Hello friends,

Just an update as to what we've been up to over the last month and a half.... In May 2007 we travelled to the USA where we taught and spoke about the Japanese aspects of the system of Reiki.

  The first port of call was San Francisco where we were fortunate to be able teach from the beautiful venue of the Guide Dogs association in San Rafael, where guide dogs are trained. Many of the students of this Shinpiden course, organised by Animal Reiki Source founder and author Kathleen Prasad, were animal practitioners - making the venue perfect. 
 Animal Reiki: Using Energy to Heal the Animals in Your Life 
 
We then flew across the country to New York where we gave a talk at the East-West Bookstore on the Japanese Art of Reiki and then taught Shinpiden at the Chelsea Studios, New York. 

  Below are just some of the student's comments:
  "I can't thank you enough for the wonderful Shinpiden Class. You are an incredible teacher and it was truly a life-changing experience! Through the wonderful techniques you have shared with us, I feel I have reconnected more deeply with Reiki and understand the simple essence of the practice in a new way. I look forward to this new chapter in my Reiki journey.
Studying with you has brought both my own motivation and energy AND my teaching up to a new level so thank you so much for that! One of my students resat the class and said the class totally changed the way she thinks about and experiences Reiki! That's what you did for me, and I'm so happy I can pass this onto my students" Kathleen Prasad

  "One thing came home very clear to me after this weekends class and that is, although I teach, give and practice Reiki, it is my path and my challenge to integrate Reiki to the point that I live and am Reiki in each unfolding moment.
Thanks again to you all and may you be blessed as you each walk your paths." James Johnson

  "Last weekend I was in a three-day Reiki Master training class that, not to be overly dramatic, changed my life. There Frans found the absence of dogma and New Age teachings that have been added to the Reiki system since it's arrival in the West, about 60 years ago. Stripped down, I resonate with the Reiki system so much more. (I wonder what would happen if we could go back to Jesus' original teachings, or Mohammad's). Here I went into the class thinking I was going to get just a little more knowledge about the system of Reiki, another attunement (whatever that meant), and instructions on how to teach the system of Reiki (that's one of the things a Master Level gets you - the ability to teach the system) - mostly intellectual stuff. Well . . . I came away with a Reiki (meaning: spiritual energy) meditation practice that includes a whole new way of looking at energy (along with the other things I was expecting - but those too, at a level I couldn't have even fathomed).  In essence, it's not about giving or channeling energy . . . it's about BEING the energy!!!!!  I am truly transformed! I see that this class is informing all of what I do. I'm exercising with much more focus and dedication, and I've picked up Tai Chi again - doing the warm-up exercises alone for 15-30 minutes so that I really feel it. Even when I wash the dishes, I'm more present and focused on what I am doing. I can truly see that this is a way of life for me.  I am so full of love and gratitude I feel that I just might burst!" Joyce Leonard

  "The Shinpiden class has really expanded my connection to Reiki. Even though I've practiced for a long time I feel as though in some ways I'm really feeling the potential of Reiki for the first time. Thansk so much" James Johnson

  "Thank you so much for showing me the next step with Reiki. It feels exactly right - a perfect fit. I totally appreciate the simplicity of your teaching and its inclusiveness and its flow." Kathy Kelly

  "Thank you! This course has been one of the most wonderful things I have ever experienced. Your books are wonderful. This has been truly a life-changing thing for me, and it's comforting to know you and the books are available to answer questions. Thank you for helping me over the rough spots!" Ellen Bloofield Nemoyten

  Here is an excerpt from Janet Dagle Dagley's The Reiki Digest about her time at the course:
"How would you describe the experience of eating chocolate to someone who's never had it? You could show them a picture of chocolate, but that wouldn't really do it. Neither would a video of chocolate. To experience chocolate, you and the chocolate need to be in the same place at the same time -- there's no other way. And so it is with Reiki -- the only way to "get it" is to get it, because descriptions just fall short. Sure, you can buy a "Reiki attunement" on video or online, but you really need to be in the presence of a teacher in order to share the same energetic space and truly feel the energy.  

I've just spent three days in close proximity to one of the world's foremost Reiki teachers, along with 20 eager Reiki students in the first (but not last) Shinpiden (Level 3) class with Frans Stiene in New York City. Some of the students traveled for hundreds of miles to be there, and Frans himself traveled all the way from Australia, by way of San Francisco, along with his wife and co-author, Bronwen, and their lovely daughter Bella. In their latest book, Your Reiki Treatment, Bronwen and Frans have come closer than anyone to finding a way to describe Reiki to those who haven't experienced it. They also do a lot of traveling, circling the globe teaching those of us who practice Reiki how to explore the energy more deeply. And in their spare time, they produce even more Reiki resources with their weekly Reiki Show podcast, as well as their Amazon.com blog , their MySpace page, and their interactive web site. The class was also the first (but not last) class sponsored by The Reiki Digest. In the coming months we'll be offering more courses in Reiki and related practices. Stay tuned for details in the coming weeks.

