By Frans Stiene
According to the World Health Organization more than 350 million people around the world suffer from depression. On their website they describe some of the symptoms of depression as reduced energy leading to diminished activities and a loss of enjoyment.
What is the reason we feel a loss of energy and joy in our daily life?
Most of the time it is because of our state of mind. Energy (Japanese -Ki) follows the mind, thus if the mind is all over the place due to fear, worry, and anger, we start to feel depleted of energy. In our modern age we are also so distracted and busy with all sort of external things; facebook, i-Phones, computers, TV, mortgages, work, worrying about what other people think of what we say and do, you name it. These distractions create a scattered mind and therefore a scattered and depleted internal energy, which in turn makes us feel less energetic, less joyful, less compassionate, and creates lack of clarity.
The System of Reiki was created to bring this scattered mind home, back into our own centre.
This centre is called the hara/tanden which is located a few fingers width below your navel.
Stand up and place your hand there, look at your hand and discover that this is the centre of your body, it is right in the centre between your feet and crown!
Think of the many times you have felt “off center” or “out of balance.
“The practices of Reiki can bring you back to center, back into balance.
One of the most important practices within the System of Reiki is joshin kokyu ho which translates as “breathing method to be in a state of mind of concentration.” When our minds are in a state of concentration, we are staying in the present moment. We are not caught up with unnecessarily worries and fears which are depleting our inner energy. When we learn to be present, our minds become calm and thus our energy becomes calm. This kind of concentration is called mindfulness. We are being mindful off not spending our inner energy on anger, worry, fear, boosting, lying, and being unkind. Thus through concentration/being mindful we are generating more energy! ”We all have the ability to generate this energy of mindfulness.” Thich Nhat Hanh
We can use this energy to heal our own issues like depression, stress, and other health problems.
Imagine your center as a pot filled with energy and joy. If we always keep scattering things out of this pot in all directions, to the past and future, then there will be nothing left in the pot. If we have an empty pot we start to feel that we have less energy to do things, we get quickly tired and angry, and we start to feel stressed and unhappy.
But if we bring our mind back to our inner center, our inner pot, we start to fill it up with fresh clear energy. This energy is full of joy and happiness that we can use for dealing with our issues. And what if we practice this meditation daily? We might even feel that this pot/our center is overflowing with healthy, joyful, clear, strong, mindful energy! It has become so full that it starts to overflow in all directions. This overflowing energy we can use to help others to fill up their depleted pots of energy without depleting our own pot because our own pot is overflowing! This is just one example of a specific practice taught within the System of Reiki. All the other practices, like the symbols and mantras, the precepts, reiju/initiation, meditation practices, and hands-on healing are tools to help us to create an open compassionate state of mind in which our own inner energy is so overflowing with love, that it spills out into the world.
**********************
Frans Stiene has been a major influence on global research into the system of Reiki since the early 2000s. His practical understanding of the Japanese influences on the system have allowed students around the world to connect deeply with this practise. Frans is a co-founder of the International House of Reiki and Shibumi International Reiki Association with his wife, Bronwen Stiene. He has also co-authored with her the critically acclaimed books The Reiki Sourcebook, The Japanese Art of Reiki, A-Z of Reiki Pocketbook, Reiki Techniques Card Deck and Your Reiki Treatment.
Inner Heart of Reiki published by Ayni Books October 30th 2015. ISBN: 978-1-78535-055-9 (Paperback) £9.99 $16.95, EISBN: 978-1-78535-056-6 (eBook) £5.99 $10.99.