Tag Archives: Japanese

Reiki metaphors: describing reiki

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cimg3549A few comments from clients lately made me think of how we use metaphors.

I think because the effects of reiki and the feelings experienced during a treatment are so unusual that it’s quite hard to articulate what exactly is happening.

And metaphors, using something unrelated to refer to something else, can be useful in life and reiki, proving us with more clarity or useful understanding.

When I have my hands on different parts of a client’s body, I know what it feels like, but when trying to describe it, I often come up short. Usually, I feel warmth, but sometimes that warmth is hot, or light, or has a bit of electricity and charge mixed in. And when a client says it felt hot, and I think it felt hot, I still don’t know if we’re describing the same energy.

The woman who a regular client, E., used to get reiki treatments from used the metaphor of our lives as cups that are overfilled with thoughts and activities and worries. Reiki, she said, is like punching a hole in the cup so that you let out enough so that instead of overflowing, you can manage on a day-to-day basis what’s in your cup!

Meanwhile, a recent client told me that he felt his vision was like a dirty windscreen, but after the treatment, it was clear.

Sometimes, when I’ve had a treatment, what it feels like most of all is like sitting in a nice, warm bath!

One of my favourite reiki metaphors comes from my teacher Frans Steine which is advice on how, as a reiki practitioner, I should give treatments. He said that we should like a sheet of clean white paper. As soon as you write on it, or just put the smallest mark or dot, it is not longer the same. So, instead of putting an expectation on how the treatment should be, or imagining in advance what healing I want to occur or what will occur, I should be like that clean sheet of paper to have the best effects for a treatment.

Even if both I and a client set the intention that the client should receive what it is that she or he needs at this time, I think that still allows the paper to be pretty blank!

In any case, metaphors are useful for reiki but more important is how you feel during the treatment and what effects you notice afterwards.

What are your favourite reiki metaphors? Feel free to share them here!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email or call me if you’d like to make an appointment.
Clients come from all over Sydney to see me, and I’ve also had clients who are visiting Sydney from Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast come and see me while they’re here for business, conferences or meeting families. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Introduction to Japanese Traditional Reiki

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One of the things that surprised me when my brother first taught me Reiki, many years ago, was how many different types of reiki there are. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me by now that human beings are always expanding and arguing and that any school or movement or set of teachings is going to diverge into many branches, as it has with religions and schools of thought.

I feel lucky then to have discovered a Reiki teacher here in Australia who was running weekly practice sessions on the same street that I was working in Newtown – and that I connect with his philosophy of Reiki. Frans (and his wife Bronwen) questioned early on in their Reiki path why the hands-on healing seemed separate from a spiritual practice. Their research, study and exploration have lead them to the conclusion that the Reiki practised in Japan by its founder had many components, all of which aimed at spiritual health and development, a way of uncovering and nurturing the ‘Great white light’ that we are made of. The hands-on healing part is only a component, but it is what became known and popular in the West.

When I explain this to my clients, they understand immediately. As a healer, I can’t do work on them unless I have done work on myself. If all of the energy is focused outwards towards them, without having done spiritual development work myself, the package is incomplete (and I would argue the treatments will not be as strong).

I read an old post from the International House of Reiki, a transcript of a talk Frans gave in Washington in 2009, and it’s a great story of how Frans and Bronwen came to reiki, and came to want to explore and spread the idea of Japanese Traditional Reiki. I also like the concept or metaphor of us being made of Great Bright Light and that meditation and healing is all in the aims of uncovering that light that has gathered dust and obstructions in our daily lives.

Here’s the post!

In other news, I’ve not found a need for regular blogging on my website. Blogs used to be so much more popular, and also served as a way of showing one’s expertise and legitimacy, as well as making connections with readers. But these days of information overload, people use the Internet in a much different way. I don’t feel a need particularly to add to the writings out there, when there is such good stuff to be found already at the International House of Reiki website and elsewhere. What I sense is that if clients or potential clients drop by my site, they won’t want to spend much time reading about reiki, when it’s much better to experience a treatment in person! Still, I’ll blog occasionally… or repost links from IHR, just to make sure there’s a little new content on my website from time to time. Feel free to comment and ask questions, here or on my facebook page!

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Clients come from all over Sydney to see me, and I’ve also had clients who are visiting Sydney from Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast come and see me while they’re here for business, conferences or meeting families. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney. SMS, email or call me if you’d like to make an appointment.