We are a summation of our experiences in this life, and depending on your beliefs then many many other lives as well. These experiences craft stories within which we contextualize, or recall, these moments in our lives. And so if we are the summation of our experiences, we are further yet rather the summation of the stories that we have attributed to these experiences throughout our life. I would think that this isn’t too far-fetched of an idea, and if each of us were to simply stop and think about our existence within this frame of mind, these stories should begin to come to the surface.
Scorned love perhaps in your past that is shaping your perspective on potential future love stories. Or perhaps victories earlier in life that were compelling enough to pull you from one frame of reference and place you into another frame of reference, one where your success and confidence in yourself can be further nurtured. We all know these spaces indeed, or at least I think we all do.
And we can bring this same line of thought into our Reiki practice. Indeed, is it not to address these very stories that we have attached to our experiences that we are working to heal from within our practice? If there were no stories on our experiences, then there would be little to no suffering, but yet we suffer. We become sick, we feel and experience pain, we hurt, we struggle, but yet through all of this difficulty, we keep with our practice. All of us, I hope, are always trying our best to work through our suffering. Layer by layer, as we shed experience after experience and as we do so we heal…but what is it that we are healing from?
Is it the disease, or rather the experience?
In my opinion, the experience, and then further the story that we attach to the experience, are the harbingers of disease. The suffering that comes to us in our lives, if it is not released, begins to take root and it holds onto these stories. Or another way to put it that might be more tangible; when we are hurt and we hold onto this story, then we continue to hold onto the energy of that moment. We don’t release it. It doesn’t flow. And as with everything in the universe, nothing is permanent, and energy is always flowing from one form to another. If we don’t release this energy, then it becomes stagnant, so to speak, and we become ill. Many of you will know someone who holds onto so much hatred or pain towards something and it is slowly killing them.
But what is it that they are holding onto?
Is it not the story or belief of the event?
Is it not the experience and the refusal to let go that is killing them at this point?
So it is the experience that we have to unwind, and if possible, then when these experiences are happening in real time, perhaps right now, we can hopefully move through them without the need to attach a story. If we can do this then we are free from the perpetuity of suffering and story and belief.
If we can do this then we can be born anew. We can arise into an existence that simply just is. Each and every moment, we can find that we simply are here, present, fully aware, and flowing. This is not easy, by any stretch, but is this not what the guiding precepts are whispering to us? Is it not what the hand placements during self-practice are suggesting?
By placing the hands on the self, and then being fully present with the precepts, what space is there for any story from the experience?
And when a difficult experience comes to the surface and we struggle to go through it, and release it, then we can perhaps see that we are here again with the precepts and the hand placements. If we can stay still while this heavy energy is passed through us, then we are free and it is released.
Reiki, in this way, free of all of the contexts of the mind, free of all the actions of “doing” anything, just simply being with the practice, allows us to arise back to our true selves, our free selves, and it allows us to be born anew.
It is thought that in each and every moment that we are born, live, and die, simply to be born again into the next moment of this thing we call life. If we resist this flow then we suffer, if we surrender to this flow, which further means surrendering all stories and all experiences, then we are free. To me, this is the true essence, or the true aim of Reiki.
It doesn’t negate the steps in getting there, nor is it easy to arrive here, so perhaps it’s comforting to always place this as the goal that we are working towards. Keep this the focus and all the other noise will slowly begin to settle.
Article by Bruce Taylor
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Bruce Taylor is a Reiki Master Practitioner and Teacher based in France. He has practiced Reiki since 2006 and his practice focuses on Usui Reiki Ryoho, having been trained in Kyoto, Japan.
He works and trains others globally both in person and via his online offerings found at www.rootsoflife.org
Further to that, he manages the Usui Reiki Ryoho Support and Community Group on Facebook which all are welcome to join (www.facebook.com/groups/129366524359731)
Bruce also manages his youtube channel where he focuses on Reiki and Holistic Wellness content (www.youtube.com/c/RootsofLife)
And as this is the 100th anniversary of Usui Reiki Ryoho, he is leading a pilgrimage to the birthplace of Reiki – Kyoto, Japan, as soon as Japanese borders are open again to tourism. For more information on this truly once in a lifetime celebration, please visit: https://rootsoflife.org/reiki-pilgrimage-kyoto/
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