This is Karen's Reiki sharing page. Here you will find exercises and idea, that although not all part of Reiki teaching, will work very well alongside your normal healing work. A lot of these ideas have been shared with me by my Reiki friends.
A lovely meditation by
PINK BUBBLE METHOD
Here is a method to clear some clutter and negativity from your body and emotions. Go into meditation or relax down. Visualise going back to the time you were a baby in your mothers womb, project a pink bubble outside of your body, fill this bubble with any negativity from this time. Bless this bubble and send it on its way with love. Send it up to the light to be transformed into healing energy, which is returned to you. Move to the next year and repeat, go through your life projecting out these bubbles, and sending them on their way. It may take a few sessions to clear them all. Make sure you bless them and send them with love and have it returned in positive healing energy. The size of the bubble can be large or small, the size of a football field or the size of a marble. Sometimes you will wonder if they will even lift off the ground. Have a look at the times that the bubbles are very big, you may not know why a large bubble has come out, but now it has been cleared and removed. Go through your life a few times over the next couple of weeks and see how the sizes of the bubbles have gotten so small. Soon you will be able to use one large bubble to collect all the small ones. This will take away a lot of the emotional burdens which can hold you back, the ones that block your growth, the ones you can't remember. This technique can be applied to many different situations, such as a problem with a member of the family, a person you have had a major argument with, an employer or friend, a past life blockage. A situation, which has happened that you, can't let go. Use the pink bubble method to project out the negativity, injustice and hate for the person or situation. Now this is the hard part, send this bubble off (even if it is the size of a small town) for the energy to come back, positive and healing for the highest good of all. Send these off with forgiveness, love and thanks for the lesson you have learnt. Now you will have learnt a lesson even if you aren't appreciative of it. It does help if you feel like you mean the love and forgiveness at the time you send this bubble. After a couple of days go back and have a look at the person or situation in your mind, does it bug you as much, really? Do the pink bubble method again; see how big the bubble is. I have found this method very good for lifting burdens, and letting me get on with life and things that matter to me. This will keep you growing, and clearing, to let new things into your life for the better. Releasing these pressures will make you a happier and more balanced person.
Love
Grounding Exercises by Susan
TO GROUND YOURSELF:
Growing roots -
Picture roots growing
out from your feet, and down from your base chakra
into the Earth. Breath in the Earth energy, and breath out any negative
energy you seem to be holding. Feel the Earth energy moving up through
your roots and into your body. Feel the negative energy being expelled
with each breath. Continue this until you feel you have emptied the
neg. energy, and replaced it with clean, nourishing Earth energy. A
variation on this technique would be to wash your negative energy back
through your roots into the Earth to be cleansed.
Paint cans -
Imagine a paint can sitting
at each chakra, filled with paint the color
of that chakra - red paint at the base, orange at the sacral chakra,
yellow at he solar plexus, green or pink at the heart chakra, blue at
the throat chakra, indigo (dark bluish) at the third eye, and
violet/white at the crown. Begin at the base chakra, and tip over the
paint can. See the red paint pouring down your body onto the Earth, and
soaking into the Earth. Repeat for each chakra, moving up your body.
This will ground each chakra independently, leaving you well grounded at
the end.
Shaft of light -
Imagine a beautiful shaft
of light coming down from the Infinite and
entering your aura/body at the crown. Sense the energy of this light as
it moves down through your body, through each chakra, down to the Earth,
and through the Earth, connecting once again with the Infinite. As this
energy washes through you, imagine it washing all negative energy down
through your feet and into the Earth where it is cleansed.
Using crystals
Place a crystal on each
chakra which is a color associated with that
chakra. Imagine yourself breathing clean, white light in through these
crystals, which color the energy, and feed it into each chakra. Then
imagine that you are standing, and this energy is moving down through
your body in a rainbow, and moving out through your feet and into the
Earth. This exercise will help to balance your chakras, and ground the
energy. Should you feel you are not completely grounded at exercise's
end, remove all but the base or reddish crystal, and repeat with just
that chakra.
