The Reiki Dojo

How are you in these challenging times? Do you have a practice that supports you?

As we start a New Year many people take the opportunity to start a new self-care practice, or re-connect with an old one. After the pause of the festive season and with the ending of the old year and the beginning of the new it is a good time to reflect on what went well and what can be improved on in the coming months.   

Last year was a difficult one for me, with health issues that prevented me from returning to my usual work. However, this has also been a great gift. I’ve learned a lot about the value of rest and it has emphasised for me the value of one simple life choice: a daily self-care practice.

For me this is firstly my Reiki self-treatment practice, for others it might be taiji, yoga or meditation. It might be practising an instrument or drawing. It might be practising mindfulness through the day or doing a gratitude journal before sleep.

Whatever you practice, if you’re anything like me it can sometimes be easy to forget about it or find it uncomfortable to do every single day. I encourage you to do it anyway. Reiki master Takata told her students to “Practice, practice, practice” to which she added “then you will know”. Know what you may ask? 

In my experience you will know the value of practice, it will lead you to deeper self-knowledge, which is one of the gifts of Reiki, and you will be better prepared for what life throws at us. You will also know more about Reiki!

I’ve also learned that practice is good preparation for when life is more difficult. My self-reiki practice was quite well established, I treated myself almost every day until, during Covid, things got turned upside down and during this difficult time, caring for my dying mother, I let my practice slip. I don’t mean I didn’t do any Reiki, but I didn’t take that precious time every day to rest and re-connect with myself and the greater one-ness. 

I now see that it would have been better for me if I had somehow kept my self care Reiki practice going. I believe that I would have then been better prepared for that challenging time and my health might not have suffered as much (although I know a grieving process always has its own timing and simply needs to be got through).
Resuming my self-Reiki practice has undoubtably helped in my recovery and having practiced a lot in the past I have been able to resume easily because it was previously an established habit, so comes naturally again now. 

So I encourage you, whether or not your practice is Reiki, to find some daily time for yourself to practice something that is relaxing, comforting and will support you when life gets more difficult. Be compassionate with yourself if you don’t manage daily practice at first. It will come with practice! I encourage rewarding yourself with a gift or treat for successful daily practice over 21 days or so (the time it takes to develop a habit) and then just carry on (it will be easier).

“Practice, practice, practice: then you will know…”