Setting an Intention

Hi everyone,
Over the years as a Reiki practitioner I've heard it said that 'an intention' must be set. Whether the client thinks about setting one before they come to the practitioner or the practitioner and client work together during the session/treatment and create one.

The dictionary defines Intention as 1) a thing intended; an aim or purpose. 2) the action or fact of intending.

What if the intention that your client or the both of you set is not the 'issue' that needs to be addressed?

Also, if Reiki can't be manipulated or controlled wouldn't the use of intention be from mind and possibly the ego trying to manipulate Reiki?

I'm curious as to other's thoughts. Thanks, ___/ |___

Dokasan wrote:Hi everyone,
Over the years as a Reiki practitioner I've heard it said that 'an intention' must be set. Whether the client thinks about setting one before they come to the practitioner or the practitioner and client work together during the session/treatment and create one.

The dictionary defines Intention as 1) a thing intended; an aim or purpose. 2) the action or fact of intending.

What if the intention that your client or the both of you set is not the 'issue' that needs to be addressed?

Also, if Reiki can't be manipulated or controlled wouldn't the use of intention be from mind and possibly the ego trying to manipulate Reiki?

I'm curious as to other's thoughts. Thanks, ___/ |___

Hi,

So what if intuition defines the intention, instead of the mind calculating outcomes based on a preconcieved goal?

I think the way you approach the situation might be better defined by the thoughts and words taken from the one you are treating.

If it`s a sprained ankle then everything would seem obvious...the ego`s domain of problem solving.

If it`s repressed memories from an unresolved traumatic experience, then frankly, i would treat the individual while investing no conscious thought regarding outcome. I believe that we do direct things when we get attached to what we think is right for the person we are treating.


"My intention is to help this person"...(compassionate detachment)

"I know what`s wrong with person so my intention is to fix this person according to what i believe is right for them."...(A need to be in control)

A very big difference in approach.

Jim

="Reikijim]
"My intention is to help this person"...(compassionate detachment)

Jim

Compassionate detachment...one of my favourite phrases when talking about practicing Reiki!

Colin said:

Compassionate detachment...one of my favourite phrases when talking about practicing Reiki!

I probabley mentioned this experience in
another thread but its worth repeating

Compassionate detachment that's what I was taught
& what I practice ...however about 4 years
ago I forgot to do that when my dog was howling
during the wee hours of the morning. I gave him
Reiki to help relieve his distress until I could
get him to the vet. I stayed with him holding him
for hours until after dawn. Reiki was keeping him
relaxed and calm his howls had tapered to an
occassional whimper. I was helping him get better
It turned out that I left his side for a few minutes
and when I returned he was sprawled out relaxed and
so peaceful, he had passed on during the few moments
I was gone. What a powerful lesson I learned that
morning. Reiki energy was doing its job no matter what
my intent was.

Thank you for responding and sharing your wisdom.

Jim: I agree that intuition is important - this is what I use during a reiki session - what are the sensations my hands are telling me.
I was never taught by any of my teachers to set an intention, just put hands on and let the energy flow. (working with detachment)
Others may have experienced when they are working on a client that the more you try to "heal" the person the practitioner may develop a headache or feel drained after a reiki session. This is a further example of what you stated above.(using control)

Colin: what an excellent way to refer to Reiki - I'm going to incorporate that too. Thanks

Chi Solas: what an excellent reminder to help us stay detached from the outcome even though the human in us wants everything to stay the same.

Hi Dokasan,

You offered some very interesting insights and please forgive me if I have misunderstood something here

Dokasan wrote:What if the intention that your client or the both of you set is not the 'issue' that needs to be addressed?

Also, if Reiki can't be manipulated or controlled wouldn't the use of intention be from mind and possibly the ego trying to manipulate Reiki?

I'm curious as to other's thoughts. Thanks, ___/ |___

And ….

