The Reiki Cafe 

I am interested in being attuned to Reiki, but after doing a bit of research on several sites, and also after reading a message on your message board (ID:13592),I am left wondering if there is any need.

I would hate to sound pretentious, and it has taken a lot of courage to ask someone about this.

I have been told recently that I have a natural gift for healing (and as I understand it, so has everyone). When I told my mother this she said that she would love to see me go into this field. As she describes it, she believes that when I held her hand as a child it felt that I wasn't just holding her hand but holding her soul. Also, when I used to give her back massages she used to comment on the amount of heat that came from my hands.I have always been interested in healing and helping (I work as a care assistant in a nursing home). I am not sceptical, just naive about the subject. I practice meditation learnt TM when I was 12. Now I prefer to use colours relating to the charkras.

I understand the philosophy behind Reiki, and I would like to learn Reiki, as dispite what people tell me I feel they are just flattering me.

I would be very grateful if someone could tell me if there is any need to be attuned, and if not what can I do to develop myself.

Also I would like to know if a Reiki practicioner is able to know if the person they are treating is a Reiki student/ practitioner or if that person has the ability to heal?

Thank you for any help you can give

lyds

Lyds,

/*\ Namaste ;-}}

Welcome to The Cafe. :-}}

I am glad for your voice and light.

- As A teacher once observed - even natural gifts can be "developed"

:-}}

- to announce oneself as a reiki practitioner generally means one has training and attunements in Reiki

- are they necessary for you to deveop your gifts??

- no -

- regular meditation is certainly one way to develop awarenesses - but practices are they way to extend one's awareness beyond oneself - this is where Reiki comes in - especially the Reiki 2 and above

- and, learning reiki practices is one way to formalize the energy practices -

- some advanced reiki practitioners or other adept energy workers may well sense (without prior knowledge) when someone they are treating has had attunements -

- though I do not find this particularly relevant - and why keep it a secret in the first place?

- hope this helps,

Reiki all around,

all blessings,

Firekeeper

Although it isn't obvious at first blush, and certainly not published, there is a big difference between Reiki practitioners, so-called "natural" healers and other energy healing methodologies. And that difference is fundamental. Put simply, Reiki healing is performed using energy coming from sources outside the practitioner, while most other such systems make use only of the healer's personal energy.

And so if you are so predispositioned and it is appropriate in your case, you can learn to heal AT SOME LEVEL but only by using your personal energy. Be warned: one of the biggest kept secrets is that most natural healers have lousy personal health; every time they perform a healing it depletes them and they suffer as a result.

Now, there are healing techniques that are an exception this issue, and that is the art of healing by transference. Unlike empathic healing, where the healer transfers the affliction to his own body which then heals the problem, transference moves the suffering through or in some way around his body into either some unfortunate animal, such as a chicken or pet, or as when I practice it, which is seldom, into a glass or bucket of water.

The final act needed to fix the cure is to kill the animal or return the water to the earth for purification. Since a certain amount of (poorly understood by most) ritual is involved with such a healing technology, I use it only for the most critical cases and usually only remotely to avoid causing more trauma or concern for those surrounding the case than already exists.

Like Reiki II, which I use in EVERY INSTANCE, immediate physical contact with the sick is not required, although getting a strong enough connection to perform remote empathic healings is sometimes difficult. (Empathic healing isn't fun; it hurts you as much as it hurt the subject.)

Reiki provides a certain degree of protection to the healer. But understand that is no means absolute, especially when used in combination with other techniques such as those just described.

As Takata said, "There is no wrong way to give Reiki." You cannot make a mistake, and there is certainly no magic to the hand positions; Takata taught that no matter where the Reiki entered the body it would eventually find its way to where it is needed most. (By the way, Takata taught only eight hand positions, all on the front side.)

But if you do not have the attunements, or if you decide to mix Reiki with other healing techniques, you aren't practicing Reiki and you are truly on your own.

Energy healing in general is not something to be trifled with. It is real, it is powerful. But it should first be used to heal yourself. And even after you are healed, a subject unto itself, only the pure of heart can use it in its most perfect and powerful form.

