to concentrate on developing his career as a published author and the setting up of his Reiki personal development programme at the Chilton Community College.