Dokasan wrote:
I was never taught by any of my teachers to set an intention, just put hands on and let the energy flow.

(bold is mine)

It seems to me (depending how one defines “manipulate”) that we “manipulate” reiki all the times. We decide when to start, we decide when to stop, we give it certain flavor (SHK, CKR) and yes we manipulate the outcome in different ways..one of it being the length of the session..if you hold hand position for one minute the outcome/experience will be different vs. if you hold that position for ninety minutes. Or will it not?

I am very surprised to find out that you never were thought to set an intention! For me the intention is of the extreme importance. I have difficulties to understand if there is no intention (conscious or subconscious) how you make “reiki flow” or how you put the end to it?? Regardless how we define reiki it always takes a reiki practitioner to start the process and it is done by the intent.

If there is no need for the intent than reiki could manifest itself without “us”. So, what am I missing here?

Regards,

Resko

Hi Resko;

I believe you are correct when you say we manipulate (handle or treat)Reiki regarding when we decide to stop and start.
Adding the symbols also changes the "flavour" of the Reiki we are sending but we are not forcing or bending the vibrational energy of those symbols to do our will or bidding. (manipulating to one's own advantage)

You are also correct in your statement of doing Reiki for 1 minute vs 90 minutes the outcome will be different but I don't see it as manipulation.
If the area in question only needs Reiki for 1 minute then that's great.
If the area needs Reiki for 90 minutes and you only do it for 1 minute then in my view the Reiki session isn't as productive as it could be.

My first Reiki class was 16 years ago and there was no mention of intention. We were told that Reiki flows when we put hands on a body and stops when we take hands off.
Just like a light switch, we may not see the electricity flowing but when we know when the switch if flipped the lights will come on.

My Japanese teachers (3 different lineages) do not mention intention.

If we can agree that we (practitoners) are the conduit through which Reiki flows then we are very important. Otherwise, Reiki would not get from source to the client.

Sort of like a lightening strike. The negative charge in the clouds needs the negative leader(s) coming from the tree or tall building in order to get to the ground.

Hope this helps, if not feel free to write me again and I will do my best to reframe.
Blessings.

Thank You very much for your reply. It appears that we follow totally opposite reiki path and yet have very civil conversation and I find it amazing and would like to thank you greatly for this opportunity.

I believe that this brings a lot of potential to learn something new and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if we continue this conversation. I understand that this request may be perceived as “ego-driven” (:-) and to be fair I will go first. What will follow is my brutally honest approach to reiki but I want to make it perfectly clear that this by no way should be understood as criticizing some other approaches. My approach may be different but it is all what I am saying, different ..not better.

I am interested into incorporating reiki into “daily life” and when I couldn't find any info about it there was only one way to go...to experiment. Over the time this resulted in “shifting” my understanding of what reiki is. I come to understand it as a formless, sort of interacting with divine and even it is spiritual in its nature the advancement on the spiritual path was not at the forefront of my practice maybe in my case it could be said that spiritualism is rather the “side-effect” of practicing reiki.

Over the time I developed something what I like to call “practical approach”. Here is example of what I mean:

Let's say you are excellent computer programmer and there is great job opportunity. The company of your dream is hiring. BUT while you are the very best programmer you are very shy and get very nervous during the interview. And while great talking ability is not required to write some of the best software programs in order to get a job you need to be able to “talk” during the interview.

What if we could effectively “influence/calm down” our deep limbic system and basal ganglia via reiki. (or for this matter also the tripple warmer) And what if it could be done via so-called “intent reiki”. Would it be worth exploring? Let's for the sake of this example assume that it works. So, what did we just do? I believe it is right question to ask because to the extent and depending how one defines “ego” this could easily be said to be ego driven since we may (indirectly) influence the outcome (and I do not have any scientific evidence that this works). So, assuming that this works, the question is, is this morally right thing to do? Herewith I invite all RLL member to give their opinion on this.

