I received this question in an email and asked if I could share it because others probably wonder about it too. The email read, "I've also been slightly worried that perhaps I did not open optimally to the attunements..  I don't 'feel' that much.  Probably my biggest issue is self doubt...I really would like to have Reiki III, but I also think that maybe I should feel more solid with what I have first. Any suggestions? I want to give, but I struggle a bit with feeling like I am worthy to serve on a higher level than I have previously."

My answer: "Reiki flows in just the right timing and at the right pace for each person. It may be that it needed to flow slowly and gently so that it didn't distract you from your other studies. (She is in school and working)  Sometimes what you experience is part of the Reiki training. For example, 'How do you keep showing up when you feel insecure?' Many people face that challenge and I find that Reiki trains us through our daily life and it is ok that it is working with you in this way.

Remember, Reiki is doing the work when you give Reiki to yourself and others. It is flowing and the person is receiving Reiki regardless of your experience and the person. Because of the attunements, when you give Reiki, Reiki is what comes.  The power of it is determined by the person receiving. Their life force draws Reiki through you.

When you received your Reiki attunements, you were given the ability to provide Reiki regardless of your insecurities or other issues. If Reiki waited for all people to be perfectly healed, then it would wait a very long time, because we all have issues and something we worry about. Yours is very normal and ok, and it is great that you reached out and asked about it. That in itself may be indicitive of your readiness to move forward with Reiki. You can decide if you want to take the next step with Reiki ART/Master. I would decide based on your desire to take it, not whether you feel worthy of it. Your worthiness may be healed with the continued growth you experience from your next attunements. From my perspective, you are ready when your inner guidance tells you.

I believe that Reiki adapts to us and our schedules and daily lives. It is truly so simple. It is ok that you haven't been able to make the Reiki circles, they are there for you when they work and that will happen with the right timing. (She expressed worry that she "should" have been at my Reiki circles) Definitely do not add guilt over it to your already full "to do" list. Let Reiki work for you in the way you need it in your daily life. I just posted an article on my website, Activating Reiki, Reiki News Magazine, Spring 2011. it may really help. I wrote it while I was incredibly busy every day and had to find the way to have Reiki work with me in all of my busyness. My website is www.reikilifestyle.com.

I am sending Reiki to heal your "overwhelm and guilt." I do understand, I have been there and I do that often enough! I think many of us face self doubt in all kinds of ways. Reiki can help build confidence. I also believe that Reiki works with us in just the right way. Let it come to and adapt to your lifestyle. It will assist you in the same way as if you were using it all day every day.

I had an epiphany the other day during my meditation. I decided on a new Reiki Ideal. "Just for today, I will be as kind to myself as I am to others." I was thinking about all that I hadn't done, how much I needed to eat better, excersize more, etc. etc. and I realized that if another person were saying the same thing to me about their life I would encourage them to speak to themselves in a nicer way, and to recognize and acknowledge how much they accomplish in their daily lives. I realized that I talk to myself in much worse ways than I would ever talk to someone else. Moreover, I wouldn't even have the same kind of negative thoughts about another person as I have for myself. I have shared this epiphany with others and I find that way too many people agree with me. Their self talk and self recriminations are not nice either. It seems to be pretty universally agreed upon. We are not very nice to ourselves sometimes!

I find it amazing that with all my personal growth that being kind to myself is still an issue. I remember when i took my first Reiki training with William Rand and he asked us to say what we like about ourselves in our introduction, I was so uncomfortable and didn't know what to answer. Since then, I have set many intentions to heal my insecurities around admitting what I like about myself, to myself and to others, and I have become pretty good at it. There is alot to like about me and I am ok saying it now. But it took awhile, and now I find that I am in the next stages of growth in deciding to change my habit of self criticism.

So I have been doing alot of Self-Reiki using the Usui Mental/Emotional symbol, SHK, to help change my habits. When I find that I have self criticism I repeat, "Just for today, I will be kind to myself."  I activate the Usui Distance symbol, HSZSN, and send Reiki to myself throughout the day to help me hold my intention. I use the Power symbol, CKR, to empower my self love. When others work on me, I set the intention to love myself and to be kind to myself. I am very kind to others and now I choose to be kind to me!

Reiki seems to always bring the issues we need to heal to the front. I love that about Reiki! It is gentle and kind in its approach, waiting for us to reach a stage of recognition and willingness to change and to grow. It is such a blessing! Just for today, I am going to be my own cheerleader and allow myself to recoginize my strengths and attributes that me happy about myself.