  After those three days, all participants and the room itself were buzzing with Reiki energy. I'm coming in for a landing now that the class is over and plan to take an actual day off just as soon as I publish this week's edition of the Digest. I hope some of the other participants will add their comments to this post on The Reiki Digest web site -- same for any other reader with a question or comment. It would be so nice to get a conversation going.
  Everyone in the class had already learned Western-style Reiki, in the lineage of Hawayo Takata, who brought Reiki from Japan to the West. Some have been practicing for as long as 25 years. Among us we had, in addition to full-time Reiki practitioners, a doctor, a psychologist, a couple of massage therapists, a medium, some animal communicators, a dental hygienist and a former wrestling champion. It was, in effect, a roomful of teachers as well as students. All were blown away by the techniques Frans taught and the experience of working with energy in new ways."
If you would like to see some photos of the tour then click here.

We'll be back in New York in October to teach and in September we'll be in Helsinki, Paris, Utrecht and in Essex in the UK.
We hope to catch up with some of you there..
This week's podcast on The Reiki Show is Reiki and the Healing Power of Mantra.
Love, Frans and Bronwen

This week’s question from our website http://www.reiki.net.au/ is:

Q: Do I need to be a vegetarian to learn Reiki?

A: Not at all. Not before, during or after working the system of Reiki. To practice the system is to live life as a Reiki practitioner. But that will mean a variety of things depending upon the individual practitioner. It will, however, indicate that the practitioner works with the five elements of the system of Reiki. These five elements are techniques and/or meditations, hands-on healing, symbols and mantras, Reiki precepts and receiving attunements (called reiju in Japan).

When you learn the system you begin to bring these elements into your life on an everyday basis in a natural way. There are no rules only the Reiki precepts which are:

For today only

Do not anger

Do not worry

Be humble

Be honest in your work

Be compassionate to yourself and others
You can listen to them in Japanese here.
http://www.reiki.net.au/copy.asp?id=HistoryPractices
Just scroll down the linked page.

In Japan it is recommended to repeat these precepts to yourself on a daily basis so that they stay in your mind and then you act on them naturally.

Such a practice will eventually support inner change and the way you interact with your world. You may stop smoking, drinking and eating meat (as some do) … or you may not. There is no value judgement within the system of Reiki that says that you must or must not do any of these things.

To force yourself to change is not natural. By forcing yourself it may instead create attachment to the thing that you are trying to stop and that would be defeating the purpose. Therefore there is no point in making yourself become a vegetarian, or anyone else trying to make you a vegetarian, and there are no “rules” within the system of Reiki that touch upon this topic.

If you do become a vegetarian from working with the system of Reiki and you feel good with that – then that is right for you. If you don’t and you feel okay with that, then that is also right for you at that moment in your life.

Let yourself develop naturally and allow your practice to take where you need to go.

The Reiki Show podcast this week is Reiki in High Schools and is a fascinating interview with Patricia Sheehan who is teaching the system of Reiki in High Schools in Ireland.
www.thereikishow.com

Hope you are all enjoying our new book Your Reiki Treatment!

We’re teaching in San Francisco and New York over the next month and will therefore be reporting back irregularly (if at all) – let’s see how time goes…

Love,
Bronwen and Frans

This week we heard from Wendy through our website she told us this:

Q: First I would like to say how much I enjoy your podcast interviews and segments. Keep up the good work.

I would like to hear your thoughts on the attunement process for Reiki and whether including symbols from other healing modalities is really of any benefit? My master gave me symbols from Seichem and others but I'm not sure I want to pass them on.

A: Traditionally the attunement in Japan had no symbols whatsoever. The Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (society) in Japan still perform their attunements (called reiju) without symbols.

Have a read of this article to find out more about this: Everything About Reiju.

Unfortunately many of us get too caught up in symbols and think that they are the energy. They are not. They are to help us link into the energy - especially if we are not practised enough to be able to do this without support. They have been likened to training wheels on a bike.

The symbols are for our own healing purpose. The more we meditate on the symbols, the more we become the associated energy until one day we can completely let go of them and just be. This manner is not commonly taught today however and requires dedication, practice and perseverance.
So, if we put these thoughts together... adding more symbols seems not to make any sense at all.