And let's now create a little bit more of the “conflict” here and stay at the same example. Let's now look into two totally different approaches to this situation. One being “send” reiki to this and let the reiki wisdom decide what is the best for us and second being very specific and tell reiki what we would like to have.

It is fair to assume that unlimited potential that reiki intelligence is said to have could have different opinion at “what is the best for us” related to the above example than what we think is the best for us.

So, what will happen here? Will Reiki “override” our wish/will? Which option would you use? Let's bring this little bit further and say we let reiki decide what is best for us and instead of becoming great computer programmer that we wanted we become ….a taxi driver . Who is responsible for the quality of our social life? It is still us? Since we will be responsible for our acts than it seem appropriate for me to make also the decision.

Does it work? I only can say in my experience it does but can not offer any scientific evidence. I do not have any resource to conduct such experiments. Some support for this could be found in the neuroscience. It is also my experience that this works much better if we learn to “align” subconscious and conscious mind.

Some other example would be let's say ...we have a stuffy nose and while this symptom does bring some message ...who knows when and if we will “get it” and meantime we have problem breathing and if we take care of it immediately than we will miss the message and if we do not than we could miss a work day which than could affect our financial situation etc.

I just realized this is becoming rather veryyy long post so let's leave it here.

I would like to invite all who feel comfortable to respond.

Regards,

Resko

Hi Dokasan and Resko!

I think you are both right!

I also believe that Reiki is spiritual/divine in nature but, like, Dokasan, I was never taught to use a specific intent before laying my hands on myself or another person. However, I think that if we decide to lay our hands on someone for a Reiki session (or give an absent treatment) then that in itself is intent enough.

As Resko says, we may not always be aware of what may be the best outcome for our client.

However, there are two quite different tecniques within Reiki:

When doing a Reiki session for a client (in person or absent) we can follow a set of hands positions, or we can treat the area(s) the client complains of and also listen to our hands (as Takata and Yamaguchi said). They will tell us where to keep our hands for maximum benefit, through the sensing of byosen. We don't need to know what the manifesting or underlying issue is. The only intent we need is to keep our hands in that spot until the sensation seems to have died down and gone away. This is the traditional way to practice Reiki. We can fix a client's symptoms (e.g. stuffy nose, headache etc. but unless the client takes steps to avoid the same conditions that cause these things in the first place, they are likely to return eventually.

The other technique is the mental/emotional or psychological technique, usually taught at level 2. This is a different thing in many respects because the whole point of it is to create a specific change that is desired by the client. In this technique we often use phrases that indicate exactly what the desired outcome is. I can't really go into detail about how this technique works (because of promises to my Jikiden Reiki teacher) but there is a different process involved here than in the technique mentioned above.

They are both practicing Reiki in a traditional way yet they are both different in the way they work - so you are both right, in my opinion!

Also, as you probably know from experience, just because you are not performing a mental/emotional technique healing doesn't mean that a mental/emotional issue won't be healed by placing your hands in various positions as part of a normal Reiki session.

Thank You Colin!

I am wondering if you are aware of any research (controlled studies) on if and how reiki treatment affects our cell voltage?

Regards,

Resko

rzukic wrote:Thank You Colin!

I am wondering if you are aware of any research (controlled studies) on if and how reiki treatment affects our cell voltage?

Regards,

Resko

Hi Resko

I am not aware of any Reiki-specific research on how cell-voltage is affected but there has been research that shows healers emit:

sweeping electromagnetic (EM) fields,

Seto A, Kusaka C, Nakazato S et al, 1992 Detection of extraordinary large biomagnetic field strength from human hands. Acupuncture and Electro-Therapeutics Research International Journal 17:75-94.

