Hi Firekeeper,
I'll be brief as possible tonight -
- I wonder why Takata Sensei felt inclined to become Reverend Takata Sensei??
Beats me. She obviously had no need. It was a "spiritualist church," not a mainstream one. I doubt it is still around, but I could check just for fun sometime.
- to say reiki will reach where it is supposed to be "eventually", seems to assume the practitioner is not suffinciently skilled to direct the energy?? -
In truth, practitioners have no control of the energy once it is released to the body, for to be able to do so would violate spritual principles and law. To wit:
* It would place the practitioner in the unhappy position of knowing what was best for the client which in both practical and spiritual terms is impossible. The only person you can possibly be expert on is yourself, and only then on a deeply internal basis. You have no guess or clue what is actually best for your client, so 'tis best to simply provide the Reiki healing energy then get out of the way and let it work with the client.
* To be able to direct Reiki to the places that you, as a practitioner, deem appropriate and therefor "force" or "induce" a Reiki healing where possibly none was desired - or even appropriate - would violate the spiritual law of free will by imposing the will of the practitioner over that of the client. The penalty for doing this is the loss of the practitioner's free will. Happily, Reiki prevents this scenario by becoming inoperative when necessary.
- eventually is rather vague and indeterminate - such that it might seem rather useless to some - especially the Intended recipient
I don't know what Takata's view of "eventually" meant, but it is clear that she thought in longer terms than most of us today. When I said the Reiki ball would eventually move to it's desired settling point, I was talking in terms of at most a few minutes.
- to track energy is not that difficult - but to track energy one is involved in (forming the ball for example) is not so easy - since the act requires a certain Mindfulnesss - and to take one's Mind out of anything completely is a goal adept meditators and yogis dream of
I've not had a problem at all tracking the ball, nor have most I've shown the technique to. It is easy, it has your identity on it.
Personally I abhor dogma and untested or untestable statements. The only reason I mentioned the Reiki ball exercise was to give those interested a methodology by which they could explore more about how Reiki works. Either the practice of Reiki will withstand personal investigation such as this or it won't.
For any who care to listen, I say, "Don't believe anything that you personally have not done or tested yourself." If you cannot verify a claim or reproduce a technique (after you've either followed directions or had suitable training), then it is not a part of YOUR reality. It therefor it has no significance for you and thus has no place in your practice or life.
But it might to someone else who can verify and reproduce it.
Personally, tracking the ball is a piece of cake for me. I was playing with it and a lot of other stuff before I even heard the term "mindfullness." But my wife, who sweats profusely when giving Reiki, has no sensation of the energy flow and cannot even feel the ball as she makes it. Yet her hands are easily twice as "hot" as mine, and I can easily sense her ball.
It is all a matter of how you are wired up, apparently. I have found no way to teach this type of sensitivity. You either have it or you don't. No amount of study or meditation seems to bring it out. So if you have some ideas on how to teach it, I'm all ears!
Incidentally, I teach forming the ball to my Reiki I students as a means of helping them turn on their hands and to realize that their hands are actually "working." I have them do this before starting a treatment because often new Reiki folk take five or more minutes to get their hands running.
- as for the spinal "massage??
- sounds suspiciously like Ketsueki-Kokan - or some variant
I don't know what the technique you mentioned is, but it was described to me as being done by Takata briefly just to get the blood circulating. I've never been known to refuse a good back rub, so it sounds good to me for whatever reason!
With love from the Corndodger
