I am currently a practicing Reiki Master learning the “Let Animals Lead” incredible method of Animal Reiki with Kathleen Prasad. In our Reiki II Class we were given the homework exercise of contemplating “The Gifts of Reiki” diagram (above). My background until quite recently was in the engineering field so I naturally gravitated toward contemplating this from an intellectual perspective, breaking the diagram into the following three categories: 1.) The Mind, 2.) The Heart and 3.) The Intuition or what I will refer to as our “Inner Knowing.” Beginning with the mind we will work our way inward with the practice of meditation, navigating through the heart space, and finally arriving at our “inner knowing” or intuitive core.
The Mind
Initially the mind gravitates toward the outer portion (outside of the blue circle) of the diagram depicting the methods, or procedures for accomplishing or approaching this particular established form of Reiki practice. These provide the Reiki student and practitioner with a systematic set of tools for their Reiki “toolbox.” These tools include what I refer to as the “methods” listed below:
The Reiki Precepts
Visualization Practices
Hands-On Practice
Symbols and Mantras
Reiju
This outer layer involves the mind and utilizes structure to provide a framework whereby an individual may grasp the meaning or the mechanics of applying or practicing Reiki. Without going deeper into experientially understanding the “feelings” associated with these practices, or even deeper into our experience of “inner knowing” these would represent only an empty shell of meaningless ritual. Thus through the practice of meditation we go deeper within to the literal heart of the matter.
The Heart
The heart (shown in red) represents what we will refer to as the “modalities” or particular modes in which the Reiki meditative practice exists, is experienced and expressed. These modes include:
Harmony
Expansion
Patience
Peace
Grounding
Balance
When a student learns the framework or “ritual” of a given practice they are accepting someone else’s knowledge and experience and trusting the end result will eventually yield a deeper understanding and reveal this currently hidden knowledge. Until we go deeper into our meditation practice and actually experience the “feelings” we are only accepting “dogma” at face value. It is in the experiencing of these feelings in our heart space that then makes the learning real for us, bringing us deeper into our own core understanding. This brings us home to ourselves and opens the door to the potential of our practice blossoming into certainty or revealing itself to us as that sense of conviction or “inner knowing”. Once we “feel” this there is no going back to trusting dogma, only our own hearts. This is real learning.
The Intuition or Inner Knowing
Once we have experienced the modes within our own heart space we then move even further inward in our meditative practice to “manifestation” – the core of our meditative practice that clearly demonstrates the ideals of Reiki, integrating theories and abstract ideas and resulting in the experiential realization of:
Compassion
Connection
Healing
Once we have gone deeper into our practice to be able to experience these feelings in our heart space, we have then passed through the process of merely intellectualizing ritual to deep understanding and heartfelt connection to these feelings resulting in compassion, connection and healing. It is only in the manifestation of what we know in our hearts to be true that we can finally realize an inner sense of certainty and conviction. This is our intuition or inner knowing telling us that having gone deep within, through the process of meditation and touching that still core of being, having experientially “felt” this harmony, expansion, patience, peace, grounding and balance can we now go forth and practice what we “know” to be true on an experiential rather than intellectual level.
Jean E. Greenland
SARA Friend
Journey Deep Within, LLC
www.journeydeepwithin.com