To find out about the origins of Seichim and the numerous symbols taught under its name you can listen to last week's The Reiki Show podcast with its founder Patrick Zeigler. From that you will understand that Reiki and Seichim are not connected but are two separate energetic practices.

This weeks The Reiki Show podcast is on a different theme entirely. Pam Ross is an American Reiki practitioner who works in a Dentist's Office calming the patients. Perhaps it is the way of the future... wouldn't that be great?! Remember if you are interested in finding out about professional Reiki treatments from a client's or a practioner's perspective our book coming out in March covers most questions you are likely to have. You can pre-order it below:
:Your Reiki Treatment
Your Reiki Treatment: How to get the most out of it.

Love,
Bronwen and Frans

Here's a question we recently received through our website.
Q: While working on my husband I have been able to "feel" his pain, and also feel weird sensations when I was doing his ears (he has Tinnitus). While scanning my daughter I felt a tickle in my throat,asked her if she had a sore throat-as I spoke my throat was getting croakier, she said yes!
It's good that I can feel these things as I can detect a problem but I don't like carrying them around after. Is it possible that these left over pain/feelings could affect my health?
A: Feeling others' pain and discomfort during a Reiki teatment is interesting but what do we do with it?
We might think it is great to feel the client's discomfort as it confirms very strongly to ourselves that something is happening during the treatment. But as you say you do not want the client's pain and discomfort, therefore you need to find another way of working energetically.
At its simplest level, all you really need is that you ask your husband and daughter to tell you where their discomfort is as they know better than anyone else about their bodies. A good communication between the client and the practitioner is very important. You can obviously ask the client - where is your pain, discomfort etc..?
It is possible that you can make this change as it is your intent during a treatment that allows you to experience the process in your current way.
So overall it is much better not to hold onto their pain and discomfort and also unnecessary.
Sensing energy through your own body cannot hurt unless you intend to take it that far - which would be most unlikely.
You might want to do more healing and meditation on yourself to strengthen your own energy and in order to support you in setting your personal intent. A good Japanese Reiki meditation is Hatsurei-ho.
You may also set your intent to feel the energetic sensations on the client's body rather than your own as well.
For general interest... sensations felt on the client's body by the practitioner may indicate something about the person's health but a practitioner may never diagnose. A practitioner merely takes these energetic signals to indicate that energy is moving and that the treatment should continue but a practitioner should never lay claim to understanding the client's state of health (unless the practitioner is trained in a different modality to Reiki that does diagnose and the practitioner has informed the client that this extra training will be utilised during the teatment).
Enjoy your Reiki Treatments!
If you would like to know more about Reiki treatments then pre-order our book due out in March 2007.
Your Reiki Treatment
How to get the most out of it.

Till next week!
Love,
Bronwen and Frans

Can I help sick people with Reiki?
There are many reasons why people learn Reiki. This week we had an email from someone through our website enquiring about learning Reiki for a specific purpose.

Q: I would like to be able to help sick people with Reiki where should I start?

A: First you need to learn the system of Reiki. Reiki is a Japanese practice which is made up of five elements.

In Level I you will be taught how to perform Reiki on yourself and friends and family. So, if your friends become sick then you can use the hands-on aspect of the system of Reiki to help them.

If you wish to take this further and become a professional practitioner that is also possible. You will need to deepen your knowledge of Reiki by learning Level II. You must develop your energetic experience with yourself and others and finally insure yourself. The gaining of insurance for professional and public liability is often made possible by first joining a Reiki association.

Many people like to learn Reiki to help others. Some will already be working with some form of spiritual healing but would like to work within a structure - the system of Reiki provides this. Or there are those without any experience at all. For them an experienced teacher will take them through all of the Reiki steps one by one.

For everyone the very first step, however, is to find out about energy work and what it means to you through your own experience. This is why it is recommended that to become a professional you should wait until you have personal experience and have deepened your knowledge with the second level.

Our book, due out in a month's time, called Your Reiki Treatment
and it looks at all the modern expectations of a Reiki treatment. These have changed overtime as treatments within the system have moved from a cottage industry into a professional treatment performed in hospitals, hospices, day spas, beauty clinics and natural therapy centers all around the world.

