reikijoyliving

It’s the third day of the New Year. How are you doing on your resolutions? Need a little boost. Then envision yourself actually sticking to your resolutions (working out in the gym, eating healthier, whatever you resolved to do) and send a little reiki to yourself. Better yet, play with time. Send reiki to yourself in the future, giving yourself a boost while you fulfill your resolutions.

Have you fallen off the wagon? Then send reiki to yourself back in time, forgiving yourself for not sticking to your resolutions. Maybe, you won’t feel so bad about them and will get back on track.

Or maybe, you’ll decide next year would be better.

I love finding new ways to incorporate reiki into my daily life. Recently, I’ve been helping out at the barn where I board my horse by doing evening chores. One of those chores is filling the water buckets (with a hose, thank goodness. Toting buckets is hard work!).  So I’m on my last bucket of the night when I get the tingly-hands reiki feeling. I look at the water, and at the hose in my hand, and think, “you know, this would be a great application of reiki.” Adding reiki to the water that I’m filling each bucket with. I was on the last bucket, so I didn’t get a chance to test my theory, but I think tomorrow night, when I feed again, I will.

I think giving reiki to a pet while at the vet’s office, even if it’s for routine treatments (as Tigger’s visit was last week) helps on a couple of levels. First, reiki is first and foremost a modality for relaxation and stress relief. Even though Tigger is a laidback cat, I’m sure he felt some stress at being at the vet’s office. He knows when he goes there usually he gets poked. Tigger is diabetic so if he is at the vet’s office it is either for yearly shots, to have his blood work drawn, or because he’s gone off his food and just getting checked out. (I find it interesting that when he comes back from the vet his appetite always picks up as if to say, “I’m fine! I’m fine!”)Secondly, I think the closeness of giving reiki does tell the pet that you’re there. Plus, if your energy is calm, which is something reiki helps with, then the animal doesn’t pick up on any stress from you. If “mom” isn’t worried, then the pet doesn’t need to be worried either.

Finally, yes, reiki is also considered to help facilitate healing. So, if the animal is at the vet’s office and in need of actual healing, then the reiki can certainly help. Even if it’s by helping the pet to relax enough so the medicine can do its work.

Tonight is New Year’s Eve and I bet many of us are thinking about our resolutions. There’s one thing you can do right now to give your resolutions a boost: send them reiki. That’s right, you can send your resolutions reiki. Write them down on a piece of paper and fold it in quarters (or small enough to fit between your hands.). Hold the paper in your hands, sending reiki to them. While you’re doing this, you can envision you achieving your resolutions, making sure to send reiki to that image as well. It’s a good way to give your goals a boost and ring in the new year right-with reiki!

Yesterday was Tigger’s (17yo diabetic, hyperthyroid cat) annual checkup. We retested his thyroid, gave him his annual vaccines, and made sure he was doing okay. He was and for a cat of his age and with his health issues received a very clean bill of health. Mr. Tigger is always a laid back cat. He takes his twice daily insulin shots with a good attitude, even coming to get me if I get busy and happen to miss the time. So while we were in the vet office to keep both of us calm (I worry about my furry kids, even when there’s no need.), I gave him reiki.

I drew the power symbol (something you learn when you’re attuned) between his shoulder blades and then cupped one hand under his chest and gave him reiki. With my other hand, I petted him. He settled down, no longer trying to get off the table and patiently waited his turn for the vet to come in and see him.

When he was taken back to have his blood drawn, I used distance reiki to keep sending him energy. Sure, I knew he wouldn’t fight the technicians-he really is that laid back of a cat-but I figured the reiki would help him with being in an unfamiliar place.

He came through his checkup with flying colors!

There are four different hand positions given for self-treating the feet and each one is listed separately. For me, as long as both feet get done, and the tops and bottoms are covered, then it doesn’t make any sense to separate these positions into four different ones.

The first position is to hold your foot in both hands in a way that is comfortable. Most people cup one hand over the top of the foot and cup the other along the bottom. William Rand’s handbook, Reiki: The Healing Touch, has the left foot as position #11 and the right as #12.

Alternately, you can cup the bottoms of both feet at the same time, with the left hand on the left foot and the right hand on the right foot. Then, I would go to the top and cup them at the same time as well. You could even press the bottoms of the feet together as in a yoga position.

The last position has the person cupping the right food with the left hand, and the left foot with the right hand. The arms cross. This is said to balance out both sides of the nervous system.

Whatever way you chose to treat the feet, it is very important to do so. Ending at the feet helps to ground the person receiving the reiki. It’s a good way to end your treatment and a good way to ground before reentering into the regular world.

This next position builds on the lower back position by working more with the tailbone and lower spine. While, of course, reiki practitioners cannot give medical advice, I find that with my long hours at the computer this position combined with the one yesterday really help. There are muscles between where the gluteus muscles start and your back muscles end, and it’s in this area, that I really need the help. (I don’t have the best computer posture at times, especially when I’m surfing message boards.)

For this position, put your palms on your lower back, centered between your spine and your sides with your fingers pointing down. If you were wearing jeans, think of putting your hands in your back pockets, and use your thumbs off to the side for support. This is a sharper jolt of reiki energy into those muscles.

I’m sure we’re familiar with standing up and putting our hands on our lower back. We might rub the muscles there or lean back to give our body a much needed stretch. This reiki position mirrors the comfort and relief we find when we lean back and stretch those muscles.

You can sit or stand for this position depending on your comfort in each position. Simply rest your hands on your lower back with your thumbs pointed down. Your fingertips should touch.

I find a little reiki with this position really helps me after long hours spent at the computer. After cleaning stalls at the barn, my back hurt (hadn’t done that for 12 years, LOL!). I used this reiki position to soothe my aching muscles.

I’m going to take a moment out from our series on self-treatment hand positions to wish everyone a happy holidays! It doesn’t matter what you celebrate (or don’t) or what you do (or don’t) believe, this is a time of wonder, beauty, and joy. It took me thirty minutes to get out of the Wal-Mart parking lot today, and in that time, I smiled and witnessed the most generosity and giving spirit that I’ve seen in a while. No horns honked. No rush. No fuss. Just people letting other cars into line and moving in an orderly fashion.

So here’s to a wonderful holiday and to a happy and prosperous 2009! We’ll resume our series on reiki hand positions tomorrow. And now, the obligatory stick figure.

The next reiki position encompasses the pelvic region. It’s good for the root (or sacral) chakra, and so this is the name I give the position. It’s also very good for women’s issues, or for really grounding and centering. When providing reiki treatments to others, you want to respect their personal space. Therefore the hands are usually held a few inches above this area. We don’t ever want to touch someone in such a fashion without their permission.

This hand position is done by placing your hands on the lower stomach with the heels of your hands on your hip bones. Your fingers are pointed down and touching in a “V” shape. This sends energy into your lower body and acts as a strong grounding force.

Note: I guess the main explanation for the hair on the figures (which return tomorrow), is that I’m having too much fun sketching them out in MS Paint. I hope you enjoy!