*Jorva Hamilton, Universal Tao Instructor and Reiki Master, will share with you in this mini workshop her secrets for a joyful, healthy and stress-free life.

Ever tried to smile when you were angry? It’s physically impossible. Try it!

In the morning session, we will start with quick morning exercises, which stretch your body and generate the Qi flow. Jorva will guide you through a series of simple meditations called Inner Smile to melt away stress and tension, increase the flow of Qi (prana, life force energy) and transform negative emotions into positive thoughts, creativity and vitality. This is followed by the ancient 6 Healing Sounds practice which guides heat and pressure out of the body and produces a cooling, balancing effect on the internal organs and the emotional energies that are stored there.

Morning Session:  9.00am-12.30pm
Fee: $85 (morning session only)

In the afternoon session, Jorva will teach some basic Qigong postures and breathing exercises called Iron Shirt Qigong to strengthen and revitalise your internal organs, and for grounding. We practise the Microcosmic Orbit meditation which enables you to generate and condense Qi in your energy centres, circulate the Qi through the two main meridians to enhance the Qi flow, remove blockages and to expand outwards to connect with the forces of Nature, the Universe and Mother Earth. The key principle of the Tao.

Afternoon Session: 1.30pm-5.00pm
Both Sessions: :$150
For bookings please contact Jorva directly at:  Jorva01@yahoo.com

About Jorva:

Jorva was born in Xiamen, China, and moved to Hong Kong in 1949.  She has enjoyed a full professional life (government servant, administrator, company director) and personal life (husband, daughter, two sons and 7 grand-children) and has lived and worked in a number of different countries.  Her early interest in yoga and meditation blossomed in the 1980’s to include Life Dynamics, Tai Chi, acupressure, and herbal medicine.

In the late 1980’s, Jorva’s mother was suffering from a lingering illness which encouraged Jorva in her search for a better way of living, and health.  She began an active interest in Reiki in 1992 which on moving to Portugal she advanced; bringing in Masters, organising seminars, spreading the word, until she herself became a Reiki Master in 1997.

Jorva’s interest in Universal Healing Tao developed through a meeting with Master Mantak Chia in Singapore in 1998.  Jorva has since studied the Universal Tao system as taught by Master Chia in Singapore, Portugal, and at the Tao Garden in Northern Thailand.  She is a qualified Universal Tao instructor who now travels extensively and teaches both Reiki, and Tao Yoga, in Portugal, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Sunday 11th July
For bookings please contact Jorva directly at:  Jorva01@yahoo.com

Level 2 takes the healing into our own hands (pun intended!) by putting us squarely on the pitch. Instead of spectators we become players.  We learn how to manipulate the energy and transform it into specific form. I.e. we learn how to turn the potential of Reiki energy into energy with a specific purpose.  We can decide ourselves which areas of our lives we want to direct more healing, be it physical, mental, emotional, or to a specific event or trauma.  We become more self-directing and deliberate in our healing journey and so on many levels this advanced training takes us much further, quicker.

Reiki Level 2 should be taken some time after Level 1.  In my teaching tradition, a two month wait is stipulated, this period of time is an important opportunity to practice Reiki and ensure your energy is high.  It is also an important time for self-healing to ensure you are ready to use the tools wisely.  As we become players, we can choose our healing strategy, our ego minds can take control again, and if we are not more awake and aware, we can actually end up damaging our growth rather than aiding it.  Also, unlike Level 1, the progressive Levels require the use of mental energy and as a result can be draining for those who have not been using their Reiki for self-healing.

As with the Level 1 training, there is an enormous discrepancy in the way the classes are taught.  I frequently get calls from Level 2 practitioners who have little knowledge of the tools at their disposal.  Having been taught nothing, they end up with nothing.  This level should be full of possibilities and magic, I am hard pushed to cram all the information and tips into 10 hours of teaching and would seriously question a class of less than 6 hours of teaching time.  Many classes seem to focus o the distance healing aspect of Reiki Level 2, but this is only one of many, many tools available at this level.