So in answer to your question, nope, you don't need the Reiki attunements. But who is going to teach you? Who will guide you until you understand enough so that you won't cause harm to yourself? A book written by some unknown, unproven, and unseen author?

My advice: don't try for a shortcut; even if you turn out to be capable of healing on your own, the energy you can give and manipulate is greatly limited compared to what you'll be able to deliver through Reiki.

Good luck! With love from the Corndodger

corndodger,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

I agree with much of what you say about use of personal energy - and that energy work must be highly "respected" for there is more power in thought-forms than sometimes even experienced energy workers realize

>:-}}

- I also know what Takata taught - having trained with one of the Masters she taught -

- however there is a certain amount of discrepancy when it comes to the notion that the reiki goes where it is "supposed to" -

- and I suspect Usui Sensei might suggest that Intent and Mindfulness are in fact key - I suggest this in view of his Reiju-ho practices which are Mindful if they are anything

>;-}}

- As a Teacher once observed: reiki does not always go where it is Intended - thus the report that "blockages" are not always reached by reiki treatments when opening blockages is the wish of the recipient and\or the "diagnosis" of the practitioner who simply 'applies reiki" in some haphazard fashion

>:-}}

- this may be accounted for on at least two fronts - inadequate preparation and Mindfulness on the part of the Practitioner and\or non-acceptance or incomplete acceptance of the energy work by the recipient - whose Mindfulness and Intent are also Key

>:-}}

- I have enjoyed your observations and discussion.

reiki all around,

all blessings,

firekeeper

Namaste lyds,
You can be a healer without being a reiki practitioner, in the same way you can be a massage therapist without be an Aromatherapist.
The difference is the source of the energy, as has already been mentioned.
If you are sufficiently interested in reiki, why not do it properly? A site to study (if you have not already been there) is

May you enjoy the fruits of your final choice:)
L&L jonjo

Hi Firekeeper,

I, too, have been privilaged to study under a first generation master (and several others). In fact just this week I was visiting this (original) master and was allowed to listen to a tape from a personal (and unpublished) library of some 20 or so cassettes of Takata demonstrating and teaching Reiki to a small class that this person attended during the early 1970s. This was before Takata became "Rev. Takata." (I've seen, but not heard, the cassette of her ordination.)

On the tape I listened to this week, she clearly and unambiguously stated just what I last reported, that Reiki, regardless of where it is applied, will eventually (her word) reach the place where it is needed most.

She went on to say that an organized and systematic application of Reiki "makes the system simpler." But she did not say or intimate that it made the treatment faster or more powerful, as some references would have us believe.

On the same tape, she indicated that you should spend "10 to 15 minutes per position" and in response to the question, "what if there is still activity at the position after 10 minutes" she reiterated that you should move on to the next position, and in so many words, she also said "period."

She comes across as pretty head strong when it comes to describing the Reiki practice. As I said before, she used (and taught) only 8 hand positions, all on the top: eyes, ears, back of head, throat, diaphram, the two intermediate lower positions finishing with either ovaries for females or testicles for males. This information is also from those tapes, and so it is as close to the source (and non-heresay) as I can give it to you.

She only, as a rule, applied vigorous mesaging along either side of the spine on the back. Her teaching, so far as I've heard on the tapes, seems to be about treating specific problems, rather than general treatments. As she had 8 positions, a treatment must have lasted 80 or more minutes. She spent a lot of time with those who came to her, apparently dealing with some for a month or more.

I have not heard all of the tapes, and there is no possibility of obtaining copies at the present time, and so you'll have to take my word for it, if you wish, that this is what I heard.

But whatever, you can test this hypothesis and see for yourself whether Reiki seeks a target on the body or not.

Keeping in mind, of course, that the most "beneficial" location for Reiki is a matter of, could we call it "negotiation?" between the body and the energy, we can easily locate places on the body that are more receptive than others. And so the experiment.

Select a person who agrees to allow the test to be performed on themself, then using whatever method you choose, scan the body and find those areas you judge to be most receptive.

