We could probably set a record for how many times we’ve heard about the benefits of meditation.
I don’t know about you, but I could probably set a higher record for the amount of times I’ve tried creating a meditation practice and quit it.
Meditation is not as easy as sitting there with your eyes closed quietly. I’ve found it does not come naturally to the busy bee or the impatient.
I’ve tried doing 5 minute meditations on my own.
I’ve tried using the Calm or Headspace apps and they got me a little further along.
During my yoga teacher training, I tried sitting in different postures and using different props to see if calming my body would calm my mind. That got me a little closer too.
But I just couldn’t get a meditation practice to stick.
It wasn’t until I did my reiki training that I was getting somewhere.
Reiki is a Japanese healing method that consists of a transfer of universal energy. A reiki practitioner will place their palms on or above a client and transfer the universal energy with the goal of getting the client’s cells to vibrate at a higher frequency. When your cells vibrate at a higher frequency, a person can become less susceptible to illness, disease, depression, etc.
This was a training I did during my yoga teacher training as reiki is a method some yoga teachers use during their classes. I was intrigued by the practice.
The way I describe it to people who have never heard of reiki is that it is like getting a hug from someone you love and that loving energy being transferred to you. A reiki practitioner or master doesn’t have any more magical power than anyone else, but is trained to transfer the energy in an intentional way.
So I started doing reiki on myself. I would sit straight and tall, and place 1 hand on my heart and 1 heart on my belly, breathe deeply into my hands, and I would send the universal energy to myself.
I’ll admit I was skeptical about reiki at first, but I found my mind starting to quiet for the first time.
I was amazed.
I thought why was reiki working for me, but meditation wasn’t? Are meditation and reiki the same?
It depends on how you look at it. Some would say they’re the same and some would say there are a world of differences, and I’m not here to debate the contrast.
I’ve learned that it isn’t about saying you’re doing meditation or saying you’re doing reiki, but it’s about finding something that works for you.
I wanted to quiet my mind and I found a way to do it.
I think we get tripped up about doing a method, like meditation, “correctly.”
It isn’t about what you’re doing, but the intent behind it. Both meditation and reiki are ways to help my body, mind, soul, increase the vibrations in my body, and create stillness.
One of my favorite authors, Brene Brown, shares her definition of stillness in her book The Gifts of Imperfection. Maybe it resonates with you too.
“Stillness is not about focusing on nothingness, it’s about creating a clearing. It’s opening up an emotionally clutter-free space and allowing ourselves to feel and think and dream and question.”
For more information on reiki, I recommend checking out this website or this book. Both resources were created by my reiki master, Cortney Martinelli.
