guest post celebration of reiki

This year was my first time attending the annual Celebration of Reiki conference.  And, while part of me wants to write a gigantic post about all the things I discovered–about myself, Reiki, the Reiki Community, etc.,–I still need to process a lot of it.  For now (while my brain is still humming), here are three main things I learned.

1. Reiki is limited only by your imagination.
There are so many different and inspiring ways people use Reiki!  I sat next to a Real Estate Broker who uses Reiki to cleanse houses before showing them, we heard from an Insurance Agent who gives Reiki to claim rejection letters before sending them, another person integrates Reiki into talk therapy sessions.  The list goes on.  I’ve always believed that Reiki can be used in many surprising ways and the conference was a wonderful (and empowering!) reminder of this.

2. Self-care is Essential.
If you know me, you know I am a huge advocate of self-care.  Alas! Just because I am passionate about something does not mean I always practice it.  The conference brought home the importance of self-care in two ways.  First, since I am empathic and filled with overwhelming compassion in a crowd, I was floored the second I walked into the conference.  During breaks, I needed to stand apart from the crowd and just watch the energy instead of participating in it.  For lunch, I went for a walk and it was exactly what I needed.  Even with all the breaks, I slept for 12 hours after the conference!  Next year, I will be more prepared with self-care tools and plans to help me stay grounded during all the excitement.

Second, the

[natural] focus on giving Reiki to others made me want to hear more about Reiki self-care.  One of the best break-out talks was a guided self-Reiki session, where participants relaxed and re-grounded in the middle of the day.  I would have loved if the conference opened with the powerful and personal experience of a guided self-Reiki session for everyone!

3. Reiki’s Five Precepts are Tools.
If I’m being honest, before the conference, I never gave much thought to the Five precepts, which are:

For Today Only:
Do not Anger
Do not worry
Be Humble
Be Honest in your Work
Be Compassionate to Yourself and Others

Listening to how the precepts have become essential tools in the lives of presenters; using them to help improve a classroom’s behavior, reciting them each morning, etc., I am going to rethink my thoughtlessness.  Perhaps you’ll see a blog post on this in the future..!

For more info about the conference, visit here.

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Cathy HughesThis guest post comes to us courtesy of my dear colleague and friend, Cathy Hughes. She is a Reiki Master Teacher, Massage Therapist, and intuitive practicing in Arlington, MA. To learn more, visit her site at www.cathyhughesrmt.com or follow her on Twitter; @IntersectCathy.