When I teach the children's class of Reiki, I often begin with explaining about energy and ways we help one another. It is like looking at a rainbow with its many colors. Each color with the brilliance it holds, shining a bright yellow that only Yellow can do. Or Green, or blue, etc. Reiki has often been associated with a very deep purple, though some have stated that Reiki has no color since it is of all colors. Both are true, I believe.
But here we are, learning and seeing these wonderful colored bands of light. When combined they create a rainbow. Without the combination, they are simply colored bands by themselves across the sky. Here is a simple explanation of a rainbow. Each typical rain drop is rounded allowing for light to enter the drop and as light enters in, it bends with the shape of the rain drop. Colored bands of light bend at different degrees. Violet bends the most and red the least. Because they bend at different degrees, when the sun is shining behind the observer and we are at just the right angle from below, we see the light layer in bands of color, producing the red to violet effect we call a rainbow.
When translated to energy work, I explain that we are going to learn about one of the colors today called Reiki. It is a simple way to engage children and their parents into understanding that there are many ways of doing things, like there are many colors in a rainbow, and for today we are going to focus on one of them. At the last Reiki Share, Reiki practitioners all agreed that while we understand we come with different perspectives and have different expertise, when we gather, it is a way of really delving into that color of Reiki for a bit. A way to dive into the energy all the way, be with it, swim in it, drink it up. It is wonderful. It does not take away from what they already know. If fact, it has a tendency to confirm for them their connection to whatever they call their higher source. It allows them the confidence to know that yes, you can do many things and it all works together.
Not only do I love teaching Reiki and working with it, but I also employ other modalities in my work. What I find as I am working is whatever helps the most at the time, whatever assists the healing, THAT is what is needed in that moment. My students know I use the vocabulary of modalities or snippets of things I have learned along the way because it facilitates the intuition, the growth, the opening of awareness, and the blessings of living more fully.
I happen to love working with the energetic side of mental, emotional, physical, spiritual issues. Does that mean that physical changes are not necessary? On the contrary, they are needed often. If I know my body does not like a food, it does not make sense to continue to eat it. Using tools from several angles/perspectives may provide enough information for the person to begin to feel the difference and make a difference.
To me, any tool that facilitates healing is a tool worth using or having. That does not mean I have to know or have every tool. What it does mean is knowing when a tool might benefit someone, you give them the name of the practitioners, the modality, the book, etc. It is allowing one to take a look at the whole rainbow and suggest a bit of green or orange when appropriate. Bring in what is needed at the time.
Cranial Sacral uses a term called the Inner Physician. Practitioners learn to connect to the divine doctoral authority of THAT body; no one else will have the innate knowledge that Inner being will have. It is a wonderful way to connect to the person beyond the personality and ego. It is a wonderful way to use vocabulary of what I feel I have connected to on an Intuitive level, this just gives it a name. It is kind of like using two colors at once: Reiki and cranial sacral.
But ultimately, when you look at the colored bands that make up this gorgeous rainbow, what are all those individual bands made of? They are all made out of the same sun and the same water. Thus, the source of all beneficial healing modalities are ultimately the same as well. Same sun, same water, same source of energy. What I call it and what you call it may differ, but it is the same. Purple and violet are different and yet the same.
My personal spiritual goal is to learn about each color in the rainbow and move from seeing them as individually colored bands to seeing the edges soften and blend becoming one. I personally am moving to soften, to blend the tools I know and have available. To bring them together, allowing myself to experience the gentle flow from one color to another with magnificent ease and to feel each vignette as natural as the rainbow's true, pure organic place of Oneness in beauty.
Did you know you have to be at a certain angle in order to see the bending of the light in a rainbow? That means that changing the angle can change the rainbow as I see it. It means that the person next to me can be at a different angle degree and see, in essence, a different rainbow! BUT, still, same sun, same water.
So my friends, if you are comfortable in hanging out in one color for a while, that is wonderful! Learn about it, love it, Be it. When you are ready, begin to blend in with the color next to you, add to who you are, soften a bit at the edges, let a little of yourself go forward and accept a little of what is ahead to come to you.
