NY Reiki September gathering

Hi to all the folks who made
it to the NY Reiki Yesterday.
I look forward to you sharing
your experience here on the RLL

Will do, one I get some free time!

Colin wrote:Will do, one I get some free time!

Thanks Colin.

I know, when do you get time to
get over Jet lag from Moscow to
NY back to England? You must have
your own wings by now

Dr Sheldon Marc Feldman, MD - Optimizing Surgery with Reiki

Dr Feldman, Chief Breast Surgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University and an Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery, is not a Reiki practitioner but he has a long experience of integrating Reiki practitioners into mainstream patient centred breast cancer treatment.
He said that 40% of Cancer Survivors use some form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and it is often used after diagnosis to:

- prevent and treat side effects of conventional therapies
- increase efficacy of conventional therapies
- meet needs not addressed by conventional therapies
- treat other co-morbidities
- health promotion

Interestingly, in the 2009 Society for Integrative Oncology Evidence-based Guidelines, there was only Moderate Quality Evidence for Energy Therapies with Anxiety and Low QUality Evidence for Pain, Fatigue and Symptom reduction. In another study which split various CAMs by ethnic origin of the users, Body-based Energy Therapies came out lowest, with Mind-Body Healing coming out with the highest use for all ethnicities.

Dr Feldman is a breath of fresh air in the scientific/medical world, as his presentation disclosure indicates: "As a physician, surgeon, educator and researcher; my training stressed that scientific proof is fundamental to demonstrate the efficacy of all treatment modalities. Through mylife experience, I now know and fully accept that there are fundamental truths that cannot be validated scientifically. This is a major philosophical shift which may or may not allow health care professionals to fully embrace their full potential as healers."

He makes regular use of a hands-on healer in the OR and stated the Benefits of Reiki for Surgery and other Medical Interventions to:

- overcome fears of surgery: pain, loss of control, side effects, uncertain outcome
- rehearsal improves performance (receiving Reiki before the procedures allows the patient to become acquainted with the Reiki experience)
- surgical "doula" - unconditional love/advocate
- Reiki presence; positive influence on entire healthcare team/environment
- used at an academic centre, it stimulates healing discussion amongst future physicians

He also quoted Reiki Practitioner Patricia Alandydy, who ran a Reiki Program at Portsmouth Hospital, NH: "The focus of offering Reiki in (our) hospital (is) to bring compassion and humanity back into the patient's experience. Additionally, at a time when patients can feel passive in their care, Reiki offers a sense of empowerment. By choosing to receive Reiki, patients can actively participate in their healing process."

Plus, a quote from one of his own papers in the prestigious Annals of Surgical Oncology Journal: "We need to be open to evaluating all potential healing modalities that may be beneficial. I greatly admire the bravery and dedication of patients who work to blend the best of traditional medicine and CAM approaches. I believe that they achieve the best quality of life."
(Alternative Therapy for Breast Cancer: Outcomes, Obstacles and Opportunities, Annals Surg Onc 2011)

He then introduced one of his patients, dancer and opera singer Christina Asher, who told us how she had been helped through her breast cancer journey by Reiki and she has gone on to become a Reiki Master.


Robert N Fueston - Reiki II versus Master Level: Historical Events

Robert is well known in the community of Reiki History buffs as someone who believes deeply in getting to the facts and has specialised in Hawayo Takata and her Master Student. He is also a fully qualified Acupuncturist and his talk was both amusing and rather controversial for many Reiki practitioners.
He started out by saying that he believed it was much easier to mainstream something that was easy (to practice) rather than something that was complicated. Reiki practice has become overly complicated and to bring it back to its initial simplicity he felt he needed to divulge "some historically significant events which once know, will once again make Reiki 2 the professional level of practice (as it was in Takata's time)" and also "present some information that has been held back for several decades".

He stated his criteria for credibility as having cited sources that are being verified by others (although many of his sources a very old and most have already died, which is why he feels he needs to get this information out there while it still can be verified). He also said he did not expect anyone to believe anything that he said (at face value).

We as Masters should know the history of the system we are practicing and teaching.

He began by dividing the Master students that Takata taught into 2 distinct groups: those trained BEFORE Takata's retirement in 1977 (8 Masters trained between 1975 and April 1977) and those initiated after Takata came out of retirement in 1979 (January 15 1979 to October 12 1980).
Robert mentioned a Chicago newspaper article (from 1974) which states about Takata: "...when she retires from healing in 1978. Her work will be carried on by successors she has trained." He drew particular attention to two key points: the mention of retirement and the training of successors (plural) before she retires.

