Reiki as Daily Self-Practice
This book is filled with techniques and principles that you can use to transform your life, but finding a way to incorporate them into your daily activities can be challenging. This chapter will help you do just that with programs focused on different goals, starting with morning and bedtime reiki routines and programs to improve physical health, build a regular meditation practice, and boost your divination skills. You’ll also find programs for bringing more prosperity into your life, harmonizing relationships, enhancing focus and concentration, cultivating self-love, and working with spirit guides. By using these programs you forge healthy habits rooted in a regular reiki practice.
I see reiki as a way of remembering the True Self. Each and every time we interact with reiki, we encounter who we really are, beneath the layers of persona and other egoistic obstructions. When we embody our True Self—and this might happen for just a few minutes a day at first—we make different choices, choices that are aligned with our highest good. The more often we remember the True Self, the more often we make these aligned choices, and the effects begin to snowball. Step by step, choice by choice, we can change the trajectory of our life by interacting with reiki—by remembering our True Self—as often as possible. Note that these programs can be adapted however you like, perhaps by substituting different techniques from this chapter and Chapter 17 or using alternate symbols. At the end of the chapter, I also provide guidelines for crafting a program of your own.
Rise and Shine Morning Routine
Before getting out of bed, start with a short and sweet round of tanden chiryô hô: Place one hand on your forehead, the other on your tanden (just below the navel). Stay here for three breath cycles, then bring both hands over your tanden, resting here for nine breath cycles. Get out of bed, and get your energy moving with some light movement for your physical and energy bodies. Start with shoulder circles: shrug your shoulders close to your ears, and circle them back and down, repeating a few times before reversing direction and circling your shoulders forward and down. Bring your arms into play by making arm circles on the sides of your body, as small or as large as you like. Do a few rounds in both directions, forward and back, imagining that your energy field is getting cleared out with each arm sweep. Now, letting your arms hang by your sides, start to rotate your upper body side to side, letting your arms swing. When your torso moves to the left, your right arm will swing in front of your body, perhaps tapping your left hip, while the left arm swings behind you, perhaps meeting your right hip. Again, feel your energy receiving a clean sweep with the movements.
Raise your arms overhead, shoulder width apart, palms facing each other. Open to a shower of reiki, coming down your arms, into your crown, filling your entire body and aura with an invigorating white light. If you have an intention for your day, repeat it now three times. Remember to phrase your intentions in positive language (e.g., “My relationships are healthy and harmonious” instead of “I am not fighting with my partner today”). Finish with your hands in gasshô. Draw a large Symbol One in front of you, and step through the symbol to start your day.
Commit to doing this practice every morning for seven days, and notice how you feel by starting your day intentionally, with reiki.
Before getting into bed, bring your hands into gasshô and take a few rounds of breath, gradually lengthening the inhales and exhales. Perform kenyoku hô (page 229) with the intention to release anything from your day that no longer serves. Prop yourself up in bed so you can sit comfortably with an upright spine. Bring your arms overhead, shoulder width apart, palms facing each other, and feel reiki flowing down your arms, entering your crown chakra. Intend that reiki will flow down your spine, cleansing this channel of any unwanted energy, flowing out through your tailbone and into the earth, where it is neutralized and energetically composted. Allow this flow to continue for as long as feels necessary (you can relax your hands on your lap at any point).
Bring your hands to crown level, palms facing toward you with middle fingertips touching, and slowly sweep them down the front of your body and over your lap, finishing by planting your palms flat on the bed. As you perform this sweep, intend that your energy is perfectly balanced on all levels. Bring your hands into gasshô and give thanks before lying down for bed. Commit to this practice for a full seven nights, and notice how your quality of sleep changes and how that affects your waking hours. I like to establish this routine at home, and then when I’m on the road I can tap into the energetic habit that I’ve built to help me sleep, even in unfamiliar surroundings.
Choose a special box to use, as simple or elaborate as you like. I bought an inexpensive wooden box from the craft store and decorated it with paints and glitter. You can also paint or draw reiki symbols inside the box if you like. Have slips of paper (colored paper can be fun) and a special pen ready for this bedtime routine. Each night, take a few moments to calm and center yourself, hands in gasshô, eyes closed, focusing on your breath for a few cycles. Bring to mind something from your day that you feel grateful for, big or small. Allow the feeling of gratitude to grow in your heart space, and write down the focus of your gratitude on a slip of paper. Draw Symbol One over the paper and place it in the box while chanting the mantra three times, intending that reiki will expand this feeling of gratitude in your life.