Use whatever modality creates healing. Giving up is not healing, surrendering the light of who you are is not healing; allowing a change by participating in the bending of light is healing, letting go of resistance, one color blending with another gains more when it gives a little. And be patient with yourself. Not everyone needs to know all the colors of the rainbow to understand or view the beauty of life. You just need a willingness to look up.
~Bright Star
Copyright 2008 all articles are the personal property of Cheryl Kaufmann and Bright Star Inspirations. Sharing information is permitted without written consent but must be accompanied by acknowledgement of the source via this website, author's name and/or business.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
September 2008 A Reiki Article: Personal Practice and Development
When learning Reiki, students are taught how to do Reiki for
themselves. In order to do this, what I call the “talky” part
takes place with the exchange of information from words,
explanations, clarifications and texts from manuals are
discussed. As a teacher, I find the information fascinating.
It is amazing to me that we have a modality with divine
intelligence and yet in order to understand it, words are used
to explain . . . in the beginning. Being adept to the
information is vital for one to teach it and in order to get a
gist of what one is working with. It can be a challenge to
explain the unexplainable (which sometimes happens with
deep spiritual experiences). Then we move to the “fun” part
which is all hands-on practice. At first it may be
mechanical, but once the system is learned the intuitive part
takes over and the fun really begins – the energy called Reiki
teaches you.
I have always felt that in order for one to best understand
Reiki is to take a class. I can say many words about Reiki,
but ultimately, the experience is where the true
understanding takes place. First the mechanics are learned,
and then the practice ensues. Personal practice is expected
at all levels. As a matter of fact, it is emphasized at First
Degree. Personal development expands at Second Degree
with the mental and emotional aspects as they are now
expanding, clearing and refining. At the Master level, a
different sense of spirituality takes place; an understanding
beyond the RI and RII levels that can only be attained after
much practice.
I have found that people come to Reiki for one of two
reasons: physical healing or Spiritual development. While
one path may have taken them to Reiki, both are present in
working with Reiki. If a person does not know why they are
coming to Reiki, I have asked them to wait, otherwise they
will not absorb the information nor will they use it. There
are teachers who will attune any who asks them. I am not
one of those teachers. I want you to know what your
intention is in coming to Reiki. My classes are not for the
curious, they are for those who wish to help themselves and
others and for those who wish to expand their Spiritual
connections. If you are coming out of curiosity, there are
many weekend classes that are less money and less time that
you are welcome to go to.
There is controversy about Reiki, how it is taught and who
has the most information. By researching, I continue to learn
and I am finding there are so many ways to learn and teach
Reiki. For me, teaching Reiki is an ongoing process. Each
student that I encounter usually helps me tweak my lessons,
how I approach the items or how to better improve the next
time. What a gift – to always be learning while teaching.
All students, at all levels, continue to benefit from each
person who has gone before them and hopefully will see the
value in their own presence in teaching me and learning from
their classmates as well.
One of things I valve most about my own teachings is that I
practice Reiki. I live it in my daily life, I use Reiki on my
body, with my children and with family, I send it to stranded
drivers, ambulances and others along the side of the street
(and my kids do the same). I Reiki events, situations, food,
do distance sending, hold private sessions, plus offer Reiki
to the animals around the house. We have had 4 sets of baby
doves born in our back porch despite the in and out traffic.
Now some of my students say that they, too, do these things.
Great!
I want to stress the value in working with others. I do not
expect my students to all quit their jobs, buy a massage table
and put out a shingle that they do Reiki. It does not work that
way (although some have done this!). I got into Reiki to help
myself, to heal my physical body. I believed strongly
enough that there was something I could do to help myself.
Over time, a path developed for me that I simply choose to
create my career around. Not everyone will feel that way.
However, that should not stop anyone from practicing.
Practice is where you learn about Reiki. It is not about the
words I share. I can give you the mechanics, the ways of
the energy, but the only way a Reiki student can truly
understand Reiki, it to allow Reiki to teach the student.
I am but a guide and one who can express and share the
journey in as much as I have travelled before the student, but
ultimately, it is the student who must allow themselves to
connect with the energy. I can impart the essence of Reiki,
but it is the student who allows Reiki to expand through
personal practice and development.