For those practitioners interested in taking Reiki to therapy level, the Level 2 training is possibly the minimum standard recommended before professionally treating others.  For other people who enjoy Level 1, there is no need to go further with training, but the research does suggest each stage of training brings even more benefits.

see the Reiki 2 class schedule

Placebos: The Exception to the Rule….doesn’t that make the “Rule” wrong?

I have recently finished an excellent book by Bruce Lipton, PhD, “The Biology of Belief” and am so excited by what I consider a growing body of knowledge developing into what some term ‘New science’.  Lipton reinforces what several vocal scientists are beginning to make public, the underlying energy of an organism is much more critical than we have previously believed.  We are not mechanical physical beings but we are driven by energy fields including thought, beliefs and emotions.  These energies have direct impact on our physical bodies and we ignore them at our peril.

For these New scientists they are not necessarily believers of energy healing but what they notice are too many exceptions to the “Rules”.  In pure physics, any exception to the rule means the rule is not right, there is no such thing as an anomaly in physics – the theory either works 100% of the time, or it is wrong.  In medicine, however, there are massive anomalies that are brushed under the carpet.  They have names for it “spontaneous remission” and “Placebo effect”.  A spontaneous remission is someone who totally recovers for no apparent reason – amazing and miraculous – you would think the medical profession would jump all over these people, study them as the “rule” breaker and try to figure out why.  But these exceptions are an embarrassment, a reminder that maybe we have the capability of getting better all by ourselves!

The Placebo Effect is my favourite ‘exception’.  A placebo is when patients get better by taking a false pill but believing they are on a real drug.  In 1955, Henry K. Beecher, M.D., reported on the placebo effect and set in motion the double-blind clinical testing now in place.  Beecher found that about 35% of the time, patients who took a pill containing no active ingredients experienced an improvement in their condition. Since his finding there has been much controversy over the existence of the placebo – there are powerful medical and pharmacological consequences (and dollars) at stake.  However, an excellent article in Wired Magazine outlines some of the difficulties Pharmaceutical companies are having.  It seems our Placebo response is actually getting stronger!  In terms of the huge anti-depressent market, it would seem they are no more effective than placebos, and medication is actually getting less effective over time.

The article suggests that the reason this is happening is that we have been conditioned by advertising (who says slogans don’t work?!), in other words we are so used to seeing medical ads on TV we automatically associate pill-popping with improvements and so our body responds accordingly.  There may be some truth to this as any hypnotherapist will attest but I would add to this hypothesis the growing trend towards positive thinking, law of attraction and the power of our minds.  As we are slowly waking up to the power of our thoughts, so we are taking more control over how our minds are thinking, and therefore how our bodies are responding.

Considering the side effects caused by pharmaceuticals (in 2003 a study concluded that more than 300,000 deaths per annum were caused by adverse reactions to prescription drugs in the USA, Null & Dean), it is high time we start to examine the Placebo effect more consciously, not as a nuisance to be overcome by the pharmaceutical industry.

If we open our minds to the information starting to filter through the scientific community and actually play with the Placebo.  What will increase our Placebo mind?  What enhances its effects?  Obviously our mind is capable of healing the body or the Placebo effect would be an impossibility – what can we do to help it?

Part of the reason I am so passionate about Reiki, Law of Attraction, and the Work of Byron Katie is that all these tools provide avenues for educating and training our mind to the possibility of self-healing.  In effect we are deliberately using the Placebo effect and multiplying it!  There is obviously something in it, 35% and growing is a heck of an ‘anomaly’, and I for one, like the odds!

THIS is what you can look like when you are a grandmother if you have been doing Reiki for 17 years, Tai Chi for 10 years and Yoga since you were in your 30’s…doesn’t she look fabulous?!  I also wanted to write about this topic because recently I have been reviewing and collating the data from the Reiki Survey we did at the beginning of the year and it all points to very strong evidence that Reiki is cumulative.  the MORE you do it, the better it gets.  I have been asked by several of my students why they are not feeling more significant effects of Reiki right after the course. Although I have seen some remarkable immediate effects of Reiki such as eradication of pain, improvement in immune systems, lowering of stress and improvement of a variety of illnesses right after the course, these are much rarer than the cumulative effect of years upon years of taking good care of yourself.  With Reiki, as with all things natural, the effects may take many months to manifest.  According to the research I am doing, if you only do Reiki for 1-2 hours a week, you may never see the big improvements you seek – but if you do your daily self-treat, you will see significant results in a year or less.