Hug a tree
Let yourself be lead
to a tree which appeals to you, or you feel drawn
to. Place your arms around this tree, and feel your energy meld, or
combine with the tree's energy. Ask this tree to ground your energy
through its roots, and combine your energy with the tree's energy.
Become one with the tree, and use its roots to carry your energy to the
ground for cleansing. Thank the tree when you are done.
Susan Bosco RM/T
Karen's
crystal grid.
I have a hexagonal dish which I have filled with clean beach sand and in the centre I place a generator crystal. This is a large cluster, pyramid, or obelisk which I have charged with Reiki. Then as I receive each request I choose an appropriate crystal to represent the person.
I also write their details in my healing book. Sometimes the nature of their illness/problems guides me to use a crystal of a certain colour and healing ability. I then dedicate the crystal to that person (name, age, location, problem) and draw the symbols over the stone and hold it between my hands to empower it and connect with the crystal deva. It is then placed on the grid. I do this for each person, building a pattern on the grid as I fill it.
When I come to the end of the healing requests I draw the symbols again and spend some time giving Reiki to the whole grid. I repeat this each time I enter my healing room .
When a new request arrives, I dedicate another crystal and add it to the grid.
After a week I re-evaluate all the requests and re-dedicate those that require more treatment. Those crystals that have 'finished' their work are then cleansed and placed under a pyramid to charge them up. When I send a distant attunement I often place the crystal grid under the chair to further empower the stones.
Variation.
Often I will have more than one grid sending, and to further empower the stones I will draw the Sei He Ki on the sand and lay the stones on the symbol design as I add them. When I use this method I will always keep to crystals of one type ie clear quartz or jaspers.
Clearing your Reiki Space
by Peggy
Smudging is using smoke, usually from Sage or other fragrant herbs, with historic sacred associations to clear objects, people, houses, crystals, the room, etc. Open doors or windows if possible when doing a house cleansing to allow the smoke to carry negative energies away.
The most common way this is done lately is based on Native American tradition. The dried herbal smudge bundle or loose herb is placed in a fire proof container, often an abalone shell (to represent the water element) and lit, the smoke is fanned to spread it through the room, often using a large feather or feather fan, starting in the East and moving sun wise through the area in a complete circle is the way I was taught, but have seen it done many ways.
When smudging yourself you might waft the smoke around your face saying something like "May I see only the truth, hear only the truth, speak only the truth." Smudge your heart and say, "May all my acts be of love." Smudge downward to the feet and say, "May I always walk the good path." One then makes a vow or wish for the purpose of the ceremony like, "May what we do here be in and of the highest good." or, "May we be brothers in spirit and dissolve conflicts", and passes the smudge bowl and feather to the next person Sometimes a single person will smudge all the others rather than passing the bowl around.
Incense, and even burning epsom salts is in the smudge category. Some cultures throw the herbs into boiling water for steam or directly onto a fire. Some form of incensing or smudging is an almost universal energy purification method, and in fact many of the traditionally used herbs have antibiotic or other healing properties. Sage, sweet grass, lavendar, thyme, and rosemary are some of the herbs most often used.
Peggy Jentoft RM.T
From my friend Don Beckett - another way to send Reiki.
. One way I've been sending reiki for a while is to make what I call "paper crystals" -- folded, 3-dimensional gizmos of colored paper. I write the names of the people involved, and my intent, and any symbols I choose, in such a way that the writing is inside the finished crystal, out of sight. Then I hang the crystals in strings of 7 (in the colors of the 7 major chakras) and reiki them every day.