Going back to the two groups of Masters, we see that 8 people were TRAINED as Masters before Takata's retirement (Virginia Samdahl, John Harvey Grey, Ethel Lombardi) and the remaining Masters were INITIATED when Takata came back out of retirement, between 1979 and 1980. Note also the distinction between TRAINED and INITIATED as here comes the Big Secret:

In the Takata lineage there was originally no such thing as a "Master" Initiation!

This means that the first 8 Reiki Masters created by Hawayo Takata before her retirement (Kay Yamashita, Virginia Samdahl, Ethel Lombardy, John Harvey Gray, Barbara McCullough, Dorothy Baba, Iris Ishikuro and Harry Kuboi) did not receive a specific "Master" initiation".

This information corrects the assumption that one needs to be a "Master" to be a professional practitioner - there is no increase in "power" via a "Master" initiation.

Reiki 2 is all that one needs to be a professional Reiki practitioner.

Takata herself said:" First Degree Reiki, 20 horsepower; Second Degree, 100 horsepower...very powerful".

In Takata's day (as in Hayashi's), the Master level was for those who wanted to teach Reiki. The difference between Reiki 2 and Master was that Masters knew how to initiate others into Reiki.

Since it is much easier (and cheaper) to become a Reiki 2 practitioner, we can fulfil Takata’s dreams of having "Reiki in every household" and as "common as aspirin".

According to Takata's diary, she learned Reiki 1 in December 1935 or January 1936. When she was about to begin treating patients in Hayashi's clinic as a professional, in April 1936, she took the Reiki 2 class.

At the 1982 Meeting of Masters in Hawaii, after Takata's death, this is where it became common knowledge (to the people there) that Takata had taught some of he masters differently - some had received a "Master" initiation and others had not.

This led to claims that some received more from Takata than others, with Barbara Weber Ray believing she was the only one to have received a master initiation from Takata (she knew that Virginia Samdahl had not received an additional initiation as a Master). Barbara then claimed the title of successor and sent letters out to the other Masters stating that if they wanted to receive the full training they would have to retrain with her!

Barbara went on to split Reiki 3 into 3A and 3B where students could receive the "Master" initiation in 3A, even if they did not want to teach, and learn the initiation process in 3B.

Other Reiki Masters from the first group then began to introduce a "Master" initiation so they would not be thought of as offering "less" than the others.
Why did Takata begin to give Masters an initiation after coming out of retirement when she did not before?

Robert suggests 3 possibilities: 1) Money (possibly) 2) Maybe she felt something was lacking in the first group of master training and needed changing? (maybe) but, most likely 3) The complaining finally got to her: there were 4 initiations in Reiki 1, 1 in Reiki 2, so why would there not be another for Reiki 3? Robert suggests a line of thinking such as "You want a "Master" initiation?!!! Fine, I'll give you a "Master" initiation!"

Some people, just like today, wanted to add "more" into the Reiki system - they couldn't wrap their minds around its simplicity.
"Simplicity is letting go of what the "ego" wants to be...and accepting the system of Reiki as it is, not as what we want it to be."
"Allow the simplicity of Reiki to change us, rather than us trying to change this simple practice into something complicated."

Robert also shared some interesting Reiki artefacts such as a photo album given to him by the daughter of Iris Ishikuro, which celebrated the retirement party of Hawayo Takata and also a copy of the “Gray Book” which was given to Reiki Masters trained by Hawayo Takata and contains some photos, Takata’s certificate, a letter and Hayashi’s Healing Guide (in Japanese).

Robert has a book due out later this year, 'The Laughing Reiki Master: an accurate historical account of an unnecessarily complicated simple practice', in which he will discuss more of this type of thing, in an effort to both preserve Takata's original teachings and to bring the simplicity of Reiki practice from behind the many layers of additions and politics that so often obscures the Great Bright Light of truth!

Frans Stiene - The Simplicity of Reiki

Frans is a well-known Reiki Teacher and author, from Australia, where he and his wife, Bronwen founded the International House of Reiki and Shibumi International Reiki Association.

Frans reminded us of the simplicity yet profundity of the five elements of the system of Reiki: Reiki Precepts, Hands on healing, Meditation on Symbols and Mantras, breath techniques such as breathing into the hara and receiving Reiju (initiation or attunement).

He also said we should be careful not to over-simplify Reiki when we bring it to the mainstream. All the elements need to be practiced and the thing which is common to all of them is our state of mind.

