janicelodato

May 29, 2014

Reiki Class: A Great Value

There is a wide range of pricing for Reiki Classes. The fees charged by Mrs. Takata (the Japanese-American woman who brought Reiki to the United States) for Reiki Classes in the 1970s were:

Reiki 1 = $150
Reiki 2 = $200
Reiki Master = $10,000

Based on current inflation rates using the Inflation Rate Calculator found here, that would mean that in 2014, Reiki Classes should cost:

Reiki 1 = $655
Reiki 2 = $873
Reiki Master = $43,640

However, Reiki Classes are still consistently offered for rates very similar to those that Mrs. Takata charged. Even at slightly higher rates, Reiki Class remains one of the most cost-effective self-care practices that you’ll ever learn.

Please consider the following example: A Reiki 1 Class with a tuition of $200 includes 7 hours of instruction time (often in a very small class setting) bringing the hourly cost to: $29 per hour. After class you are fully trained to practice Reiki on yourself and others. You never have be reattuned, and, honestly, you never have to pay your Reiki teacher another dollar, unless you choose to go on to another level of Reiki practice or you want one-on-one Reiki Sessions. You then have within you, literally, all the time, the ability to connect with source/with spirit/with relaxation — anytime, anywhere. All for $29 an hour. Now, that’s an excellent value for your dollar!

Hoping to see you at an upcoming Reiki Class for the bargain of your life! Oh, and for the Reiki too! 😉

With love and light!

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May 21, 2014

Reiki at a Cancer Center: 5 Tips for Reiki Practitioners

If you’re a Reiki Practitioner who would like to offer Reiki to cancer patients, I’d like to share with you my experience offering Sessions at the Wellness House in Hinsdale, Illinois, for the past three years. The Wellness House is a welcoming center for people living with cancer. It provides many programs to support cancer patients, survivors, and their families, through support groups, workshops, and a variety of classes in exercise, nutrition, meditation, and other wellness topics. I offer Reiki Sessions as part of the Wellness Tune-Up Program. It is such an uplifting experience to see a client, who entered the room full of anxiety and distress, leave with a feeling of calm and lightness.

As a Reiki Practitioner working with cancer patients, there are some things to keep in mind:

Be scent free. Do not use perfume. Also, avoid any scented soaps or fabric softeners on the sheets used for the Reiki table.
Offer a variety of seated or reclined positions. Sometimes clients are unable to lie flat on their back during a session so they sit in a chair or on a sofa. I remind them that Reiki goes where it is needed, so that even if I spend the whole session at their shoulders only, they are still getting the full benefit of Reiki.
Bring flexibility to the session. Often I tell my clients that they are welcome to shift positions during a session, to add or remove blankets, or even to talk through the whole session. Ideally, it is an experience that they find most comfortable.
Test hand pressure. For some clients, their pain level is very high, so it is important to “test” the amount of hand pressure that you will apply during the Session before getting started. However, I have never had a client refuse to be touched (i.e., ask me to work only in the energy field above the physical body). We are a touch-starved culture and this remains the case for cancer patients as well. How wonderful to be touched in a non-threatening and healing way!
Try to minimally disturb the client. For instance, I usually have clients remain on their back only, if they are lying down. I rarely use the hand position behind a clients head at the Wellness House because of neck and/or shoulder pain or sensitivity experienced by cancer patients. In addition, sometimes this hand position disturbs clients as they enter a state of deep relaxation.

Why offer Reiki at a Cancer Center? As noted in a previous post, Reiki recipients experience a decrease in stress and anxiety after a treatment. Their mood improves and they are more relaxed and experience less pain.

Finally, as a Reiki Practitioner, if you plan on working with cancer patients, it is important to be prepared for the questions that you receive after a Session. Often the clients want to know what you have felt and where the energy was being drawn in the strongest. It is important to remember that as a Reiki Practitioner, we do not diagnose. The process is an offering. Therefore, the proper response to these questions is to find out what the recipients experienced. Their experience will be the one that matters in the long run and Reiki is offered for their highest healing good — always.

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May 12, 2014

National Women’s Health Week

Welcome to National Women’s Health Week! I hope you’ll take time this week to assess your health and the health of the women in your life. How can we support each other to live more healthful lives?

After reflecting on this for myself, I assembled a Self-Care Checklist. After you read this, please let me know in the comments: What would you add or subtract to achieve your ideal state of self-care? (Perhaps, like me, you’ve noticed how interrelated many of these activities are!)

