Reiki, Silver, and Bronze

The Reiki Digest hereby presents one of the happiest Reiki stories we've ever heard of. In summary, it goes like this: A boy learns to ride a bicycle, and he loves it, so he practices, practices, and practices until, as a young man, he becomes an up-and-coming pro cyclist. This young man has a couple of run-ins with the law (he has some anger issues), and that doesn't exactly help his career. Then he receives devastating news: he is diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition, and he is forced to retire not only from cycling, but all forms of exercise, at the age of 25.

One day, a friend of this young man happens to be in a cafe, where one of the patrons falls ill. A Reiki practitioner rushes to the person's aid and soon the crisis is over. Observing this incident, the friend asks the Reiki practitioner if she might be able to help his cyclist buddy. She makes no promises but agrees to take on the case, not only treating the ailing cyclist, but teaching him to practice on his own. And he starts feeling better and better, well enough to get back on his bike and slowly, carefully start training again.

Right about the time this young man becomes familiar with the Reiki Precepts (For today only, do not anger, do not worry, be humble, be honest in your work, be compassionate to yourself and others), he gets a new crisis to worry about: his heart condition is improving, but he discovers that he has lost all his savings through bad investments.

He keeps going with the Reiki, and the training, and a group of supporters comes forward to cover his financial needs while he works toward his ultimate goal: an Olympic medal.

He begins winning again, his heart condition under control, and when he heads to Beijing for the Olympics two years after his premature retirement, he brings his Reiki practitioner along with him. He wins the Silver (audio here), and then, with his team, the Bronze. And when he proudly faces the TV cameras after those glorious events, he not only credits Reiki for his accomplishments, he introduces his Reiki practitioner and thanks her in front of the world. (The world, that is, except the United States -- our Olympic coverage is the property of NBC, so we can't see those videos from here).

"Reiki is the the be-all and end-all for me ... it's pretty amazing stuff," he tells reporters.

And he returns in triumph to the pros, all the while training for the 2012 Olympics in London, where he hopes to add a Gold medal to his collection.

To be continued over the next four years. . . .

That's the true-life adventure of the young man we're dubbing the Rei-Kiwi: New Zealand's Hayden Roulston. We covered it all (sort of) as it happened here in The Reiki Digest, so rather than rewriting all that, we'll just let you read it as it happened. But first, we can't resist a brief, hopeful preview of the 2012 Games:

London, 2012 -- Athletes from every nation on earth are converging on this city for the Summer Olympics, bringing with them their hopes, their dreams, their coaches, their trainers, and their Reiki practitioners. Of course, since Kiwi cyclist Hayden Roulston credited Reiki, a natural healing method that originated in early 20th-Century Japan, with his success in recovering from a heart ailment to win two medals in the Beijing Olympics four years ago, many Olympic hopefuls not only receive regular Reiki treatments, they have learned the practice themselves and use it to stay in peak condition mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally.

"It's definitely performance-enhancing, but it's completely natural," said one coach. "We want to help our athletes be as competitive as possible while remaining in 100% compliance with the rules. And Reiki works at least as well as those banned substances, without the side effects. As a matter of fact, a lot of us coaches have become Reiki practitioners ourselves, not only to help us deal with the stress, but so that we can provide treatments on the spot if an athlete needs it during the competition."

"Four years ago, a lot of people thought this was just hocus-pocus," said another coach. "But when Roulston said Reiki had led to his success, we figured we owed it to our teams to look into it. And we decided, what could it hurt? And since all the other teams were doing it, we had to add Reiki to stay competitive."

Roulston, who became a Reiki Master himself in 2010, is in his best form ever and hopes to take at least one Gold this time out.

Meanwhile, all over the world, Reiki practitioners and teachers are doing their best to keep up with the surge of interest in this gentle, hands-on healing practice, not only among athletes but people of all walks of life.

Also to be continued. . . .

Because of the breaking sports news, the anniversary of Reiki founder Mikao Usui's birth, and the fact that the Carnival of Healing set up camp here last Saturday, we've been posting frequently on our web site this past week, so for our e-mail subscribers, we'll just let you read it as it was posted. Roulston is, of course, our Celeb-Reiki this week. Our regular features, including the Reiki Roundup and The Weekly Waka, will resume next week.

Congratulations, Mr. Roulston!