Climb into bed and perform a few rounds of breathing with reiki. Place one hand over your heart, the other just below the belly button on your hara. Allow reiki to flow, and tune in to the sensation of your hara hand gently rising and falling with the breath. Then, tune in to the heart hand and the rhythm of your heartbeat. Feel as the breath and the heartbeat begin to harmonize, and continue to give yourself reiki. When the process feels complete, allow yourself to drift off, feeling gratitude for your day, knowing that this feeling is expanding with the support of reiki.
Continue this practice for a full week (or as long as you like), and whenever you’re feeling out of sorts, open your gratitude box and pull out a slip of paper at random. Soak in the grateful sentiment, and allow it to trigger this feeling of gratitude in the present moment. You can “activate” this feeling more powerfully by tracing Symbol One over the paper, chanting the mantra three times, and intending that reiki will connect you with the feeling of gratitude. Breathe for a few rounds, allowing this feeling to blossom and expand within you. Replace the paper in the box, close it, and once more draw Symbol One, chanting the mantra three times.
Physical Healing
You can use this process for general healing or to focus on a specific issue. To receive the most benefit, as with the other programs in this chapter, commit to the practice for a full seven days (although you can do it longer, too, if you feel guided to do so). You’ll need a notebook, and if you already journal, you can record your insights there—no need to get a separate one for this program. Write out a health affirmation, which will serve as a focal point throughout the next seven days. Remember to phrase your affirmation in the present tense and positive language: for example, “I am enjoying healthy digestion” or “I love my strong, healthy bones.” For general healing, try “I am physically healthy in every way” or “I make healthy choices every day.”
Choose a specific time of day, and ideally, the same location, to do these exercises. For me, doing them in the morning, immediately after brushing my teeth is best. If I wait too long, I’m liable to get distracted by other things. Start by connecting to reiki: bring your hands into gasshô and open your crown chakra to the flow of reiki. With each inhale, bring reiki down into your hara (lower belly), and with each exhale, reiki travels into your hands and radiates from your palms. Do this for nine breath cycles.
Release your hands, and bring your affirmation to mind; you will use this statement as you go through a tapping sequence. Draw Symbol One on the palm of each hand, chanting the mantra three times per hand. To tap, bring the fingers of one hand together, like you’re forming a bird’s beak, or bring the index and middle fingers of each hand together if that’s more comfortable. Use your “beak” or fingers to tap firmly on each point, like you’re thumping a watermelon to see how ripe it is. Don’t use enough pressure to hurt or bruise yourself. Tap each of the following points, while stating your affirmation at each point.
• Crown of the head
• Eyebrows
• Outside of the eyes, on the temples
• Cheekbones, in line with the pupils
• Under the nose (use one hand here)
• Chin (use one hand here)
• Just below the inner edge of both collarbones (you’ll feel a little divot here)
• Sides of the torso, level with nipples
• Karate chop point (tap the pinky edges of your hands together)
Finally, sit with an upright spine, eyes closed, hands resting on the knees, palms facing up in a receptive gesture. Allow reiki to flow down through your crown, filling your entire body, and ask, “What next step can I take to improve my health?” (You can be more specific here, too, substituting “digestive health” or “bone health,” depending on your affirmation.) Stay in meditation, opening up to higher guidance. When an insight arises, bring your hands into gasshô, give thanks, and write this action step in your journal. Decide how you will take this action step today (or tomorrow, if you are doing the practice before bed). For example, if the action step is “walk 30 minutes,” decide when you will do this—say, on your lunch break or after work. If you need to, you can break it up, taking a fifteen-minute walk during lunch and another walk after work. Trust that you would not be given this step if it weren’t possible for you to carry it out, so gently yet firmly move through any resistance the ego churns out. Continue this practice for a full seven days, taking action steps each day in service of your health. Once you’ve finished the program, unless you are receiving guidance to the contrary, stick with the health-boosting practices that you wrote in your journal. Notice how you feel when you use these practices versus when you don’t.
Other options: Feel free to combine this process with a standard reiki treatment on days when you have more time, moving through the hand positions for self-healing (Chapter 11). My recommendation is to do the self-treatment before you start the tapping sequence, as a way to enhance the effects of the tapping. You can also adapt this process for mental-emotional healing by choosing an applicable affirmation, then drawing Symbol Two on your palms and chanting the mantra three times, followed by drawing Symbol One and chanting its mantra three times prior to beginning the tapping sequence.