Using a volunteer, he demonstrated the difference between carrying out a Reiki treatment with one's mind on other things e.g. a Starbuck's coffee and a chocolate muffin (or Johnny Depp!), and entering a quiet mindspace where we can become more in touch with our true nature, experience a sense of oneness with no client and no practitioner and allow the Great Bright Light of Reiki to affect ourselves, our family and our community, not just our client. He also demonstrated that if we can get into such a mindspace we can become the five elements and do not even have to use our hands for healing, even for a whole room of people. However, being able to achieve such a mindstate require lots of practice.

On the subject of "protection" he said that if we surround ourselves with protection, this actually makes us a bigger target for things such as anger, fear and worry etc. (He used a cardboard box as an example, which was easy to kick off a chair).

If we break down those walls of protection we become less of a target (he broke down the sides of the box to show that it was now not easy to kick the box).
If we take away the box altogether, i.e. remove the ego, there is nothing left to protect from anger, fear, worry etc.

No one can make you a Reiki Master - only practice and meditation on the five elements of the system of Reiki can progress you towards mastership (in line with Takata originally using no master initiation!). We need to be open and Reiju (attunement or initiation) gives us an initial experience of this openness or our true nature.

On the subject of "consent" he said: "The sun simply shines, it does not ask for permission: some like to become naked to enjoy the sun, others will remain clothed and still others will seek the shade or stay indoors." Reiki is natural, like the sun, it is not judgemental, it belongs to is all and we accept it according to our needs.


Gloria Gronowicz - Effects of Human Biofield Therapy on Cancer Cells

Gloria Gronowicz, PhD, is Director of the Skeletal Craniofacial and Oral Biology Graduate Program in the Depts of Surgery and Orthopedic Surgery and a Professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. She introduced herself as a scientist (Cell Biologist) and is not a Reiki practitioner.

The goal of her laboratory is to understand the effect of a particular biofield therapy, Therapeutic Touch (TT) on the growth and differentiation of cells and on tumor growth and metastasis. She has already published work demonstrating that TT increased the proliferation and bone forming abilities of normal human bone cells in vitro, and increased cell growth in cells derived from human skin, bone and tendon compared to untreated control and placebo control (sham practitioner) groups. Amazingly, she found that TT also decreased the differentiation of cancer cells by inhibiting the ability of osteosarcoma cells to form bone in vitro, indicated by a significant decrease in mineralization and gene expression of bone matrix proteins.

She described this study and also another proposed study on the effect of the human biofield on a breast cancer model in mice.


Kimberly Fleisher - Creating a Lasting Reiki Community

Kimberly has been practicing traditional Usui Shiki RYoho since 1996 and first came across it as an undergrad during a year abroad in Israel. She founded the Reiki School and Clinic in 1999, to provide the public with credible access to the practice.

She shared some secrets of how the Reiki School and Clinic grew from its initial inception to mainstream integrative care in Philadelphia. These secrets included, keeping a vision in mind and putting it into action starting with babysteps, achieving one small goal after another. She mentioned the importance of bringing in expertise in areas when it was needed but not personally available e.g. finding easy ways to rent a suitable space, compiling intake forms which meet local legal requirements or how to find the best way to give Reiki sessions to patients who have epilepsy etc. It is also very important to modify one's approach to people and opportunities to achive the best possible fit and to be able to offer what people want or expect.

People in the Reiki School and Clinic are encouraged to feel a valuable part of the community and often donate gifts such as works of art or furniture etc.


Bill Stevens - Reiki at the End of Life

Bill is a Christian Brother and taught at their schools for 25 years before working for 10 years in 3 different hospitals as a Chaplain. This lead him to work with the HIV/AIDS community for the next 12 years and he created a non-profit organisation called the Chrysalis Ministry, to help those in need. He began his 20 year Reiki journey at this time and Reiki practice has gradually taken over as his main role. He has been a Reiki Master for 10 years, having studied with seven different Reiki Teachers and is working with the VNA Hospice in Central Jersey. He is also an animal Reiki teacher and practitioner for the Shelter Animal Reiki Association.

Bill's talk was very moving as it consisted of many personal examples of how he had experienced the wonderful effects of Reiki healing people as they prepared for the end of life in many different ways. He shared stories of how Reiki had changed the life of people, and animals, it had touched for the better.
Frans Stiene summed him up as a "human embodiment of the Reiki Precepts".

Note:
If any of the speakers quoted (or attendees) find I have misunderstood or misinterpreted anything they shared, please let me know and I will rectify it as soon as possible.