For me, Self-Care is:

Relaxation: Meditation, Yoga, Reiki
Creativity: Writing, Storytelling, Music Making
Exercise: Running, Swimming, Hiking
Relationships: Family, Friends, Neighbors
Spirituality: Sense of Purpose, Religion, Service to Others, Time in Nature and for Reflection

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May 2, 2014

Mind over Medicine by Lissa Rankin

I recently finished reading Lissa Rankin’s book, “Mind Over Medicine.” There are many insightful nuggets in it. The beginning establishes, through extensive research, the power of the mind to heal what ails us. Lissa then goes on to relay many beautiful stories of her journey and those of others who have used their mind to heal disease. I think many people will find the detailed “prescriptions” at the back of the book to be incredibly helpful.

The part that I keep coming back to is Lissa’s Whole Health Cairn. As I review my own health in each of these categories I notice areas of extreme imbalance. I especially love the way she does not put physical health at the foundation of the whole human system. Indeed it is important, but if the rest of the human experience is out of balance, the others suffer and, eventually, fall (or fail).

Lissa Rankin Whole Health Cairn

Take a careful look at the cairn and notice that the foundation is the “Inner Pilot Light.” Wow! To me, that’s my intuition. “Wait!,” says my mind, “What about ME?! You can’t trust that intuition! You don’t even know where it is!” Wow, that mind always wants to be in charge! Honestly, it triggers fear in me to build my health there. However, the Inner Pilot Light has never failed me. When I look at some of the wonderful turning points in my life, I see that they were built on my the guidance of my Inner Pilot Light. I “just knew,” on an intuitive level, that it was right to study Reiki, to marry my husband, etc., etc.

What are your thoughts on the Whole Health Cairn? Do you listen to your Inner Pilot Light and allow it to guide your approach to healthy living in all aspects of your life? Please leave your comments below!

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April 22, 2014

Warm Hands, Reiki Hands

There is a well-known story told of Mrs. Takata’s (the Japanese-American woman who brought Reiki to the United States) experience of a Reiki session at Hayashi’s Clinic in Japan. During the session she was so amazed by the warmth coming from the practitioners’ hands that she started searching for the source of the warmth in their sleeves. The practitioners were amused by her searching and went on to explain about Reiki and the warmth she was experiencing. Indeed the warmth coming from a practitioner’s hands is one of the “signs” of Reiki and one of its famous attributes.

One of my classmates in my Reiki 1 Class with Libby Barnett at Kripalu in 2001, was a Registered Nurse. She spent a lot of time holding people’s hands before and during stressful procedures and she hoped that Reiki would provide her with warm hands. I remember Libby saying that maybe it would help, though, maybe it wouldn’t. It was all dependent on her experience. By the end of class, my classmate reported that her hands were warmer, but only while offering Reiki.

I have had many experiences of this sensation as well. As a recipient of Reiki, I have felt the practitioner’s hands as intensely warm and filled with energy. As a practitioner, I have been told many times, “Your hands are so warm!”

Last year, at the Wellness House, a client was sitting on the Reiki table after a session and commented on how warm my hands are. I couldn’t help but smile at her and reached out my hands so she could feel them. She was startled to find them quite cold! I explained to her that my hands were physically cold, but that she was experiencing the warmth of Reiki.

Indeed, sometimes my hands are physically warm during Reiki in addition to the sensation of warmth from the Reiki energy itself. This is another area of the unknown in Reiki. Where does that sensation of warmth come from? The answer is that it comes from a non-physical realm. This can be puzzling to talk about, however, when one experiences Reiki the mind is quieted and one understands the warmth on a deeper level.

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April 11, 2014

My Reiki Focus is Teaching

In 2003, I became a Reiki Master. At that time I was fully prepared to teach Reiki level 1 and 2 classes. For many years, I taught infrequently. However, in the last three years my focus has become teaching. In many ways I feel like the “Master” in my title has been achieved because I have more years of experience practicing Reiki on myself and others. Also, I have grown closer to my true calling.

Before I discovered Reiki, my goal was to become a teacher at the university level. I wanted to teach Philosophy. That journey was filled with obstacles and the opportunities in the liberal arts were narrowing, so I decided to redirect my focus. This didn’t lead me directly to Reiki — stress, a quest for relaxation, and an unexplainable interest led me to Reiki! In its own beautiful way, Reiki has led me back to that original desire to teach. I love teaching! The process of sharing my knowledge and facilitating the learning of my students fills me with joy.

