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Sacred Sundays and Other Great Ideas

Sacred Sunday light“If it doesn’t serve to uplift your spirit, let it go.”

As the calendar was getting ready to change from 2015 to 2016, I experienced a healing CranioSacral session. My intention for that session included, “clarity and focus.” (If you know me personally, you know that this is something I don’t usually need to seek – but I was quite scattered at the time.) As I lay on the table, I heard very clearly, “If it doesn’t serve to uplift your spirit, let it go.”

This message is very helpful for focusing my actions and plans for this New Year. I have started to use it as a litmus test for whether or not I’ll continue with certain activities and scheduling in 2016.

For instance, for the past few years, I have run a Reiki Clinic on Sunday afternoons from 3-5 p.m. This has meant that my Sunday is another workday and sometimes that means working 7 days in a week.

Though Clinic is uplifting and fulfilling, I’m still there as a professional. This is not recreation and it is not family time. So I decided to implement a “sacred Sundays” policy for 2016. The only exception to this policy will be teaching Reiki classes on Sunday eight times this year. This will allow me at least one day off per week which opens up time for being with my family and having fun – just for its own sake.

This focus on uplifting my spirit has also caused me to change my schedule in other ways. I love to explore, hike, and travel with my family. However, with commitments most weekends, that means we usually can only get away for recreation a few times per year. So I’ve shifted my Reiki Clinic days to be the same as the days I offer Reiki treatments at the Wellness House in Hinsdale – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This makes for a long day, but frees up Sunday’s schedule and it frees up other weekends.

I wish that the phrase (“If it doesn’t serve to uplift your spirit, let it go.”) were a Magic 8-ball and provided me with a definite answer as to whether or not I should maintain other activities and commitments, but it’s not. However, it has been helpful in terms of encouraging me to put my focus into a few specific activities related to my Reiki, meditation, and coaching practices for 2016, including a greater focus on teaching, especially in larger settings and, maybe, online; and doing more writing projects, maybe even a monthly column in a local publication.

Commitment toward those activities though means I have to be judicious in how I spend my time. I tend to take on a lot of things and end up being stressed out over a lack of time. In order to enjoy my activities and fulfill my highest purpose, I will continue to remove those things that don’t serve to uplift my spirit and dive into those that do.

How about you? How are you focusing your activities in the New Year? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Why should you attend Reiki Clinic?

Reiki Master Phyllis FurumotoIf you’re a Reiki practitioner or master you may wonder: Why should I attend a Reiki Clinic? This was the topic of a recent conversation with a friend of mine. He pointed out to me the other day that many Reiki practitioners probably don’t want to participate in a Reiki Clinic because they are giving away their services for free with little benefit to themselves. This may be a very practical explanation, however, I hope that you are receiving many other benefits from attending Clinic.  I hope that you know (on all levels) that the practice of Reiki occurs through self-practice, practice on others, and living the precepts.  Clinic provides an opportunity to practice on others and often to receive a short treatment yourself. Do you need an additional benefit?

By practicing, you have the opportunity to learn from Reiki. To receive the insight and healing that you seek and that your body, mind, and spirit are innately capable of. As Takata said, “Let Reiki teach you.”

For instance, if you take a tennis class, study meditation, or take a piano lesson, and if you expect to advance, improve, and learn more about the game, about your mind, or about music, you will practice. For example, you will find a tennis partner and go to the court and hit the ball back and forth. You will probably do this at least once a week in addition to your lessons — if you expect to integrate what you have learned. Learning Reiki is like learning to play tennis. Take the class and then practice.

If you need more motivation to attend Clinic, or need to be re-inspired to practice, I highly recommend listening to this talk by Phyllis Furumoto. There are many heart-warming stories that she recounts about the teachings from her grandmother, Hawayo Takata. I especially loved this quote from Takata that I had not heard before: “If you can count to four you can practice Reiki.”

Perhaps that’s one of the issues with Reiki for those of us in the United States. As a group of people, we may want something more complicated.  (“What? I only need to count to four?! How effective can that possibly be? If I count to 4,000, then maybe it’s worth practicing.”) However, Phyllis repeatedly reminds us of the simplicity of Reiki and the way that Reiki works by tapping into our innate healing abilities. It will teach you when you practice it.

Hope to see you at an upcoming Reiki Clinic. And remember, as Takata said, “Reiki, Reiki, Reiki. . . . Do Reiki and Notice.”