My Way

Alissia and I once discussed what songs we would like to have played during our memorial services. Mine was Imagine by John Lennon... not overly unique, as I'm sure many people would choose it but it just speaks to me. Alissia's was My Way as performed by Elvis. (Those of you who know her know it couldn't have been anyone else's version but in my head it's a Sinatra song.) I suppose it be considered morbid to plan for your memorial but I'm in the camp that believes that death isn't something to be feared. It's Very sad for those of us left behind by a loved one, to rearrange our lives around their absence, but for the one who has passed, I believe there is great peace.

This blog isn't about death though, I just had the song stuck in my head as I started contemplating today's blog about Reiki. Officially I have been trained as a 6th generation Usui Master. I know symbols in Japanese and even a few in Tibetan (though those aren't part of the Usui tradition) but more importantly, in my own practice I actually have a few symbols that I made up myself.

The first Reiki Master I ever worked with, Michelina Harding, taught me to study tradition but rely upon my intuition. She called this style of reiki "My Way". I've never been that much of a traditionalist in any area of my life, so unsurprisingly this notion spoke to me. As a result, I do many un-orthodox things in my reiki practice. Sometimes I sing, if I feel lyrics pressing themselves into my consciousness. Sometimes I see pictures or think of people. I share these with the person I'm doing reiki on. I do not try to interpret what comes to me. I don't see that as my job. I just share what I see, feel, hear (and sometimes smell) and if there's a meaning in that, the person who the message is for will suss it out, or not. :)

The more I've incorporated these ideas into my practice, the more my reiki has come to feel like a simple extension of who I am on the planet (the good parts, there is no judgment or self doubt in reiki, only love and healing).  Coincidentally, this is how I approach all things spiritual; with an openness to learn and then take with me that which means something and leave the rest. My beliefs are a smorgasbord of all the various paths available on the planet.

Early on, when I first got interested in reiki, a friend cautioned me that "new agey" things were dangerous to Christians. They took focus away from loving Jesus and led down a rabbit hole of weird and unholy practices that did not honor the church. At the time, I promised her that my faith in Jesus was immovable, that there was absolutely no way she'd find me consulting psychics or owning various crystals to strengthen my energy. While reiki does Not intrinsically lead down these paths (I know Several very devout born again Christians who practice reiki, viewing it as similar to the way Jesus laid hands on the sick and they were healed), it did in fact lead me there.

Almost 10 years later, I've found that my spiritual path does not lie soundly within any one religion. I'm a Universalist for lack of a better label, though even that sits a little awkwardly on my shoulders. I do still love Jesus, but when I picture him now, he has his arms around the Dali Lama and Don Miguel Ruiz (just to name a few, there are Countless others). Again, I feel that a spiritual path is incredibly individualized. What works for me might seem like crap, crap, mega crap to you and that's ok. I don't need anyone else to sign off on my beliefs because I don't claim that they are THE way, just My Way.