Question:
Hi,
I thought you might be interested in an article that I have just written about Reiki. Here it is...
========================
Breath of Earth and Heaven
========================
In this article I would like to talk about the energy that we work with when we practise Reiki: when we work on ourselves and when we share Reiki with others. The energy that we channel is described in various ways: we are said to be working with universal energy, we are passing on unconditional love, or chi, or prana. But there are aspects of the energy that are not being explained through this use of words, and in this article I want to talk about the essence of Reiki energy. In doing this we will touch on Taoism, QiGong, Shintoism, meditation, breathing, chanting and the use of the Reiki symbols.
Now many people reading this article will be practising something called “Joshin Kokkyu Ho”, an energy breathing method taught in the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, the Usui Memorial Society in Japan. It was also used in Mikao Usui’s original system too, according to a group of Usui Sensei’s surviving students who are in contact with one or two people in the West. Joshin Kokkyu Ho translates as something like ‘technique for purification of the spirit’ or ‘soul cleansing breathing method’, and on its own ‘Kokkyu Ho’ means ‘the way of breathing’. When we use this method we are moving energy in time with our breath, into and out of our Dantien, it is a way of achieving balance, but there is more significance to this technique than simply moving energy through our bodies.
With each inbreath we are filling the body with ki. This ki is yin in nature, it is the breath of earth, of physicality and the power of separation. By contrast the outbreath distributes ki throughout our bodies. This is yang in nature, it is the breath of heaven, of spirituality and the power of unification. So from the moment that we practise Joshin Kokkyu Ho we are experiencing earth ki and heavenly ki.
In fact, earth ki and heavenly ki are what we are: we are physical reality and we are spiritual essence. In Taoist philosophy, Earth and Heaven – along with Humanity – are known as the “Three Powers”. Humanity is in a pivotal position between the cosmic powers of heaven and the natural forces of earth, covered by heaven above and supported by earth below. Qi Gong, the energy cultivation technique which is practised in Japan as ‘kiko’, allows us to work with these two energies and bring them into balance. Shinto practices also refer to these two basic energies, these two essential aspects of what we really are.
It is not surprising, then, that these two energies are the basis of Usui Sensei’s spiritual system, and latterly his healing system. When we practise Reiki we are working with earth ki and heavenly ki, in a conscious or unconscious fashion; when we channel Reiki, we are channelling either the ki of earth or heaven, because that is what we are.
But Usui Sensei’s system goes further than just acknowledging our true nature, our physical and spiritual nature, because Reiki allows us to fully experience our physical reality, and fully experience our spiritual essence. This is a powerful method for achieving balance. We can return to that state of perfection we enjoyed at birth, before life corrupted us; we can be reborn. How this was achieved is as follows:
At second degree in the original system the student would be shown how to experience earth ki and heavenly ki, they would learn to ‘become’ the energies of earth and heaven. How this was achieved very much depended on the student’s background, since Usui Sensei varied his teachings and methods according to the needs of his students. If the student had a Buddhist background then they would have used meditations, and if they had a Shinto background then they would have chanted sacred sounds called ‘kotodama’. Later on in Usui’s system, symbols were introduced, but all these approaches had the same end in mind: to fully assimilate, to fully experience or become the en
Hi Taggart
Hope you are well, I thought you had maybe go carried away with one of your meditations and transmuted straight to spirit and disappeared of the face of the earth ;-)
Glad to see and hear from you again, Taggart.
Thanks for the article.
Dear Paul and Paul,
Thank you for your welcoming messages!
I haven't transmuted into spirit just yet; don't hold your breath!
I had a PC crash and lots of distractions and backlogs to get through, so I hadn't visited this forum for a while. There have been some interesting posts, so I hope to make a contribution to some of the discussions.
Best wishes,
Hi Taggart,
Welcome to the New Member :D
I can't seem to get into your website - I get most of the welcome page but then it crashes - every time - with the message 'Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.' This has happened to me with other websites but only very rarely. I wonder do you know what this might be or has anyone else encountered this problem?
Thanx
Dr L
Dear Dr L,
It sounds as if it's a problem with your system rather than a problem with the web site. I haven't had a single comment along those lines from anyone else, at all. I'm not clever enough at html programming to be able to crash Internet Explorer! Could it be a virus?
Best wishes,
Dear TK,
I'm not a PC geek but I don't think it's a virus cos it's only your site that I have a problem with. I guess that there is some item trying to load on your site (maybe a graphic or something) that my PC doesn't like. I agree that the fault is at my end and not yours but I don't know what it is so I don't know how to fix it. [sm=banghead.gif] Are there any geeks out there?
Dr L
Dear Dr L,
You mentioned that this has happened to you occasionally with other web sites. It's strange. I have never had IE crash on me at all.
My site is extremely simple. No complicated stuff there at all: text and images and that's it. Images are gifs or jpegs, no flash, no javascript, just html.
Best wishes,
Hi Taggart and Dr L
You have a sound file on you home page Taggart which could be causing the problem with Dr Ls computer? have you been able to download music files Dr L? just a thought :-)
Hi Taggart
Great to see you have visited here again.
I look forward to seeing your replies on recent posts and sharing your wisdom and experience
hope you are well
LAB
Dez
I thought you might be interested in an article that I have just written about Reiki. Here it is...