There is a soft and subtle line that creates confusion among
students. It is the line where it is not black and white. There
is a space between the black and the white, a space where
there is quietness, a stillness, an opening. It is in these
spaces where understanding takes place. It is where
connections to Reiki’s divine guidance is abundant, flowing
and it is here where change takes place. If a client or a
student still maintains the idea that all must fall into the
black or white category, then all I teach with Reiki will be
nothing but theory. It will be words, it will be hand
positions. It will be a great idea that they can express with
words, but they will have no understanding of the energy.
Understanding the energy is vital to moving upward
(inward/outward) with Reiki, it is vital in understanding
oneself. While we are here on Earth, our physical bodies
will have physical experiences. It is why we are here. Here
in this physical place in a physical body we need to practice
in physical ways. Work with each other. Reiki has so much
to teach you in the bridge between the physical and the non-
physical.
I love hearing the creativity of students using Reiki.
Continue this! I have found some of my favorite ways of
sending distance healing was by getting creative when the
circumstances were unusual. Beyond that, do work with
each other. Those we know very well, like family and
friends, benefit greatly from our blessing of providing a
space for Reiki. Working with those we do not know
intimately (beyond family) can teach you much. Those we
don’t know very well can teach us to allow the miracles to
take place without direction or expectation from us (because
we will not know their back story as well as family).
An example I gave recently was like riding a horse. To be a
really good rider, you have to learn the basics of riding and
then once you get on the horse, you have to relax into the
rhythm of the stride of the horse. The horse teaches you
which way to lean, which way to bounce. Otherwise you
will just bop up and down on the horse because you are not
riding WITH the horse, you are simply riding on TOP of it.
I do not believe that all things that are given to us, like
attunements with no instruction, count as mastery. I believe
mastery takes place with those who have reached an
understanding with the spiritual essence (and even that
constantly evolves and expands, it is never stagnate). Those
who have received master attunements but do not possess the
understanding of the energy are not masters, in my opinion.
Honorary as the title may be, it is in the practice where
mastery takes place. Practice and deep understanding. I
have learned from many that just because one has a title does
not make them equivalent to the energy behind the title.
I encountered a woman once who asked me, “I do not
understand how one can be a master after a few hours in a
class?” It is not about the class, it is about the practice
afterward. It is the development.
For you, my students and those interested in Reiki, master
the level to which you have studied, allowing the unfolding
of who you are to be revealed. Practice with others, they
have much to teach you. Find the space between black and
white and see what Reiki has to show you there. Personal
practice and development are key to you working with
Reiki, opening your awareness, expanding your
consciousness and finding a deeper Spiritual connection.
Without personal practice and development, it is simply
mechanics.
May all who gaze up on this receive a wash of Reiki to bless
them, encourage them and open them in ways previously
unrealized.
~Bright Star
Copyright 2008 Cheryl Kaufmann and Bright Star Inspirations
themselves. In order to do this, what I call the “talky” part
takes place with the exchange of information from words,
explanations, clarifications and texts from manuals are
discussed. As a teacher, I find the information fascinating.
It is amazing to me that we have a modality with divine
intelligence and yet in order to understand it, words are used
to explain . . . in the beginning. Being adept to the
information is vital for one to teach it and in order to get a
gist of what one is working with. It can be a challenge to
explain the unexplainable (which sometimes happens with
deep spiritual experiences). Then we move to the “fun” part
which is all hands-on practice. At first it may be
mechanical, but once the system is learned the intuitive part
takes over and the fun really begins – the energy called Reiki
teaches you.
I have always felt that in order for one to best understand
Reiki is to take a class. I can say many words about Reiki,
but ultimately, the experience is where the true
understanding takes place. First the mechanics are learned,
and then the practice ensues. Personal practice is expected
at all levels. As a matter of fact, it is emphasized at First
Degree. Personal development expands at Second Degree
with the mental and emotional aspects as they are now
expanding, clearing and refining. At the Master level, a
different sense of spirituality takes place; an understanding
beyond the RI and RII levels that can only be attained after
much practice.