_{The Usui Distance Symbol, HSZSN, specializes in healing the past, present and future. The ability to send Reiki for healing through all time and space is one of its greatest gifts. I am continually amazed at how effective it is. The results of my long distance Reiki sessions have been nothing less than remarkable.}

<sub>When I first received my Reiki attunements, I liked the idea that I could offer distance-healing work, however I didn’t believe in it, and really didn’t think it would work. During that time, my life took a lot of turns, and I found I needed the ability to send Reiki to many people. I also needed healing work from others and asked people to send me Reiki and healing. I also found that I needed to send Reiki to myself for many situations. So Distance Reiki became a necessity and I quickly discovered that it benefited everyone.

Today, I would love to say that I am completely convinced of the power of Distance Reiki, but I guess that if I had total belief, I wouldn’t be in a such constant state of amazement that it works every time. It stretches my belief system every day. I am on many prayer lists and so distance healing is a big part of my day. Many of my Reiki clients are across the US or in other countries, our Reiki session is on the phone, and after years of this practice I find that the results of the distance healing is the same and the experience of the client is equal to my Reiki treatments that are in person. I am a very results oriented person, and I have to say, the feedback I get from people and clients, and my own experience in receiving Reiki, is that it works! People report healing and well-being in many ways. Some receive cures and others receive spiritual or mental/emotional healing, and they often speak of the higher perspective they have about their circumstance.

There are many methods you can use to give Distance Reiki. It works through invitation, so there may be many ways you decide to invite it. All of them work, but you will usually choose the method you are going to use by the circumstance and practical considerations of that situation, such as how much time you have and where you are when you are sending Reiki. Here are just a few.</sub>

• _{If you have the time, it is nice to use a teddy bear or pillow to send Reiki by proxy. It can represent the person you are sending it to and it gives you a way to use the hand positions. Draw the Distance Symbol over the bear or pillow, and say the name of the person you are sending to three times. Use the hand positions as if they are there.}
• _{Place a photo or the name of a person on paper between your hands, and activate the symbol, you can even put multiple names on a paper and send it to more than one person at a time.}
• _{Simply put your hands together and imagine the person receiving between them.}
• _{You can send Reiki through your intention and think about it and send it with your mind.}
• _{Make a Distance healing box, imbue it with Reiki, and place the name or circumstance into the box to send Reiki all day.}

<sub>There really is no right way to do Distance Reiki. In all the ways that you try, invite the Usui Distance Symbol and Reiki and set your intention into the session. Sometimes you will have time to be silent and give long Reiki distance treatments, and other times you will send Reiki in the middle of your busyness while you are doing everything else you are doing. Go ahead and send it in what ever ways works into your day. It will work because you invited it. The time spent can make a difference in your experience, but the person receives because of their intention.

Remember to ask others to send you Reiki too!</sub>

2012 is almost here. It is a year that has been highly publisized as a profound time of human potential. Whether you believe it is the coming of a new consciousness or the time of global destruction, or no change at all, you have the opportunity to enter into this New Year awake to your own potential. One way to do that is to reflect on the past  year and let go of what is not in the best interest for your future.

The Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony is a beautiful ceremony that will help you release what you don't want to take with you into the New Year. I first wrote an article about it for Reiki News Magazine, and I have the complete free instructions for the ceremony and the article on my website, reikilifestyle.com. Last year I began using a different method of burning the paper during the ceremony. In my original instructions, I used dirt in the bottom of the bowl and placed a lit candle in the center. During the ceremony people wrote what they were letting of on paper and then burned the paper using the fire from the candle. That works great for 1-10 people, but if you are having a larger ceremony, it is very slow and quite a bit smokier than what I use now.

I facilitate a Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony for the New Year for my January Reiki Circle for about 35 - 40 people. So I needed to change the way we burned the paper. First, I found a really large stainless steel bowl. It is made to hold ice and wine bottles so it is a nice size. I line the bottom with aluminum foil, pour Epsom Salts into it, and pour 99% alcohol over the salt. I use a long lighter to light it because it has a little "poof" when it is first lit. It has a pretty good fire, but it doesn't smoke very much. You should practice it at home before you do it so you know what to expect. I give the people a regular piece of paper that is long and narrow. about 1/3 page, cut vertically. (I found some at the Dollar Store in a pad of paper) That way the people can hold it for a moment while it burns if they want to. And the paper has enough room to write down alot of things to let go of! I like the fire in the bowl to be somewhat strong, so the paper burns fast. Sometimes I have had to add more salt and alcohol in the middle of the ceremony when the fire burned out before we were finished, so have some ready just in case. When the ceremony is over, you can add water to the salt, then bury it, or it will disolve in the water if you want to wash it down the sink. Make sure you dispose of it safely. I have placed a photo of the supplies I use for the ceremony on my home page of my website, reikilifestyle.com.

