This is a lesson of perseverance. It was taught to me by a wonderful man who attended a Level 1 Reiki introductory class for veterans I helped co-facilitate in Seattle last week. A tall, wiry, Vietnam vet, he had the distinguished poise and need for precision of a retired serviceman military. He also had a gentle, self-deprecating humor and a delightful gentleness of spirit. I recognized him from a previous class, a class he said we held about 4 years ago. What I didn't remember was that, apparently, he was the one that just didn't get it. He wanted to he said; he wanted to feel what all the others in the class had been feeling. He just couldn't; he felt nothing. This was why he had come back - he wanted to give Reiki another chance. He wasn't at all surprised that he was having so much trouble last time. He explained that he had spent the previous 30+ years carrying himself around in a lifeless body and that it was only since attending the last class that he had started to come alive again. … But he hadn't been successful at connecting with Reiki last time, which is why he was here to take the introductory class again!
Smiling inside at the thought that perhaps that last Reiki workshop day might just have had something to do with this, I complimented him on willingness to want to give Reiki another go and asked him if he had ever experimented with Reiki again since the workshop. Oh yes, he said. Although he couldn't feel anything, it seems he had continued to Reiki his injured knee every day, without fail, for four years. And how was the knee now, I asked? More or less pain-free, he replied! Whether he intended irony I am not entirely clear; it seemed like there was no connection in his mind between his improved state of health and the Reiki healing work he was doing on himself. Yet even though he didn't believe he had the capability of doing it, even though he didn't feel anything directly as he did it, still he persisted and, ultimately, felt better for the investment of his time to do it. I have so much admiration for this man. Even not believing in his own ability, he made room for Reiki in his life and stepped aside. It is a good reminder that Reiki doesn't need us to feel it for it to do its work. "Just for today …" Mrs Takata taught, translating Usui's words. Reiki only requires us to be present and invite it in. His reward for his perseverance and commitment to taking the workshop a second time? Now he can feel Reiki too! by Michael Emanuel
3 Comments
|