Why is this?

Firstly the body will take the Reiki energy and deal with important, pressing issues – this might not be immediately noticeable to you in the beginning, but from one year to the next you will begin to see that every year is an improvement over the last.  And even if you have a shocking year in terms of trauma or undesirable life events, you will grow through them as opposed to sink under them.  You may think you are descending, but assuming you continue your Reiki practice, I guarantee you will look back and see yourself as stronger, more capable, and happier than in the past – that is the cumulative effects of Reiki and consistent self-treatment.

In our fast food/ convenience culture we have forgotten the point of the journey.  Our life is not to rush to some undetermined goal or finish line (um, that would be death, ultimately), but to savor the journey and to enjoy it fully present.  The recent Economic Crisis has brought it home even more powerfully – so many people slogging their guts out in jobs they hate, in lives they can hardly tolerate, just so they can pack away enough money to live ‘their real life’ – and now, for many, it’s all gone up in smoke.  Much better to live each day deliciously and fully and then when if it all comes crashing down, at least you’ve had a damn good run!

To enjoy fully means listening fully too.  Listening to your body, to your emotions and to your intuition.  Looking after yourself, nurturing yourself, and doing what you need to do to fulfill whatever it is you want to fulfill.  Step by step, year after year, small steps add up to massive improvements, as these photos attest to.

Well, I’m off to do my Reiki, I’ve got big shoes to fill!  By the way, since these photos, my mum (now approaching 69) can do the splits.  Ouch!

As reported recently in a University Study:

“This wave type has been used as a universal sign of relaxation during meditation and other types of rest,” comments Professor Øyvind Ellingsen from NTNU. “The amount of alpha waves increases when the brain relaxes from intentional, goal-oriented tasks.This is a sign of deep relaxation, — but it does not mean that the mind is void.”

Neuroimaging studies by Malia F. Mason and co-workers at Dartmouth College NH suggest that the normal resting state of the brain is a silent current of thoughts, images and memories that is not induced by sensory input or intentional reasoning, but emerges spontaneously “from within.”

“Spontaneous wandering of the mind is something you become more aware of and familiar with when you meditate,” continues Ellingsen, who is an experienced practitioner. “This default activity of the brain is often underestimated. It probably represents a kind of mental processing that connects various experiences and emotional residues, puts them into perspective and lays them to rest.”

So far from trying to ’still’ the mind as many meditation methods teach, in Reiki we simply allow the energy to work and the brain to quiet naturally.  For those of us who have been practicing Reiki for awhile, we know the powerful ‘ah-ha’ moments that can arise when we allow the alpha state of our relaxed brain to mentally process, release and make us more aware.

One of the questions I get asked a lot is “what exactly are you doing when you give an Attunement?” Although difficult to answer without going into a long and involved trip down several different concepts, the basis for an Attunement is best summed up as ‘resonance’.

If we place two same frequency tuning forks in a room and hit one of the forks with a mallet, the corresponding fork will vibrate in resonance, if we stop the sound of the original one we will still hear the sound resonating from the second one that was not touched – the vibration of sound flows through the air from one tuning fork to the other and the second fork responds by resonating to the same vibration (see video at the end).  In this way, someone who is trained to activate Reiki (referred to as a Reiki Master) is also trained to gain access to a vibration that allows the Reiki to activate in that person, and via resonance this information is passed on to another person through the ritual of ‘Attunement’.

Over the years the Reiki Attunement has undergone many changes to the extent that one Attunement process differs vastly from another in any given lineage.  However this is not a problem as the intention is to simply raise the vibration to a level that allows the body to resonate with the same frequency of energy as Reiki, once this is achieved the body is able to remember this frequency and it is retained for life.  Once you have been attuned to Reiki the ability to funnel or channel Reiki becomes a life long ability (much like learning to ride a bike, once you ‘know’ something you cannot ‘unknow’ it).

Anyone can be Attuned, there is no talent required or special healing ‘gift’, I have attuned little children, cats and dogs, I have attuned sceptics and believers, meditation masters and high-flying business executives.  No one can block resonance, if you want to have Reiki, there is nothing to stop you achieving that goal.