I have the complete instructions for the Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony if you want to hold the ceremony for yourself or your friends. It is a nice way to usher in the New Year. The ceremony also includes what you want to empower for the New Year. It gives you time to go into your heart and listen for your intentions. I like to have the people attending the ceremony write their intentions on a card, I collect the cards and place them in my Reiki room with a Reiki Crysal Grid over them, and then I send them back to the people on the solstice in June. It is always a wonderful surprise when they receive them. It gives their intentions new life. Here is the direct link to the Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony, and also the Reiki Burning Bowl Article.

However you spend your New Years, I wish you wonderful blessings for 2012!

The holidays can increase our busy-ness with family gatherings, shopping, cooking, travel, etc. We often feel too rushed take the time to activate the Reiki Symbols by drawing them and doing our full activtion process. Remember that it is ok to activate Reiki just by thinking about it. The symbols will activate simply because you invite them. They don't need your full attention when you are too busy too spend alot of time. Reiki will adapt to your schedule and help you in whatever way you need it most.

Reiki makes your day flow easier because it aligns you with higher thought and increased vitality, which gives you the ability to think and act from a balanced perspective. One of my personal favorite "higher perspectives" is that I don't engage in all of the opinions at the holiday family gatherings. I just sit back and watch and enjoy. It has given me so much freedom! I don't have to say everything I think. Consider trying it, it is really great. Reiki makes it easy for me not to be attached to it all. I also think Reiki is directly responsible for my front row parking karma. Seriously, I always get the best parking spots! I think about the Reiki Distance symbol, and the direction I need to drive to get the parking spot highlights in front of me. It seems as if serendipities follow me, (or I follow them, I don't know which) and I get to watch the small ways my day is easier. Reiki seems to open my mind so that I can notice. They probably happen to everyone all the time, but Reiki seems to make the small blessings visible to me. I get to experience them and notice their presence. It helps me to look for them too which is a nice way to spend my time.

I could go on and on about the advantages of inviting Reiki into your holidays, but this is a blog and I try to keep it short. I think my main message is to remind myself and any of you that this is helpful to, to simply invite Reiki in whatever way you have time for. It is a wonderful feeling to activate Reiki by drawing the drawing all the symbols into your hands and the room, but if you don't have time, invite Reiki with your thoughts while you are in the middle of your busy-ness. It will help you stay centered and in the flow of your own inner guidance as you do all the things you have to do to make your holidays happen.

Send Reiki into the following days, again you can just send it quickly with your thoughts, and ask for it to guide you to easy holidays. Set your intention that they are easy and that you enjoy them. Remember the Reiki Ideals. They are really helpful during this time. Just for today, I will not anger, or worry, I will be filled with gratitude and devoted to my work, and I will be kind to all others. When you read them, you can see how they align you with a different perspective. Do self-Reiki by just thinking about Reiki and placing your hands on your body wherever you are, you can be very inconspicuous. I also sing and chant the names of the Reiki symbols to call them in. I like to do this while I clean my house and it fills the house with Reiki. Most of all, use Reiki the way that it works for you. Make it easy on yourself. Reiki doesn't ever want to be the "one more thing you have to do," it will come because you invited it. It always shows however you activate it.

Blessings for wonderful holidays!

Colleen

PS, I am turning off the ability to post comments on this blog because I get so much spam. The people who really want to comment just get lost in the middle of it all. You can send me an email at colleen@reiklifestyle.com if you want to reach me or comment.

The Reiki Gratitude Ceremony is a wonderful ceremony for Thanksgiving and holiday dinners. The Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony is great for the New Year celebrations.  I have written free instructions for each and posted them on my website, making it easy for you to create your own ceremonies. Just go to my Reiki Ceremonies page and download the instructions, prayers and easy instructions for everything else you need. I have the link to the page below. I have tried to emphazize the word easy so you know that this is something you can comfortably add to your celebrations. They are meaningful, enjoyable, and can be adapted to be appropriate for all belief systems.