Don Beckett - Reiki in Arizona
http://www.geocities.com/tiodonito/reiki.html?978540809840
A special time with HH the Dalai Lama
From the 20th to the 24th September 2000 Graham and I, plus 1,000 's of others sat in the presence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet listening to his teachings on 'The Road to Enlightenment'. His Holiness is someone I had always wanted to meet. It is difficult to put into words the effect this had on me, because for a start, I am not actually a practicing Buddhist, although I do try to follow their 'creed'. So I would like to start the story with the words of Sogyal Rinpoche, who, together with the Association Golfe du Lion, was responsible for bringing His Holiness to the Languedoc region of France. Sogyal Rinpoche was born in Kham in E.Tibet and recognized and enthroned as the incarnation of Lerab Linpa Terton Sogyol. He left Tibet in 1955 and met the Dalai Lama for the first time. He is the author of several books including the best seller - ''The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying''.
This is a short version of the introduction that was handed to us all before the teachings started. ''The best way to approach these teachings is to make the presence of His Holiness himself the focus of your practice. To see him is to look into a clear crystal mirror in which is reflected spontaneously the innermost truth of the teachings. During these days there will be many, many precious moments when a smile, a gesture, or a phrase he says will inspire you, and what is essential is to seize that inspiration and deepen it, and know how to use it most richly. First, let his presence bring your mind into the state of meditation. Allow the charm of his compassion to disarm your negativity and pacify your agitation and aggression. Let this peace work on you and enable you to gather your scattered mind into the mindfulness of Calm Abiding. And let the clarity and purity of his teachings and his wisdom awaken in you the awareness and insight of Clear Seeing. He is the face of the buddha of compassion turned towards a war-torn and endangered humanity, the living incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, not only for Tibet and for buddhists, but for the whole world, in need, as never before of his healing compassion and of his example of total dedication to non-violence and peace. Let the warmth of his laughter, his smile, his great compassionate Good Heart melt the ore of your true being and release the gold of your innate compassion. Let his example inspire you to enact that compassion in your life, with a sense of personal and universal responsibility, and with something of his tirelessness, humility, dignity and humour.''
And this is exactly what we did. I am not going to enlarge on the teachings - you can read whatever material you wish written by His Holiness which will explain far better than I can. I shall only tell you about my impressions of our visit.
We arrived in the Languedoc region of France after taking 2 days to drive from Brittany and went to find the place of the teachings first. The site was situated on a plain called Le Caylar in the mountainous region of the Aveyron and having parked the car in the huge empty car park, we looked for the tents. Nothing could be seen, no signs of a major event, so we walked up the road and then saw a barrier at the top of a lane. We walked downhill and then as we rounded a corner, there was the tent village spread out below us. Nothing at all was visible from the road. There was a huge decorated arch at the entrance about a kilometre below us and an avenue of coloured flags waving in the warm sunshine. There were sounds of hammering as teams of young folk of all nationalities erected the buddhist symbols on the arch and laid planking for the vehicles that would bring the Lamas to the site. The teaching tent with its decorated poles was immense. We knew it would have to hold about 9,000 people but it was still a surprise to see the size of it and surrounding it were other tents providing restaurant, banking, souvenirs, headphones for the translating , creche and supermarket. Yes, even a supermarket, and a meeting tent where folk could post messages. This was organisation on a grand scale. So we took ourselves off to the nearby campsite where we had booked in and then explored the area. All was proceeding well.
