Why isn’t Reiki working?!!!

A Reiki student had some great questions I wanted to share: “ I’ve been doing self-reiki for the past week, plus a little on my home.   Part of my brain is thinking that I must be doing something wrong, that I can’t reiki right.”

In my classes I always stress what I’ve come to know is true, which is Reiki is not about the ego.  I joke that ego stands for ‘edging God out’ and that when we are in the ego we are trying to hard to ‘do’…usually in the context of ‘trying to be the all-powerful healer/savior’.

But I also think our self-doubt and lack of confidence is also being in our ego.  It’s wanting to see/feel an effect.  It’s our want for something to happen.

When we work on something else, we step out of that.

So even in the case of working on your home, I’d say, invite a friend over and ask them if they notice anything different about the living room.

When we as Reiki practitioners create our ‘energy flow” through giving ourselves or spaces Reiki, we might acclimate to the flow, like being in a bathtub that’s body temperature, we might not even notice….Make sense?

Some other good questions my student had were: Do you hold any other phrases in your mind while you’re doing reiki? Does it matter what you’re holding in your mind?

I usually say phrases like “This is not about me, it’s greater than me” or “Not my will, thy will” or “Let go and let the flow”.

When I have a slight focus (vs. a very concentrated one like a mantra or yantra) it helps me to be a bit more present to the quality of Reiki.

But I have also done many a Reiki session where I have been very preoccupied with the thoughts, to-do lists, etc. and even though I didn’t ‘feel’ the flow, the person or people I was treating felt quite a bit.

I don’t go out of my way to have a preoccupied mind when I do Reiki, I tend to put any overactive thoughts I have in an ‘imaginary bag’ and put it outside my treatment room before I begin.  I know I can ‘pick up the bag’ when I’m done…that has always allowed me to hold more space for the clients and students I work with.

Good thoughts to contemplate going forth into the week ahead!

Photo credit:  http://bit.ly/eGhEsD