by Jill Thiel
Shortly after my Reiki Master attunement, I started hearing the voices of the trees and plants that were surrounding me. I believed they were asking me for Reiki. At first, I questioned whether I imagined these voices, but I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try to work with them. I visualized sending the forest Reiki. I continued to do this everywhere I went and any chance I had. It felt like an effective way to listen, practice and visualize Reiki.
Anything living has ki, life-energy, flowing through it. Plants are filled with ki and are great for receiving Reiki. I found the easiest way to connect to nature is through the senses. You only need a smell, sound, taste, sight, or touch to tap into nature’s energies with Reiki. We can all connect this way. Often connections can be very subtle, so we need to be open and pay attention to our thoughts and feelings and the images brought up in our minds.
I feel very strongly about exchange with the plant world ; if we can take from it, we can give back to it as well. Christopher Penczak (1)
Soon after these deeper experiences with nature began, I received thoughts about starting a vegetable and flower garden. My husband and I set about removing the lawn and tilling the soil in our yard. I planted the basics—tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, peas, herbs and squash. We knew we had the right conditions for growing. The earth was rich and dark, and the things we planted thrived quickly.
Others remarked that there must be something else going on with our garden for everything to grow so well. After all, those with similar conditions to ours couldn’t replicate our results. Moreover, year after year we were consistently improving. Coincidentally, I noticed my Reiki business was also improving with each year of gardening. Six months out of the year, while the garden was growing, clients coming to our house would exclaim how magnificent the yard looked and how healing it felt. People would stop their cars, get out to talk and ask for tours.
All my gardening and Reiki led me to a perfect part-time summer gardening position that one of my Reiki clients created for me. We grew food crops in raised beds for clients living in the city. I would be mindful to send Reiki while planting, weeding and maintaining the gardens. Our clients always received bountiful harvests and signed up for the following year.
In 2014 I was introduced to Holy Fire® Karuna Reiki® through William Lee Rand. I was lucky to attend one of the first Holy Fire® classes. I had a spiritual awakening while in the class and saw what I'd call “the light. ” I at once resonated with the Holy Fire® energy, and I knew I wanted to re-take all the previous levels of Usui Reiki to experience the Holy Fire® upgrade. The Holy Fire began to guide me in ways I didn’t know were possible. For me, the guidance was subtle, like it was my thoughts that exactly k new what to do next without hesitation. There was no analytical voice getting in the way with doubting, questioning and analyzing. Holy Fire® is positive, kind, supportive and the ideas it showed me were obtainable. I was inspired to grow food with Holy Fire® Reiki.
That summer I grew corn that was over sixteen feet tall, and my husband and I began hatching a plan to grow food in our yard year-round by building a deep-winter greenhouse. In Minnesota, we have arctic winter temperatures, and a winter greenhouse would allow us to grow fresh produce during those months of freezing weather.
During this time, I used my Reiki to visualize and send distant Reiki for the best outcome since this plan was a new phase of growing produce. Lots of research was needed to understand the advanced techniques and processes of growing food in the winter. I had no idea what I was doing, so I let Reiki guide me the whole way. After a year of construction, we had completed our greenhouse. Our winter growing model received a lot of interest and encouragement from many quarters, and we ended up sharing data with the University of Minnesota and the Sustainable Farming Association. The positive energy even inspired me to host a few Reiki classes in the greenhouse with the plants. Everyone enjoyed being so close to the plants and receiving the Reiki energies in conjunction with the Reiki teachings. In the end, everything turned out better then we’d initially hoped.
When the next phase of winter growing in the greenhouse began, I started sending Reiki to the plants, water, seeds and soil. Then we began selling our deep-winter greens to chefs, co-ops, and people in our CSA (community-supported agriculture). I wanted the food to be exceptional, and I wanted to see if people would notice anything different about our food. I only needed to have the intention, and the Reiki would flow, showing me exactly what to do. Every week we would sell out of our greens. People said our produce looked and tasted the best they’d ever had. When I mentioned that I would give them Reiki, they would say, “I knew there was something different about this food! I’ve never had anything like this! This food makes me happy, and I crave it.” Even top chefs in our town would remark on how good our greens were.
Reiki can be used in many of your gardening activities such as: Reiki your seeds or seedlings before planting them. Reiki your planting soil. Reiki your plants regularly to help them grow. You can also Reiki the water before watering your plants. As you sit and relax by our garden or by your houseplants, think of them and send them Reiki. This will provide a way for you to actually feel their energy and know on an energetic level what it’s like to be a plant. This shift in your state of mind can be very refreshing and create greater levels of creativity and mental clarity. (2)
Since I began my Reiki journey in 2004, my life has changed drastically. Reiki has helped me to find more joy and purpose. Through working with nature and gardening, I have another way to work with Reiki and use it in my daily life. It has led me to help others to grow their gardens and start their own Reiki practices. I see how Reiki has guided me over the years, and that by allowing it to guide me, things can turn out better than I had imagined.
This is an article from the current Spring issue of the Reiki News Magazine. To read all 15 articles, please subscribe to the Reiki News Magazine.
®Holy Fire and Karuna Reiki® are registered service marks of William Lee Rand.
Jill Thiel is an ICRT Licensed Reiki Master Teacher, the owner of The Minnesota Reiki Center for Healing and Training and has been teaching Reiki for 12 years. She is also a licensed massage therapist, certified foot reflexologist, and sound healer. Jill lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she is a skilled gardener and expert on sustainability and winter food growing. Reach Jill by email at jthiel@mnreikicenter.com or through her website at www.mnreikicenter.com.
Endnotes
1 Christopher Penczak, Magick of Reiki: Focused Energy for Healing, Ritual & Spiritual Development (Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2004), 219.
2 William Lee Rand, "The Many Uses of Reiki."
