Chapter 1

My Reiki Path: A Heart-Centred Journey

I’d like to say that I was drawn to the reiki path for spiritually sincere, heartfelt and well-considered reasons. But the truth is, it was a journey that I fell into by one day agreeing to tag along with a friend who suggested it sounded like a great technique to learn. Perhaps that was the only way that spirit knew that twenty-something-year-old me would listen and allow myself to be nudged into this life-changing path. Reiki has led me on a pathway deep down into my heart to discover what lights me up and what makes my soul sing. And, surprising as it was to me to find out, that happens to be plants and the natural world!

As I arrived at the reiki training weekend I remember being nervous and overwhelmed by the small group of mostly women who all seemed to know each other and appeared a little more confident with all this energy work. My reiki Master was teaching us the reiki story in the traditional oral tradition, so nothing was written down and handed out (and twenty years ago there was no chance of being emailed a PDF!). It was an intense weekend. Like the good student that I always was, I gave my full attention to remembering the reiki story and learning the hand positions, and took the whole process very seriously. Despite not having any expectations, during the attunement process I felt a sense of relief and great excitement (and saw rainbows!). I knew that a new world was opening up to me. A way of life that sensed energy and talked about our own ability to heal and take responsibility for our well-being. It may sound naïve, but at 25 I hadn’t really considered any of this very seriously. Since my out-of-this-world experience with an Ecuadorian shaman a few years earlier I had let the doors to my perception close again. The openness and expanded state of awareness that I had experienced at the shamanic ceremony in Ecuador (which you can read more about in Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing) had started to shrink once more, squeezed by the harsh realities of trying to make my way in London for the first time and get myself on the everelusive career ladder.

The reiki Level 1 weekend was a beautiful break from the mundane world of office work that my life entailed, and I ended the weekend riding on a high of enthusiasm. However, as I held my hands over my coursemates during those early practise sessions, the doubt started to set in. Really? Am I really doing anything at all? Am I making this all up? Is this a con?

I wasn’t going to let my doubts get the better of me. After the course, I mustered all my enthusiasm and proffered my newly attuned reiki hands to friends and family. To give them all credit, they were all willing participants and excellent case studies, each of them gladly allowing Fay to do her new energy thing. I couldn’t help wondering if they were all just humouring me and my new reiki project.

At the time reiki was not as widespread or researched as it is now. Today with a quick flutter on Google any number of research papers, associations, insurance bodies, teachers, practitioners and reiki schools will pop to life onto your screen. It’s not hard to find a reason to want to try reiki or even learn it for yourself. Thanks to the work of many practitioners, reiki is now in many hospitals, hospices and animal shelters. We’ve got used to it featuring alongside the panoply of complementary therapies and energy techniques with which we are so blessed today.

At the time I didn’t know many reiki practitioners, much less any my age, and this did nothing to help my confidence. My voice was small and my reiki work was unseen for many years. Little did I know that this was exactly the learning path that reiki needed me to follow.

Reiki, the Journey to the Heart

Reiki is experienced differently by each of us. Even treatments from the same practitioner will feel different at different times, each time delivering exactly what our body, mind and spirit need in order to make the shifts and rebalance as necessary. Unsurprisingly, the reiki path is also unique for us all and mine certainly was no overnight success, with no instant life-changing “Aha” moments. Instead, it has been a gradual unfolding as I unlearn the conditioning I have received and shrug off the layers that my being seems to have collected that somehow weigh me down or take me off-centre, away from my true sense of who I am and what I am meant for in this world.

When people ask me to describe what reiki is I don’t attempt to get specific or provide the classic textbook answer, because there are so many teachers and resources that can provide that. My response is that reiki is a process of opening us up to receiving and giving love, which aligns us with our heart, what we really long for and who we really are. As you may have also experienced, reiki teaches us much about the nature of illness and the path of healing. We learn that a sore back might not necessarily simply be caused by muscle pain; there may be an emotional root cause or even a deeper ancestral connection that has altered the energy pattern. We also learn that true healing might not be achieved with a pill or a Band-Aid, since those might mask underlying symptoms that the body is trying to bring to our attention. Little did I realize that as I went about my daily reiki practice in bed each night, reiki was working its magic, shining light into all those hidden layers of my being, shining light into hopes and dreams that I had pushed away. As these previously unconscious feelings and wishes started to resurface, it got harder and harder to continue as normal; reiki was calling for change.

