by Laurelle Gaia and William Lee Rand
In the past several years, the practice of Reiki has undergone many positive developments. Factual information on the history of Reiki has been uncovered, including the discovery of Dr. Usui’s memorial, a Reiki manual he wrote and gave to his students and contact with the original organization he started in Japan. Widespread acceptance of Reiki by the general public and the media and Reiki’s expanded use by doctors, nurses and hospitals have added to the positive thrust. The momentum continues building, creating an ever increasing interest and awareness in the practice of Reiki.
The next important step must come from within the Reiki community. Negative competition within and between some Reiki groups is a limiting factor that is causing unnecessary difficulties between Reiki people. This attitude greatly reduces the good Reiki could provide to relieve suffering and heal the planet.
While this may seem contrary to what we expect from those who channel God’s healing energy, there are Reiki practitioners, including leaders of Reiki groups, who promote a negative attitude toward those outside their group. They fear if other Reiki people are successful, it will take business, prestige and power away from them. Because of this, they look for reasons to invalidate members of other Reiki groups and the style of Reiki they practice. Negative rumors are created to discourage potential students from going to others for training. They want people to think they have the only valid Reiki program. This is done out of a consciousness of fear and limitation.
The wisdom within Reiki clearly contains the qualities of peace, love, acceptance of others, trust in the flow of life, and abundance. Therefore, the use of negative methods to protect or expand a Reiki practice goes against the wisdom of Reiki, thus creating internal disharmony and limiting the good Reiki could do.
By projecting a negative attitude toward other Reiki groups, those who do this actually repel many of the students they are trying to attract and reap the opposite effect of what they are trying to create. If these practitioners would trust the wisdom of Reiki and allow loving feelings of appreciation to develop toward other Reiki groups, they would very easily attract more students and do much better.
It takes courage to make changes in yourself and in your Reiki community, but the effort is well worth it. To begin this process, one must refuse to pass on negative rumors about other Reiki people. Then allow positive thoughts and feelings to develop and be expressed toward other Reiki groups. Begin sending Reiki to create harmony between all Reiki people. Use Reiki to release fear and heal yourself. Trust in the goodness of other Reiki people. Trust in life and in the power that creates it! While this may seem difficult for some to do, remember, you will be successful because Reiki is powerful! As soon as you decide to commit to it, positive forces will manifest, making the process easier than you thought.
It is also important to acknowledge that there are many Reiki groups who already have this positive, loving attitude of acceptance of other Reiki people and are experiencing the healthy, trusting feelings that come from being more at one with the Reiki energy. Laurelle and those in her Reiki community have proven the value of these concepts.
Laurelle’s Story
Louisville, Kentucky has been my home for the past 20 years. When I began teaching Reiki here seven years ago, there were several Reiki practitioners and teachers, but no real sense of Reiki community. Everyone seemed to view other Reiki practitioners as competition. They did not talk to each other and often said negative things about one another. I found this to be very uncomfortable and not very Reiki-like. I wanted to do something to help, so I thought about why people seemed fearful of one another. Then the thought occurred to me that we always fear that which we do not know. Reiki would help us heal these fears. Reiki practitioners just need to get to know one another I thought.
So I set out on a quest to find others doing Reiki, and began to promote my teaching practice. I took my brochures to the health food stores and book stores. I began collecting names of others who were doing Reiki, so I could call or write them. After asking permission to leave my brochures, I placed about 150 in the most popular health food store. I lived 30 miles from this store and usually only shopped there once or twice a month. For some reason (we’ll call it synchronicity) I had to go back there the very next day to purchase something.
To my surprise all 150 of my brochures were gone! In the very spot where I had placed mine were pamphlets of another Reiki practitioner. Either there has been a BIG run on Reiki brochures in this store, I thought, or someone has stolen mine.
I picked up one of the brochures and took it home and pondered on what to do. I didn’t know for a fact that this woman, (I’ll call her Margaret), had taken my brochures, but I knew I had to do something.
I sent a lot of Reiki to the situation and asked what I should do. Moments later I heard this question very clearly, "Are you a teacher or not?" Well of course I am a teacher I thought, and began to wonder what I was suppose to be teaching here. I began to converse with my guides and together it seemed that if indeed Margaret had taken my brochures, it was probably because she was afraid. She must be fearful that there is not enough work in our community for several Reiki practitioners. That caused me to realize that Margaret may not know about the Universal Law of Abundance and Prosperity for All.
The guides helped me write a letter to Margaret. I explained how I picked up one of her brochures at the health food store, and that I was thrilled to see she was promoting Reiki. I told her that it is important for Reiki people to work together so the public can learn about the benefits of Reiki. I also cautioned Margaret to monitor her supply of brochures, because mine have a way of disappearing in a very short time. I mentioned that if they vanish so fast because someone takes them, then this was sad because that must mean that person doesn’t understand the Universal Law of Abundance and Prosperity for All.
I was careful not to accuse her, and only offered a helpful hint so the same thing wouldn’t happen to her. I held the letter in my hands, gave it Reiki as I prayed that this would help heal the situation, and mailed it.