Momentarily stepping back from the volunteer, form a ball of Reiki energy between your hands. Work on it for a few minutes until it is well developed and formed and you can clearly feel its robustness.

Then gently place the ball on the volunteer's chest and using your scanning techniques, follow the ball until it enters the body. Only rarely will it simply sink into the chest and disappear. In my experience, it will usually head for one of those "good" spots, sometimes at a very leisurely pace. Elsewise it'll go to some other "undetected but apparently good" place. You'll know it is doing its work once it sinks in, stops moving and slowly starts to disappear or disperse.

It may take several tries to get the hang of tracking the ball, but good mindfullness and neutrality will see you through. The feeling and sensation of following the ball is much like moving or following a spirit around if you've had that experience. This probably follows; both spirits and Reiki energy have a consciousness of their own.

Important to those who wish to try this for themselves: Keep your mind out of this experience; it will try to help by determining the most logical place for the ball to go, then play games with your senses to try to make it "go" there. It is important that you perform only as an observer once the ball is released. This is not a matter of logic; you can have no idea what is best for the client, and so all the logical thinking in the world will only give you misdirection.

With love from the Corndodger

corndodger,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

Thanks for the interesting lights on Takata Sensei and reiki - the tapes would be fascinating to listen to

- I wonder why Takata Sensei felt inclined to become Reverend Takata Sensei??

>:-}}

- a few thoughts -

- 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?? -

- also, eventually is rather vague and indeterminate - such that it might seem rather useless to some - especially the Intended recipient

>:-}}

- one of the issues I rarely see addressed in discussions of the Sensei teachings (whichever Sensei it might be) is the matter of the recipient's Intent to receive the energy

>:-}}

- 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 would prefer to devote my Mindfulness and Intent to getting the energy where it is needed - to the best of my adeptness

>:-}}

- as for the spinal "massage??

- sounds suspiciously like Ketsueki-Kokan - or some variant

>:-}}

- I wonder what Takata Sensei might have to say about distance Ketsueki-Kokan

>:-}}

Take care.

Reiki all around,

all blessings,

firekeeper

Namaste,

Firekeepr,

As always, it is a challenge, informative however, to read your words and comprehend them on more than just the logical senses. I appreciate the chance to learn.

You said:
"I wonder what Takata Sensei might have to say about distance Ketsueki-Kokan"...but does that matter, as having been a "guinea pig", and gladly, have made some long awaited discoveries to my betterment. There are benefits, if I so choose it.

Blessings to you and yours,
Dina

Namaste,

Corndodger,

I found your posts very interesting and presented a view I had not looked through before. Thank you for the opprotunity to share it.

However, you said"
"She went on to say that an organized and systematic application of Reiki "makes the system simpler." But she did not say or intimate that it made the treatment faster or more powerful, as some references would have us believe."

can you please explain what you say...what do you mean by organized and systematic?

Thank you for your help,
Blessings to you, and yours,
Dina

Dina,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- most kind :-}}

- too true :-}}

- you are, of course, always welcome to grace my litle lab any time

Blessings to you and yours.

>:-}}

Reiki all around,

all blessings,

Firekeeper

Dina,

Thank you for your kind words. What I was referring to in regards to the Takata's "makes the system simpler" was the organization of various hand positions.

I preface the following remarks with the caution that I have not personally heard the tapes where Takato details a "standard" treatment, and so the following is based on what I have been told by one who was actually there. (This is also what we term "heresay," and so my disclaimer.)

Most Reiki practitioners are taught the standard litany of hand positions, the head, torso, legs & feet, then flip them over and do the back.

Takata's treatment hand position organization started at the diaphram, worked down the torso, then did the head. For a variety of reasons, she felt the head wasn't all that big a deal unless she was dealing with the eyes, ears or sinuses. Mental issues were mostly dealt with through the lower organs.

It wasn't until she was gone, I am told, that the hand positions most of us use today were adopted by a number of the 22 original masters. But they weren't, apparently, a part of Takata's teaching.

That is what I meant...does it clarify things?

