Inviting Happiness into our lives with Reiki

Today, as I was riding the bus through Okinawa I automatically began reciting the 5 Reiki Principles to myself and felt so happy as I did. It was like they were reaching out to me from an invisible and very loving firmament from the great beyond as I happily reached back to embrace them.

These are the 5 Reiki Principles:

Just for today..

I will not anger

I will not worry

I will be grateful

I will do my work honestly

I will be kind to every living being

I'm not sure what prompted it, but I found myself replacing the words "I will not" with "I will let go of (anger and worry)", and that felt so good too. The words "let go" felt soft and gentle and led me to feel like hard wired attachments to anger and worry that I didn't even know about were being released, like dandelion spores into the wind.

Reiki allows us to relinquish control over to it so that we may be taken care of, instead of us trying to maneuver our way through the chaos that often comes with the process of healing. As we continue our Reiki practice, our ability to trust ourselves and our journey strengthens.

Oftentimes when I'm feeling anxious or nervous, every possible solution I think up tends to fill me with even more nervous energy. But I've learned over the years that (especially) in moments when I remember to "reach for Reiki" instead of following the chatter in my head, I allow myself to access feelings of relief that I simply didn't know were possible.

Once when I was teaching a Reiki 1 class in NYC, I was feeling a very familiar state of overwhelm right before students were scheduled to arrive. And just when I thought I was going to burst from strain, I gently sat down on a nearby chair and intuitively placed my hands on my forehead and temples. In a moment, very familiar feelings of stress were replaced with extraordinary ease. Immediately I felt the Reiki flow through my body like a gentle but powerful waterfall of energy and almost instantly all my worry about the day was replaced with calm, I dare say, like magic! I felt my entire self reset and very soon after as students started to arrive I was able to welcome them with warmth and love. And they felt it too, because after a very full day no one wanted to leave! lol I also felt better equipped to be present and listen and hold a big healing space for everyone including myself.

As we continue our Reiki practice by reciting the 5 Reiki principles and placing hands on our bodies, and also giving and receiving sessions to and from others, we invite into our lives a possibility of happiness that can't be conceived or even perceived with our logical minds. The more we re-enter the practice space, and the more we are able to simply feel better and witness our personal transformation, we can trust that other ways of being are possible and available. In this way we continually invite ever greater happiness into our lives.