Once you have had an Attunement, the Reiki will simply flow through your hands automatically and without your direction, you can liken yourself to a large energy funnel and you can now direct your hands to any area of your body that requires attention.

The stories don’t disappoint, they are more focused on God and faith then I was expecting, which is odd, given the title!  But the experiments on non-religious subjects are fascinating – especially as they use one of my favourite chant meditations: sa-ta-na-ma as the test.  There are a whole ton of conclusions based on the results but the key ones that stood out for me (because they reinforce my own belief system – hehe) are:

With only 8 weeks of practice for 12 minutes a day they found:

1. An almost 50% improvement in memory function (the area the subject wanted to improve) as well as other brain functions that tend to deteriorate with age such as co-ordination, cognition.
2. Increased activity in the prefrontal cortex which helps focus, clarity and attention span.
3. Increased activity in the anterior cingulated that plays a major role in lowering anxiety, irritability, protecting against depression, as well as enhancing social awareness.

Reiki produces alpha state, meditative effects when done consistently over a period of time.  I find it easy to extrapolate that some of these benefits tally with what we are seeing for ourselves as we do Reiki.  Although, to my knowledge, no one has brain scanned Reiki practitioners, I would expect very similar results.  I can’t say my memory has improved, but I can definitely vouch for the other 2!

Even more stunning is that part of the brain is involved with developing our sense of self – yes folks, the Ego has a home!  This ego zone, or parietal lobe, reduces its activity with meditation thus helping us feel more connected, more in the ‘flow’ or ‘in the zone’.  Ie a lessening of self-consciousness enhances one’s intention, ability, and pleasure when faced with a task or goal we want to achieve.

Overtime this part of the brain shows more activity when we are not meditating which helps to increase consciousness, alertness and the ability to resonate with others’ feelings and thoughts.

Sounds good to me!

Reference: How God Changes Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, M.D and Mark Robert Waldman

Website: www.andrewnewberg.com

In Kundalini Reiki 2 (taught minimum 3 weeks after Kundalini Reiki 1), the evening consists of a further attunement to open and enhance the bottom chakras and allow the Kundalini energy a gentle opening to begin is flow up the spine.  This is done as a very gentle process and their is no danger of over-activating the Kundalini or causing any damage whatsoever.  This process, as with Kundalini Reiki 3, is an ongoing process as the body continues to open.  Within the evening we also learn advanced healing, strengthening techniques, and meditations.

In the final Kundalini Reiki 3 (taught 2 weeks after Kundalini Reiki 2) we complete the opening with the top chakras which allows the Kundalini reiki to flow unimpeded throughout the spine.  We also learn more specific healings including DNA reiki, past-life trauma reiki, locational balancing and Crystalline (toxin removal) reiki.  This is the final level which will then allow participants to pass on the attunements and activate Kundalini Reiki in others (Reiki Master equivalent).

It is recommended that no alcohol is taken 48 hours prior to the course.
To register please call 9660 4893 or email: booking@reikicentre.com.sg

“He should pull his weight”

“Its not my responsibility”

“She shouldn’t be so lazy”

“I’m not being paid for this”

“It’s not my job”

Around every problem that has yet to be solved, there is a pile of resistance in the form of thoughts like these creating a diversion.  Thoughts guide our mind’s direction.  If we are all thinking about why it’s not my problem, the mind automatically guides us into ‘because..this, that or the other’, we move into justification and defense.

Once a thought has been questioned, the mind can be redirected.  We ask ‘is it true?’ as a way to invite the mind out of its rigidity.  We ask ‘how do you react when you believe this thought’ as a way to show the mind how futile this thought is in creating anything positive or stress-free.  We then ask ‘who would you be without this thought?’ or another way of looking at it is ‘without this thought, what would you be doing differently?’  and this is where the lightbulbs can really start working.

Every morning in my household it used to be a chaotic mix of pushing, herding, shouting, nudging, panic, lecturing, frustration, and stress to get the kids onto the bus on time.  I noticed that many a morning I was packing the bags, trying to remember if it was PE or Library or homework day and often forgetting important pieces of information and getting mad at the fact the girls were mindlessly wandering about without any cares.  It came to me that my stressful thought was ‘they should do more’ and with it was lots of other stressful thoughts about expat brats, poor mothering skills and the like.