Build a Meditation Practice
Take some time to connect with your reason for building a meditation practice. Do you want to enjoy more mental clarity or calm, heighten your intuition, or connect with spirit guides? While you may have multiple reasons that can change over time, choose one to focus on for this twenty-one-day practice, modeled after Usui’s twenty-one-day experience on Kurama-yama. Ideally, pick a time at which you’ll meditate every day, but if on some days that time simply isn’t an option, fit your meditation into the day whenever you can over skipping the practice. If you like, burn incense while you meditate, using the same scent each time to support habit formation. Choose any incense you like. Some of my favorites are sandalwood, frankincense, and dragon’s blood. Another option is to use a timer. When I first started meditating, knowing that the timer would go off in ten minutes helped me let go of the thoughts: “Am I done yet? Am I done yet? How about now?” There are also smart phone apps with meditation timers.
Once you’re settled into a comfortable spot where you won’t be disturbed, begin with hands in gasshô, eyes closed, breathing here for a few rounds until you feel calmer and more centered. Draw Symbol Two on your palms and chant the mantra three times. Draw Symbol One on your palms and chant the mantra three times. Place one hand on your forehead, one hand on the back of your head, and state an affirmation that reflects your reason for meditating, three times. For example, try “My meditation practice brings me peace and clarity of mind.”
Reach your arms up to the sky, shoulder width apart, palms facing, and feel a flow of reiki washing down your arms and into your body. Bring your hands in front of your heart, palms facing down, elbows out to the side, fingertips touching. Breathe in deeply, then exhale out through the mouth, making a “haaa” sound, like you’re trying to fog up a mirror, as you push the hands down to your lap. Breathe in as you move the hands, still in the same position, up to the third eye, and exhale with a “haaa” sound again as you push the hands down to your lap. Bring the hands back to the forehead and repeat the exhale and push-down four more times.1 Let the hands rest on the knees, palms facing down, and stay here in meditation until the timer goes off. Bring your hands in gasshô and restate your affirmation three times.
Supercharge Your Divination Skills
Take a few moments to calm and center yourself in a place where you won’t be disturbed. Draw Symbol Two on your palms, chanting the mantra three times. Follow with Symbol One, chanting its mantra three times. Place one hand over your forehead and third eye and the other hand over your divination tools (tarot cards, runes, scrying mirror, etc.). Feel the flow of reiki mediating a clear connection between you and your tools, and hold the intention that your divination skills be activated in accordance with the highest good (you can substitute a more specific phrase here, like “tarot skills” or “scrying skills”). Remain here for at least nine breath cycles or until the energy flow tapers off, then do a brief reading for yourself, asking any specific questions you have or simply asking, “What do I most need to know right now?” to nurture your connection with your tools. End with hands in gasshô, giving thanks, and repeat this process every day for seven days.
Another option: For seven days, start the practice with one hand on your tools and one hand on an individual chakra, starting with the crown chakra and working your way to the root chakra, one chakra per day. While we tend to associate the third eye with divination work, in truth, all the chakras play a role, and you can round out your perception by connecting through each of the chakras in turn.
Magickal Money Jar
This is a reiki twist on a magickal practice I learned from Christopher Penczak.2 Get a large jar and draw Symbol One on a piece of green paper. You can use a special pen or your favorite writing tool (a gold paint pen would be a nice money correspondence boost!), but any implement will do. Place this on the bottom of the jar, and add any or all of the following:
Herbs for Prosperity: Alfalfa, cedar, cumin, lavender, and moneywort (choose one herb or a combination, depending on what’s available to you, and add one or two pinches of each, dried; they can be bundled into a sachet)
Crystals for Prosperity: Pyrite, green aventurine, citrine, and jade
During the waxing moon phase (from new moon to full moon), charge the jar. Draw Symbol One on both palms, chanting the mantra three times, and hold the jar in both hands. Allow reiki to flow, filling the jar, and hold the intention that for every bit of currency that is placed in the jar, your wealth will increase a hundredfold. Each time you add spare change to the jar, draw Symbol One into the jar and chant the mantra three times. End with hands in gasshô, giving thanks. When the jar is full, roll the change and, if desired, restart the process with a new batch of dried herbs, cleansed crystals (see page 238 for crystal cleansing tips), and a fresh piece of green paper with Symbol One drawn on it.
Harmonize Relationships
This program is best used either on one relationship or on one common aspect of multiple relationships. You can always repeat the process to address more than one relationship or multiple aspects, but there’s benefit to narrowing your focus each time you do it. On a piece of paper, write down “my relationship with [name]” or briefly describe an aspect of your relationships that you wish to address, such as “my ability to actively listen” or “my fear of abandonment.”