Zimmerman J, 1990 Laying-on-of hands healing and Therapeutic Touch: a testable theory. BEMI Currents, Journal of teh Bioelectromagnetics Institute 2:8-17

Biophoton emissions from the hands,

Choi C, Hoo W.M., Lee M.B. et al 2002 Biophoton Emission from the Hands. Journal of the Korean Physical Society, August 2002 Vol.41, No. 2, pp. 275-278

and infra-red energy and heat,

Scwarz S A, DeMattei R J, et al 1990 Infrared spectra alteration in water proximate to the palms of therapeutic practitioners. Subtle Energies 1:43-72

Chien C-H, Tsuei J.J et al 1991 Effect of emitted bioenergy on biomechanical function of cells. American Journal of Chinese Medicine 19:285:-293

Then there is a lot of research about the effect of EM fields on the body and signal transduction pathways in cells (which can initiate biochemical cascades), Mobile Charge Interaction (by which EM fields and magnetic fields can change the rate of enzyme reactions), Injury Currents (set up at sites of injury through which EM fields can signal to cells involved in teh repait of traumatised tissue to congregate at the site), Harmonic Frequency (where the electric and elastic forces on the body can cause groups of molecules to vibrate in harmony at specific frequencies and propogate through the body, through signal transduction, which can also initiate a healing response) and humoral signalling (through agents such as Melatonin, which is produced in greater quantities when we are relaxed and plays a key role in the regeneration of specific body areas such as the Liver, skin, hair, brain, heart, eyes, GI tract/endothelium, neuroendocrine-reproductive system and muscles. Interestingly, melatonin has also been found to induce apoptosis or cell-suicide in malignant cells in areas such a breast, lung, ovaries, prostate, stomach etc.).

Putting those two sets of research together shows that hands-on healers could very well interact energetically and beneficially with the various healing systems within the body.

HOWEVER! All this research refers to electromagnetic energy and possibly Ki (or Qi)- it does not refer to Reiki.

I believe that Reiki and other healer practitioners are able to interact with the body's biochemical and energetics systems through the flow of Ki but that Reiki is an phenomenon that occurs when a Reiki practitioner is involved. This is a spiritual phenomenon which, although it can have an effect as seen through changes that can be measured, it is not physical and cannot therefore be measured in its own right.

Thank You Colin,

Not sure if you already read this article: Lightning Bolts within Cells

Thanks Again

Regards,

Resko

rzukic wrote:Thank You Colin,

Not sure if you already read this article: Lightning Bolts within Cells

Thanks Again

Regards,

Resko

Interesting stuff! I hadn't read that article! Thanks, Resko!

Greetings to all - Life got in the way and I couldn't respond until now.

Resko I am glad you are enjoying our conversation. I do find they help me organize my thoughts better.
I haven't taken the time to figure out your "quote" system so I am doing it the old fashioned way. Hope no one minds.

Resko wrote:
I am interested into incorporating reiki into “daily life” and when I couldn't find any info about it there was only one way to go

Oh my, one incorporates reiki into one's daily life by using the Gokai or the 5 Reiki Principles at the start and end of every day to help the student focus as in meditation. Every day a student is asked to give themselves a self-treatment. In this way it helps the student discuss Reiki with a potential client or family member. Second working on the self helps to eliminate small aches and pains and helps establish inner peace "Anshin Ritsumei".

When one reads the Reiki Ryoho Hikkei - it explains that Reiki is both a physical healing and a spiritual healing art.
Takata mentioned the same thing in a talk from 1979, Spiritual first, mind first then the body.
For these earlier practitioners of Reiki, this practice was a spiritual art with the added bonus of it being a physical healing.

I hope you and the other readers don't mind but I have two ways of discussing your examples. One from a Western Reiki perspective and the other from my limited Japanese perspective.

If I was a computer programmer who was applying for a new job, I would be using my reiki symbols and send energy forward in time to the interview so that it was a more pleasant experience. And hopefully a more positive outcome for me, ie: getting the job. While not exactly stated that would be the use of intent for a specific aim or purpose.

