Reiki compliments, it doesn’t replace, medical practice.  Of course over my years working with Reiki I have found I need less and less visits to the Doctor and I believe this is due to the fact that Reiki works as an amazing balancing factor in the body.  In being balanced, the body is much clearer in its signals, and I am much more aware of what my body needs – so it breaks down less and less.

Why do we get sick?  Every specialist will have their own theory on this.  If you talk to a nutritionist, they will tell you your diet is lacking some nutrient; if you chat to a chiropractor, they will tell you your spinal alignment is creating issues; your energy healer will tell you your Chakra’s are blocked; your Feng Shui Master will tell you the health quadrant in your home needs fixing; your doctor will give you the reason why biochemically things are malfunctioning….etc etc.  Each one of them may be partially or fully correct, so how do you know what to do?

If you rely on outside ‘experts’ then of course you will be running around in circles.  How can any outside expert know your body better than you?  The sad fact is that most of us actually think this insane belief to be true – so we rush out and consult with all manner of ‘experts’ trying to find the reason for our illness, and trying to weigh up what to do – without ever consulting the real expert: ourselves.  For many of us, it is with good reason – we have no clue how to consult with our inner wisdom!  We are so out of balance, so external focused, so out of touch with our own bodies, that we have no idea what is going on inside – we live in our bodies but we have never ever been within, we spend every second of every day in our bodies, yet we don’t know what the heck is going on…insane!

Get in touch with yourself, your body, your pulse again and all the doubts, the indecision, and the fear will disappear.  Get to know yourself, and you will know what to do – which medicine to take, when to get a second opinion, when to go to the Doctor,  when to go to the Nutritionist, and when to simply go to bed with a good book.  It becomes easy, fearless, honest.  It doesn’t mean you never go to the Doctor again.  Thinking you don’t need a Doctor is as insane as thinking you need a Doctor.  Doctors, Nutritionists, Chiropractors, Energy healers…we are all tools to help you to heal, to help you to cure.  Use us, of course, but keep your inner power, your inner knowledge and never give that away to some outside ‘expert’.  Provide your own counsel, but make sure you know yourself first or your inner counsel will be flawed, filled with fear and erroneous beliefs (like: I don’t need a Doctor!  I don’t need surgery!  I can heal myself!).  Yes, sometimes you can, and sometimes you can’t.  Make sure you have the wisdom to tell the difference.

This wisdom comes with balance, and balance comes from inner awareness.  Reiki is one of many pathways to inner awareness – in my search for balance, I have found it the easiest.  It requires little effort, exercise, or change in lifestyle.  It works for anyone over time, and I have found it such an easy self-help tool that for me, it has become my foundational tool.

When I do my Reiki self-treatments I find myself becoming calmer, more at peace and as the stress melts away, I become clearer.  with clarity comes all kinds of information, wisdom and inner knowledge.  Its sometimes as simple as getting still, and listening.  In this age of constant noise, getting still is quite a challenge, and that is why therapies like Reiki become so important.  Reiki cannot cure you of anything, only you can do that.  But Reiki can provide the quiet for you to be able to listen to yourself, and make the right decisions for your own health.  And yes, that may be as simple as – do your Reiki – and your body will do the rest.

The Reiki Centre Survey data allows us to draw some interesting conclusions about Reiki.  First it seems that the more Reiki we do, the better the results we notice.  In general, people who have been using Reiki for over seven years are three times more likely to notice significant benefits than those using Reiki for less than one year.  This makes us conclude that Reiki is cumulative, and improvements are step by step.  A useful finding in itself as it urges us to keep practicing and allow the body to rebalance in its own time

Having said that, one significant anomaly is that even very new Reiki practitioners who only practice Reiki now and again see improvements in what I call the ‘peace pathways’. The Reiki Centre Survey found that respondents noticed improvements very similar to those of meditation. Nearly 70% of respondents reported a reduction in their levels of anxiety, worry and stress in less than one year. Correspondingly, over the same period, over 70% of respondents noticed an increase in their levels of self-love, peace and contentment, with this figure rising to over 85% of respondents over a longer period of time.  Since the Survey only captured data in yearly blocks, the improvements could have been noticed within weeks or months, certainly the qualitative responses indicate respondents saw changes soon after beginning self-Reiki, and this would mirror my own experience and the experience of many of my students.

“I am more self confident and have a higher self esteem. I am happier and more content with life. I deal better with life’s ups and downs.” Rita

“If I am very stressed or have insomnia because of worries and I practice Reiki and then I get relaxed and peaceful” Barbara

“The most significant improvement is definitely that I am more calm and relaxed.” Jay

Meditation, for years, has been known in the East to be extremely health giving, calming and beneficial. Most Reiki practitioners attest to the similarities between Reiki and meditation, especially when it comes to the results they feel.  As the art of meditation spreads to the West, research is confirming its qualities. Dr Andrew Newberg has run several experiments on expert meditators to find that there is a difference in the way their brain’s function compared with non-meditators. Specifically, there is a decrease in activity in the logical (left) brain, resulting in less brain chatter. Over time, when meditators are not meditating they show increased alertness, consciousness and empathy with others. In Dr Newberg’s recent research involving non-meditators who were given a chant to practice for eight weeks, results similar to those among the expert meditators were shown.  These results show that anyone can learn to lessen the hold of their busy brains in a very short period of time and with little effort.