Teaching Reiki not only fulfills my heart’s desires but it places Reiki in the hands of others — literally. By teaching others to be Reiki Practitioners who practice on themselves and others, I am passing along the ability to access universal life-force energy for the highest healing good. After I teach a class, students continue their own practice in their own way. Receiving and offering Reiki will continue to be part of each student’s practice. I support my students through monthly Reiki Clinics and remain available to them for sessions and ongoing support of their practice and their Reiki journey. The beauty of this is that it is a win-win situation for all. I put my focus on my heart’s desire: teaching, rather than solely on offering Reiki sessions, and my students learn Reiki — a hands-on healing modality that they’ll have for the rest of their lives.

More information on Reiki Classes can be found here. For additional details, please email me!

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April 3, 2014

Reiki Symbols: Sacred and Secret

In Reiki level 2 classes, students learn three sacred symbols. The symbols are:

Empowerment
Mental/Emotional
Distance (Absent) Reiki

In the Usui/Hayashi/Takata lineage, these symbols are sacred and secret. What does sacred and secret mean in this the age of the Internet and social media? For me, it means that I do not publish these symbols on my website or in any printed publication other than training manuals that are used in my Reiki 2 classes. It also means that I do not draw them, even in the air, so that those who do not know the symbols could copy them. It means that I do not show them to those who are not initiated at the Reiki 2 level or above.

Does this mean that they are truly kept secret by all? Definitely not. If you Google, “Reiki symbols,” but please do NOT do this, you will find them all over the Internet. However, I cannot control what other people do. I can only control my own behavior and my own teachings, so I follow the teachings of my teacher, which is of the highest importance to me and I keep the symbols sacred and secret. Is it difficult to keep them a secret? Like any new secret, when it is first learned there is that gnawing desire to tell someone else about it. Over time, that desire fades. One is always able to talk freely about the symbols with one’s teacher and fellow students and colleagues.

Some people may ask, “Does it matter?” I believe it does. The secretive nature of the symbols adds to the focus and power around them. They must be memorized which takes on a different and deeper level of cognitive attention. Though the mind does not control Reiki, it is a powerful partner. Also, like a meditative mantra, the Reiki symbols provide the mind with something to do, something to focus on, while offering Reiki. This energized focus takes a person’s Reiki practice to a profound level where the energy of the universe is drawn upon with greater ease and increased intensity.

If you haven’t done so already, I hope that someday you’ll take a Reiki 2 class and experience the power of these three sacred and secret symbols.

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March 26, 2014

Reiki is a One-Way Street

One Way Street Sign People new to Reiki often ask if I “catch” their “negative” energy, their problems, or their stress. Each time I’m asked this question, I wholeheartedly reassure my clients that Reiki is a one-way street. As the Reiki practitioner, I’m offering Reiki to the recipient. She then draws in that energy as needed by her body, mind, and spirit for her highest healing good. I do not control the Reiki. I offer it and the recipient is in charge.

The offering, however, is not of my personal physical, emotional, or spiritual energy; rather I am offering the energy of the universe. Reiki is the universal spiritual energy that is in us and all around us. When I, as a Reiki practitioner, offer it to another energized being, I am offering that universal spiritual energy — not my personal energy.

Some recipients, who are obviously concerned that I may have picked up their anxiety, grief, or anger, find this difficult to understand. Indeed, I may have noticed the grief they held in their chest, the anxiety in their shoulders, or the anger in their stomach; but I am just offering and noticing. I am not controlling and I am not using my personal energy.

Perhaps this is a barrier, but it is the way Reiki works. It is a one-way street. The practitioner offers and the recipient pulls in the energy and that’s it. There is no flowing of the energy back to the practitioner. In the same way that I don’t “catch” another person’s emotions, they don’t catch mine either. Again, Reiki is a different type of energy than emotional energy. If I arrive at a Reiki session angry or stressed, the recipient does not receive that energy from me during the session. He receives the energy of the universe which is offered through my Reiki hands.

What are your experiences with the one-way street of Reiki? Please share in the comments your experiences offering and receiving Reiki!

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March 20, 2014

7 Signs You’ve Had a Reiki Session

A little fun spin on what it’s like to experience Reiki.

7 Signs You’ve Had a Reiki Session:

You feel calmer than you do prior to the session.
You start to see the positive side of things.
You feel connected to and supported by the universe.
Your aches and pains have decreased.
You’re very grounded.
You’re light as a feather.
You have the best night’s sleep of your life.

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