My other perspective would be for me besides doing daily self reiki, I would also use distant healing, and emotional healing but this time on myself. Trying to eliminate the blocks or fears I have regarding "selling" myself for this position. I think this is what your getting at when you refer to "calming down the limbic and basal portions of the brain".
If I am working on myself to become the best I can be the goal is me with the spin off benefit of being able to "sell" myself at the interview.

This issue of this being morally correct, is only something that the individual in question would have to decide.
Since I am only sending reiki either to myself in the future to be able to speak clearly and calmly about myself to the interviewer, personally I would have to say no. The interviewer still has choice - the option to view the interview in my favour or not.

If I was to with purpose try and manipulate the interviewer with intimidation or the casting of magick spells then yes, for me it would be morally incorrect.

Your examples of adding "conflict" are a little more complicated.
If a person's belief system agrees with and allows "send reiki and let the reiki wisdom to decide". Or the other scenario "being very specific and tell reiki what we would like to have." Then that is their belief and nothing will change that.

Personally, I can not respond to these scenarios because they are not part of my belief system.

As for letting Reiki take (what I perceive as) the blame for our shortcomings of not being able to "sell" ourselves at a job interview so now we become a taxi driver. In my view is giving away your personal power so that you can become a victim. It's like instead of blaming God for your bad health, relationships, jobs, etc now we can blame reiki instead. Once again in my view I would not think like this. Each one of us makes choices and we learn from these choices to make the same choice or different ones. (Sort of like the definition of insanity - doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results.)

Colin:
you make some very valid points. When sensing byosen it is not about us the practitioner it is about them our client. Our hands are sensing the subtle clues the client's body sends to us for assistance.


Thank you Both for posting the science links, looking forward to exploring the effects of reiki on our cells.

Blessings,
Komyo Kai Reiki Training June 24-26, 2011 with Hyakuten Inamoto

Here is a link to an article about Qi Gong and how it effects humans, plants and cells.
http://www.ichikung.com/pdf/QiHumansAnimalsCells.pdf

here's one with Reiki
http://www.omicsonline.org/ArchiveJCST/2009/Articleinpress/01/JCST-02-011.pdf

Thank You Dokasan,

Resko wrote:
I am interested into incorporating reiki into “daily life” and when I couldn't find any info about it there was only one way to go

Oh my, one incorporates reiki into one's daily life by using the Gokai or the 5 Reiki Principles at the start and end of every day to help the student focus as in meditation. Every day a student is asked to give themselves a self-treatment. In this way it helps the student discuss Reiki with a potential client or family member. Second working on the self helps to eliminate small aches and pains and helps establish inner peace "Anshin Ritsumei".

Interesting! And yet the precepts seem to be open for the interpretation: So, what are they:

1.Guidelines to aid students toward their spiritual development

2.Positive Thinking Affirmations

3.Kotodama

Furthermore while everybody agrees that they are at the hart of the reiki system it is seldom to find somebody really talking about them (beyond the various translations) but do not take my word for it, just type “reiki precepts” and see what Google brings back. First 10 pages, all together barely have enough text to fill single page. So, how exactly one doesn't anger hasn't been answered .


It may not be politically correct but it seems that one of the immediate benefits one can take is to realize that some of them belong “sort of” into the domain of preventative medicine and do our very bet to live by them. Finally, I will be first to admit it I do not recite them each morning and each evening and even more I do not do the full body treatment each day. Just being honest!

Coincidentally though it was exactly when I was researching the reiki precepts that I came with the idea to directly address our deep limbic system and basal ganglia. And from my experience it seems to be very reliable technique with very fast results. This is what I meant by saying “incorporate reiki into daily life”. I am looking for simple and reliable techniques.

If I was a computer programmer who was applying for a new job, I would be using my reiki symbols and send energy forward in time to the interview so that it was a more pleasant experience. And hopefully a more positive outcome for me, ie: getting the job. While not exactly stated that would be the use of intent for a specific aim or purpose.

Not sure I understand this.

