The system of Reiki offers many practices to combat the loss of enjoyment and the feeling of having no energy to be involved in daily activities. So practicing the system of Reiki is a great tool for dealing with depression.
One of the reasons we feel lack of energy during depression is because the energy needed to participate in daily life is eaten up by fear, worry, and anger. Due to this we lose our inner joy, our inner happiness. Constant fear, worry, and anger leave us tired and depleted. Therefore one of the main aspects is to replenish our energy so that we can start to feel our inner joy again.
One of the most important meditation practices within the system of Reiki is Joshin Kokyu Ho, a meditation practice in which we focus on and bring our breath into the hara/tanden, just below our navel. This energy center is our center, our foundation, our inner battery. By mindfully breathing into this area, slowly we start to replenish our energy in this battery and at the same time we start to feel more grounded and centred. By grounding and centering ourselves we start to move away from our monkey mind, and therefore we start to soften our grip on fear, worry, and anger. This in turn helps us to let go slowly of our depressive state of mind.
Another practice is chanting of mantras. Mantra means protection for the mind. It protects our mind from not straying into fear, worry, and anger, and therefore mantras are a great tool for softening our depression. Another aspect of chanting mantras, if we do it correctly, is that the sound starts to vibrate through our whole being which gives us a pleasurable feeling, a feeling of inner warmth and contentment. These feelings help us to feel more love and compassion for ourselves; thus we can start to lose our grip on our depression.
Compassion is another element which can help us with our depression, specifically being compassionate to others. Showing compassion to others is a great way of letting go of our own self pity. We can do this by helping others; because of this we start to move away from the focus on ourselves and on our own self pity.
The ultimate aim of the system of Reiki is to rediscover our innate great bright light; this light is the light of playfulness, open and expanded, full of joy and passion for life. When we rediscover this light, our depression will melt and vanish like snow in the sun. But this is not always easy to accomplish. It takes time and effort, so be patient with yourself. Practice diligently, and find a good teacher who can teach you how to empower yourself so that you slowly over time start to rediscover your own inner great bright light of happiness.
Based in Holland, Frans Stiene teaches in North America, Europe, UK, Australia and Asia.
Frans is also the author of Reiki Insights, it is the continuation of his previous book The Inner Heart of Reiki, taking your personal practice and understanding of the system of Reiki yet another step deeper.