========================
Breath of Earth and Heaven
========================
In this article I would like to talk about the energy that we work with when we practise Reiki: when we work on ourselves and when we share Reiki with others. The energy that we channel is described in various ways: we are said to be working with universal energy, we are passing on unconditional love, or chi, or prana. But there are aspects of the energy that are not being explained through this use of words, and in this article I want to talk about the essence of Reiki energy. In doing this we will touch on Taoism, QiGong, Shintoism, meditation, breathing, chanting and the use of the Reiki symbols.
Now many people reading this article will be practising something called “Joshin Kokkyu Ho”, an energy breathing method taught in the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, the Usui Memorial Society in Japan. It was also used in Mikao Usui’s original system too, according to a group of Usui Sensei’s surviving students who are in contact with one or two people in the West. Joshin Kokkyu Ho translates as something like ‘technique for purification of the spirit’ or ‘soul cleansing breathing method’, and on its own ‘Kokkyu Ho’ means ‘the way of breathing’. When we use this method we are moving energy in time with our breath, into and out of our Dantien, it is a way of achieving balance, but there is more significance to this technique than simply moving energy through our bodies.
With each inbreath we are filling the body with ki. This ki is yin in nature, it is the breath of earth, of physicality and the power of separation. By contrast the outbreath distributes ki throughout our bodies. This is yang in nature, it is the breath of heaven, of spirituality and the power of unification. So from the moment that we practise Joshin Kokkyu Ho we are experiencing earth ki and heavenly ki.
In fact, earth ki and heavenly ki are what we are: we are physical reality and we are spiritual essence. In Taoist philosophy, Earth and Heaven – along with Humanity – are known as the “Three Powers”. Humanity is in a pivotal position between the cosmic powers of heaven and the natural forces of earth, covered by heaven above and supported by earth below. Qi Gong, the energy cultivation technique which is practised in Japan as ‘kiko’, allows us to work with these two energies and bring them into balance. Shinto practices also refer to these two basic energies, these two essential aspects of what we really are.
It is not surprising, then, that these two energies are the basis of Usui Sensei’s spiritual system, and latterly his healing system. When we practise Reiki we are working with earth ki and heavenly ki, in a conscious or unconscious fashion; when we channel Reiki, we are channelling either the ki of earth or heaven, because that is what we are.
But Usui Sensei’s system goes further than just acknowledging our true nature, our physical and spiritual nature, because Reiki allows us to fully experience our physical reality, and fully experience our spiritual essence. This is a powerful method for achieving balance. We can return to that state of perfection we enjoyed at birth, before life corrupted us; we can be reborn. How this was achieved is as follows:
At second degree in the original system the student would be shown how to experience earth ki and heavenly ki, they would learn to ‘become’ the energies of earth and heaven. How this was achieved very much depended on the student’s background, since Usui Sensei varied his teachings and methods according to the needs of his students. If the student had a Buddhist background then they would have used meditations, and if they had a Shinto background then they would have chanted sacred sounds called ‘kotodama’. Later on in Usui’s system, symbols were introduced, but all these approaches had the same end in mind: to fully assimilate, to fully experience or become the en
Answers:
Hi Taggart
Hope you are well, I thought you had maybe go carried away with one of your meditations and transmuted straight to spirit and disappeared of the face of the earth ;-)
Answers:
Glad to see and hear from you again, Taggart.
Thanks for the article.
Answers:
Dear Paul and Paul,
Thank you for your welcoming messages!
I haven't transmuted into spirit just yet; don't hold your breath!
I had a PC crash and lots of distractions and backlogs to get through, so I hadn't visited this forum for a while. There have been some interesting posts, so I hope to make a contribution to some of the discussions.
Best wishes,
Answers:
Hi Taggart,
Welcome to the New Member :D
I can't seem to get into your website - I get most of the welcome page but then it crashes - every time - with the message 'Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.' This has happened to me with other websites but only very rarely. I wonder do you know what this might be or has anyone else encountered this problem?
Thanx
Dr L
Answers:
Dear Dr L,
It sounds as if it's a problem with your system rather than a problem with the web site. I haven't had a single comment along those lines from anyone else, at all. I'm not clever enough at html programming to be able to crash Internet Explorer! Could it be a virus?
Best wishes,
Answers:
Dear TK,
I'm not a PC geek but I don't think it's a virus cos it's only your site that I have a problem with. I guess that there is some item trying to load on your site (maybe a graphic or something) that my PC doesn't like. I agree that the fault is at my end and not yours but I don't know what it is so I don't know how to fix it. [sm=banghead.gif] Are there any geeks out there?
Dr L
Answers:
Dear Dr L,
You mentioned that this has happened to you occasionally with other web sites. It's strange. I have never had IE crash on me at all.
My site is extremely simple. No complicated stuff there at all: text and images and that's it. Images are gifs or jpegs, no flash, no javascript, just html.
Best wishes,
Answers:
Hi Taggart and Dr L
You have a sound file on you home page Taggart which could be causing the problem with Dr Ls computer? have you been able to download music files Dr L? just a thought :-)
Answers:
Hi Taggart
Great to see you have visited here again.
I look forward to seeing your replies on recent posts and sharing your wisdom and experience
hope you are well
LAB
Dez
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