I have found that people come to Reiki for one of two
reasons: physical healing or Spiritual development. While
one path may have taken them to Reiki, both are present in
working with Reiki. If a person does not know why they are
coming to Reiki, I have asked them to wait, otherwise they
will not absorb the information nor will they use it. There
are teachers who will attune any who asks them. I am not
one of those teachers. I want you to know what your
intention is in coming to Reiki. My classes are not for the
curious, they are for those who wish to help themselves and
others and for those who wish to expand their Spiritual
connections. If you are coming out of curiosity, there are
many weekend classes that are less money and less time that
you are welcome to go to.
There is controversy about Reiki, how it is taught and who
has the most information. By researching, I continue to learn
and I am finding there are so many ways to learn and teach
Reiki. For me, teaching Reiki is an ongoing process. Each
student that I encounter usually helps me tweak my lessons,
how I approach the items or how to better improve the next
time. What a gift – to always be learning while teaching.
All students, at all levels, continue to benefit from each
person who has gone before them and hopefully will see the
value in their own presence in teaching me and learning from
their classmates as well.
One of things I valve most about my own teachings is that I
practice Reiki. I live it in my daily life, I use Reiki on my
body, with my children and with family, I send it to stranded
drivers, ambulances and others along the side of the street
(and my kids do the same). I Reiki events, situations, food,
do distance sending, hold private sessions, plus offer Reiki
to the animals around the house. We have had 4 sets of baby
doves born in our back porch despite the in and out traffic.
Now some of my students say that they, too, do these things.
Great!
I want to stress the value in working with others. I do not
expect my students to all quit their jobs, buy a massage table
and put out a shingle that they do Reiki. It does not work that
way (although some have done this!). I got into Reiki to help
myself, to heal my physical body. I believed strongly
enough that there was something I could do to help myself.
Over time, a path developed for me that I simply choose to
create my career around. Not everyone will feel that way.
However, that should not stop anyone from practicing.
Practice is where you learn about Reiki. It is not about the
words I share. I can give you the mechanics, the ways of
the energy, but the only way a Reiki student can truly
understand Reiki, it to allow Reiki to teach the student.
I am but a guide and one who can express and share the
journey in as much as I have travelled before the student, but
ultimately, it is the student who must allow themselves to
connect with the energy. I can impart the essence of Reiki,
but it is the student who allows Reiki to expand through
personal practice and development.
There is a soft and subtle line that creates confusion among
students. It is the line where it is not black and white. There
is a space between the black and the white, a space where
there is quietness, a stillness, an opening. It is in these
spaces where understanding takes place. It is where
connections to Reiki’s divine guidance is abundant, flowing
and it is here where change takes place. If a client or a
student still maintains the idea that all must fall into the
black or white category, then all I teach with Reiki will be
nothing but theory. It will be words, it will be hand
positions. It will be a great idea that they can express with
words, but they will have no understanding of the energy.
Understanding the energy is vital to moving upward
(inward/outward) with Reiki, it is vital in understanding
oneself. While we are here on Earth, our physical bodies
will have physical experiences. It is why we are here. Here
in this physical place in a physical body we need to practice
in physical ways. Work with each other. Reiki has so much
to teach you in the bridge between the physical and the non-
physical.
I love hearing the creativity of students using Reiki.
Continue this! I have found some of my favorite ways of
sending distance healing was by getting creative when the
circumstances were unusual. Beyond that, do work with
each other. Those we know very well, like family and
friends, benefit greatly from our blessing of providing a
space for Reiki. Working with those we do not know
intimately (beyond family) can teach you much. Those we
don’t know very well can teach us to allow the miracles to
take place without direction or expectation from us (because
we will not know their back story as well as family).
An example I gave recently was like riding a horse. To be a
really good rider, you have to learn the basics of riding and
then once you get on the horse, you have to relax into the
rhythm of the stride of the horse. The horse teaches you
which way to lean, which way to bounce. Otherwise you
will just bop up and down on the horse because you are not
riding WITH the horse, you are simply riding on TOP of it.
I do not believe that all things that are given to us, like
attunements with no instruction, count as mastery. I believe
mastery takes place with those who have reached an
understanding with the spiritual essence (and even that
constantly evolves and expands, it is never stagnate). Those
who have received master attunements but do not possess the
understanding of the energy are not masters, in my opinion.