Colin, you have out done yourself

I really appreciate the time and thoughtful
re-capping of this wonderful seminar that you
have just shared with Reiki Learning Lounge
members. A true eye opener to the value within
the medical feild.... I have not completed
reading it but so far a wonderful summary.
~ Bridget

Colin wrote:Dr Sheldon Marc Feldman, MD - Optimizing Surgery with Reiki

Dr Feldman, Chief Breast Surgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University and an Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery, is not a Reiki practitioner but he has a long experience of integrating Reiki practitioners into mainstream patient centred breast cancer treatment.
He said that 40% of Cancer Survivors use some form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and it is often used after diagnosis to:

- prevent and treat side effects of conventional therapies
- increase efficacy of conventional therapies
- meet needs not addressed by conventional therapies
- treat other co-morbidities
- health promotion

Interestingly, in the 2009 Society for Integrative Oncology Evidence-based Guidelines, there was only Moderate Quality Evidence for Energy Therapies with Anxiety and Low QUality Evidence for Pain, Fatigue and Symptom reduction. In another study which split various CAMs by ethnic origin of the users, Body-based Energy Therapies came out lowest, with Mind-Body Healing coming out with the highest use for all ethnicities.

Dr Feldman is a breath of fresh air in the scientific/medical world, as his presentation disclosure indicates: "As a physician, surgeon, educator and researcher; my training stressed that scientific proof is fundamental to demonstrate the efficacy of all treatment modalities. Through mylife experience, I now know and fully accept that there are fundamental truths that cannot be validated scientifically. This is a major philosophical shift which may or may not allow health care professionals to fully embrace their full potential as healers."

He makes regular use of a hands-on healer in the OR and stated the Benefits of Reiki for Surgery and other Medical Interventions to:

- overcome fears of surgery: pain, loss of control, side effects, uncertain outcome
- rehearsal improves performance (receiving Reiki before the procedures allows the patient to become acquainted with the Reiki experience)
- surgical "doula" - unconditional love/advocate
- Reiki presence; positive influence on entire healthcare team/environment
- used at an academic centre, it stimulates healing discussion amongst future physicians

He also quoted Reiki Practitioner Patricia Alandydy, who ran a Reiki Program at Portsmouth Hospital, NH: "The focus of offering Reiki in (our) hospital (is) to bring compassion and humanity back into the patient's experience. Additionally, at a time when patients can feel passive in their care, Reiki offers a sense of empowerment. By choosing to receive Reiki, patients can actively participate in their healing process."

Plus, a quote from one of his own papers in the prestigious Annals of Surgical Oncology Journal: "We need to be open to evaluating all potential healing modalities that may be beneficial. I greatly admire the bravery and dedication of patients who work to blend the best of traditional medicine and CAM approaches. I believe that they achieve the best quality of life."
(Alternative Therapy for Breast Cancer: Outcomes, Obstacles and Opportunities, Annals Surg Onc 2011)

He then introduced one of his patients, dancer and opera singer Christina Asher, who told us how she had been helped through her breast cancer journey by Reiki and she has gone on to become a Reiki Master.


Robert N Fueston - Reiki II versus Master Level: Historical Events

Robert is well known in the community of Reiki History buffs as someone who believes deeply in getting to the facts and has specialised in Hawayo Takata and her Master Student. He is also a fully qualified Acupuncturist and his talk was both amusing and rather controversial for many Reiki practitioners.
He started out by saying that he believed it was much easier to mainstream something that was easy (to practice) rather than something that was complicated. Reiki practice has become overly complicated and to bring it back to its initial simplicity he felt he needed to divulge "some historically significant events which once know, will once again make Reiki 2 the professional level of practice (as it was in Takata's time)" and also "present some information that has been held back for several decades".

He stated his criteria for credibility as having cited sources that are being verified by others (although many of his sources a very old and most have already died, which is why he feels he needs to get this information out there while it still can be verified). He also said he did not expect anyone to believe anything that he said (at face value).

We as Masters should know the history of the system we are practicing and teaching.

He began by dividing the Master students that Takata taught into 2 distinct groups: those trained BEFORE Takata's retirement in 1977 (8 Masters trained between 1975 and April 1977) and those initiated after Takata came out of retirement in 1979 (January 15 1979 to October 12 1980).
Robert mentioned a Chicago newspaper article (from 1974) which states about Takata: "...when she retires from healing in 1978. Her work will be carried on by successors she has trained." He drew particular attention to two key points: the mention of retirement and the training of successors (plural) before she retires.