With love from the Corndodger

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

Corndodger,

/*\ namaste :-}}

A teacher once observed:

- no spiritual "laws" are broken if the recipient has granted permission for the work - and the practitioner knows what s\he is doing - and does no harm

>:-}}

- this may include directed reiki (within the energy body of a recipeint), use of reiki for extraction work, etc

- some Shamans in Tibet a thousand years ago were pretty good at what was porbably use of "reiki" in their healing practices

>:-}}

- you may read up on "blood exchange" at any number of reiki websites - Vinny's Reiki Plain and Simple I believe has it

- what is significant is for each is for them to decide for themselves -someone else's personal logic may be quite misleading - may be quite useful - but it may be folly to assume -

- a single experience is not unreal simply because it cannot be reproduced - that is western scientific "lab" mythology -

- are then "miracles" unreal??

>:-}}

- one of the issues for some reiki practitioners, in the West at any rate, is the "christianization" of reiki to make it more marketable

>:-}}

- perhaps this speaks to reverendizing by some reiki teachers

>:-}}

- I can't remember right now what the spiritual laws say about pragmatism

>:-}}

- I enjoy our discussions,

Reiki all around,

all blessings,

firekeeper

lyds,

namaste,

I will add just a little more pepper to the stew... if you don't mind.

Have in mind a desire for some little 'goodie' that is just nice to have. You know you can go out and buy it for yourself, but my favorite things, the things I treasure, are gifts from people I dearly love. The attunement process, while usually is something that you pay for, is also a gift of love from a master. They are giving you the ability, and the knowledge to use what they dearly love. It brings you into the 'circle', for lack of a better term.

I know many other people on this board, and some other boards as well claim that they can 'attune' themselves. Perhaps they can. I, for one, am very happy that most of my attunements were 'hands on'. If you are attuning yourself, you miss out on the passage of love from one person to another, and that also unites us. With all our differences, we all have that together... :o}

In all respect to your mother. And respect to all mothers out there, including myself. (I have 3 children) We all think our children have special gifts. They all do hold our hearts perhaps part of our souls as well, in their little hands... :o} All of us have thought the same when ours were little ones.
And it doesn't really change when they get older. (sigh)

I have met many people in various professions, who do not believe it is necessary to learn anything else. That what they already know is enough. They are reluctant, even resistant, to learning anything more. Then there are the others who want to learn more, so that they can help themselves and others even more than they are now. Each is in the place where s/he needs to be....

I give reiki treatments to people both attuned and not attuned. Unless it is important, why bother to ask? An interesting point though. I was giving reiki to a reiki II last week, and when I got to her solar plexus, where she had had her own hands while I was doing her head, it was 'Hot'. I did ask her if the reiki always flowed when she received. :o} She replied that she had never noticed before. She and her husband do reiki on each other quite often.

One last thing, I have fortunately met several 'natural' healers in my life. All very loving, concerned people. They all have believed that what they did was 'enough', if not better than reiki. They have all been very ill. One with kidney problems, another recently with liver cancer.
I believe that this is a result of taking into themselves the other persons illness.... Of course they were quite gifted. I have felt their energy and their abilities.

Best to you in any choice that you make.

Blessings to you and yours.

Priestess

Yo, Firekeeper,

I've heard this one, too:

- no spiritual "laws" are broken if the recipient has granted permission for the work - and the practitioner knows what s\he is doing - and does no harm

This was taught to me in my first Reiki I class, but in the form, "you must ask for or have permission before giving Reiki." This became more complicated when Reiki II came along, and the instruction became, "try to ask, and if you get no answer, send it anyway." The idea was that it could be rejected if not desired.

I do not teach such drivel in my classes. The reason is that the recipient is generally living through a false identitity. (This doesn't apply, of course, to enlightened individuals, but then how many of those do you run across?)

Anyway, the false identity, which in most consumes at least 80% of their available energy, does not live in reality; rather, it lives in make-believe land where it strives to become what it thinks those around it want it to be so that it will be liked or loved or whatever it thinks it wants. It is mind-based, that is, based largely on logic and comparison, which we all know is totally non-real.

