Art, Mindfulness & Energetic Connection in Luxor, Egypt.
Join me on this incredible journey through the transformative power of art, meditation, and energetic connection and alignment.
Nov 9, 2023
How to practice mindful Reiki
Practicing Reiki as a spiritual discipline is almost never discussed in any books, any websites and none of the national Reiki organisations. So prevalent is the obsession with Reiki as nothing more than a hands-on energy healing system, that its larger, more challenging but more important aspects are by and large, pretty much ignored. It could be argued of course that even if we are focused only on using the energy healing part of the system, we’re still using it as a form of personal spiritual practice because, on a macrocosmic level, there is no ‘other’ to give a healing session to. But that’s a philosophical route we don’t need to go down as it just leads to a very laissez-faire approach to personal spiritual development. Central to the practice of Reiki is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is the ability to be aware of what is going on right now: not reflecting on what has passed and not projecting forward into what has yet to come, and doing so, without judgement. This is the bedrock and foundation of the entirety of the Reiki system in all its numerous ways, facets, and nuances of expression. When we think of mindfulness, we tend to think of what is going on in our head; it is more accurate to think about what is going on in the whole body. Consciousness is not just located in the head; it is everywhere in the human being, and we should keep this in mind when we work with mindfulness as a meditation practice. When we practice Reiki, most of us are very much ‘living in our heads’. We ignore the presence of our physical body as our minds wander all over the place, projecting forwards into things that have not yet happened, or reflecting on what has already passed. Our minds are either forming their own arbitrary narrative structures; they’re somewhere other than with what is happening right now or are busy speculating, forming opinions, making judgements, or otherwise engaged in a mental commentary based on the sensory data they are receiving. This gets mashed together with the storehouse of experiences, impressions, and other mental events that the mind has filed away to form new lenses through which to view the world, and none of this is helpful to us or, in a healing context, beneficial to the person receiving the healing session. So how to practice mindfulness? Physical Posture Firstly, we need to consider our posture. Given that Reiki is a Japanese practice, it might be appropriate to sit in seiza (which means ‘correct sitting’). This posture, however, designed so that samurai can get up quickly during a fight, can be extremely uncomfortable for those not used to it, and given that it has only existed in Japanese culture for around 200 years can easily be discarded for less painful postures. If seiza doesn’t work for you, you could try sitting cross-legged in a lotus or half-lotus posture. If you also find that difficult, you could try sitting in a half lotus over an extended period, to see if your leg muscles will loosen up so that you can get into a full lotus more easily. The main difference between the half and full lotus is that the knees are both touching the floor in the full lotus, which gives a much more stable posture. If your knees are floating in the air higher than your hips, you are unstable. Stability in meditation (both body and mind) is a critical element. You should keep your spine straight, resting in its natural curve, with your shoulders relaxed but in line with your ears. Also, pull your chin in so that it is not tilting upwards or downwards. Place your hands loosely in your lap. You may also like to place a cushion on your lap to take the weight of your hands and arms. Sit with dignity, as if you are holding up the sky with your head. If you are using a chair, sit independently of its back. To begin with, you might have some lower back pain. Check that your knees are not higher than your hips. If this is the case, you will overwork your lower back and cause discomfort. Place a firm cushion on the chair first if necessary. If you still have pain in this area, it might be because most of us rarely exercise our lower backs due to sitting for long periods. Normally we lean against the back of the chair, allowing our lower back muscles to rest. When we sit independently of the chair back, these muscles must start working. It is worth just sitting through the discomfort for a period until your back muscles get used to working properly. Of course, if you have lower back problems or other physical restrictions that mean you can’t assume a good meditation posture easily, you should use some sort of support. It is always best to be fully independent of any physical support as much as you can, however. Our bodies should be physically independent, and our minds should be mentally independent. It is also possible to simply lie down to meditate and you may find this to be of great benefit if you struggle with sitting for any length of time. A word of warning: it is best not to lie on your bed as we have so programmed our minds that lying on the bed means it’s time to sleep, that it is extremely difficult to do so and stay focused and alert. In establishing a successful meditation practice, you must ultimately find what works for you. Perhaps you could experiment and try out different approaches. This is especially true if you suffer from some physical impairment or if you are bedridden or have some other issues that prevent you from assuming a traditional meditation posture. If none of these traditional approaches are possible, it’s perfectly acceptable to get creative and find your own way with this. The
