by Arjava Petter
The Client
Every note of the soft music caresses your soul as warm hands cover your body. You feel them move from one position to another. You feel safe, loved, and accepted the way you are. You may have missed this touch for a very long time. Thoughts and emotions come and go, taking you with them on a journey to a deep relaxation. And suddenly you feel countless hands moving across your body. Where did all these hands come from? Did another Reiki practitioner come into the room without you noticing it, or has the practitioner turned into a Buddhist deity with a thousand hands?
In some places, the heat of the hands is so intense, and they seem to become part of your own body. You want them to stay where they are forever, and a deep sigh escapes your chest, taking with it the tensions of the day.
And suddenly you hear yourself snore. You have entered a heightened state of awareness. In this moment you encounter yourself. You are pristine awareness, uncontaminated consciousness-void of attributes, moral or intellectual concepts. Ahhh, what a moment of peace...
The Spiritual Path
This is where Reiki begins to be a spiritual path, because this moment is what Dr. Usui experienced on Mount Kurama in March 1922. He sat in meditation for 21 days, looking for himself. On the final day of his retreat, he experienced the universal life force for the first time. With this experience Reiki as we know it was born. This experience, or Satori, was the birth of Reiki.
The amazing thing is that all Reiki practitioners and their clients go through the same experience time and time again without noticing it.
The Practitioner
Awareness is one of the key factors on any spiritual path. Remember one of the most important laws of the inner workings of your mind: Whatever you focus your attention upon grows. If you focus on your personal difficulties, they are magnified. But if you focus on a space that transcends both the practitioner and the receiver, you both disappear in an ocean of energy. The ego dissolves temporarily. With the melting of the ego disappear the imaginary boundaries between "you" and "me." In this moment, the real work begins. You see the client as he is, without wanting to change him, to improve upon him, to make him healthier or a better human being. You see him in his divine light, and as this light manifests, you see yourself the same way.
When the practitioner and the client have become one, the practitioner finds a holistic view of the client in his inner eye. For the first time, you are able to see the client as one organic whole. And this has far-reaching implications. You may be able to look into him and see what is happening in his body, mind, and soul. You may realize his needs, his wants, and his soul's desires.
This is an excerpt from an article in the Summer 2004 issue of Reiki News Magazine.