Dokasan wrote:
I was never taught by any of my teachers to set an intention, just put hands on and let the energy flow.

So, how absent reiki works without intention to “send” reiki?

Dokasan wrote:
As for letting Reiki take (what I perceive as) the blame for our shortcomings of not being able to "sell" ourselves at a job interview so now we become a taxi driver. . In my view is giving away your personal power so that you can become a victim

Please see below. Nowhere I implied that. To the contrary, I am talking about taking the responsibility.

Resko wrote:
Let's bring this little bit further and say we let reiki decide what is best for us and instead of becoming great computer programmer that we wanted we become ….a taxi driver . Who is responsible for the quality of our social life? It is still us? Since we will be responsible for our acts than it seem appropriate for me to make also the decision. .

Thanks,

Regards,

Resko

rzukic wrote:

Interesting! And yet the precepts seem to be open for the interpretation: So, what are they:

1.Guidelines to aid students toward their spiritual development

2.Positive Thinking Affirmations

3.Kotodama

Hi Resko

Well, I think that the Reiki Precepts (Gokai) have aspects of all three things you listed:

1) They are intended to aid students in their spiritual development i.e Improve in Mind and Body (Shin Shin Kaizen)

2) They can be recited in English as positive affirmations: "Just for today, I let go of anger, I let go of worry, I am grateful, I am kind to others"

3) When recited in Japanese the sounds contained in the Japanese words have a kotodama effect, which may further potentiate the positive effect of reciting them.

And, as Usui says in the preamble to the Gokai, what they are is: "The secret of inviting happiness (or many blessings), The spiritual medicine of many illnesses."

rzukic wrote:

Furthermore while everybody agrees that they are at the hart of the reiki system it is seldom to find somebody really talking about them (beyond the various translations) but do not take my word for it, just type “reiki precepts” and see what Google brings back. First 10 pages, all together barely have enough text to fill single page. So, how exactly one doesn't anger hasn't been answered .

Yes, there are so many "introductory" and very brief pages about Reiki that it can be difficult to find more than a superficial discussion about what the Gokai actually mean but it is possible to find more detailed explanation in many Reiki books.

I think that they are really meant for us as individuals to recite and also meditate upon. This way we can arrive at the most appropriate meaning of the Gokai for us. Some people are quicker to rise to anger than others,and never becoming angry is a tall order for most of us! However, through meditation on what the Gokai mean to us, we can come to realise that it is more about how we handle anger when it arises. Do we go with it and release the full force of it? Do we take the opportunity of that instant when we realise we are becoming angry and consciously choose not to follow it through? Do we remove ourselves from the situation and find a "safe" target or an alternative way of releasing our anger? Is the reason we are becoming angry really because of something we have done or not done? Is the issue really that important that we should waste so much energy on it? Or we can decide that this is a good reason to be angry in order to achieve something we really believe would result in a better situation for everyone.

rzukic wrote:
It may not be politically correct but it seems that one of the immediate benefits one can take is to realize that some of them belong “sort of” into the domain of preventative medicine and do our very bet to live by them. Finally, I will be first to admit it I do not recite them each morning and each evening and even more I do not do the full body treatment each day. Just being honest!

Yes, there is certainly a "preventative medicine" aspect to the Reiki Principles. In fact one of the possible sources for them is in a book called 'Health Principles' or 'Principles of Soundness' (Kenzen no Genri) published around 1915 and written by a Dr Bizan Suzuki. In this book, he writes (according to the translation of James Deacon's page):

"Just for today, do not anger (others), do not fear, work hard, be honest, and be kind to others."

According to another source, the above apparently appears under the title: 'A Path to Soundness' in the opening pages of that book.