As I was Inquiring into this thought (when the house was quiet again), I noticed that when I had the thought ‘my children should do more’ I just yelled at them and made everyone feel inadequate and upset.  After years of yelling, it was clearly not helping or changing anything except my blood pressure.  When I didn’t have the thought ‘my children should do more’ my mind started to accept this fact and automatically asked ‘so if the kids are not supposed to do more, what are you going to do to stop this insanity?’  I immediately went into problem solving mode and came up with a list of things I could do which included getting ready in the evening, packing the bags and having lists more clearly laid out as to the children’s activities by day etc.  As I was brainstorming, I suddenly realized that the kids could be doing this with me.  In the evenings we had more time and it could become part of the bedtime routine – in that way, my children would be doing more.  Bingo, problem solved.

In any problem situation the same criteria exists.  What are you resisting or thinking ‘should’ be happening that isn’t.  Are you upset that someone else should be doing something that they are not?  Are you annoyed that someone else isn’t taking responsibility?  Are you convinced that someone is wrong?  Question these beliefs and be open to taking full responsibility – you’ll be surprised at the answers that come to you once you see that change can only come from you.  And if you are thinking ‘that’s not fair, I want them to change first’, then that is a good place to start!

How is Usui Reiki and Kundalini Reiki different?

Usui Reiki seems to work on the etheric energy level of the body, or the ‘blueprint’ of the body.  Energy from the Universe travels through our hands and into the body automatically and without thought or intention.  The healer can actually be asleep or can be an animal and the reiki will still flow, as if by osmosis.  Energy will travel from areas of high energy ie. the Universe, to areas of low energy ie our body.  It is a very simple, natural and totally automatic response.  The Reiki workshops activate the Reiki in a person’s hands and allows this process to flow.  As a result you do not need to be aware of energy, or of flow, or indeed of any sensations.

Usui Reiki treatments for both self-treatments and treating others last from 30 to 60 minutes and induce a deep sense of relaxation, similar to meditation.  As a result when treating yourself with Reiki you will feel much calmer and it will probably put you to sleep!  The Usui system’s advantage is in its ease of use and automatic flow – meaning you do not need to be aware of what you are doing, or have any feelings or sensations for the energy to work.

At the level 1 Workshop you will learn how to give a treatment to yourself, to others and to plants and animals.  However, if you wish to do distance healing, cleanse environments or work on specific blockages you will need to attend a level 2 workshop to learn the symbols to activate these processes.

More on Usui Reiki, click here

Kundalini Reiki appears to work through the mental energy (a higher vibration energy level) and requires mental thought to activate the healing.  Practitioners are taught to think ‘Reiki’ to get the flow going.  As a result the practitioner is more involved, and more influential in the healing process, this is particularly true at higher levels of healing in Kundalini Reiki 2 and 3.  Although this may seem more like hard work, the process is quickened and shortened because of this higher energy involvement.  It also means that through intention, the practitioner can manipulate the energy and move it around the body, as well as harmonising situations and events, releasing emotions and conducting distance healing.  This is much wider in range than Usui Reiki 1 (these techniques are taught in Usui Reiki level 2).

Kundalini Reiki treatments are 5 minutes in length and as a result people find it an easier system to do as a daily practice.  There is also an optional 20 minute mediation given at the level 1 class for those who enjoy meditation and want a longer treatment.  This system’s main advantage is in its speed to treatments and the flexibility and range of tools offered at level one.  In general we feel Kundalini Reiki 1 is equivalent to Usui 1 & 2.

More on Kundalini Reiki, click here

The benefits of beginning with Usui Reiki is that it is absolutely the best foundational healing course for the beginner, or the skeptic.  It is also the original Reiki and for some it has the attraction of its long tradition and reputation.  It is truly a tried and tested system of effective healing.

The benefits of beginning with Kundalini Reiki is that it is more versatile, faster and easier to incorporate into daily life.  It is also much faster to learn and you can benefit from a huge range of tools in a very short period of time.