I have also written articles about Reiki and Gratitude and the Reiki Burning Bowl and they are here on the website too. I have also placed that link below.The articles add depth to the understanding behind each of the ceremonies. Dr. Usui's Reiki Ideal, "Just for today, I will be grateful," inspired me to meditate, pray and focus on gratitude. I was inspired to create the Reiki Gratitude Ceremony during my meditations. The holidays were coming up and I could envision people gathered together with family and friends and adding gratitude to their homes and out into the world. And if we had the ceremony all over the country and in other parts of the world, there would be a powerful vibration of thanksgiving broadcast all over the planet. The gratitude and love from ceremony is sent to the World Peace Grids and they in turn send the power of the collective prayers all over the world.

The Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony was inspired by a ceremony I had heard about from the Unity Church years ago. I adapted it and added Reiki.  It is a method of letting go of what no longer serves you. The things that you don't want to take into the new year. This ceremony uses Reiki to release and heal the energy and limitations that hold you back. It then empowers your life force which helps you manifest your intentions and goals.

I hope these ceremonies add beauty and love to your holidays!

Here is the link to the instruction page for Reiki Ceremonies: Reiki Ceremonies.   And here is the link to my articles page: Reiki and Gratitude and Reiki Burning Bowl Ceremony.   Click here to read about the World Peace Grids: Reiki.org. Ioffer my Reiki Articles, Ceremonies, Craft Projects and Photo Galleries for free on my website: www.reikilifestyle.com.

Love and gratitude to you all!

Colleen

Yikes! The news, the opinions, the rants! I have to turn it off. Some people say I need to stay informed by watching the news, but I find that the stories occupy my mind. I try to clear my thoughts, which works for a while, but inevitably the conversations around me bring it all back up again. Yesterday, I posted my article from Reiki News Magazine, Spring, '10, about using Reiki to clarify my opinions. I am appreciative of my own information today. Now I know I posted the article because I am the one who needed a reminder to use Reiki to release all of the opinions playing around in my head. It feels like they have taken over my thoughts and I have other things I would rather think about.

So I called on Reiki this morning. Reiki has a remedy for unwanted thoughts. The Usui Power symbol, CKR, gently releases what isn't serving us from our body. The Mental/Emotional symbol, SHK, clarifies our thoughts and empowers our creativity. The Distance symbol, HSZSN, takes it all to the light for healing, and connects us to our pure heart. I had a busy morning, so I called on the Reiki symbols as I was making breakfast, I sat and ate quietly, and I listened for a minute. I remembered the freedom I feel when I am not engaged in the negative thought waves broadcast on the news. I thought about the opinions I had collected as my own and whether they were really mine, and decided that mostly they weren't, so I asked Reiki to release me from them. I felt lighter quickly. I was reminded that Reiki heals effortlessly and I don't have to struggle to be free of my negative opinions. I remembered Dr. Usui's Reiki Ideal, "Just for today, I will be grateful." I remembered that gratitude changes my thoughts and my feelings. I took a moment to be thankful and asked Reiki to empower my gratitude all day. Once I connected to my gratitude, my thoughts automatically changed. I realized that unless I was going to take action with my negative opinions, they will just stay in the realm of disturbing mind chatter with no where to go except into my body. If I stay in the thoughts of gratitude, I feel good, and my mind is peaceful and creative, and that is the energy that will go into my body. I am grateful to Reiki, it is truly miraculous in so many small ways.

I am going to go enjoy the day now. It is the second day of summer, perhaps the sun will shine its beautiful face on us today! Just for today, I will be grateful. Tomorrow I will remember again.

Click here to read the article, Reiki Clarifies Opinions.

Opinions.pdf (1.47 mb)

Together, we can invite the power of Reiki to help the people, animals and land in Japan. Invite the Usui Distance Symbol and connect into the power of Reiki that is being sent to Japan by people all over the world. Mt. Kurama in Kyoto was the birthplace of Reiki. The land in Japan remembers Reiki, invite it to help. Dr. Usui spent tireless hours giving Reiki to earthquake victims in the 1923 earthquake in Tokyo, and his love is still present there. Send Reiki to the World Peace Grid located in Hana, Hawaii, the North and South Pole, Jerusalem and Michigan. Invite love and peace into the world and send it through the Peace Grids to spread out over the planet.