Take a few moments to calm and center yourself with hands in gasshô. Draw Symbol Two on your palms and chant the mantra three times, then draw Symbol One and chant its mantra three times. Hold the paper in both hands, and begin a variation on jôshin kokyû hô. Inhale through your nose and envision drawing reiki into your body through the nose. You might feel reiki entering as tingling, heat, vibration, or waves, or you can visualize it as white light. Envision pulling the breath and the reiki down to your hara (area slightly below the navel) with this inhale. On the exhale, visualize the reiki streaming out through your hands, into the paper with the intention that it is healing the issue. With each successive inhale, focus your awareness on reiki flowing down into your hara, followed by reiki expanding and healing the issue on the exhale. Repeat this process for up to five minutes, stopping at any point if you feel light-headed.
Set the paper down, and end with hands in gasshô, giving thanks. Repeat this process for seven days, and during this time, pay attention to any insights that arise, suggesting changes you can implement to positively affect your relationship. The guidance might reflect necessary shifts in your behavior toward the other person and/or it might be related to self-care practices, which will support you in bringing your best self to the relationship. Know that reiki and your higher self are partnering throughout this process to help you see and heal relationship patterns that no longer serve your growth and well-being, and you will be invited to live out this guidance through your choices and actions.
Improve Focus and Concentration
The traditional technique of jôshin kokyû hô is designed to focus the mind through the breath, and this seven-day program harnesses this focused energy by pairing it with a mudra (hand gesture). First, experiment with the following three mudras, all of which can aid in focus and concentration, to see which one feels best. This is the mudra you will be using for the seven-day practice.
Gyan Mudra: Index fingertip touches thumb tip while the rest of the fingers are held together and straight.
Dhyana Mudra: Rest your right hand on top of your left hand, both palms facing up. Touch your thumb tips together.
Rudra Mudra: Connect the tips of your thumb, index, and ring fingers while keeping the other two fingers as straight as you can.
Once you have chosen your mudra, begin jôshin kokyû hô: Inhale through your nose and envision drawing reiki into your body through the nose. You might feel reiki entering as tingling, heat, vibration, or waves, or you can visualize it as white light. Envision pulling the breath and the reiki down to your hara (area slightly below the navel) with this inhale. On the exhale, visualize the reiki streaming out through your hands, which are in your chosen mudra. With each successive inhale, focus your awareness on reiki drawing down into your hara, followed by reiki expanding and radiating outward through your hands on the exhale.
During this process, set the intention that this mudra will instantly improve your focus and concentration anytime you use it. Continue jôshin kokyû hô for anywhere from five minutes to half an hour, focusing on the mudra and its ability to hone your concentration. Repeat this process for seven days, and then use this mudra throughout your daily activities whenever you find your attention wandering. I like to periodically “refresh” the mudra by going through this seven-day practice again, but know that every time you use this mudra for focus and concentration, you are also adding to its energetic power, creating a positive snowball effect.
Bathe in Self-Love
This practice is a beautiful way to regularly commit to self-care, and I recommend doing it every month on the full moon, as often as you possibly can. Draw up a warm bath, adding a sachet of herbs (e.g., rose petals, hibiscus, jasmine) if you like. On a pink candle, carve Symbol Two on one side and Symbol One on the other with a pin, nail, or other suitable tool, chanting each mantra three times as you carve. Hold the candle in both hands and allow reiki to flow, filling the candle while you focus on the energy of self-love. If it’s difficult for you to connect with this energy, focus on an affirmation, such as “I love myself in every way” or “My ability to love myself expands every day.”
Light the candle and get into the bath. Draw Symbol Two and Symbol One on your palms, chanting the mantras three times each. You can also draw the symbols into the bathwater. Take this time to give yourself a reiki treatment while you enjoy this nice, relaxing soak, using the standard hand positions or any positions that intuitively feel best, all the while focusing on love. You might thank each area of your body as you give it reiki, ending with thanking your mind and your spirit. When you’re done, trace a large Symbol One over your body, sealing in the energy of self-love as you chant the mantra three times. When you drain the tub, set the intention that any obstacles to self-love are draining away into the earth, where they are neutralized and composted. End with hands in gasshô, giving thanks.
Working with Spirit Guides
Start by choosing one of the following contact methods: automatic writing, a pendulum, or meditation. If using automatic writing, have a stack of paper and a writing implement, and number each page in case they get shuffled around in the process. If using a pendulum, you can buy a ready-made one or make your own from a cord or chain and something that has a bit of heft to it. I use a stone that I found on a hike that has a natural hole in it, but you can use a jewelry charm or even a metal washer from the hardware store. Cleanse your pendulum by holding it between your palms and filling it with reiki. Set the intention that this pendulum will only communicate with the entities who are aligned with your highest good.