This week's podcast on The Reiki Show is on Reiki Helping Brain Injury and Coma Recovery. It is about a musician who experienced a brain injury and with the help of Reiki has recovered and brought back with her some beautiful spiritual music.
Until next week...
Love,
Bronwen and Frans

Can I practice 'Spiritual Energy'?
Hi everyone,
This week's question through our website is a good one and one which we've written about at different times. It also links in beautifully with a new webpage we have on our site all about the etymological origins of the word "Reiki". You'll get to listen to a calligrapher discuss these origins and the beauty of the word "Reiki". This calligrapher is also our special Podcast guest on The Reiki Show podcasts - but we'll tell you more about that at the end of the Q & A.

Q: I am confused! How can I be "practicing" Reiki if Reiki means "spiritual energy"? Surely you can't practice spiritual energy! I don't get it!!!

A: Interesting question! Is Reiki a system or an energy????? In fact - it is both! The word 'Reiki' is used in the West to also represent a healing system.

Usui Mikao, the founder, did not appear to call his teachings by this name. "Reiki" appeared written in conjunction with his teachings but this was merely to point out that the teachings worked with spiritual or sacred energy. See our latest web page to find out more about this...

"Reiki" the word can be found in the branches of schools that developed from Usui's teachings. Both the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Society of the Usui Spiritual Energy Healing method) and Hayashi Reiki Kenkyu kai (Hayashi's Spiritual Energy Research Society) use the word 'Reiki' to signify 'spiritual energy' but neither actually called the system - Reiki.

Hawayo Takata was the first student of these teachings in the West. Hayashi Chujiro, her teacher, came with her to Hawaii to help her set up her practice. At his farewell dinner he presented her with a westernized certificate. This official gesture ensured that she was seen as a legal teacher and practitioner in the Japanese system. The certificate states that she was a 'Master of the Usui Reiki System of Drugless Healing'. Once again the term 'Reiki' can be taken to mean ‘spiritual energy' rather than any complete system.

Included in the certificate though are other statements that appear to refer to 'Reiki' as a form of energy as well as a system. This was 1938 and was the first time that the teachings had been translated into English. It is also the first time that we have been able to find inconsistency in the use of the term 'Reiki'. This may well have been due to the difficulty of translating Japanese into English. From that point on the word 'Reiki' has (confusingly) jointly represented the system based on Mikao Usui's teachings as well as the more Westernised translation of Reiki as 'Universal Life Force Energy'.

The downside of using 'Reiki' to mean a system is that people are unsure as to what particular practices fall under that name. There has been such a great deal of change that has occurred in only the last 25 years that many have difficulty understanding that there even is a system behind it. All the systems named Reiki today claim to use spiritual energy in their practice. There appears to be no other definition to the system than that. This leaves the door wide open for individual discrepancies.

We have pinpointed the main elements within the system of Reiki and you can read about them here.

You will also find out about these elements in greater detail in The Japanese Art of Reiki

Many traditional Japanese teachers call the system 'Ryoho' which means 'healing method' or 'Reiki Ryoho' which means 'spiritual energy healing method'.

Today, people even talk about 'Reikiing' something. This particular use of the word is a new addition to its many interpretations.

Back to this week's The Reiki Show podcast - it is with Vikki Quill, a calligrapher who has studied for many years in Japan. The topic is "Connecting with Reiki Kanji through the Art of Calligraphy" and we hope that it will support many Reiki practitioners out there interested in developing their connection with Reiki and its Japanese symbols and mantras.

Till next week!
Love,
Bronwen and Frans

How can I learn Reiki?
Hi everyone,
A question this week that came through our website was:

Q: How can I Learn Reiki?

A: To learn Reiki you need to study with a Reiki teacher.

The system of Reiki was developed in the early 1900s in Japan and includes a number of set elements which we call the five elements. These are Reiki meditations and techniques, four Reiki symbols and mantras, hand positions for healing the self and others, Reiki precepts (codes), and reiju (energetic blessing from your teacher).

Many people learn energetic practices similar to the system of Reiki - they might be called spiritual healing, energetic healing etc... They may have been inspired or influenced by the system of Reiki as well but without these five main elements mentioned above they would not be considered to be the system of Reiki.

When you learn the system of Reiki you begin at the first level and work your way up to the third level.

It is best to learn in-person as it is an experiential system where you practice and your teacher supports you with your development during a course. You need to be confident in your teacher's abilities and trust that you will be respected by your teacher - you can find out about this by meeting or talking to your teacher prior to your class and researching your teacher's character and teachings in detail.

After a Reiki course be aware that you will need to continue practicing the techniques and practices that you have been taught so make sure your teacher can support you in that too.

This week our book The Japanese Art of Reiki
 has just become available at bookstores in Holland under the title Reiki Volgens De Japanse Traditie. The Dutch publishers are Ankh-Hermes.