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Oct 29, 2023
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The Most Powerful Healing Technique
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got tired of the endless claims on the internet about which is the most powerful healing technique. Is it Pranic Healing? Is it Reiki? Is it Vortex Healing? So many claims and so many different healing modalities out there and frankly, from my experience, all the hype, and the question itself, is total bullshit. Because it’s not about which is the most powerful. That’s just ego. In reality, the question should be about whether the healing modality is a good fit for the healing required and whether it delivers the results. And if it does, that STILL doesn’t make it the most powerful. It makes it the appropriate intervention in that particular case. And what does the concept of ‘most powerful’ even mean? This is ego on a rampage. ‘Power’ is a perceptual concept and is reliant on many variables and not all of them are related. The system I know best is Reiki. I’ve been teaching it for 25 years and have written two books on the subject (you can find them here: Mindfulness Meditation & The Art of Reiki and Reiki Jin Kei Do: The Way of Compassion & Wisdom) and I think it’s a pretty powerful intervention for some people. For some, it’s a waste of their time and money, because other things serve them better. I don’t know about Pranic Healing. I know lots of ex-Pranic Healers who wouldn’t touch that system again with a barge pole. Why? I’ve no idea and it’s never interested me to find out. I also know nothing whatsoever about Vortex Healing or for that matter any other healing modality. Reiki is my thing and I’m happy to stick to that. It does what I need it to do for me personally as a spiritual development practice. What I do know, from years of experience is that there is one system of healing and more importantly, spiritual development, that is significantly better and more powerful than Reiki. When I say, ‘more powerful’, I mean in terms of the specific mechanism of how the energy in Reiki works and it’s the antithesis of how energy works in all other energy healing methods (as far as I can tell). That system is called Buddho. Buddho is the original esoteric Buddhist practice from which modern secular Reiki developed. When a practitioner works with Reiki, he or she is calling on the energy that manifests within the Buddho system. Reiki is just a conduit for Buddho. It makes sense then that Buddho without the mediating device of Reiki, is more powerful than when Reiki is the filter through which the energy passes. I’ve taught Reiki to 1000-plus people over the years and probably Buddho to only a couple of hundred or so, but those who have taken Buddho training have all said that they prefer working with Buddho, rather than Reiki. Why? It gets results when Reiki doesn’t. That’s not to say that Buddho is somehow better than Reiki. Each healing case requires its own specific form of intervention. Sometimes Reiki is the thing, sometimes Buddho. But regardless, Buddho does get to the root of the problem quicker, more decisively, and more powerfully. One of my students once said that Reiki starts out very gently and then goes on increasing until it becomes extremely powerful. It’s like there is a gentle flow to it as it builds and builds. They said that Buddho on the other hand, is like a flash of lightning; it’s full power instantly and very fast. This is true. This is how Buddho works. I don’t know about other healing systems. The comparison between them and Reiki is pointless because they work on a different principle. It’s like comparing a plane to a helicopter. But Buddho and Reiki are of the same order. Buddho is before and after modern Reiki. It’s its origins and it’s the destination that Reiki leads to. For me, working with either Reiki or Buddho is primarily about my own personal spiritual journey. I’m not a fan of practicing energy healing and avoid it whenever I can, passing potential clients on to my own students. I just find the practice boring, though I’m always delighted when someone finds that their problem is resolved or alleviated because of a treatment I’d given them. If I do find myself giving a Reiki treatment, I tend to blend Buddho techniques in with Reiki. The two systems are essentially one in any case, so there’s seamless compatibility. Moving in and out of Reiki/Buddho techniques in a state of flow is the best of energy healing it seems to me. I think Reiki has a lot more potential than just energy healing though. And Buddho even more so. They both point in the same direction, but Buddho is the rocket booster that Reiki lacks. Buddho is a method straight out of Highest Yoga Tantra of Tibet (the Reiki fundamentalists will of course repeat their tired mantra that ‘everything Reiki comes from Japan’. No, it doesn’t and Buddho is the proof of that). It’s an expression of Mantrayana and thus an amazing tool of personal liberation. This is the system that Usui (the founder of the system of Reiki) accessed in formulating his contemporary understanding which we know of as Reiki. If you haven’t learned Buddho, I suggest you do. You’ll need to find yourself a teacher of Reiki Jin Kei Do because the Buddho teachings are held exclusively within that tradition. Or you could just go straight to my courses page and check out whether I’m running any Buddho classes soon. You can find it here: Courses. Buddho is a system however that is for the committed and serious spiritual seeker. It requires dedication and practice of the teachings. If you want to know what the most powerful healing technique is, then it has to be Buddho. The Highest Yoga Tantric practices of Tibet, pretty much top everything else, especially Western New Age methods.
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