Reiki can provide an access point which allows us to experience inner peace by encouraging the meditative effects as described by Dr Newberg and others.  Reiki seems to follow very similar pathways to meditation by lighting up the intuitive (right) side of our brain that resonates with connection, empathy, oneness and wholeness therefore increasing our feelings of contentment, peace and happiness. Like meditation, it also can occur in a very short period of time.  The way I look at it, when we allow the body to balance, we experience our natural state of being.  This is not something that needs to be ‘worked at’ as it simply ‘is’.  Like flicking a switch, we have direct access to inner peace as soon as we decide to look for it.

“Beating Stress From The Inside Out”

New Singapore survey findings shine light on ways to reduce stress

Singapore, 12^th January 2012: With Chinese New Year just around the corner, many families are underway with planning their celebrations to welcome in the Year of The Rabbit. Although enjoyable to many, arranging such events can be challenging and stressful for others. However, help is at hand.

A new Singapore based study of 550 respondents shows that stress can be reduced and happiness increased in some of the simplest of ways.  The detailed findings from the survey, conducted by Singapore based The Reiki Centre, have been published in the book ‘Reiki, Pure and Simple’ – written by Reiki Master Elaine Grundy.

According to the book, 80% of people experience less stress after learning and applying Reiki, a Japanese energy therapy.  87% notice more peace after applying Reiki on themselves and 80% are happier.  These results are significant in implying that simply using Reiki can have profound effects on peoples’ stress and happiness levels.

Reiki, which was first discovered in Japan in 1922, is a form of natural therapy that claims to balance a person’s energy and can be passed from one person to another through the hands.  No particular gift or talent is required to tap into this energy, which can be learnt in a weekend class.

Author Elaine Grundy commented “When I first discovered Reiki I was working in the high stress advertising industry in Hong Kong. After learning Reiki, what was extraordinary was that I noticed positive results while not changing anything about my lifestyle. Following just half an hour of Reiki in the evening, I felt more energetic and effective in the morning.  Having more energy in your body, can help you to rejuvenate, improve your immune system and feel a much deeper level of peace, as the survey shows.”

One of the key messages in the book is the important concept of looking to yourself for healing.  Instead of looking to the outside world and others for answers, Elaine suggests that it is critical to keep balanced inside.  The survey relates many case studies of people overcoming anger, anxiety and depression simply by applying Reiki.  According to Elaine, Reiki energy is used by the body to ‘reset’ itself.  “Many of us are stuck on a stress response and don’t even realize it.  By flicking the switch back to our normal growth response allows us to experience peace and a more healthy way of relating to our environment” explains Elaine, “there is no magic to this, children do it all the time, we’ve just forgotten how.”

With straightforward examples, case studies and data, Reiki, Pure and Simple, which is now on sale at Kinokuniya and other bookstores, offers advice and hope about easily and simply lowering stress and increasing  happiness.

The Reiki Centre Singapore offers regular weekend classes that are open to anyone to attend.

Fact Sheet – ‘Reiki, Pure and Simple’

About The Book:

• List Price: S$18.95
• Author: Elaine Grundy
• Publication Date: January 2011
• ISBN: 978-981-08-6587-0
• No. of pages: 130
• Format: Softcover
• Available from bookstores and www.reikicentre.com.sg

About the Author

Elaine Grundy has been teaching Reiki for over 15 years, started her training in Hong Kong and has since been teaching around the world in the UK, Portugal, USA, Malaysia and Singapore.  Elaine has trained hundreds of Reiki practitioners whilst keeping her feet firmly planted in the corporate world, having spent over ten years in advertising, market research, training and coaching.  For years she has balanced her corporate life with a deep respect and love of spiritual teachings.  Elaine, who was born in Hong Kong, is currently based in Singapore where she runs the Reiki Centre in the East Coast.  www.reikicentre.com.sg

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.

“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!

Person who wants you to say yes: “I really need your help, I’m in a bit of a pickle with my finances – you know the recession has hit my business really badly and I’m struggling to make ends meet.  The kids’ school fees are due this month and I just can’t find the cash – I really need a loan, not for too long, maybe 6 months, a year?  I know you have the cash, its small change to you really – can you please loan it to me – it will mean the kids can stay in school and it would really help me out.”

You: “I really understand that you are in trouble, and no.”

