Reiki Lesson - A Discussion of the Levels

As it has been previously discussed, Reiki is an art that needs to be inculcated to the learner only by a Master. The Master gets qualified to teach the new students after he has earned the Master Level or Master Degree. Reiki has been practiced for such a long time now especially if we are to trace its conventional roots. As it got rediscovered by a Japanese national, it became entwined into the Japanese roots. Throughout time, it traveled into several foreign places and pertinent changes were merged as it evolved. For now, Reiki therapy is more contemporary and at the same time versatile in nature and the Reiki lesson has become more stuffed too.

Getting to Know the Original Tradition

The original version for which was pioneered by none other than Dr. Usui Mikao. There are times that the terms Usui Teiki Ryoho, Reiho, and Reiki Ryoho are used too. Again, traditionally speaking, the practice entails three levels or degrees. However, in this time and age, the schools or institutions that offer the course are offering up to seven levels. Its travelling into various parts of the world has contributed much changes to the original system.

The Levels Described

You will find below the brief discussion of the four types of levels or degrees of Reiki. The lessons as taught in these levels are also covered. You know though that the lesson format varies from one school to another or from one Master to another. The Masters normally include the teachings that are based on their personal experience and expertise.

Reiki’s First Degree. The first level deals entirely with the healing process as applied on the self. The lessons covered include the history of Reiki, the mythos that encompass it, the various associations that exist all over the world, and the traditions that have existed before and those that still exist in the present time. The lessons are also coupled with the teaching of the practical hand positions, their descriptions, their benefits, and the Reiki correspondences that make it applicable in healing pets, plants, family, and friends. This level emphasizes that the Reiki energy can rejuvenate both the self and other people.

Reiki’s Second Degree. A more advanced level, the Reiki symbols are revealed to the learners who have successfully passed the First Degree. The methods on how to utilize the symbols are imparted by the Masters to their students. The so-called distance healing is also taught in this level.

Reiki’s Third Degree. This degree is known as the Personal Mastery level and is taught for the more prepared and more advanced students. The channeling of the Universal Spiritual Reiki Energy is imparted along with the balancing of the chakras, execution of some psychic surgeries to eliminate the bad blockages from the aura, and the establishment of the crystal grids to further transfer the Reiki energy to invite light, harmony, and peace into this world. The other more progressive steps in distance or absentee healing are also revealed.

The Master Level. This applies to those who believe that they have been designed to teach the methodologies of Reiki. Prior to being admitted into this level, the person should acquire an advanced level of Personal Mastery. He should perform Reiki on a regular basis and the techniques taught in the third level must be proficiently executed.

Overall, the Reiki lesson is meant to transform an individual into a wiser, responsible, and good being.

Using Meditation Through Music

Clearing your mind through meditation is one of the most peaceful ways you can find to just relieve all the tension you have in your body. Once your mind and body are relaxed you can start to just enjoy some time to yourself. I know that most of us listen to the radio at some point of the day. You may enjoy music ranging from country,to easy listening,to disco,soft rock,classic country,or even blue grass.

Whatever kind of music you enjoy you can find this as a very relaxing way of meditation. For a lot of you that are in good physical shape and like to exercise in a gym at home or even by jogging you want to be able to free your mind of a lot of things that have bothered you through the day.If you are out and about doing your exercises take a Walkman with you and just put it on a station that you really like and let the music just relax all of your tension.

If you are at home exercising or even cooking or cleaning if you have a CD player get one of your favorite Cd’s and play it while you are doing the things you need to do.You can also just go get some blank tapes and record your favorite music off the radio for your meditation. One of the things I find relaxing is listening to music while I am working on the computer.

I have found free sites such as lime wire and frost wire and have taken the time to download my all time favorite songs. I transfer the songs I enjoy into my windows media player and play my music everyday when I am on the computer. I just quietly sing along to my favorite music relax and just meditate about my day. I actually use my keyboard a lot and have to do a lot of typing about different subjects. I have found that if I am not completely relaxed and my mind clear I will make many mistakes in my work which I can’t afford to do.

