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The Art of Stillness: Cultivating Love & Light

BY ALKEEMA ALI

“… encourage the Reiki community to always be able to retreat and to hibernate in order to cultivate their space and inner sanctuary. It is in this space that love and light needs to grow…”

The ending of any year is normally a time for reflection, introspection, spiritual growth, family traditions and a time to celebrate. We also try to greet the new year with a sense of gratitude and joy for our life journey.

For me, the latter half of 2022 was really six months of blessings and also six months of major upheaval. The theme of this time was definitely about letting go of whatever was no longer serving me to let new energy in.

This year I believe the Universe has been guiding me to slow my life down. In the same spin, it has also blessed me with new creative ideas pulling me in two directions. My intuition tells me that I am not alone in feeling this conflict. I think generally we all have to strive to find a balance between running with these creative energies and the desire to progress and grow, and the need to retreat and respect that our bodies are calling for more periods of rest than ever before. Whilst I have found it hard to let go of some old expectations and ways of doing things, I have slowly been able to create simpler ways of doing things, retreating inwards and finding time for stillness within a hectic lifestyle. Slowly I was guided back to find within myself a peaceful place of love and light.

Many times as a Reiki practitioner, we hold space for clients, we create spaces of love and light for them. We also as individuals want our worlds and lives to reflect this core of love and light that we know we innately possess. The truth is we can only offer love and light once we have it inside of us. If we are depleted, self sacrificing, have weak boundaries, neglect our own self-love and self-care; no matter how good and noble our intentions are; we will not be able to give from a place of love and light.

I encourage the Reiki community to always be able to retreat and to hibernate in order to cultivate their space and inner sanctuary. It is in this space that love and light needs to grow, so that you will be able to offer love and light to others. This space is in silence, created in the stillness of the different forms of Reiki meditations.

This year I encourage to go back to practices that encourage you to slow down, sit and even stop to acknowledge your inner core of love and light. I have pulled together some of my favourite “go to” Reiki practices that I use to seek more peace and stillness, even during a busy schedule.

The Gassho Meditation

Gassho literally means “two hands coming together.” Dr. Mikao Usui taught his students this meditation and advised that they were to practice this for 20 minutes both in the morning and evening. The truth is sometimes it is difficult for individuals to find time in their hectic routine to sit and practice at home, so I challenge and encourage individuals to find the time anywhere they can; in the park, in their office, even in their car while it is parked. I found myself doing Gassho meditation at work and in as little as 5 minutes it brought tremendous calm to my heart chakra.

Quick steps for a simple Gassho Meditation:

Place your two hands together, in the ‘prayer’ position in front of your chest.
Focus your attention at the point where the two middle fingers meet or the space between the two hands.
Give thanks for Reiki and if intuition guides you set an intention or infuse with the Reiki precepts.
Close your eyes and allow Reiki to flow to where it is most needed.
Hold this meditation for as long as it allows.
Close off with gratitude for Reiki and for all healing received.

Aura Shower/Cleanse

I first read about the Aura Shower in Hiroshi Doi’s book “A Modern Reiki Method for Healing’. Yet again at work, I found myself doing a modified Aura Cleanse. The technique not only clears your Aura but also recharges your field. In fact, the technique over time, allows an individual to be more sensitive to feel their Aura and to feel how the Reiki energy is connected to their physical body. In deep practices, you can even feel the energetic field and its connection to the meridian lines in the physical body. I have tried doing this “cleanse” both seated and lying down; and both ways are effective. An Aura Cleanse is most refreshing after a long day.

Quick steps for a simple Aura Cleanse:

Get yourself into a comfortable seated or reclining position.
Place your hands in Gassho to activate the Reiki energy.
Set your intention.
Place your hands at the sides of your head about 1-2 feet away from your physical body or wherever it feels comfortable.
Hold your hands and allow the Reiki energy to flow within your Auric field.
Hold this position for at least 5-20 minutes depending on your schedule.
Close off in Gassho with gratitude for Reiki and for all healing received.

Seishin Toitsu

While this is a technique that can be used before a Reiki session, I found it extremely helpful as a separate practice in allowing Reiki to flow so that you can feel your Divine connection to the Universal Source of Love and Light. Feeling the flow of the energy, the inhalation and exhalation of your breath is a sure way to get back into a place of silence and stillness. Visualizing the flow of your breath in this technique also helps you stay focused on where the flow of the Reiki energy is going.

Quick steps for Seishin Toitsu:

Get yourself into a comfortable seated position. Spine straight.
Place your hands in Gassho to activate the Reiki energy.
Set your intention.
Rest your hands on your lap, facing in an upwards direction (receiving mode).
With the inhale, visualize your breath coming in through your palms, going up to the arms and shoulders and then coming down to your abdomen.
With the exhale, visualize your breath leaving the abdomen, going up to the shoulders, down the arms and out through the palms.
Practice this for at least 5-20 minutes.
Close off in Gassho with gratitude for Reiki and for all healing received.

The Standing Meditation

Meditations that I have been taught in Reiki are mostly in seated positions. While Reiki has been guiding me to return to stillness more often; it has also been guiding me to ground myself in more creative ways. I dug deep to get creative on things I had overlooked to stabilize my root chakra: like going back to nature, soaking my feet in Epsom salts and even eating root vegetables.

I was intuitively guided to do a standing meditation in 2022, while I was walking bare foot on Mother Earth trying to ground myself. I realized that it would be a technique to carry with me forward in 2023.

This technique allows the Reiki energy to flow through two ways: from the top of the head and also from the hands, which are directed to the ground, straight through through your physical body and also to your feet. Once Reiki begins to flow, you can feel the energy penetrating your feet and flowing freely to the Earth.

The longer you hold this position for, the Reiki energy is perceived like a column of light connecting your physical body to the Heavens as well as towards Earth.

This also has the added benefit of having the Reiki energy flow through your physical body and balancing any disharmony with the added natural effect of grounding. I have tried this technique both on actual Earth, as well as on concrete; they are both very effective.

Quick steps for the Standing Meditation:

Get yourself into a standing position with hands at your sides.
Place your hands in Gassho to activate the Reiki energy.
Set your intention.
Place hands back to the sides of your body or alternatively, place palms facing down in line with your feet.
Visualize the Reiki energy coming in through your Crown Chakra straight through your physical body.
Also Visualize the Reiki energy flowing from your fingers and palms to your feet.
Visualize the energy going through your feet into the ground.
Practice this for at least 5-20 minutes.
Close off in Gassho with gratitude for Reiki and for all healing received.

Sometimes with the pace of life and all its expectations, we think we need something more, so we keep searching. I think what we all are really searching for is that place of Stillness; our limitless source of Love and Light. With Reiki practices and meditations; what we come to realize is that there is nothing to be found, we are already there and we just need to cultivate it. We need to be able to practice the art of stillness so that we will always be in a place to offer love and light to others. My personal theme for 2023 is “Returning to Stillness.” What’s yours?

Author Bio: Akleema Ali, RMT, finds joy and excitement in her life journey by educating and increasing awareness about Reiki in Trinidad & Tobago.

Instagram: @thereikilighthousett

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