There are many ways to activate Reiki even if you are working and very busy today. Reiki works by invitation, so all you need to do is ask it to help. Simply think it in your mind, or if you have time, draw the Reiki symbols, spend time in self -Reiki and send the healing to the people of Japan.  Call on the power of the love given by Dr. Usui during 1923. welcome the power of the land and the mountain. Ask that love and grace surround all. We remember today that the world is one community. Blessings to everyone.

I was so skeptical about Reiki when I received my first Reiki attunements. My horse had gone lame and I decided to learn Reiki in order to help him heal. I was told that I would receive the ability to give Reiki through an "attunement." But I admit, the idea that a person could receive the ability to heal themselves and others through a simple inititiation  was completely outside my belief system. Through a series of seredipities, I decided to get my Reiki training anyway. (now I know that is how it happens all the time!) So I was completely surprised when I had a physical reaction to my Reiki I attunement! My hands and arms tingled and my hands were incredibly hot! I knew that something extraordinary had happened. Reiki really worked! I remember thinking, "If a simple Reiki attunement can give a person the ability to give healing energy, then what else is true?" The Reiki attunement completely changed my beliefs about spiritual possibilities.

Now that I have taught Reiki and worked as a practitioner, I realize that a Reiki attunement works because the person receiving it has asked for it. "Ask and you shall receive" is a spiritual truth. Even when you don't believe in it. I have meditated and asked my spirit guides why it works this way, and the answer I have been told, is that Reiki works through the power of Grace. Grace happens when we ask and allow it to come into our lives. It only needs an invitation.

"The Amazing Grace of Reiki" is my new article in Reiki News Magazine, Winter 2010. I was humbled when I reread it today. My articles are always channeled and I often don't know what I have written until they come out in print. The power of grace surely inspired this one.

Please share your experience with the vibration of Grace in your life. We will enjoy your stories!

My head didn't blow up after all! I was lead to believe that if I didn't write my blog every week, and stay in touch on facebook and twitter, my Reiki Lifestyle website would be lost in obscurity and my world would abruptly halt! I don't know where I came by that belief, must be from the "theys" out there, but I am here to say that I have survived after two months without a blog and social networking!

Three months ago my mother broke her pelvis in three places, and my priorities had to change in a day. I have to say, it has been very disorienting. One day my Reiki clients, classes, website, blog, writing, making Reiki craft projects occupied my thoughts, and the next day, hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, insurances and my moms pain were all I had time for. Everything else had to go to the bottom of the list. Blogs and social networking ended up last! I admit, I worried about it. I was just starting to really understand how it all works. Everyone I consulted with, told me that I had to "stay on top of it" to be successful with my website. I have spent a good deal of time creating a new website this year, so I was very dedicated to doing everything I was told.

Thank the universe for Reiki! I gave myself Reiki and I also received Reiki treatments from others. Reiki reduced the stress I was under so I could think clearly and know what foot to put in front of the other each day. Reiki helped me surrender my personal needs and focus on my mothers needs. It helped me prioritize her first. On days when I felt anxious or worry about the work I wasn't getting done, missed deadlines, and unwritten blogs, Reiki could help my mind let go and return my focus to what was important. The Reiki symbol SHK, helps us feel joy on the inside, even when our emotions are difficult on the outside. It is the mental/emotional symbol and it directly balances the right and left side of the brain. It helps intuition and logic work together. It aligns the chakras iin the body with the mind, so our physical body and mind are in sync so we can listen with heightened awarenss. I called on this powerful symbol everyday. Usually I only had time for short Reiki treatments, and I often only had time to invite the Reiki symbols on the run, but I invited Reiki into my situations all day long. I could feel its support under me and through me. I have been emotionally and mentally strong throughout this time. I attribute so much of my clarity of actions to the inner guidance I received when my stress was reduced by Reiki.

Today is the first day that I have had time to sit down and write like this. I do love it and am really glad to be back now. I also plan to start posting on facebook and twitter again. It has been great to be away from the demands I was placing on myself over my blog and social networking. I have come back with a whole new perspective. I really appreciate having the time and luxury to sit and write my blog. I also look forward to talking with all the people on my Reiki facebook pages, Colleen Benelli and Reiki Lifestyle. I love the opportunity to meet and talk to people all over the world about Reiki! 

Warm Blessings on this beautiful Autumn afternoon!

Colleen Benelli

Please share your experiences with creating priorities in your life!

Contact Colleen by email at colleen@reikilifestyle.com, or by phone at 503 668-3308.