I Took a Reiki Training—And What Happened Next Didn’t Go the Way I Thought It Would
When I first heard about the Reiki 1 Training at Shadybrook, I was excited. I had tried a few private Reiki sessions in the past and loved them. I was awed that I could actually sense the Reiki energy flowing. I looked at the practitioners with wonder. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to do that too? I pictured myself laying my Reiki hands on family members, friends, and even the aging family cat. I eagerly signed up.
I walked into the Reiki Training that morning ready to begin my journey learning how to give Reiki sessions to others.
One of the first things we learned were the Reiki Precepts, five simple moral principles. These would be important to know to guide my work with others, or maybe even to teach some day:
Just for today I will let go of anger.
Just for today I will let go of worry.
Just for today I will be grateful.
Just for today I will do my work honorably.
Just for today I will be kind to myself, my neighbor, and every living thing.
Hearing the Reiki Precepts for the first time, I felt a sense of safety come over me. This was a practice with values that aligned with my own. When we said the precepts out loud, I was surprised to feel how they landed in my body. I felt centered, calm, back in the present moment.
After the training, in moments of stress, I found the Reiki Precepts popping back into my head. I was feeling frustrated with a coworker and suddenly thought, “just for today I will let go of anger.” I took a deep breath, let the anger go, and put things back in perspective.
I was feeling anxious about an event I was going to and suddenly thought, “just for today, I will let go of worry.” I can do that, I thought. Just for today.
I was having the worst week and listing all the things that had gone wrong. And then I thought, “just for today, I will be grateful.” I started listing the things I had to be grateful for instead.
Suddenly I had a mantra, or rather five mantras, that I could return to. This grounding practice was helping me show up in my life in the ways I had always wanted to, the ways that reflect my values. I had thought the Five Reiki Precepts would guide my work sharing Reiki with others; but it turned out they were guiding my work with myself.
The next thing we learned in the Reiki 1 Training was another surprise – a daily self-practice.
A self-practice? I thought we were learning an others practice?
Each morning after she woke, our facilitator shared that she would take about 45 minutes to lie down and give herself a full Reiki session to start her day. She taught us the hand positions and encouraged us to spend a few minutes in each area of our bodies to fill our entire beings up with Reiki each day. Surely, I wasn’t really going to commit 45 minutes each day to giving myself a Reiki session. Maybe I would use it when I had an injury or wasn’t feeling well.
I was having trouble sleeping one night after the Reiki training. I may as well try some Reiki, I thought. I placed my Reiki hands over my eyes. After a few minutes I felt calmer. More settled. I eventually fell back to sleep. A week later, I was struggling to get comfortable to go to sleep. I was feeling a lot of tension in my ribs. Maybe some Reiki would help. I placed my hands on my ribs and was surprised to feel the tension release and an ease in my breathing that wasn’t there before.
Little by little, I started practicing a little Reiki on myself at bedtime. And then, I was finding I was looking forward to that time to myself. It was such a nice way to enter my night’s sleep. Instead of crashing into bed, to land, settle, and let go of the day.
At first, I was only doing a few minutes in a few positions. But soon I was finding that I wanted more. I wanted to feel that calm and balance in my whole body.
I had gone to the Reiki Training to learn how to give Reiki Sessions to others. And instead, I had found a daily practice that nourished me.
After we had learned the foundations in the training, we moved on to learn how to give a session to another. This was what I was expecting from the training. We learned the Reiki hand positions. Half the class got on tables, and the other half gathered around to give a practice session as a gentle gong sounded every few minutes to signal when to move to the next area of the body. We were doing it!
And then at the end, the training facilitator said something that I hadn’t heard before – now, let’s rest in the Reiki. Let’s just be.
Surprisingly enough, that is the phrase that stuck with me the most from the training. Not the opportunity to “do” – to place hands, and send energy; it was the invitation to “be” – to stop the constant doing, and rest.
I had been pouring from an empty cup. I had been focusing so much on serving others that I hadn’t stopped to ask my body what it needed from me. And it had gotten pretty worn down. It didn’t need more doing, and giving. It needed me to come back into balance and “be”. It needed me to receive this gift of self-care, nourishment, and rest.
When I first signed up for the Reiki Training, I had expectations of how I would apply what I was learning. I had taken a Reiki Training to learn how to give Reiki to others. And don’t get me wrong, I DID learn that. I did give Reiki to my Mom when she had vertigo. I did give Reiki to a friend who was going through a hard time. I did give Reiki to the aging family cat. (She liked it!)
But the way I applied what I learned was different than I expected.
I found myself giving myself the daily gift of Reiki. I learned the Reiki Precepts that I can come back to each day to center myself and show up as the most compassionate, grounded person I can be. I learned a daily self-reiki practice that helped settle my buzzing energy and restore balance to my whole self, in mind, body, and spirit. I learned to stop the doing and doing and doing and to rest.
I learned to be Reiki.
About the Author
Sarah Widener
Executive Director, Shadybrook
Sarah is the Executive Director of Shadybrook. She has completed Reiki Level 1, and continues to deepen her personal practice.
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