And then the next day - disaster. It rained and it rained and it rained. Our tent kept us dry, our site was amongst trees and well protected but we feared for the large field that was the tent village. We set our alarm for 6am the morning of the 20th and arrived on the site after breakfasting at about 7.30. It was a mudbath. Tractors had crossed the fields between the tents bringing in equipment and of course they had churned the whole thing up. The officials came down the queues and explained that the arrangements were all behind because they couldn't remove the plastic protection now on the floor of the teaching tent. Underneath was laid coloured carpet to guide us to our seating area. So we waited alongide thousands of others in queues at each of the entrances to the tent. Fortunately it no longer rained. Then an announcement was made because rumours were running riot about postponements, that His Holiness would start teaching a little late at 11am instead of waiting until the afternoon. We were all relieved and eventually began to file through the security barriers into the tent. We were supposed to take our shoes off inside, but due to the wet we were told to keep them on and so we were directed to places where we could place our cushions and sit. We had chosen to sit on cushions (our own) and not have chairs because we thought (and we were right) that we would be closer to HH. The inside of the tent was impressive. The huge stage was decorated colourfully and beautifully with images of the Buddhas and a beautiful throne held the centre. All down the sides of the steel framed tent there were large hangings with pictures of the Buddhas. (more on this later). There was a buzz of excitement as we all looked around and listened to the multitude of languages being spoken. There were people from all over the world, not just France. We could hear American accents, Spanish, Italian, English, German and Danish just to name a few, and of course there were Tibetans as well as monks and nuns from all over France. We tried out our headphones. As we had been told that HH would be teaching in Tibetan we knew we would be getting a simultaneous transation. However the French translater would be sitting near to the Dalai Lama as he always travelled with him when he was teaching in french speaking countries so fortunately we could listen to that too and possibly pick up information we had missed. We were told that HH would speak for a few minutes and then wait whilst the french translation took place. Then there was a bustle on stage and the Lamas, monks and dignitaries came in. We all craned our necks and then recognised Sogyal Rinpoche and his cheeky smile. He has a wonderful rapport with everyone and of course is very well known, not only for his books but for his Rigpa centres all over the world where he communicates buddhist teachings in his special way. He spoke to us in English explaining that his french has excruciable - and it was!! Introductions and instructions were then given to us by a charming English lady who spoke french fluently. It seemed ironic that the very French Golfe du Lion association was being 'fronted' by an English person. All of a sudden the Lamas started their prayers - a beautiful resonating chanting - and then they all stood. We stood too and there he was. My first 'seeing' of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.
There was no fanfare - he just quietly came in bowing and smiling to the monks and nuns and stopped to bow and pay homage to his teacher Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche who was seated on a dais beside the throne. He kissed the foreheads of the Lamas and then prostrated himself 3 times in front of the throne. The monks removed his sandals, he climbed up and sat down cross legged. I was to remain impressed that he didn't move his legs at all during the 2 - 3 hours he taught us each session. Unlike we who wriggled and shifted our cramped limbs!! He rocked gently from side to side and we found ourselves copying him. He gave us his wonderful smile and bowed to everyone. We bowed back and sat down. Sogyal Rinpoche then welcomed His Holiness and after thanking him for coming to France, the teachings began. My first impression was the humour and personality of HH. It must have been very difficult for the translator to bring the sense of the teachings to us from the Tibetan, as they also have a way of speaking back to front so simultaneous translation is confusing and we found ourselves totally lost at times. But this was lightened by the jokes and as we could see HH very clearly via the big screens situated throughout the tent, we were able to share in his 'asides' as he spotted friends and waved and made jokes with his french translator. They had a wonderful rapport together. And His Holiness has such a charismatic personality. I don't think there was anyone wha wasn't charmed by him. He apologised to us for the late start and said that the rain was not his fault, that he was feeling cold and wet too but even he hadn't been able to prevent it. We all laughed and he went on to praise the organisers for working under such difficult conditions. He told us that he was just a simple buddhist monk engaging in buddhist practice. He had some experience (he grinned) and some of it would be benficial to us and some not, and it would not be his motivation to try and convert people to the Buddhist way. He had a great respect for all the major religions and that those of us who may belong of another religion should continue in our tradition but those who wanted to embrace a new religion, like buddhism, should not say anything negative about their old religion. Normally, he said, he would sit on a chair but ''just because today I am sitting on a throne does not mean that I should be sitting here, so each day I will prostrate myself before the Dharma throne and though you are seated below you can still give me your blessing. Sitting on a throne does not mean that I am seated on high. '' It makes you understand why so many of the religious leaders in the world speak so highly of him and encourage frequent meetings. He has such sincerity - you can almost feel his aura reaching out warmly and our overall impression was the smiling love that he and his followers exuded. We felt so happy to be there in his presence. And so the teachings commenced. Just before the end of the first mornings teachings, HH said that he had noted all the beautiful hangings around the walls of the tent. They were natually of the Buddha. He said that he realised why the organisers had placed them there but it meant that he was therefore seated above the Buddha and that made him uncomfortable. We noted after lunch that they had all been removed! Each morning we would finish at about 11.30am - sometimes HH would overrun and he would shake his watch as if in disbelief that he had talked for so long. Laughing he would send us off to eat. His laughter was infectious. When he laughed - his shoulders shook causing everyone else to laugh alongside him!!