Honorary as the title may be, it is in the practice where
mastery takes place. Practice and deep understanding. I
have learned from many that just because one has a title does
not make them equivalent to the energy behind the title.
I encountered a woman once who asked me, “I do not
understand how one can be a master after a few hours in a
class?” It is not about the class, it is about the practice
afterward. It is the development.
For you, my students and those interested in Reiki, master
the level to which you have studied, allowing the unfolding
of who you are to be revealed. Practice with others, they
have much to teach you. Find the space between black and
white and see what Reiki has to show you there. Personal
practice and development are key to you working with
Reiki, opening your awareness, expanding your
consciousness and finding a deeper Spiritual connection.
Without personal practice and development, it is simply
mechanics.
May all who gaze up on this receive a wash of Reiki to bless
them, encourage them and open them in ways previously
unrealized.
~Bright Star
Copyright 2008 Cheryl Kaufmann and Bright Star Inspirations
The Trek
The Trek.
Most of you have heard of the Sierra Club. This is a club
dedicated to items of Nature: preservation, appreciation,
visitation, etc. Sometimes groups gather specifically to go
on nature treks or to visit natural preservations and parks,
etc. Sometime in the last year or so, I was given
visualization about such a trek.
Imagine you have embarked upon a hike up a beautiful
mountain. You have carefully packed your backpack with
exactly what you need, leaving plenty of room for small
treasures you might find along the way – perhaps a shiny
rock, an interesting leaf, a chip of pyrite just for fun (yes, I
know most nature hikes stress to take nothing and leave nothing but the whisper
of your footsteps, this is for visualization). Along your hike, you are
traveling with others who have signed up for this particular
hike on this particular mountain during this particular
season. It’s beautiful! You feel clear, strong, excited and
ready.
Your first steps are easy, fun and filled with great
anticipation for the journey. Part way up the mountain you
encounter one of your comrades. They are struggling with
their water bottle in their hand and hiking. You think to
yourself, I have plenty of room in my backpack, I could hold
their water bottle with no problem. So you offer and they
accept this help. They feel lighter and quickly move along
their journey. Meanwhile, you pass another who is also
struggling with their water bottle and the hike. You think,
again, how you have plenty of room and again offer to place
it in your backpack. They gratefully accept. And while you
begin to feel the added weight, you still move along readily.
Further up the mountain, two others are struggling with their
water bottles and you think to yourself, "I am strong. This
journey so far has been fine. I could surely take their water
bottles in my left hand and my right hand. I am a strong
climber, I can do this." You offer, they accept. The other
climbers, now lightened in load, move along at a fast clip
and are now far ahead of you.
Here your journey changes. The feeling of obligation takes
over – you MUST reach the top now because you have
everyone’s water bottles! What if they get thirsty? With the
sense of responsibility the journey is not about joy, personal
treasures, appreciation, and taking one’s time – it has shifted
to “must reach the top – they need me.” The journey is not
for you anymore, it is for them. You have taken your joy out
of the mix.
Let’s take a look at a suggestion to change this scenario.
Your first steps are easy, fun and filled with great
anticipation for the journey. Part way up the mountain you
encounter one of your comrades. They are struggling with
their water bottles in their hand. You think to yourself, I
have plenty of room in my backpack, I could hold their water
bottle with no problem. But instead, you go to them, and
perhaps suggest taking a look at their own backpack; maybe
with a little rearranging they can fit their water bottle into
their OWN backpack instead of holding onto it. Or maybe
they didn’t see the side pocket perfect for water bottles. Or
perhaps, there is no room, and they are the last one on this
hike, everyone has moved ahead. You could offer to walk
beside them for a while.
Here you have not taken on anything that is not part of your
journey and you have guided and helped in empowering
ways. Sometimes, the simple presence of another is enough
to give a boost, a jump start, a second wind, and yet their
journey is still their journey. Help arrives in many ways; it
does not mean we take on items not meant for our trip. In
life, it can mean simply not volunteering for every club or
event (room mom, den mother, Girl Scout leader,
spokesperson, volunteering to get other people’s lunch for
them, etc), nor getting involved in others drama, yet helping
out when you can with what you can. Pick and choose what
you want to participate in. What does your intuition say?