Armed with reiki Level 2, I signed an employment contract agreeing to be overseas for eleven months of the year. It sounded like great fun compared to the greyness of London, and at first it was. Brazil was a sun-filled blast of caipirinhas and samba, like it promises. Paris was an elegant, stylish and steamy affair. But by the time I got to Madagascar my spirit was longing to be free of suits and rules and champagne parties. I didn’t realize at the time how textbook-classic my behaviour was—I changed things on the outside, rather than listening to the voices within that were asking for a different kind of change.

It was actually in Paris that the veil started to wear thin. In the elegant lounge of our 16th-arrondissement apartment, my reiki hands were twitching. Between the cocktails and the interviews with politicians and leading business owners of the day, I hadn’t had much time to connect with the reiki side of me that the energy had awakened.

A book came to save me. Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way found my lost soul, and thus began my process of reconnecting and relighting my spirit. As instructed, I created the space to write the “morning pages”, which have since become an absolute essential for my sanity and well-being. It was this space, together with my self-reiki practice each evening, that my spirit needed to start its process of deep remembering. I dusted off my reiki hands and once again began to practise regular reiki on myself just before bedtime and send reiki to my hopes and dreams, which, slowly over the course of reading the book, began to take shape. It was during one of the “artist’s dates”, an exercise prescribed by the author, that the plants began to work their magic.

A small store on Rue de Passy caught my eye and I proceeded to buy as many of the colourful plants on display as I could carry. I found myself returning to the flat somehow armed with dozens of potted plants, both for inside the apartment and to decorate the ornate balcony, which up until then I had not really given a second glance. It was as if the plants had jumped up and opened a doorway and I had stepped right through it with my heart and soul.

This took me aback. Why on earth had I gone and bought those? I didn’t even like plants that much, did I? Weren’t plants the thing that my mum was into? I couldn’t even tell you what those plants were because I had no idea about plants. I didn’t even know the names of the flowers that were delivered weekly to our office. It’s only now that I look back and can see this beautiful opening for what it was. In my beautiful, connected state of pottering around on my artist’s date, with no apparent agenda, just following my heart and intuition, the plants had seen the opening they had been waiting for and swooped right on in.

It’s as if, for many years, since my childhood carefree days of running about the garden barefoot, the plants had waited on the sidelines, biding their time patiently (as patient really is what plants do so very well), waiting for that very moment, the moment when I would once again be ready for them. I hung out with my plants on the balcony for the rest of my stay in Paris, giving them reiki, sitting and pondering life.

I also became aware of my senses reaching out to Mother Earth for restoration and support. It was during a mini-break to Biarritz that my spirit soared with delight as the rawness of the wind and salty ocean touched my soul. To consider the ocean as a cleansing power is not a new concept, but this experience was raw, salty and gritty, as if the ocean was seeping into those parts of me that still remained hidden and bringing them up to the surface for renewal and healing. It was a reminder that I was alive with the rhythm of the natural world.

The shift, again, did not happen overnight, but as the plants took root so did a few home truths. I was miserable doing all this city schmoozing, I’m a country girl at heart. It took another year for me to set myself up in a small town in Hertfordshire in the UK, with a back garden, an allotment and a zest for gardening! It was then that I took on the role of herbal hedge witch, creating lotions and potions for friends and family. I even started a BSc in herbal medicine, such was the drive running through me from the green kingdom. I was letting plants take the lead. Working for a conservation volunteer organization, I even got to visit the Amazon rainforest, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef of Mexico and the South African savannah; Mother Nature was indeed supporting me in this new turn of events.

All the time, on the side, my reiki hands were getting to work with friends, family and the odd client, all turning up in my front room and jumping onto my reiki couch.

I remember the first time, after returning from Paris, I turned up at a local reiki share in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, led by Keri ManningDedman. As we went around the circle introducing ourselves, my heart was bursting and my soul was soaring up high. Finally I was home, among people who understood. The best part? I got to receive a huge dose of reiki that my soul had been longing for. I wept with glee.

