By Frans Stiene
“Seeing that our fears do nothing but restrict our energy can give us tremendous power and strength, enabling us to discover the true dynamism of our consciousness. Nothing in the physical world can protect us from objects of fear; transcending fear itself through meditation is our true protection.” – Tarthang Tulku
I often get asked about the concept of protection within the system of Reiki.
The first thing we have to ask is why we want to protect ourselves when practicing or offering a Reiki treatment; what is the baseline? When we truly investigate, we find that the reason is worry/fear. We worry that we will pick something up, we fear that we will not feel good afterwards, and so on.
But as we see very clearly within the Reiki precepts, right after do not anger is do not worry. And as the precepts are the foundation of the system of Reiki, we therefore need to look at our own mind and ask ourselves this: what are we so worried about and how we can soften this worry and fear?
We may feel the need to protect ourselves because we think we might pick something up from our client. (Please note that I’m not talking about illness or viral infections, which have their own common sense precautions, but about worry or fear of picking up so-called “negative energy”.)
But wait a minute…if we put our hands on a client then the client is in a way also touching us. It is never a one way street. Please do investigate this and look honestly at what may be behind your thoughts. If I as the practitioner feel the need to protect myself then I should also instruct my client to protect themselves. Right?! So now we are both putting a wall between ourselves, and what happens then to our healing? Can it flow? Or is it obstructed by worry, fear and walls?
Of course it is obstructed, because now both the practitioner and client are in a state of worry and have created a wall/boundary around themselves.
In a way, when we do feel the need to protect ourselves, it is a sign that we need to practice more on ourselves, become more stable. When we become more grounded, centred and stable, less in our head and more in our hara – centre below the navel, we start to feel the need for protection softening.
This also means that sometimes we are not yet ready to do a lot of hands on/off healing on others because of our own instability. This is nothing to worry about and not a bad thing; it is just a sign that we need to practice the meditation practices within the system of Reiki more on a daily basis.
Just like when I go to the gym, in the beginning I can not pull 10 kilo; I need to train for that and that is not a bad thing at all. We just have to train and train and train, to find that grounding and stability.
The whole system of Reiki is about realizing that we are the universe. The universe is wide open, with no boundaries, no protection, just being like space. This state of mind of spaciousness is pointed out repeatedly in Mikao Usui’s teachings. If we realize this kind of spaciousness, we feel that there is no need for protection at all. We can be wide open in this interconnectedness with all that is.
“Q. I’ve heard of Tibetan lamas exorcising demons. What are demons?
Lama. Sometimes it can be possible that superstitious, primitive people believe that they’re controlled by a spirit and get sick as a result, so lamas have certain methods of healing such people. But in general, by “demon” we mean the energy of the ego. There’s no external demon, lying somewhere in wait for you. The Buddhist connotation is that the demon, devil or whatever you call it is within you [the ego].”
– Lama Thubten Yeshe
I often hear people say, I am one with the universe but I still feel the need for protection. Or, I am one with the universe but not with that shit over there. But those statements do not hold. Because if we truly feel this deep interconnectedness with the universe then we feel okay with everything there is, no exceptions at all.
“Okay with” doesn’t mean that we will never feel angry, worried or sad about issues or tragedies in our lives or our world. It means, as we see the interconnectedness of all things and all beings, that we don’t stay in, don’t live in those states of anger, worry or fear.
Even if we look at the Japanese word Reiki we see some wonderful teachings in there.
Some translations of the word Rei: 霊
* Spirit.
* Life.
* Soul.
* Inconceivable spiritual ability
* Bright.
* Unpolluted.
* Pure.
* Divine.
* Mysterious.
* Spirit; the spiritual aspect of the human being.
Some translations of the word Ki: 気
* Mind.
* Spirit.
* Breath.
* Energy.
* Air.
* Invisible life-force.
* Vital energy connected to the breath.
* Steam.
We see that Rei means pure and unpolluted and that Ki is mind and energy. Thus when we realize that we are Reiki, that everything is Reiki, we realize that the essence of everything is pure and unpolluted. And therefore there is nothing to be worried or fearful about.
This is really the essence of the system of Reiki. But it’s not so easy in a way because we have put lots of layers of worry and fear over this unpolluted pure state of mind. And that is why the system of Reiki is foremost a spiritual practice for ourselves from which we lay bare this wonderful state of mind. And from that state of mind we can start to do proper hands on/off healing.
“Complete Openness of Mind
When performing the meditation practice one should develop the feeling of opening oneself completely to the whole universe with absolute simplicity and nakedness of mind, ridding oneself of all protecting barriers.” ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