As such, unless you can read the individual in a non-physical way, your verbal inputs are limited to those output by the false identity. Thus, you cannot, normally, get authentic permission or anything else by talking to people. Of course there are exceptions, and of course there are cues placed in the speech that the true identity attempts to express, but for the most part, permission is a people-pleasing expression and thereby is not authentic.

So, what are the three requirements for a non-physical, example being Reiki, healing to take place? First, the subject must ask for the healing of their own free will. In other words, they cannot be driven, shamed or jerked in from the street to see the healer.

Second, and very important, the healing must be appropriate for the subject. What this means is that it cannot be allowed to interfer with the on going learning or life lessons being taught to that individual. Phrased more metaphysically, their incarnational blueprint must allow or permit the healing to take place according to the wishes of the individual. If the healing is ruled out at this level, there is absolutely nothing on the physical plane that can heal the subject AT THE LEVEL the subject may have requested.

This is because all people come to the earth experience to live their life at a particular place, time, culture, social level using a particular sex, sexual orientation, etc., etc., to learn through the physical context whatever it is they are interested in.

Thus some come to live in poverty, others in wealth; some learn through political power, others through humility and denial. And some come to live a life of suffering and or illness or other forms of weakness. Personal situations are not accidents; they are all opportunities to learn and grow, and to the point of Reiki, healing, even energy healing, may not be appropriate and perhaps can even be detrimental to any particular individual's mission or interest, and so it cannot and will not be allowed, in these cases, to interfer.

So if a healing is not possible because of this issue, does that mean that you are wasting your time working with such a person? Not at all. It simply means that the person has to allow the disease to run its course; it is part of their education, "metaphysical thearapy" if you want to call it that.

In the metaphysic, energy is the same as insight, and so even people who cannot be directly healed by whatever means, can receive insight. This may help them learn the lesson the disease (or injury or whatever) is teaching them and thereby shorten the duration of the suffering, or it may help them, such as in hospice situations, come to grips with themselves, their lives and their impending death. It all depends on the individual and the path they are following.

We could go on about this stuff, but lets skip to the third requirement for a metaphysical healing, and it is that the healing, if offered (meaning requirements one and two are satisfied), then the individual must agree to accept the healing at ALL levels.

This is where the false identity can get in the way. Many people have reasons for wanting to be sick. It brings on pity, special attention, recognition, that sort of thing. Sickness often times is medicine for sick minds.

So in any event, all three elements must be in the affirmative, all must be in place, and if they are, some amazing healings can take place. These requirements, incidentally, also pretty much preclude any hope of "scientifically" testing the effectiveness of Reiki or other energy healing methods because there's no way for science to "grade" these factors, except possibly mental issues around the third requirement.

- this may include directed reiki (within the energy body of a recipeint), use of reiki for extraction work, etc

What do you mean by "extraction work"?

- some Shamans in Tibet a thousand years ago were pretty good at what was porbably use of "reiki" in their healing practices

My understanding is that Reiki by whatever name came to Japan (Usui) via China via Tibet via India and ultimately from Assyria, earliest dating around 3500 B.C., just about the time writing was being invented. I have nothing but hearsay, however, to support this information.

- you may read up on "blood exchange" at any number of reiki websites - Vinny's Reiki Plain and Simple I believe has it

I quit looking for anything useful about Reiki or healing in general on the web a couple years ago. Too much chaf, not any wheat. This place is the only one I've found interesting. Genuine people, most spiritually advanced, looking for help. I like working with those types. I will check up on Vinny's if you'll give me the link.

- what is significant is for each is for them to decide for themselves -someone else's personal logic may be quite misleading - may be quite useful - but it may be folly to assume -

Again, logic is not based on reality. Anything that cannot be worked on and sensed through the body, the affects on the body, or the body's six senses is not real. Anything not real, in my parlance, is mind candy.

- a single experience is not unreal simply because it cannot be reproduced - that is western scientific "lab" mythology - are then "miracles" unreal??

The mythology is that there is one reality and we are all living in it. Actually, there are 6 billion, give or take, people on earth, and each of them is living a separate reality quite apart from yours or mine.