I can’t count the number of years that I enjoyed exchanging reiki at these sessions in Wendover. It was there that I trained as a reiki Master and teacher and continued to deepen my experience of reiki. I also dipped my toe into shamanism, a pathway that has now intertwined itself fully with my journey with reiki and my relationship with nature.

However, my voice was still very small and my confidence still borderline zero. At these reiki shares I would marvel at the different, often highly expressive ways that my fellow reiki practitioners would sweep the aura, scribe symbols in the air, extract energies, clear the space and cleanse or ground themselves. I did not speak up and ask questions or ask to be shown how to do that myself. No, I let my fear and lack of self-belief keep me small and insecure. Catch me at a reiki share these days and I’m more likely to say, “Wow, what are you doing? I’ve never done it that way, who taught you that? Can you teach me how?” No, I was far too timid and self-conscious for that. I just had to keep going with those hand positions because that’s the way I had been shown and the only way I knew how. Or so I thought!

Fortunately for me, reiki had opened my heart and let those beautiful green spirits of Gaia in. The plants had taken root in my being and they were not going to let me go this time.

Meeting Ma Harta, Samhain 2009

They say that at the time of Samhain (31 october—Halloween), the veils between this world and the other are thin. After my life-changing experience while sitting in a group meditation while training for my reiki Masters, I am inclined to agree!

The group was gathered by candlelight in a circle, listening to drumming, in meditation to connect with the energy of the season. under the hypnotic spell of the drumbeat I remember very clearly leaving the snug atmosphere of the room and feeling my way to somewhere wilder. Wherever I was, I came across an old woman who with hindsight I would describe as a hedge witch, a woman of the old ways. She was a lady who my heart and soul knew from way back when. I felt a sense of knowing and deep connection as our eyes met. There was a sense of familiarity, as if she had been there beside me all along and I had only just now begun to recognize her. As we met I was surrounded by an earthy, damp scent and a pull that grounded me into the Earth. That was when I received a “download”, a transfer of energy and information that showered down through me. It was as if each cell in my body was filling out with information. The download was highly specific. It wasn’t words, it was more than that. A resonance. It was a knowing that was all about plants, their songs, medicinal uses, where to find them, how to grow them, how to talk to them and so on. It was an awakening and remembering of my deep connection to the plant kingdom. It didn’t feel strange, it felt right and fulfilling, like something long awaited had taken root.

Since that encounter there has been such a shift inside of me; I do not perceive plants now in the same way as I used to. There’s much more of a kinship, a feeling of community and a support framework from the natural world that I can’t ignore. As for Ma Harta, she’s always with me (well, she always was) and when I work specifically with plants I ask for her assistance. It’s comforting, like having a partner in crime, a wing woman who is nodding silently and proffering her green friends.

We all have many guides who assist us with different tasks and parts of our journey. If you are drawn to working with plants then ask for a guide to appear to you. It may be a specific plant that calls you and acts as your way-shower, a nature spirit or tree being, goddess or ancestor. Be open to whomever comes your way.

Discovering Plants that Speak

My partner and I had long been yearning for space and in 2010 we took a courageous leap of faith and moved to Nova Scotia to run a flower and herb farm. For a little more detail on how this came about, you can read about this journey in Plants That Speak, Souls That Sing.

While we were running the farm, I couldn’t let my reiki hands go to waste. reiki had a role to play right from the start, as we prepared the flower beds and sowed our seeds. In fact, right the way through the growing season reiki was an essential part of caring for our plants and tuning into their energy and the energy of the land. I also set up a treatment room in the grand wooden-panelled living room of our farm, and it soon became apparent that both reiki and the plants had a role to play in each treatment and healing that took place. Once again, it was as if the plants were waiting for me to create the space that allowed them to enter with their powerful medicine. The first time it had been personal, for me, and this time it was to be shared with others: my clients.

However, as much as the reiki path can seem as if it’s all about treating others, we all eventually come to realize that it’s all about our personal journey of healing and reconnecting with our divinity. In my case reiki was leading me, through the spirit of the plants, to find my voice.