Person who wants you to say yes: “What?  You’re saying no?  But my kids!  Are you telling me to take them out of school?  To leave their friends and their life?  How am I going to tell them that you don’t care enough for them?  How can you do this to me, I’m your brother/sister/parent/friend!”

You: “I love you, and no”

So, we practiced this in the School and it seemed easy enough, NOT!  Can you imagine just saying ‘no’ to someone you love and getting all this guilt laid on you and still saying no, with no justification or defense?  Well as a people pleaser I was desperate to try it out, but also scared stiff.

Of course the friendly universe has given me several opportunities to practice since coming home

The first opportunity was an old colleague who wanted me to talk at an event that I really didn’t want to do.  She’s an old friend and she’s given me lots of work in the past, I was uncomfortable saying no because I didn’t want to let her down and I was mindful of repercussions in our future relationship.  My first attempt at an honest ‘no’ was simply ignored along the lines of “I can’t take your no for an answer, you owe me and you have to say yes” in a very long winded and emotional email detailing lots of past history, justification etc etc.  When I got her response I immediately went into defense and went to bed tossing and turning all the brilliant justifications I could give her for saying ‘no’.  Then I remembered my honest ‘no’ and my stress just melted away.  In response to her 2 page email I replied “I understand you feel strongly about this, and no.”  I cannot tell you how good that felt!  Clean, pure, authentic, honest – wow!  Ok, now I get it, really, I am never doing differently.  Amazing!

The rub is, even though I now felt clear and good about it, it still doesn’t mean she did, and by the way she didn’t – she came back a third time but with decidedly less heat in her tone and expectation.  I think my honesty and brevity knocked a lot of wind out of her sail and maybe allowed her to open to the possibility that another option could also work.  In the end we did come up with something else that was workable and kept us both in integrity.

My key learning was in seeing how damaging I was being to my own integrity, saying ‘yes’ just to please someone is always a ‘no’ to yourself.  I learnt that giving an honest ‘no’ not only makes me feel brilliant with the force of a massive ‘YES’ to myself, but it also opens the other party to collaboration making it much easier to come to a win win.

Take for example five different days when you walk down a dark alley and you see a homeless man sitting next to a dumpster.  Imagine you have had a particularly fearful day or you are in a very fearful mood – the world seems dark, foreboding and unkind – disaster is lurking at every corner (you just watched the news!).  Walking down this alley is already filling you with unease, you spot the homeless man and notice the likely thoughts running through your mind. “He’s going to mug me” ,“He’s going to rape me”.   Notice the level of stress and anxiety running through your body.  Notice how tense and upset you feel when he reaches out his hand to you.  Likely you turn and run down the street away from him.  Imagine the story you would tell your friends and family about your ‘narrow escape’.

Now imagine you have had a terrible day with people you despise, you are in a rage and you feel like you are about to explode you are so angry.  Same alley, same homeless man.  This time you look at him and what are the thoughts coming to you now – what is the thinking you are now accessing?  “Good for nothing”, “Lazy, incompetent, parasite”.  He reaches his hand out to you.  Do you hit him, kick him – in your mind maybe, if not in reality.  There is violence in your thoughts and violence in your environment.  You can imagine how that life would pan out if you continued to sit in anger day after day.

Next mood, you’ve had a disappointing day, you’re feeling deflated and hopeless.  Overwhelmed and unhappy with life.  Feeling small and insignificant – ‘nothing goes my way’.  You walk down the alley and see the man.  Maybe you burst into tears, see him as a total summary of your life, a sign for how low you’ve also sunk.  He holds out his hand and you just shrug – you feel as poor and hopeless as him, what can you possibly offer him?

Shifting up a gear now, you walk down the alley in an optimistic mood.  Life is good, you feel happy, optimistic and enthused by life.  You feel the universe is kind and loving and you feel very blessed and excited about life.  You see the homeless man, what do you do? Sit next to him and chat awhile, share your lunch with him, share a touch of kindness with him?  He holds out his hand and you give him ten bucks, or fifty.  You smile and it feels good.

Finally, imagine you are in total joy, vibrating in truth and love, empowered.  You walk down the alley, you see the man.  He holds out his hand, don’t you give him everything you have?  Don’t you hold him, hug him, touch him with your love?  You walk out and you have blessed another human being with your love.  You have gone from me me me to service.

This is the way to change the world, this is the way to make a difference – through your own vibration and not through fear or anger or raging at the world and what it has or hasn’t done for you, to you.  Notice the same man in all these scenarios, just a different you.  This is a microcosm of your life, you react to every single incident in your life based on the level you are vibrating at, what you are feeling and thinking and your filters.  Minute by minute, day by day – your life really shouldn’t be any surprise to you, you created it.

You can change it too by simply focusing on your vibration, how are you feeling today and how do you feel better.  There are so many amazing techniques in both law of attraction and the Work of Byron Katie to help you shift up and up in your energy and in so doing in experiencing a totally new level of life.