Mari Hall shares with you the Options for Practice

 

Dear Friends,

During the Usui Sensei 21 Days of Reiki, we co-create a virtual Retreat space, a forum for Reiki healing. The Usui Sensei 21 Days Retreat is a do-it-yourself process. Below is a discussion of the types of practice options for doing your/our Retreat.

 

Forethoughts for Beginners

If you are new to intensive energy work and retreats, please consider these recommendations and thoughts:

 

When undertaking a lot of spiritual or healing work, such as a lot of meditation, do so in consultation with an experienced person. Start simply. Don’t make drastic changes in diet for more than several days without supervision. A Retreat is a moment-by-moment, day-by-day practice. Even one day of relative quiet and reflection is a wonderful thing. If you “miss” a day of Retreat due to distractions, that can be a valuable learning experience. Spirituality includes the everyday and the sublime.

 

Remember the first two Reiki Principles: Just for today, I will…
Let go of Worry ~ Let go of Anger

Don’t resist and don’t dwell on any experience of negativity or obstacles that might arise… pace yourself. Just take time to let Reiki be more central in your life. Be in the Retreat moment by moment and day by day… starting over each new day with a beginner’s mind, a mind open to new experiences.

Keep a balance of activity and inwardness that is right for you.

When you settle into a regular practice of Reiki and a spiritual practice for some time, wonderful things can happen. At the end of a Retreat with a lot of spiritual practices, plan for a “re-entry” time of a day or two of gentle normal activity.

Healing Intentions & Prayers

You can make a healing list for using affirmations and Reiki in Absentia.
In general, you can say a prayer of your choice and hold the intentions of the Retreat for 21 days.
Here are some sample intentions for:

 

Individual Healing and Growth

 

In addition to doing Reiki on yourself and getting appropriate health care, you can choose to focus on:

• a body/mind area for healing

• a life direction purpose to clarify

• developing an affirmation to strengthen a healthy behavior

• releasing an unhealthy one, giving you a general focus area for insight

 

If you make a time commitment for your practices and healing work, it could facilitate a deeper Retreat. Be easy on yourself if you miss some practice time or stop; just start again…

 

Our group Reiki in Absentia healing

 

In general, at a time convenient to you, please hold the intention of offering Reiki in Absentia to Mother Earth, our communities, our Reiki circles, and each other for the highest good and as it is accepted. Here is one way to visualize this:

 

In starting, we can visualize Mother Earth (or have a picture) and intend healing for Mother Earth, our communities, our Reiki circles, and each other. We can further intend spiritual growth for all of us and that we grow a field of healing Reiki.

During your Absentia healing sessions, you can visualize yourself connected to a field of love and light around Mother Earth. You might visualize a sphere of light beings around Mother Earth and feel all of us amongst them. Visualize the field of light and love intensified about yourself and flowing from yourself to the Mother Earth and any healing subjects on which you focus.

In closing, feel one with love and light within, above and about our Mother. Melt into Love and into our Mother. Then rest a bit in the glow of this light.

Offer your healing at a time that works for you. An option is to offer it at 12:00 noon Eastern Standard Time (16:00 Greenwich Mean Time). Some folks on Retreat will be synchronizing our offering at that time. If you choose another time, you might wish to time-capsule (intend that the healing harmonize with those offering Reiki at that time each day).

 

Opening prayers

 

Here is a simple prayer that could be used before your Absentia healing sessions:
We pray for healing and awakening for ourselves and our world, so that we may learn to trust unconditionally in Divine harmony and act with compassion in all we do.

With humility and gratitude, we build a network of light, uniting with each other in love, to serve the highest good of all concerned. We give thanks for the blessings and assistance of Divine Grace and the highest and most holy spiritual guides.

Here is another longer prayer that could be adapted to your beliefs to intend a connection to spiritual blessings in Reiki healing:

 

Divine Being, Mother-Father Goddess-God,
We pray together for you to be with us now,
To bless this virtual Usui Sensei 21 day Retreat with sacred healing energies,
To fill our hearts and minds with your loving Grace,
To weave a field of loving light to heal and bless our Mother Earth,
our communities, our Retreat friends, and ourselves.
We are deeply grateful to be here sharing the profound gift of Reiki.
We ask our spiritual teachers to be present,
For Mikao Usui and our Reiki master lineage to bless us.
May we attune to our Innermost Self and
open to the blessings of Divine Spirit,
May our hearts open to all their love,
May our minds open to their wisdom,
May our will be turned to the path of light.
We give deep thanks for this opportunity
and intend that these Divine blessings flow onward and forward
in our lives of service and growth and love.
We pray that it is so.

 

Practices

 

Foremost, follow your heart and wisely grounded intuitions about the practice. Do what you feel works well with the focus of the Usui Sensei 21 Days on healing and growth in Reiki.

It is recommended to pick a couple of practices or “ways of being” as a foundation of your Retreat and to make a modest time commitment to those. Add other ways as you are so guided. Here are some practices to consider:

 

• A full body self-Reiki session once a day; if it is a real struggle to do an hour, do a half hour.Share hands-on Reiki daily with family, friends, pets, plants, etc.Read the Five Reiki Principles each day. Give thanks in your way for the blessing of Reiki. Contemplate the meaning of one principle (at a time) in your daily activities. For example, make a conscious practice of being kind in your heart, thoughts, and actions to everyone you meet.

• Offer Reiki in Absentia healing to Mother Earth and the Retreat as discussed above.Perhaps save a second Reiki in Absentia healing time during the day for your personal Absentia healing work.

• Organize a Reiki marathon (with an experienced Reiki teacher) and/or a regular Reiki Sharing Circle.

• Increase your time and/or periods of meditation, prayer, contemplation, etc.

• Read sacred books.

• For folks new to spiritual practice periods, find a teacher and start simple—maybe 10 minutes aday for contemplation, meditation, etc.

• Keep a journal of experiences, poems, insights, etc.

• In finding time to do extra Reiki and spiritual practice, this might be a good time to suspend watching TV, reading the whole newspaper, etc.

• This might be a good time to give up smoking or another addiction. If you have an addiction, we recommend working with a counselor and/or enlightened health care provider too.

• Spend more time in nature.

 

General Focal Points

 

As we settle into quiet spaces, here are seven questions for healing and insight to consider in these days of the Retreat. Each of these points speaks to a specific aspect of our being. It could be helpful to focus on one or two of these questions during the Retreat. These questions can be approached in general ways, being mindful of this sphere of yourself (e.g., if dealing with physical healing, name the issue of healing, and then when doing Reiki rest in mindfulness of the healing of the body).

 

General Focal Points for healing and contemplation:

• Sensory Awareness

• What is my physicality telling me I need for healing and how does that resonate with my energy work experience? Harmonious Life Energy

• When are my passions and life-force in harmony with Spirit—and how does this relate to the practice of Reiki? Self-Inventory

• What is needed to remember how our process evolves in the practice of Reiki, a being art form? Empathy

• When am I most loving and in harmony with others? How does this relate to the practice of Reiki—and to the living global community? Visualization

• What would it be like to go about life intuitively in resonance with compassionate energy medicine? Awareness

• What’s the way to best express Reiki given my process and interconnection with physical and energetic realms? Wisdom of the Elders

 

What would the great awakened geniuses of the world and my innermost self [this phrase added] have to say about our practice of Reiki and its place in the global community?

These general points are adapted from the focal points for growth presented in One Degree Beyond—A Reiki Journey into Energy Medicine, by janeAnne Narrin.
In our ongoing sharing of Reiki,

 

May we settle deeply into the source of Love and Light…

 

Love and Blessings,

 

Mari