Miracles are unreal to those who have not experienced the particular miracle in question. If you are told of a miracle, you find it interesting and perhaps "worth of study," right? That's mind candy for you. But it was real and a part of reality for the person who experienced it.

>:-}}

- one of the issues for some reiki practitioners, in the West at any rate, is the "christianization" of reiki to make it more marketable

Oh, God, yes. But interestingly, Reiki can, if you let it, lead you to discover your true relationship with the God concept - as apart from Diety. What most don't, can't or won't allow themselves to is to recognize that the physical world is THE SPECIAL CASE. The non-physical world, where we "return after death" is our normal state. As this concept is difficult to package and sell, you won't be seeing it in the supermarket tabloids anytime soon.

>:-}}

- perhaps this speaks to reverendizing by some reiki teachers

If you are refering to "Rev. Takata" and "Dr. Usui" (who never was, we're told, in the US, let alone given a Doctorate at the University of Chicago), I don't know. I suspect Takata did it to please her California sponsors who brought her to the mainland, housed her and helped start the Reiki movement. (They were the ones running the church I mentioned earlier.)

>:-}}

- I can't remember right now what the spiritual laws say about pragmatism

There aren't any...pragmatism is a physical focus.

>:-}}

- I enjoy our discussions,

Me too.

With love from the Corndodger

Dear lyds,
And now, a voice from the peanut gallery...from the unenlightened balcony section...BAGL...:)
Reiki practitioners serve as channels for the energy to flow through them to the recipient. It is not NECESSARY to be highly intuitive to practice Reiki, although practitioners do seem to expand their natural intuitive abilities through the use of Reiki. Thus, in answer to your last question, each practitioner differs in their ability to intuit ( not sure if this is the right word) anything during a treatment. I would expect that there are those that can sense an attuned person & many who can not.
The ability to heal is a natural ability that we all possess. In some it is more developed than others. If you have an unusual amount of natural ability...you dont need "Reiki" to use that ability. It is a vast Universe with room for all healers & energywork. (A feeling of heat does not necessarily identify an energy flow as "Reiki". In fact, sometimes heat from hands is nothing more than a person's normal body heat/energy level..).
A level one Reiki class is not expensive or difficult. Perhaps your questions would be best addressed in your own personal experience of Reiki. ( This thought keeps bouncing around in my head, from some old commercial, I think the Mikey cereal commercial... "try it, youll like it". Sorry, couldnt contain it any longer. :)
By the way, I think your nursing home is quite blessed to have you working for them. Your touch must provide comfort to those who are too ill or too old to adequately care for themselves.
Good luck on your journey,lyds...
peace,love & joy,
holobon

Corndodger,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

As a Teacher once said: who am I to judge the falsity or veracity of another's "identity" -

:-}}

- I am just begining to learn to look out from behind my own "Mask" (and recognize some of its facets)- but perhaps there are others more "unmasked" than I

>:-}}

- the same Teacher also suggested: one sentient's drivel is another's "holy book" and who am I to criticize?

;-}}

- a single event occuring to a single individual is no less real than any evennt that is reproducible -

- and its existence does not depend on how other's judge it -

:-}}

- the same Teacher also noted that permission is always the preferred condition - hands-on or distance work - same difference

:-}}

- now, this Teacher knows such observances vary widely -

- but he must be true to his own practices - and in the end each will garner their Karma according to the effects of their deeds

>:-}}

- as for pragmatism?? sometimes simply a disguise for dogmatism and opportunism

>:-}}

- agreed - there are six billion interpretations of reality - but given the Collective Unconscious and Collective (Species) Karma there is a commonality we all share and cannot escape - Reality beyond Samsara -

- but since Samsara is the world of Illusion, one of our tasks is to learn to see through Illusion - not an easy task

>:-}}

- all these Masks certainly don't help

bagl

- until Species Karma is resolved the human race will have great trouble making this big leap we keep hearing about

>;-}}

- as each is healed so will we all be healed - but it is overdue time to start

>:-}}

- thanks for the discussion,

reiki all around,

all blessings,

Firekeeper