Reiki and Gratitude

Cover of Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide

My friend Pamela Miles, the woman behind Reiki in Medicine and an accomplished Reiki teacher and author has a great Thanksgiving post about Reiki practice and gratitude.

She quotes the Buddhist monk and Reiki Master Hyakuten Inamoto in his translation of the middle precepts.

In practice,
there is much repetition,
and there is no repetition.

Much repetition when we repeat the form of our practice—
the when, where, and how.

And often repetition in the sensations of our practice,
the familiar pulsing cascade,
the familiar warmth of our hands,
the familiar refuge of stillness that opens within.

But not always.

Sometimes practicing the form doesn’t yield the same sensations.
Sometimes practicing the form is boring, or worse.
We make the same actions, but we are not content.

With gratitude, work diligently.

And follows,

Reiki is a practice.
A practice is always the same,
and never the same.
And sometimes a practice is work.

Our practice is the work we do to create change–
change in our understanding,
change in our self-concept,
change in the accessibility of our hearts.

And we practice to cope with change,
especially the changes we don’t like,
the ones that make us feel powerless.

But we are never powerless.
We can always practice.
And for that, we can be grateful.