Through all my many metamorphoses—language student, marketing manager, reiki teacher, flower farmer, herbalist, shamanic practitioner, travel guide—my reiki practice has quietly persisted. My connection is constant, and always there, so it naturally flows through in everything I do; combining reiki with my passion for plant medicine is a natural progression. I feel that, rather than keeping the beauty of the spirit of plants and reiki to myself, what I am learning needs to be shared with others. It may be the same for you.

Gratitude to Reiki

This creative journey of intuitive plant connections combined with reiki has become my path and continues to evolve as I come into alignment with my own true nature. I have reiki to thank for putting me on this journey with the plants. It’s thanks to reiki that I first began to pause and reconnect to my heart, which is how the green world leapt in, took root and began to grow.

For each of us, the journey will be different. In my case it turns out that Mother Nature was in my heart singing a very loud song that would not leave me alone until I had followed its beat and joined in. In your case it might be that reiki takes you on an entirely different trajectory than you could have possibly imagined, because that is exactly where your heart yearns to go.

As you intuitively reach out to connect with the landscape and the plants that surround you in your home and workplace, you will come more into alignment with the heartbeat of the earth and the rhythm of who you were born to be. You may find that the subtle whispers that have long been calling you start revealing more clearly your role as a reiki practitioner, healer, spiritual guide, and caretaker for the Earth.

Gassho in Nature

EXERCISE

Gassho Meditation in Nature

Take yourself out into nature and find a place that you can comfortably be for 20 to 30 minutes without being disturbed.

Settle yourself into this space, allowing yourself to land. Mentally call back all the energy that you have exerted over the day, calling it back to you. If negative experiences come to mind, picture yourself dropping them to the Earth and silently ask the Earth to take them away and transform them.

From this restful space, breathe normally, allowing yourself to relax a little more with each exhalation. Become aware of any tension in your body, drop your shoulders down your back and relax your face.

Extend your awareness to the environment that surrounds you. Notice the trees and plants that are growing around you. observe the colours, form and shape of the natural domain in which you have placed yourself. open up your senses to the elements, noticing what you can hear, feel against your skin and smell in the air, as well as what you can see.

When you have finished exploring with your senses, it’s time to go inwards. Place your hands in gassho and close your eyes.

In the way that you have been taught, invite reiki to flow. (I simply ask reiki to flow through me for the highest good.)

Breathe in gassho and settle yourself.

As you breathe, become aware of the green beings that grow around you.

As you breathe, become aware of the invisible realms that surround you.

As you breathe, become aware of the nature beings, elementals and fairy folk that may be sharing the space with you.

Sense into your energy field, feeling for where you end and the outside world of nature and the unseen spirit of nature begins.

If you wish to, say the reiki principles out loud. These are the words that I use now, though they differ from the original wording I was taught. You may have been taught a different translation:

Just for today:

I will not get angry,

I will not worry,

I will be grateful,

I will be honest in my work,

I will be kind to myself and others.

When you feel ready to complete the exercise, express your gratitude to reiki and the spirit of nature around you. Finish your reiki connection in the way that you would normally (I give my thanks to reiki, all the reiki ascended Masters, my guides and all other beings of light that may have been present) and leave the area.

Note down any observations and feelings in your journal.

Questions for Self-Reflection

Take yourself to a favourite place in nature, or a room inside with a great view to invite the outside in. Feel the vibrancy of the green world flowing. Ask for reiki to flow through you as you consider the following questions. Write freely, don’t censor yourself and see what comes.

1 What’s your reiki story? Consider your reiki journey so far. What doorways has reiki opened for you since your first attunement?

2 What has changed since you started your reiki path?

3 In what ways has reiki opened your heart and given you the courage to follow what lies there?

4 What still needs to happen for you to feel satisfied, like you are living your dream life, like you are fully living your soul purpose?

Learnings and Blessings

In describing my journey with reiki and plants, I hope to inspire you to reflect on your own reiki story so far and feel for where you can integrate new teachings and practice. At the end of each chapter will be a section like this, reflecting on the learnings and blessings from plants and reiki. My reiki path has benefited greatly from the spirit of plants and the guidance from each chapter invites your reiki journey to expand with these blessings too.