A short time later, I met another Reiki master, Kathie Lipinski. She contacted me and said that she would like to work together to network. We met and began to send Reiki to create harmony in our Reiki community. Three months passed, and then one morning I received a call from Margaret. We had a nice conversation, and she apologized for not contacting me sooner. She said when she received my letter she didn’t know what to do, so she asked her Reiki Master, and she didn’t know what to do either. Margaret said "You mentioned something in your letter, that I don’t understand. What do you mean about the Universal Law of Abundance?"
Well... here was the opening I needed! I explained to Margaret how there is a place for everyone in the Universe, and that we have a Divine birthright for an abundance of everything we need. We simply need to learn how to work with the energy to manifest prosperity in our lives. The conversation went well, and I was invited to a Reiki healing circle. Kathie went with me and this was the beginning of our community coming together.
Margaret, her Reiki Master, Kathie and I began to discuss the need for harmony between Reiki practitioners in the community. We agreed to work together. We contacted all the Reiki Masters in town, including people who were from different lineages and groups, many of whom had not been communicating and had sometimes said negative things about each other. We invited them all to a "Harmony in the Reiki Community Healing Circle." We chose the massage school as a neutral meeting place rather than anyone’s Reiki office, or a church. Energetically, this made it a creation of the community, rather than feeling like one or two people were "in control." Everyone was encouraged to take an active roll, whether it was presenting educational topics or leading the healing meditations or the exchanges. From this first group we created an organization that was named United in Healing.
We developed a mission statement. In the beginning it was single pointed. Our mission was simply to get to know each other and to create harmony in the Reiki community. Our common goals were to heal ourselves, each other, our community and the world. It was a wonderful experience participating in such an evolution within our community. It only took a few key people with a common vision and the willingness to use the Reiki energy to empower that vision to make all of this happen. Sometimes we have a tendency to forget how powerful Reiki is in helping to manifest goals that are truly for the common good.
United in Healing began to grow. We started a quarterly newsletter, and continued to send Reiki to our goals. All members could advertise classes and Reiki sessions. We began to participate in community outreach events, like health expositions at the malls, disease support groups in hospitals, and even presenting Reiki in churches. After our first big mall event, we collected the names of people who wanted more information, and invited them to an open house where we did Reiki introductory presentations and demonstrations.
We expanded our mission statement to read:
To unite the community of wellness practitioners in harmony.
To serve as a bridge between complementary
healing and the medical community.
To organize and conduct research programs.
To support one another’s personal and professional healing.
To share information and services through community outreach programs.
United In Healing networked with breast cancer, fibromyalgia, diabetes and other support groups and sponsored Reiki marathons for critically and chronically ill people. We developed a free clinic cooperative, and our membership continued to grow. In one weekend in 1998 our members had over 102 students in their Reiki classes.
As we became supportive of one another, everyone’s Reiki practice began to grow. We were doing much better then when we were all isolated. Those who were truly able to embrace harmony in their hearts for one another have done the best with their practices. Those who chose not to overcome their fears, still find things more difficult. We continue to honor where they are on their path, and send Reiki to help heal the remaining resistance.
As people come and go, communities grow and change. United in Healing in Louisville is currently restructuring. One of the things we learned is that to insure that our foundation is strong, it is important to have several committed teachers who are harmonious leaders.
We are rebuilding our foundation with dedicated Reiki Masters. At the same time, we are all mentoring our level I & II students. The mentoring includes providing our students opportunities to practice Reiki with each other, and offering our guidance. At each session, we take time for questions and answers. Some of our clients are willing to allow students to participate in their sessions. This allows students to work side by side with an experienced teacher, and observe the many ways Reiki works in a clinical setting. When I work with my students in this way, they see firsthand what I do when Reiki is teaching me a new technique to use for that particular client, and how I incorporate chanting, scent, sound, visualization, and color into my Reiki sessions.
While Reiki is being embraced in a larger way by the government, the medical profession, churches, the school system and the general public, we are preparing for the next evolution of Reiki in our community. The efforts of our little United in Healing group has helped Reiki weave its place into all these areas of our community because we recognized our fears, prayed, used Reiki, and worked together to heal.
National and Global Harmony
Laurelle’s experience demonstrates the power of Reiki and the value of taking action to create harmony between Reiki people. Our experience indicates that Reiki has a hidden potential that only expresses when Reiki people work together in harmony. As harmony increases within the Reiki community, this hidden potential will create wonders beyond what we can imagine! We encourage you to take action within your own community. As you do this and join with others all over the country and around the world, we will begin experiencing an expanded Reiki potential. This is certain to allow Reiki to become an active force in government, politics, the military, education, business, family and health care. As you help to create harmony between all Reiki practitioners, you are helping bring out the best that Reiki has to offer.
Due to the efforts of many positive groups and movements, the world is changing from one ruled by fear and competition to one blessed by love and cooperation . As the Reiki community grows in harmony, this process will accelerate.
This is the wave of the future! It is here now if we choose it. With Reiki, the future of our planet is beautiful!
