The Value of Practice

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The Value of Practice

Kate Jones • 27 January 2023

Do you have a practice that supports yoiu in challenging times?

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…”

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Guest Blog by Gulara Vincent: How Reiki Taught Me Trust

by Kate Jones • 6 December 2024

How Reiki Taught Me Trust by Gulara Vincent Reiki found me one Tuesday evening in late February 2009. I saw a leaflet on the windowsill of my Tai-chi teacher’s class at the Buddhist Centre in Birmingham. There was a taster session the next evening and on an impulse I decided to attend it. The next evening, I walked in the vicinity of the Health Centre in King’s Heath without any luck. I couldn’t find the right building in the dark. Disappointed, I came home. Wasn’t meant to be, I decided. Except when I saw leaflets advertising Reiki 1 a week later, I was drawn to it like a moth to the light. I had no idea what Reiki was, but couldn’t resist signing up for the class anyway. I remember the night before my Reiki 1 training, a housemate who had Reiki initiation a few years earlier said: ‘Are you sure you’re ready for this?’ ‘What is there to be ready for?’ I felt puzzled by her concerns. It didn’t take me long to find out. Reiki seemed to have created some energetic sweep clean in my whole system, helping me to release some outdated beliefs and offering comfort and nurture at a time in my life when I often felt lonely and lost. It also unlocked my gifts as a healer. I was so enthusiastic about sharing the Reiki magic that I wanted to put my hands on anyone who was willing to receive the healing. One day, I was with my friend in my office. At the time I was a PhD student in law at the University of Birmingham. My friend was a complete non-believer in any alternative therapies. I put my hands on her temples and the energy flowed and pulsed with heat and intensity. After a few minutes, she removed one of my hands and checked its temperature. ‘But your hand is not hot,’ she looked puzzled. ‘I tell you this works!’ I felt so excited that she could feel the flow of energy that when I put my hands back on, I willed even more energy to come through. I was very keen to convince her. A few days later, I shared this incident with Kate Jones, my Reiki Master. ‘Gulara, you can’t command Reiki to flow stronger,’ she said smiling, ‘whatever needs to be given will be given, and whatever needs to be received will be received.’ Those words have become my mantra for over 15 years now. I apply it to everything I do, including my healing sessions with clients. When I teach healing methods, I always quote Kate to support my students in surrendering and trusting the process. When I write my books and worry about what to include and what to leave out, I often say to myself: ‘Whatever needs to be given will be given. Whatever needs to be received will be received.’ I didn’t know that what this mantra taught me was to trust. I’m forever grateful for Kate’s teachings and her Reiki treatments, especially in relation to my writing journey. Reiki helped me to heal so many of the stories I have included in my second memoir Fragile Freedom. You can find out more here: www.gularavincent.co.uk/blog/fragile-freedom