I am sure you are not alone in not managing to recite the Gokai or do Self-Treatment every single day

As I read somewhere recently: "The precepts are easy to recite, yet challenging to live".

rzukic wrote:
Coincidentally though it was exactly when I was researching the reiki precepts that I came with the idea to directly address our deep limbic system and basal ganglia. And from my experience it seems to be very reliable technique with very fast results. This is what I meant by saying “incorporate reiki into daily life”. I am looking for simple and reliable techniques.

Well, if you look at the hand positions used in the mental/emotional treatment (and in some versions of the "standard" hand positions) on the head, i.e. forehead and base of skull or top of head and base of skull, and imagine a line from one palm to the other, guess where the two lines meet!

Hi Colin,

Believe it or not but I actually agree with you on all accounts

I am in no way disputing benefits and importance of full body treatment. I was only curious to see if we can “isolate” and treat only one organ/system at the time as in this example yes if we treat the head we also treat limbic system but what I was getting at is rather to treat only the limbic system instead of “treating the head”.

Why would one want to treat only one organ at the time?

First of all this isn't meant to replace the full body treatment but rather to “supplement” it. And the question is rather the one of the “technical” nature if this is doable. Kind of can we “laser target” certain target what ever it may be?

Thank You.

Regards,

Resko

rzukic wrote:Hi Colin,

Believe it or not but I actually agree with you on all accounts

I am in no way disputing benefits and importance of full body treatment. I was only curious to see if we can “isolate” and treat only one organ/system at the time as in this example yes if we treat the head we also treat limbic system but what I was getting at is rather to treat only the limbic system instead of “treating the head”.

Why would one want to treat only one organ at the time?

First of all this isn't meant to replace the full body treatment but rather to “supplement” it. And the question is rather the one of the “technical” nature if this is doable. Kind of can we “laser target” certain target what ever it may be?

Thank You.

Regards,

Resko

Hi Resko

I'm glad we "agree" - I didn't feel that we didn't!

As for targeting certain organs within the body then, yes, I believe this is also possible but the only traditional Reiki technique I know of is to do an absent healing and after "connecting" with HSZSN and visualising the person (or yourself) you focus on your target organ and make it the object of your treatment instead of the whole body. For example, visualise a large heart or liver or limbic system floating in front of you (or on your thigh, depening in which technique you use) instead of the whole person, and proceed as you would during a normal absent healing session.

For example, Reiki Master Peggy Jentoft says:

Visualize the person there in the air before you and you just do a treatment, or imagine that you are in the same place together... You can also do a "spot" treatment on an organ or other body part - just visualize the part and go for it.
http://pjentoft.com/Remotehealing3b.html

Thank you Colin for posting such wonderful responses to Resko's thoughts.

I was starting to wonder if there was an adversarial tone creeping into this conversation.

The introduction for the principles states it is the "secret method for happiness and spiritual medicine for all diseases."
Personally, I would agree that this is more preventative healthcare as research by Bruce Lipton and Bob Proctor has shown that what we think can greatly influence our bodies. (healthy or dis-eased state)
It has been explained to me that when we recite an affirmation type phrase to ourselves or our clients while using the hand position for mental and emotional healing the affirmation gets into the subconscious mind while the symbol gets into the conscious. Which would then get into the areas of which you are referring.

As Colin mentioned spot treatments can be done and when used in conjunction with byosen can stimulate remarkable healing.

The comment about sending Reiki to the job interview was exactly what I was told to do by my Western teacher. "Send it to everything and anything". The words intention or intend were never used. It might be a case of semantics but my mind didn't go there.

Unfortunately I am understanding something completely different when I read this Resko - "we let reiki decide what is best for us". In my mind I hear - something outside of ourselves has chosen what is most appropriate for us, hence the victim analogy.
If I understand your reasoning, since each one of us is responsible for our own choices we have to intend with reiki in order for the appropriate outcome to happen? Or am I now the one who is confused.

Thank you for participating in this lively discussion. Blessings.