Going back to the two groups of Masters, we see that 8 people were TRAINED as Masters before Takata's retirement (Virginia Samdahl, John Harvey Grey, Ethel Lombardi) and the remaining Masters were INITIATED when Takata came back out of retirement, between 1979 and 1980. Note also the distinction between TRAINED and INITIATED as here comes the Big Secret:

In the Takata lineage there was originally no such thing as a "Master" Initiation!

This means that the first 8 Reiki Masters created by Hawayo Takata before her retirement (Kay Yamashita, Virginia Samdahl, Ethel Lombardy, John Harvey Gray, Barbara McCullough, Dorothy Baba, Iris Ishikuro and Harry Kuboi) did not receive a specific "Master" initiation".

This information corrects the assumption that one needs to be a "Master" to be a professional practitioner - there is no increase in "power" via a "Master" initiation.

Reiki 2 is all that one needs to be a professional Reiki practitioner.

Takata herself said:" First Degree Reiki, 20 horsepower; Second Degree, 100 horsepower...very powerful".

In Takata's day (as in Hayashi's), the Master level was for those who wanted to teach Reiki. The difference between Reiki 2 and Master was that Masters knew how to initiate others into Reiki.

Since it is much easier (and cheaper) to become a Reiki 2 practitioner, we can fulfil Takata’s dreams of having "Reiki in every household" and as "common as aspirin".

According to Takata's diary, she learned Reiki 1 in December 1935 or January 1936. When she was about to begin treating patients in Hayashi's clinic as a professional, in April 1936, she took the Reiki 2 class.

At the 1982 Meeting of Masters in Hawaii, after Takata's death, this is where it became common knowledge (to the people there) that Takata had taught some of he masters differently - some had received a "Master" initiation and others had not.

This led to claims that some received more from Takata than others, with Barbara Weber Ray believing she was the only one to have received a master initiation from Takata (she knew that Virginia Samdahl had not received an additional initiation as a Master). Barbara then claimed the title of successor and sent letters out to the other Masters stating that if they wanted to receive the full training they would have to retrain with her!

Barbara went on to split Reiki 3 into 3A and 3B where students could receive the "Master" initiation in 3A, even if they did not want to teach, and learn the initiation process in 3B.

Other Reiki Masters from the first group then began to introduce a "Master" initiation so they would not be thought of as offering "less" than the others.
Why did Takata begin to give Masters an initiation after coming out of retirement when she did not before?

Robert suggests 3 possibilities: 1) Money (possibly) 2) Maybe she felt something was lacking in the first group of master training and needed changing? (maybe) but, most likely 3) The complaining finally got to her: there were 4 initiations in Reiki 1, 1 in Reiki 2, so why would there not be another for Reiki 3? Robert suggests a line of thinking such as "You want a "Master" initiation?!!! Fine, I'll give you a "Master" initiation!"

Some people, just like today, wanted to add "more" into the Reiki system - they couldn't wrap their minds around its simplicity.
"Simplicity is letting go of what the "ego" wants to be...and accepting the system of Reiki as it is, not as what we want it to be."
"Allow the simplicity of Reiki to change us, rather than us trying to change this simple practice into something complicated."

Robert also shared some interesting Reiki artefacts such as a photo album given to him by the daughter of Iris Ishikuro, which celebrated the retirement party of Hawayo Takata and also a copy of the “Gray Book” which was given to Reiki Masters trained by Hawayo Takata and contains some photos, Takata’s certificate, a letter and Hayashi’s Healing Guide (in Japanese).

Robert has a book due out later this year, 'The Laughing Reiki Master: an accurate historical account of an unnecessarily complicated simple practice', in which he will discuss more of this type of thing, in an effort to both preserve Takata's original teachings and to bring the simplicity of Reiki practice from behind the many layers of additions and politics that so often obscures the Great Bright Light of truth!

Frans Stiene - The Simplicity of Reiki

Frans is a well-known Reiki Teacher and author, from Australia, where he and his wife, Bronwen founded the International House of Reiki and Shibumi International Reiki Association.

Frans reminded us of the simplicity yet profundity of the five elements of the system of Reiki: Reiki Precepts, Hands on healing, Meditation on Symbols and Mantras, breath techniques such as breathing into the hara and receiving Reiju (initiation or attunement).

He also said we should be careful not to over-simplify Reiki when we bring it to the mainstream. All the elements need to be practiced and the thing which is common to all of them is our state of mind.