255Prepare yourself and the space: Perform kenyoku hô. Draw Symbol One on your dominant hand palm, chanting the mantra three times, and use this hand to trace out an energetic circle of protection around yourself, moving clockwise around the space three times. Envision this circle expanding above and below, creating a protective sphere. When done, stand in the center of the circle and draw a large Symbol One in front of you, chanting the mantra three times as you envision the symbol expanding to fill the entire sphere with the energy of protection. Stand in the center and say, “The circle allows only entities who enter in perfect love and perfect trust, and blocks out all other entities. And so it is.”
Get settled in the circle, and draw Symbol Four in the air in front of you. Bring your arms above your head, shoulder width apart, palms facing, and connect to the flow of reiki. Feel it cascading down your arms, through your crown, filling your entire body and energy field. Bring your hands into gasshô, and ask to connect with the entity that is correct and good for you right now, in accordance with the highest good, harming none. Spend a few rounds here, breathing and waiting to feel a sense of connection. If you are using the medium of meditation, you will stay here for the duration of the session, asking any questions once you have made contact and getting to know this entity.
If using automatic writing, place the pen to paper, ready to write. You can experiment with either looking at the page, perhaps with a soft focus, or closing your eyes. Ask a question and allow your hand to move. Toss pages aside as you write and move on to the next to stay in the flow. (This is why it’s helpful to number the pages first!)
If using a pendulum, the process is similar. Hold the pendulum in one hand (I favor my dominant hand, but the opposite is true for some practitioners). I like to loop the chain or cord over my hand once so the chain is secure without my having to grasp it. Let your muscles relax, ask to be shown what a “yes” response looks like, and wait for the pendulum to move, indicating the pattern corresponding to an affirmative answer. Do the same for a “no” response. Then, ask any questions you have. When you’re done, thank the spirit for meeting with you and, if you feel called to do so, ask if it would be willing to work with you again. End with hands in gasshô, giving thanks. Draw Symbol Four once more, chanting the mantra three times while intending that your spirit contact session has ended. Perform kenyoku hô, then use the opposite hand used to cast the circle, and move once around the circle in a counterclockwise fashion, envisioning the circle opening, perhaps like energetic drapery.
When working with a new spirit contact, I like to work within the safety of a circle, as directed above, and once you have developed a relationship in which you feel comfort and trust, you can begin to work outside the formality of a circle, always trusting your intuition and ending a session if you become uncomfortable. Working with spirit guides is much like human relationships: they benefit from mutual respect, give and take, and a regular commitment of some kind, which can vary depending on the relationship. I work with some of my guides every single day, whereas other guides appear only under certain circumstances.
Building Your Own Reiki Program
1. Decide on a focus for your program. This might be a specific goal, such as finishing a work project or engaging a healthy movement practice for a designated time period.
2. Look through the reiki techniques and choose one or two that intuitively feel like a good fit for your program focus. This is also a great way to learn new reiki techniques, so don’t be afraid to experiment with ones you haven’t used before.
3. Clarify your intention so that you can focus on this during your practice time. You might choose to turn your intention into an affirmation.
4. Decide on the number of days or frequency of your program. For example, you might do the practice every day for a week or a month, or you could commit to doing it every full moon, the first day of each month, or another interval that feels meaningful to you.
5. Write down a simple sequence outlining what you will be doing each time you practice. As a general guideline, connect with reiki, focus on your intention while you do a reiki technique, and end the practice in a meaningful way.
6. You might choose to journal your experience so you can get a feel for what works well for you personally, fine-tuning as you go.
A program could be as simple as choosing a reiki technique and using it every day for a set length of time. You could do the same with the symbols, choosing one symbol to use or meditate on every day. Ditto with the five precepts. Here are additional focus ideas to get you started:
• Increasing self-awareness
• Boosting memory
• Developing energy sensing abilities
• Enhancing dream recall or interpretation
• Starting a healthy habit
• Releasing an unhealthy habit
• Increasing your confidence, perhaps leading up to a presentation
• Supporting you in learning a new skill
• Boosting creativity
• Opening yourself up to healthy new friendships or romantic relationships
• Creating healthy relationship boundaries
• Enhancing manifestation
Now that you’ve learned numerous ways to incorporate reiki into your daily routine, choose one method that resonates with you right now and dive in! Remember, you’ll reap the most benefit from your reiki practice if you use it regularly, and the programs in this chapter give you plenty of material to get you started.