Komyo Kai Reiki Workshop June 2011

It's been my experience that the
body will heal what ever it is
that you focus on. However the
body may need to unblock stuck
energies before getting to the
area focused on and that has no
time limit

Hi,

This is a really interesting thread / conversation.
There is not much I would like to contribute. Yet, I would like to add the following:

Energy follows the attention.
There are two things: energy and consciousness. Consciousness moves energy.

The more stuck we are in 'our world', the world of attachment, in our problems, every day life, our ego, in the things we tell ourselves, in wanting to be in control etc. the slower/less effective/less grand (or however you should call it) the flow of energy gets.
The freer our consciousness is, the grander, faster, more effective etc. the energy / energy flow becomes.

At least, that is my experience with meditation and various states of consciousness.

Within Usui Reiki Ryōhō or Usui-sensei's teachings a treatment has only one real aim/there is only one important intention and this is that the recipient receives whatever he/she needs.

Nothing more, nothing less.
The practitioner gets into a certain state of mind (and corresponding energetic state) and the only goal that could possibly be there is: may the receiver receive what he/she needs.
The practitioner is (or should be, when following this method) completely detached from any other goal or intention and therefore does not decide what it may be the receiver needs.

The freer the consciousness, the freer the flow of energy.
But that's just my experience.

*Gasshō*
Frank

Thank you Chi and Frank for your valued contributions to this discussion. __/ \__

hi getting back to setting intentions. i wasn't taught this as part of my reiki teaching however, i hear of it from time to time and this my interpretation as to why it is used by some
1 people have many "complaints" and even though reiki will flow to where ever it is need most, i do believe it possibly won't stop the "thinking" for some clients so there fore setting an intention sets the mind to one thing and allows for some quietning of the mind.
2 setting an intetion can also come back to the practitioner ie to be a clear [/b[b]]conduit and not to allow personal thoughts to take our attention because who hasn't this happened to at times?

A few years ago I went to have a session with a 'sound therapist' her speciality was using crystal singing bowls, it was a powerful sensation impacting my body....she was also a Reiki practitioner and she mentioned about setting intentions within Reiki treatments. I looked at her like she was an alien, as this was not something I was taught. I was taught to simply state in my mind, 'may the Reiki flow for the highest good and greatest outcome for the recipient'. and I believe that covers everything that is needed. It is very important for me to be compassionately detached from any outcome of a healing session. For some people being cured of a debilitating disease, may not be what is needed for the greatest good and best outcome....sometimes people need to come to terms with certain limitations in their life that their present condition represents. None of us can ever know what is right for another person in regards to healing, and I try my best to keep my own personal wants and desires right out of the way. I simply say ..may the reiki flow for the highest good...etc, step to one side of myself, and let the Reiki do its thing. 'I' play no part other than acting as a hollow bone through which the energy may be drawn as needed.

Now within Jikiden, as Colin mentioned there is a slightly ( well VERY) differnt way of applying one aspect of Reiki....which is very interesting but does involve a direct intent. and it actually works very effectively or at least it did when I was in class!! ahahah...

The only time I have ever 'applied' reiki with a specific intent, was when the recipient had asked for a certain relief....for example a man who was wheelchair bound asked if I could give him Reiki in order to relieve his aching knees...that was a very very interesting learning experience for me, because not only did I have alsorts of energy stuff going on while I was working with his knees.........( I could see spirals of energy flying out from his knees) but after the session, he spun around in his wheelchair and said 'ooh my knees feel great!'.... I had soooo many interesting sessions with this gentlman....all absolutely amazing!!! he has been my greatest teacher!!

so even though for years prior to Reiki, even when I was involved in healer development, I always remained compassionately detached from the outcome and always asked that the healing being for the highest good etc..... it would appear that setting a precise intent as requested by the recipient, works also. A revelation!

perhaps that is the key, for us not to set a specific intention based on what we think may be needed, but to wait for a very specific request from the recipient...but even then its important to say, well i can't make any promises, as I merely act as a vessel for the energy, but lets see what transpires.....