Using a volunteer, he demonstrated the difference between carrying out a Reiki treatment with one's mind on other things e.g. a Starbuck's coffee and a chocolate muffin (or Johnny Depp!), and entering a quiet mindspace where we can become more in touch with our true nature, experience a sense of oneness with no client and no practitioner and allow the Great Bright Light of Reiki to affect ourselves, our family and our community, not just our client. He also demonstrated that if we can get into such a mindspace we can become the five elements and do not even have to use our hands for healing, even for a whole room of people. However, being able to achieve such a mindstate require lots of practice.

On the subject of "protection" he said that if we surround ourselves with protection, this actually makes us a bigger target for things such as anger, fear and worry etc. (He used a cardboard box as an example, which was easy to kick off a chair).

If we break down those walls of protection we become less of a target (he broke down the sides of the box to show that it was now not easy to kick the box).
If we take away the box altogether, i.e. remove the ego, there is nothing left to protect from anger, fear, worry etc.

No one can make you a Reiki Master - only practice and meditation on the five elements of the system of Reiki can progress you towards mastership (in line with Takata originally using no master initiation!). We need to be open and Reiju (attunement or initiation) gives us an initial experience of this openness or our true nature.

On the subject of "consent" he said: "The sun simply shines, it does not ask for permission: some like to become naked to enjoy the sun, others will remain clothed and still others will seek the shade or stay indoors." Reiki is natural, like the sun, it is not judgemental, it belongs to is all and we accept it according to our needs.


Gloria Gronowicz - Effects of Human Biofield Therapy on Cancer Cells

Gloria Gronowicz, PhD, is Director of the Skeletal Craniofacial and Oral Biology Graduate Program in the Depts of Surgery and Orthopedic Surgery and a Professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. She introduced herself as a scientist (Cell Biologist) and is not a Reiki practitioner.

The goal of her laboratory is to understand the effect of a particular biofield therapy, Therapeutic Touch (TT) on the growth and differentiation of cells and on tumor growth and metastasis. She has already published work demonstrating that TT increased the proliferation and bone forming abilities of normal human bone cells in vitro, and increased cell growth in cells derived from human skin, bone and tendon compared to untreated control and placebo control (sham practitioner) groups. Amazingly, she found that TT also decreased the differentiation of cancer cells by inhibiting the ability of osteosarcoma cells to form bone in vitro, indicated by a significant decrease in mineralization and gene expression of bone matrix proteins.

She described this study and also another proposed study on the effect of the human biofield on a breast cancer model in mice.


Kimberly Fleisher - Creating a Lasting Reiki Community

Kimberly has been practicing traditional Usui Shiki RYoho since 1996 and first came across it as an undergrad during a year abroad in Israel. She founded the Reiki School and Clinic in 1999, to provide the public with credible access to the practice.

She shared some secrets of how the Reiki School and Clinic grew from its initial inception to mainstream integrative care in Philadelphia. These secrets included, keeping a vision in mind and putting it into action starting with babysteps, achieving one small goal after another. She mentioned the importance of bringing in expertise in areas when it was needed but not personally available e.g. finding easy ways to rent a suitable space, compiling intake forms which meet local legal requirements or how to find the best way to give Reiki sessions to patients who have epilepsy etc. It is also very important to modify one's approach to people and opportunities to achive the best possible fit and to be able to offer what people want or expect.

People in the Reiki School and Clinic are encouraged to feel a valuable part of the community and often donate gifts such as works of art or furniture etc.


Bill Stevens - Reiki at the End of Life

Bill is a Christian Brother and taught at their schools for 25 years before working for 10 years in 3 different hospitals as a Chaplain. This lead him to work with the HIV/AIDS community for the next 12 years and he created a non-profit organisation called the Chrysalis Ministry, to help those in need. He began his 20 year Reiki journey at this time and Reiki practice has gradually taken over as his main role. He has been a Reiki Master for 10 years, having studied with seven different Reiki Teachers and is working with the VNA Hospice in Central Jersey. He is also an animal Reiki teacher and practitioner for the Shelter Animal Reiki Association.

Bill's talk was very moving as it consisted of many personal examples of how he had experienced the wonderful effects of Reiki healing people as they prepared for the end of life in many different ways. He shared stories of how Reiki had changed the life of people, and animals, it had touched for the better.
Frans Stiene summed him up as a "human embodiment of the Reiki Precepts".

Note:
If any of the speakers quoted (or attendees) find I have misunderstood or misinterpreted anything they shared, please let me know and I will rectify it as soon as possible.