I know I need to be completely relaxed so I pull up my windows media player and play my most favorite songs that will help me to use mediation to get my work done. I have also bought some blank Cd’s and burned my favorite songs and then listen to that CD while working on the computer or even going somewhere in my car. After having a busy long hard day and I know I still have to drive home and start my routine of cooking,helping kids with homework,giving the kids a bath and getting them to bed.

As soon as I get in my car and I think about all the things I will have to do I put my CD in the player clear my mind and relax and meditate. After I get all my work done I put the kids to bed and the house is very quiet I will draw me a hot bubble bath and listen to my music and just clear my mind and gather my thoughts so I then can start the next day with a clear head.

So whether you enjoy meditating by exercising,shopping,or listening to your favorite music you will find once you have released all of your tension you can then start to feel good about yourself and when you feel good about yourself you can then feel good about your life.

Discover Spiritual Growth with Kriya Yoga

Many people believe that yoga is all about the physical aspects meaning the body becoming stronger, suppler, and the student being able to deal with stress more efficiently. Of course Hatha yoga which is the more well known of the yoga styles is to a greater extent about improving the body and these are some of the advantages of making yoga part of your life. However, Kriya yoga is an advanced form, which focuses on spiritual growth as opposed to the physical context of yoga.

Typically, the practitioner of any yoga style should have studied any style of yoga for a year or more before embarking on the Kriya yoga route. This is because Kriya yoga is much more complex and requires even greater dedication and understanding of its principles.

Essentially all yoga disciplines teach the student about the inner life force and all yoga postures work at increasing the life force, opening up channels, clearing blockages, balancing inner energies.

The Kriya yoga student focuses on the energy in a different manner and works this energy up and down the spine. Kriya practice is to do with mastery of the breath and the concept is that the student directs this energy to rotate around the spinal centers (medullary, cervical, dorsal, lumbar, sacral and coccygeal plexuses) these spinal centers relate to the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The practice of kriya yoga is very deep and involved and the student must be dedicated to the practice to be able to progress and this is why it is recommended that students will have practiced other yoga methods and styles previously.

The techniques are very powerful and bring inspiration and clarity to the student; it opens up the spiritual eye and magnetizes the body. It takes students a long time to be able to grasp in fully the theory behind the practice and this is one of the reasons why it is important that the student does not self-teach this discipline. There are qualified teachers who should be contacted so as to instill correct techniques into the student; this will then help them to understand all that is Kriya yoga.

Essentially, the student will be able to decarbonize the blood and recharge it with oxygen, and this then rejuvenates all of the spinal centers and the brain. The idea is that the student will have control over the decay of body tissues by using the energy, this internal life-force and the power of their mind.

The student can still carry on with the other elements of yoga such as Hatha, Iyengar, Ashtanga etc, keeping the body strong is important and will help with the studies towards spiritual growth.

The Mirrored Body

Everything that happens to you everyday is recorded in your conscious and unconscious minds. You alone decide how you feel about something, or what you want to do next. When decisions that you make everyday start to cause you stress, it can show up in physical symptoms within your body.
A good example is sickness. Why do some people get sick and other don’t? Why do some patients respond to a treatment and others don’t? It is all a matter of your attitude and the fight you are willing to put up to beat the germ or illness.

Your life energy is in every cell in your body and you can communicate with all of them. If there is some sickness, you must identify what is causing it. If you can’t hear, is there something you don’t wish to know? If you can’t speak, is there something you don’t want to say? If you can’t see, have you been keeping something from yourself? There are hundreds of examples. We can learn to solve these problems, but only by asking hard questions. We must face up to the answers if we want to feel better. It is your choice to take life by the hand or let it pass you by.

Some symptoms develop after a while because you let the problem continue and finally your physical body has symptoms of an illness. These tensions in your body usually correlate to stress in your life when the symptoms developed. Being aware of this relationship will help you figure out how to resolve the issues. If you leave the issues unresolved, you will continue to get sicker and show more symptoms. Your body is trying to tell you something is not right. Start paying attention to yourself when you are not feeling well and see if you can trace it back to a certain event.

