If you took a Reiki class at some point in your life and then never got around to practicing, I hear you. Life gets in the way, emergencies and pressures of work and family. I have even heard one person said she didn’t continue because she couldn’t stop eating pork (I never said you could not eat pork!).
Sometimes students apologize to me personally for not practicing, as if I were their disappointed parent. This practice is never about the teacher – in this case, me. It’s always about YOU and Spirit (God, Reiki, Source, etc.). Whatever you decide to do or not to do, that is 100% on you.

The wounded Inner Child would rather just be a disappointment to the parent again and again, as a learned way of getting attention and staying in this unconscious power dynamic.
To me, Reiki is all about reclaiming your Power. It never is me healing someone (or anyone, healing someone). It has always been about showing the right tools and strategies and creating the space for the magic to happen, where the practitioners find their own answers thereby taking a step towards sovereignty in all realms.
As I contemplate on how to best serve the greatest whole, I was guided to create just such space for those looking to either reconnect to Reiki or to deepen their practice. My five-week online Reiki Retreat starts next week on 15 December (14 depending on where you are).
We will be practicing Japanese Reiki breathing and palm-healing together on a weekly basis. I have purposely made the schedule light to honor everyone’s time. But as many of you know, one hour of focused practice can radiate throughout the week, the month, a lifetime.
Photo by Cathy Chiong at Reikicon 2021
Not counting visits to the dentist and dermatologist, yesterday was my first time to have a medical consultation since 2015. That’s the year I learned to practice Reiki on myself. Two days ago I felt my left eye was swollen, did Reiki on it, but the next day it got worse. So I went to see an ophthalmologist, and now am undergoing treatment.
Of course I had to look into the spiritual meaning of this, since as energy workers we know that illness starts on the energetic plane, and when left uncleared, slows down into the physical form. Louise Hay is one of my reference for illness and corresponding spiritual meaning. According to her, eye infections occur when you don’t like what you are seeing in your life. Bingo! Around the time the stye erupted, I had a very unpleasant interaction with a family member that brought up all sorts of old wounds and triggers. It was a humbling experience, because I was beginning to feel almost smug about where I was in life - a very good place, filled with peace, friendship, and inner spaciousness. And then Boom! Universe drops a bomb and all of a sudden you are down in the depths of your shadows of shame, inadequacy, questioning self-worth and integrity. WOW.
So what now? Nurture myself into healing once again. Embrace the lessons this relationship continues to provide for me, reminding me that healing is a LIFE-LONG PROCESS.
I am grateful to Christopher Luard for his Equanimity retreat, the perfect container for this inner exploration. I allow myself to be curious about whatever arises in my world – even when it comes to people you love and know love you but behave display very hurtful behaviour. How can I truly accept this and practice unconditional love? Big lessons, small stye, in my eye.
A few weeks ago, during my Gene Key retreat, I did a meditation (more like a Shamanic Journey, really) embodying the Pathway of Breakthrough.
During the meditation, we received a gift. The gift I received, to my surprise, was a rune. I felt some disappointment, even irritation, because I hadn’t used runes since my college days. The first thought that came to me was “another system/lineage/tradition... as if I needed that.”
But I saw the rune very distinctly, and after that thought came and went, I heard a voice saying “this is Odin’s rune.” I decided I would look up the meaning of the rune, that clearly appeared on a polished emerald, so I could not ignore the message.

The rune I received is called Ansuz. It is a rune of communication, of air, of the power of the word. Maggie Cunnigham, of Magin Rose, even compared it to the the Japanese Kotodama, which I was introduced to in 2016, as part of my Reiki master training. With Kotodama, Reiki, or life force energy, is transmitted through voice and sound.

Traditions throughout the world point to the power of the spoken word. It is said that fools blabber on mindlessly, but that keepers of wisdom use their words very sparingly.
“Be impeccable with your word” is the first agreement in Don Miguel Ruiz’s classic book, “the Four Agreements.”
If each word you spoke were a spell, how would you communicate differently?