We had paid for a vegetarian meal each day and so we would collect this and eat our lunch in the sunshine. It was good value for the money and as the afternoon session didn't start until 2.30 - we had time to look around the various tents at the 'souvenirs' and books. I was thrilled to pick up a set of rosary beads and some sandlewood and rosewood 'bangles'. On the second day - before the teachings began, Sogyal Rinpoche told us that they would be showing a short version of the film about the Lost Child of Tibet - the Panchen Lama - after the afternoons teaching. It would be presented by Richard Gere and we assumed he meant that he was introducing it on film. But no - the camera swung away to show Richard Gere sitting on the stage (where he had been all along!) and there was ripple of drawn breath from his 'fans'. We, needless to say, stayed after the teachings. Richard Gere spoke from the heart. Help was needed if the child was not to be lost for ever as the Chinese had chosen their own Panchen lama too and both children were in danger of being brainwashed. They were both kept in seclusion and hadn't been seen for about 5 years. It was thought provoking - we wanted to help. Rinpoche and the leaders of the International Campaign for Tibet praised Richard Gere for his 20 years of work for Tibet and the money that he had donated from his many films. It showed us that there was a man that we didn't know behind the pretty face of a film star!! Interestingly HH kept strictly to his teachings throughout the five days - he knew that others were there to ask for help for his beloved Tibet.
There were many moments of humour. One of the days teachings was about meditation and visualisation and in the afternoon HH was reading from some texts when he noticed that tea was being handed around on the stage. He looked at his translator and saw him getting tea and then was handed a cup himself. He stopped reading and looked up at all of us grinning. ''It seems that we are getting tea here on stage but you are not unfortunately. So you will just have to visualise it!!'' And he raised his cup in salute. Another afternoon he stopped short in the middle of talking and leant forward. We couldn't see clearly due to the number of heads craning. Then the camera turned on to a little girl of about 4 who had walked to the front - even across the security 'gap' and was standing staring up at HH. He smiled at her and leaning down said in English ''What do you want?'' He repeated it in French and she just stared at him. He laughed - his shoulders shaking and everyone started laughing too. He started searching on the shelf alongside and found a sweet. He beckoned to one of the monks who passed it down to her. She turned around with a great beaming smile and rushed back down the aisle to her mother. We were ALL envious and wished we had a sweet too!!!
A day later when we left the tent we were handed a plastic bag. Inside there was a pack of sweet biscuits, some savoury biscuits, 2 sweets, a fig and some almonds. All had been blessed for us by His Holiness! So we got our sweets too :o)) Food never tasted so good - I still have one sweet left.
On the third day we received the Bodhisattva vow from His Holiness. We felt so 'special' as we repeated the responses after him. He smiled at us all and said ''Do you want to receive the vow from me??'' ''Di Lau '' we shouted. (spelling may not be correct here) ''YES we wish it please. '' ''Well you could prefer to receive it from another Lama you know ''- we laughed. Would we really?? He asked us if we had all learnt the precepts. Of course we hadn't - there hadn't been time. So he grinned and said - ''Repeat this now '' ''We will all do our best to learn them later''. So we all repeated it smiling and said - we will. Then he told us to be good to all sentient beings. But, he said, we must not boast about receiving the Bodhisattva vow. We mustn't put a sticker on the car or wear a lapel badge as it might encourage people to make negative remarks. More smiles. ''Some people might think that you were already Bodhisattvas whereas you have only received the seed - now you must grow!!'' So what I am telling you now is our secret.