Guided Meditation

Guided Meditation Will Help You Learn the True Art of Meditation

Meditation has been around for over 5,000 years as a religious and spiritual form of therapy, whether to gain our inner peace and well-being or to grow closer to Christ and bring him into our lives and bodies. Today meditation is used more than ever before. It’s used for many of the same purposes of years ago with many more goals that are successful today. With the help of guided meditation, many individuals are learning the art of meditation and using it in their daily lives. Guided meditation was used years ago when meditation was first used, but today it is used more than ever because of the ever-increasing popularity of meditation.

Meditation comes in many different forms and techniques. When many of us think of meditation, we think of an old Indian chief sitting on the bottom of a mountain with his leg crossed, deep in thought for hours. However, meditation is much more than that today. Even the medical profession has done a lot of research on meditation as a means of gaining good physical health. It’s been proven that some forms of meditation affect our brain waves. Testing has also been done to prove if meditation has helped with other health problems such as heart disorders, high blood pressure and more. This is, of course, provided the patient was receiving guided meditation.

Guided meditation is available from many different sources for those interested in learning the art. Many individuals have heard the positive about meditation but don’t wish to see a specialist in the area or join group sessions. They are able to order courses of guided meditation either online or on a cd or DVD. Many inexperienced people believe meditation is nothing more than sitting on the floor thinking about something for a long time. Meditation is much more than that. While it may involve sitting and thinking, there is much more to it than that.

There are techniques on how to sit, how to relax your body and what to focus on and for how long. Meditation has helped many people to find inner peace and happiness. Stress and anxiety are a very real part of our every day lives. Stress, anxiety and depression have been proven to contribute to many illnesses and disorders in the human body. With the help of guided meditation, you can learn how to relieve your stress and anxiety, therefore, bring peace to your emotional well-being, which will help your physical beings.

Reiki Usui – The Original Reiki

Reiki Usui is credited to its founder, Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui. The driving force behind reiki usui was Mikao Usui’s wish to help others heal more intensely. To do this he became familiar with oriental and western methods of healing, and then synthesized these into what is known as reiki usui.
Although Usui was born into the spiritual traditions of his family, which were Tendai, he was certain there was a better way to heal. Interestingly Usui found the path he needed to follow to create reiki usui with the understanding and mentoring of a Shingon Priest. This path was not without problems as to pursue it meant a rift was created with his family. To change sects was to go against family tradition. So intent on the dream of something better to heal – the dream of reiki usui – he continued in his journey and did become a disciple and follower of Shingon.
Utterly convinced he would find parallel teachings in other traditions, Usui studied Tibetan Vajrayana and Tibetan Medicine. What he found was not reiki usui (at least not yet), but he did find similar teachings to those of Japanese esoteric Buddhism. By now he had a great deal on his plate and attempted to condense it into a more formal structure for himself. To do that, he started to codify the teaching and methods into a system that included the use of symbols. This also included esoteric dharani and methods to tapping in to bestow (channel) power. A dharani is a type of ritual speech similar to a mantra. Although they are similar, they are used in different situations.
Usui got to a point and then got stuck. In the traditions he was drawing upon, the conferring of power could only be done by a living teacher called an Acarya. Since he was not a Master Teacher he decided there must be a way to do direct power transfers. At a momentary loss, he decided to meditate, fast and pray for a line of direct empowerment – for reiki usui if you will.
The story goes that Usui went to the scared mountain of Kurama just outside Kyoto. Kurama had been a Tendai temple for years, but was frequented by monks from other sects. During his meditation’s he realized a complete understanding of how to do direct power transfer and began to develop what we know as reiki usui. Usui is said to have taught many the ability to lay on hands and heal, but didn’t teach many the deeper, more committed path that can be taken to understanding reiki.

Usui reiki is considered to be the original reiki and the foundation of most of the reiki systems in use in the world today. Stop and think about the enormous contribution Mikao Usui made to this world with his gift to us of the universal life force energy.