Enjoy your journey! Enjoy the trek you have signed yourself
up for! Guide when needed, slow down when nudged, assist
as necessary, but remember this is a journey meant for you to
take in the scenery just as much as anyone else in this group.
Do not let guilt, fear or worry become your walking mate (it
will really slow you down!). Joy is your guide, Love is
your leader, follow them.
Most of you have heard of the Sierra Club. This is a club
dedicated to items of Nature: preservation, appreciation,
visitation, etc. Sometimes groups gather specifically to go
on nature treks or to visit natural preservations and parks,
etc. Sometime in the last year or so, I was given
visualization about such a trek.
Imagine you have embarked upon a hike up a beautiful
mountain. You have carefully packed your backpack with
exactly what you need, leaving plenty of room for small
treasures you might find along the way – perhaps a shiny
rock, an interesting leaf, a chip of pyrite just for fun (yes, I
know most nature hikes stress to take nothing and leave nothing but the whisper
of your footsteps, this is for visualization). Along your hike, you are
traveling with others who have signed up for this particular
hike on this particular mountain during this particular
season. It’s beautiful! You feel clear, strong, excited and
ready.
Your first steps are easy, fun and filled with great
anticipation for the journey. Part way up the mountain you
encounter one of your comrades. They are struggling with
their water bottle in their hand and hiking. You think to
yourself, I have plenty of room in my backpack, I could hold
their water bottle with no problem. So you offer and they
accept this help. They feel lighter and quickly move along
their journey. Meanwhile, you pass another who is also
struggling with their water bottle and the hike. You think,
again, how you have plenty of room and again offer to place
it in your backpack. They gratefully accept. And while you
begin to feel the added weight, you still move along readily.
Further up the mountain, two others are struggling with their
water bottles and you think to yourself, "I am strong. This
journey so far has been fine. I could surely take their water
bottles in my left hand and my right hand. I am a strong
climber, I can do this." You offer, they accept. The other
climbers, now lightened in load, move along at a fast clip
and are now far ahead of you.
Here your journey changes. The feeling of obligation takes
over – you MUST reach the top now because you have
everyone’s water bottles! What if they get thirsty? With the
sense of responsibility the journey is not about joy, personal
treasures, appreciation, and taking one’s time – it has shifted
to “must reach the top – they need me.” The journey is not
for you anymore, it is for them. You have taken your joy out
of the mix.
Let’s take a look at a suggestion to change this scenario.
Your first steps are easy, fun and filled with great
anticipation for the journey. Part way up the mountain you
encounter one of your comrades. They are struggling with
their water bottles in their hand. You think to yourself, I
have plenty of room in my backpack, I could hold their water
bottle with no problem. But instead, you go to them, and
perhaps suggest taking a look at their own backpack; maybe
with a little rearranging they can fit their water bottle into
their OWN backpack instead of holding onto it. Or maybe
they didn’t see the side pocket perfect for water bottles. Or
perhaps, there is no room, and they are the last one on this
hike, everyone has moved ahead. You could offer to walk
beside them for a while.
Here you have not taken on anything that is not part of your
journey and you have guided and helped in empowering
ways. Sometimes, the simple presence of another is enough
to give a boost, a jump start, a second wind, and yet their
journey is still their journey. Help arrives in many ways; it
does not mean we take on items not meant for our trip. In
life, it can mean simply not volunteering for every club or
event (room mom, den mother, Girl Scout leader,
spokesperson, volunteering to get other people’s lunch for
them, etc), nor getting involved in others drama, yet helping
out when you can with what you can. Pick and choose what
you want to participate in. What does your intuition say?
Enjoy your journey! Enjoy the trek you have signed yourself
up for! Guide when needed, slow down when nudged, assist
as necessary, but remember this is a journey meant for you to
take in the scenery just as much as anyone else in this group.
Do not let guilt, fear or worry become your walking mate (it
will really slow you down!). Joy is your guide, Love is
your leader, follow them.
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