So today is Reiki 2. It's been over a decade since I first had my reiki 1 attunement. Whether it was just coincidence or not, shortly afterwards I left my well-paid city job and re-committed to a life of learning about healing. Within about 6 months I was learning hypnosis, the emotional freedom technique, neurolinguistic programming and coaching. Is it reiki which keeps calling me back to the healing path or did that yearning to learn call me to reiki? About 8 weeks or so ago I went on a reiki 1 course again. My first reiki 1 had almost been a clandestine affair - an afternoon with my yoga instructor in a small flat in a London highrise. And I hadn't even realised I was being 'attuned' - I thought I was going for healing. Without a certificate, I felt ineligible to bring reiki into formal surroundings like hospitals and health centres and besides, I had never taken reiki 2. I hadn't realised it was anything more really until several reiki sharers all said it had had a huge impact. One lady had said she started seeing colours, another that she saw vortices of energy especially near water. I felt concerned - did I want to see that? Surely you'd start to doubt your sanity? I didn't write about my last reiki training - reiki 1. It felt like a 'should' and it felt like it would take ages to capture. It probably would've. Even the highlights seem like they need too much explanation. What I did notice is that I hadn't expected any change from reiki 1. I sat diligently with my eyes closed in the first attunement, creaking a secret eye open to see what the 'attuners' were actually doing. I felt sort of silly - like that book, the emperor's new clothes. And then afterwards as Torsten, the course host, ran through more information, I saw what looked like an aura. Now I want to be clear, I have no clear idea what an aura should look like and if that's what I was seeing it was both amazing and disappointing. There were no bright colours - no bands of green or blue or pink. There was just an inch or less of glaring light around things - well people mainly. But at the time, it caught me so unawares. I was watching Torsten and listening when all of a sudden I was aware of this contrast - this brightness. When I tried to look at it, to scrutinise it, I couldn't see it. When I returned to listening to Torsten or staring blankly, it was there. I started thinking 'oh my god! Is that an aura?!' and I wanted to shout it out. I had a desperate urge to break into what he was saying and say 'oh my god, I think I can see an aura!' but I sat on my hands, metaphorically, and tried to listen. Over and over I challenged myself as to whether it was because of the white wall behind, the light conditions, the tiredness maybe? I didn't think this was it, surely. Then to my surprise, Torsten said we were going to do an exercise - to see if we could see an aura! Then it felt constructed - I wasn't sure - was I or wasn't I? It really looked like a sort of blurness around him. I think had I not just had the spontaneous experience I'd had, I would have felt coerced. I went to an 'aura sensing workshop' with great enthusiasm at a festival years ago and felt a right numptie. Here I was, sat with strangers in a tent, listening to a hippy chap tell us we could see it if we tried and I thought it was a load of nonsense. In fact I felt embarrassed, having dragged a friend along. But now something was different - noone had told me I could see it - I'd had to try and understand what I was seeing. There were to be three more attunements across the course, each feeling relaxing and underwhelming, followed by a change. After the second or third attunement, again I was listening and my hands were lying in my lap. Suddenly they surged with heat; not just on the palm side as I'd been aware of in reiki, but on the top side too. When there was a moment, I had to say to the lady sitting next to me, to have her feel the heat in my hands, to check it was real. She shrugged - after the attunement, her hands were hot too. The reiki itself seemed very deep to offer and very relaxing to receive. The lady I gave reiki to said she experienced sensations - I don't remember what they were but they were significant to her. And then we had one last attunement and the two days were over. On my way home, I met up with my sister. She was really tired - living life hard. We happened to be in a coffee place within a whole foods store as it had been near to the station and offered decaf tea. It seemed pretty secluded so I asked her if she wanted to try reiki. It was the deepest reiki sensation I had had. I wanted to continue giving reiki round her head for longer but I grew embarrassed - she'd been sitting still long enough I thought. Afterwards, she was slow to get going again as if emerging from a deep sleep. I was secretly delighted she'd experienced it and that I had really felt something but I tried to not show it. "Was there a flash of light when we were doing that? Like a bus passing the window?" she asked. I hadn't noticed anything. And now it's reiki 2. I've just seen the signs the course host sent to us before - the reiki symbols. I thought I'd never memorise the third one but then I saw what looked like a stick man in it and suddenly it seemed easy peasy. I don't know what the next two days will be like. I'm not expecting a big change for me in many ways - I'm quite feet on the ground and I'm not sure how I'd feel about seeing colours or vortices - but I receive a certificate at the end which might allow me to take reiki further and I'm keeping an open mind.
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