Will I be protected when I give Reiki?

Thanks to Richard Ellis for writing and  Reiki pages for publishing,here is some useful information on this topic.

“A quick search on google reveals opposing views on the subject. One camp firmly believing in the need for some additional measures to be taken in order to feel protected from outside energies and there are many inventive methods listed that claim to offer this. “Aura Shields, Reiki Bubbles, Earth Bound Spirit Flush”..Are just a small sample of what I have found.

The other camp believes Reiki requires no other protection than what it naturally affords. Hawayo Takata  apparently held this belief and is quoted to have said, “Your Reiki power is like an aura, its a glow, and you are radiating out, and that energy is stronger than what can penetrate into you … no darkness can penetrate you”

A good place to begin is to look at what ‘the need for protection’ presupposes..

• I am light and what I need protecting from is dark

• I am positive and what I need protecting from is negative

• I am good and what I need protecting from is evil

• My personal boundaries need re enforcing

• There are outside forces that can influence me negatively

• Other peoples energy can get stuck in me

• There are energy vampires that drain me

• Reiki alone is not powerful enough to protect me

• The Universe is polarised between dark and light

• Dark forces are powerful

• I am not safe

Two things strike me about this list, firstly how clearly it reflects a fearful state of being and secondly a deep need to re enforce personal boundaries. In Chakra theory we would narrow these two issues down to the psychological aspects of the base and sacral chakras. The base chakra is where we develop a grounded and trusting relationship to the physical Universe. The sacral chakra is where we develop a sense of self worth and learn to enforce healthy boundaries.

I am a great believer in the idea that the world is simply a reflection of our present projections upon it. Could it then be that the need to protect oneself from perceived external threats, is simply a reflection of our own inner cognitions and beliefs? When we strip down and analyse the need for protection, we can begin to see it as something we feel the need to do inside our own minds in order to feel more comfortable with our external experience. Visualising a sphere of light around ourselves or a Reiki shield is done using the imagination within the mind after all.

Were we to realise the way we experience the outside world the whole time, is a direct result of our present state of mind, wouldn’t it just be simpler to change our way of thinking instead? Surely the more we focus on our discomfort with different spectrums of energy and emotion, the greater the need to protect ourselves from them. What if we challenged the belief that there was something ‘out there’ that we needed to protect ourselves from? Targeting the fundamental core belief that we are unsafe would mean that we could meet different energies that we encounter daily with curiosity and explore the way they make us feel without moving into fear of what they might do to us.

In my classes I say, ‘the only thing you need protecting from is yourself’. This is because it is your own thoughts about a situation that defines your experience of it. If you hold the belief that something is dark, negative or evil, you will I have no doubt, experience it as such. Before you know it, you’ll be seeking help from other people holding a similar view and attempting to rid yourself of the ‘entity’ you have created in your own mind.

The golden rules are

• Erecting a shield when you feel something unpleasant just serves to trap it within, stay open and let it go with some deep breaths.

• If you are mindful of your own energy prior to a treatment then any change during a treatment will be a result of the interaction with your client.

• Most of the times you feel depleted after giving Reiki is because you have invested yourself in the outcome. The trick is to allow Reiki to flow without getting in the way. You can’t push a river upstream.

• View strong feelings that arise during a treatment as an indication of how present you are with your client in their process

• Know that your safe and can release any unwanted feelings that have arisen during a treatment easily once your client has gone.

A really useful and easy to remember affirmation I use is the following;

“No person, place or thing can disturb my sense of peace and calmness within..”

Copy credit

Photo credit

Copyright 2012 Eileen Dey.