After this days session Sogyal Rinpoche showed us a video that they had made about his Rigpa centre at Lerab Ling. There were some very special footage of some of the great Lamas and those who had passed over as well as pictures of His Holiness arriving there for the teachings. The atmosphere was one of happiness and loving - I call Rinpoche ' the laughing buddha' - he generates warmth wherever he is and in whatever he is doing. We saw pictures of him meeting Pope Paul 6th in the Vatican in 1971 and of him teaching all over the world. On the fourth day we were to receive the empowerment of Padmasambhava. And for that HH would arrive early at 8.30am in order to empower himself. Needless to say we all got up at 5.30am that morning to be there with him. As did about 6,000 others. The tent expanded to hold even more - we reckoned on over 9.500 that day!! We all had to think thin and squeeze up. The monks and Lamas were all chanting when we arrived in the tent and this day we were able to place our cushions next to the aisle so we could see HH easier and not just rely on the screen. It was fascinating to watch as he blessed each of the sacred objects that the monks presented to him and chanted the prayers which we had been given to read. We were each given a card with a picture of Padmasambhava which reads - ''To commemorate the empowerment of Padmasambhava and his Eight Manifestations known as Tukdrup Yang Nying from the profound Pure Vision teachings of the Gyachen Nyer Nga of the Fifth Dalai Lama conferred by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama September 2000, at Lerab Gar, Languedoc Roussillon, France. After about an hour His Holiness sat up on the throne and explained what would be happening. The rest of the morning was given over to the prayers and chanting which we tried to join in with. The large screen gave us the words in Tibetan as well as an English and French translation. The sound of all the Lamas, monks and nuns with the resonant voice of His Holiness overlaying everything was very meditative and calming and before we realised it, we were told to break for lunch. When we filed back in for the afternoon session, we were each given a red ribbon, and a handful of rice. All the sacred artifacts were passed before His Holiness and he told us to place the blindfold across our foreheads and that we would be given some saffron water into our left hand. And the volunteers began circulating the tent with jugs. We took a sip of the water and were told to hold it in our mouth for a few moments and then ceremoniously wash our heads with the rest. And as HH gave us the empowerments everyone threw the rice in the air. It was an uplifting and sacred moment in the teachings and we felt that we had indeed all shared something very special indeed. And at the end of the fifth day - it was all over. Tenzin Gaytso - His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet finished the teachings. We and everyone else didn't want to say goodbye. He waved and bowed and bowed and waved and smiled and we bowed and waved and laughed and wouldn't let him go. Everyone was emotional and he was obviously moved and seemed almost astonished at our reactions. There was no doubt that this had been a memorable and life changing experience for a lot of people. We had sat on the floor for 5 days in the tiniest space imaginable. We had suffered cramps and numbness not being supple-bodied any more. But never for one moment did we even think of not staying through the 5 days. Not once. We lit up like light bulbs when this 65 year old monk came onto the dais, and even though we are not 'proper' buddhists, we felt that just being in his presence made us better people. He told us one day that he doesn't like the expression 'a living Buddha'. But that is what we feel he is.
And so I would just like to end with the words of Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche in his homage to His Holiness - ''Om Svasti In your perfect form, complete with all the marks and signs, you embody the wisdom, love and strength of all the omniscient buddhas and bodhisattvas. You are compassion itself taking form, the Lotus-Holder Padmapani, in the guise of a saffron clad monk. Great leader and champion of world peace. only protector of the Tibetan people, Omniscient lord of victorious ones, Tenzin Gyatso, to you I pay homage, my body, speech and mind filled with devotion!''
I leave you with a headline from a UK newspaper after reporting on a visit His Holiness recently made a visit to Ireland. ''The Dalai Charmer''.
Indeed he is.
namaste Karen
©Karen Smith 2000
