Personal practice Monday - your answers to a reader's question and 2010 poll results

Last Tuesday we featured a question from a reader who was worried that self care would make her sick based on her past experience. Part of her letter said : "I have it in my mind that if i do reiki i will experience pain. i have done it on my stomach before only to have it cause me diarrhea. I have done it on my head, only to get a headache."

We received two replies.

Em said, "This is Em from reikivista.blogspot.com.

There are so many things going on potentially. I would think that Reiki is not the cause of any symptoms, but rather you need to clear your channel so to speak and work on clearing your chakras. The newest Reiki Journal has a nice 10 chakra illustration that can get you started. I am curious if you experience these symptoms if you receive Reiki either in person from someone else or from Reiki sent through distance healing either from yourself (sine you are a level 2) or from someone else. Perhaps your teacher or someone from the Reiki community would be willing to do a free trade of Reiki with you to experiment? Maybe you could tolerate distance healing better? Since you can send it to yourself past, present or future, you might experiment with those modalities and with time. I'd be so curious to know if you sent it to the past when you experienced the headache or stomach ache and then tried hands-on in the present if that would not help. I'm just learning Gendai Reiki (my background is traditional western Reiki) and sme of those exercises may be helpful to you. Best of luck!"

And Charlie wrote, "Hi Jen,



I am also a Level II Usui Reiki practitioner. In my experience, there is no such thing as "overdoing" it - you will only take in as much Reiki as you need, no more - no less. Like Yoga or any other discipline, practice is of the utmost importance. In this case, self-treatment is the CORE of our practice, the very thing that keeps the channel open. Please remember that the root of the word "practitioner" IS "practice". Any increase in symptoms would seem to be Reiki addressing a possibly chronic situation and should subside with continued, regular self-treatment. I would encourage you to make a commitment to carrying out a daily routine of self practice for 21 days (received this idea from Reiki Master / Teacher Pamela Miles) and check back in with us after that.

Here's a link to her blog describing a good basis for doing just that: http://reikiinmedicine.org/daily-practice/how-to-practice-reiki-self-treatment/


You can follow her hand placement suggestions or a use protocol of your own choosing as long as you do it regularly and consistently. I feel that you will see tangible results dusing the 21 days and that you will choose to continue indefinitely.
In Light and Love,


Charlie Mayer
Eight Winds Reiki
www.reikichicagonorthshore.com

Jen replied to her respondants and she's still a little nervous:


"I'm Jen the healer who needs help. I appreciate so much the article and the replies so far.
As far as distant treatment goes, sometimes it works just fine other times it seems to do nothing.
as far as the 21 day reiki thing goes, thats the point. Im worried if I do it, I will end up in bed sick or something. Ive already spent a year, most of it lying down due to candida albicans. It might be worth a shot in small amounts. my problem is one of you says that reiki will only give you what you need, but ive found that not to be true. I did used to do reiki in 2006 every day after my attunements and didnt feel pain at the time but i had less stress then. I love the fact people have took this seriously and want to help. thank you. contact me anytime."

Charlie responded:

Jen,
"Just for today, release all worry." I believe that if you work through it (practice consistently even if you have some temporary discomfort), that it will soon subside. As for worrying about negative effects, any worry is like a prayer or meditation on / for something negative. If your intent is to receive the balancing, healing effects of Reiki, that is what you will get. If, however you are fearful of a different outcome, your intent will be drawn to THAT. We need to "unkink the hose" so to speak, in order to allow the energy to flow. Daily self care is the quickest and most effective way to do just that. Release your fear and worry and PLEASE find a way to practice daily, if even for a few minutes. I truly feel that you will see a positive change in a short time.

If you have any further words to reassure Jen, please add them here in the comments box below or in the comments box of the original post. We'll  post our two cents right here, next Monday.