The Reiki Show podcast this week is about Reiki and the entertainment industry. Our interviewee is professional Reiki practitioner Claire Schwartz who works with Reiki on performers on Broadway, New York.

Till next week...
Love,
Bronwen and Frans

Is Distant Healing only for Reiki Level II practitioners?
Hello again,
Yes, we missed last week's post as we were without telephone lines due to lightening. This post comes to you from our temporary office as we wait for the telephone company to get its act together.

The question this week comes from a Reiki teacher who began to question how she taught and explained the practice of "distant healing" to her students. Here's her question:

Q: I know obviously that in Reiki II we are given the distant healing symbol of HSZSN to work with but are we not capable of distant healing at any level? I know that you teach that intent is of the utmost importance so I have been struggling with the concept that we wait till we receive HSZSN and then can connect to perform distant healing. Surely if we are Reiki and put our intent behind Reiki going to a certain situation or person then it will? Does being able to use and connect with HSZSN just enhance this ability, ie when we have become/or can become HSZSN does that then just facilitate ease of distant healing?
A: "Distant healing" is a natural human ability and can be performed at any level - whether we have completed a Reiki course or not - all we need is our intent. But how do we strengthen our intent to make this "distant healing" more successful?

When we begin working with the system of Reiki, the ability to focus our intent might be not all that clear due to our habits, fears, worries etc...

In Okuden, Reiki Level II, we learn three symbols and mantras. The last of these is taught as a "distant healing" symbol. The true purpose of this symbol and mantra is to create Oneness within ourselves.

The more we go into this space of Oneness, the clearer our intent becomes. At this stage our "distant healing" practice alters. The deeper we go into our own being using the Reiki symbols and mantras, the more we can connect to the concept of Oneness within ourselves and the easier "distant healing" becomes. At this point distance disappears.

HSZSN is about creating Oneness within ourselves and the more we function in that space of Oneness, the easier it is to connect to others.

The aim of Okuden is to develop this space of Oneness.

This week's podcast on The Reiki Show podcast is form Siobhan McLeod who talks about Reiki and Creativity. If you would like to stimulate your creative abilities you can't miss this podcast!

Till next week.
Love,
Bronwen and Frans

What Does Shoden Mean?
Here’s a question we received on our website www.reiki.net.au this week:
Q: On your website I notice the word Shoden. What does it mean?
A: Shoden is the Japanese name we use for our Reiki I course.

We prefer to use the Japanese words for the class levels as the system of Reiki is a Japanese Art and Way. The International House of Reiki also teaches from a Japanese perspective. So, we look at what the influences were on the founder when he began to put this system together. We look at Japanese religions, philosophies and general Japanese culture of the early 1900s and see where they intersect with the practice of Reiki. We have written about this in our book The Japanese Art of Reiki.

Literally translated from the Japanese, Shoden means “First Teachings”. It is at this level that you will learn the basics of the system of Reiki. For that reason it is important that you study a course, like our own, that takes the time to give you a solid grounding in the system. This level is the bottom of the triangle of the system of Reiki, the base. Without a good base you will find it difficult to move on to delve deeper into the practice. We believe the system of Reiki is a life choice as it will affect every aspect of your life.

At the International House of Reiki we teach an initial two day course and have as back-up a weekly practice groups and/or an online student forum so that students can continue learning in a safe environment with their peers and teachers.

Our second level is called Okuden which translates as ‘Hidden or Inner Teachings”. This level of the system of Reiki entails looking inside yourself for hidden or inner knowledge.

Our third level, called Shinpiden, translates as “Mystery Teachings”. Here you delve even deeper within to discover the mysteries of life.
It was a big week for us last week as we launched our new online program called The Remembering. This course has been developed to help us Remember who we are.

This week on The Reiki Show podcast we have Frans interviewing his co-host Bronwen about The Remembering. Find out what it is and its similarities and dissimilarities to the system of Reiki.

Till next week!
Love,
Bronwen and Frans.

  We're a little cheeky with this week's blog. You see we're not just answering a question but writing the question too! So here's our question...   Q: What Happens During A Reiki Treatment? A: Well the answer is also a little cheeky because we'd like to let you know all about our new book which answers just that question and it is called ... Your Reiki Treatment. Finally, a book that looks at Reiki from the client's perspective. Whether you are searching for relaxation, healing, or spiritual growth, a Reiki treatment can be a revelation. Find out how to make the most of your Reiki experience. Learn how to prepare for your treatment, what to expect during the session, and how to continue furthering your personal growth after the treatment is finished. Divided into three parts: Pre-Treatment, The Treatment, and Post-Treatment, each part contains approximately 25 chapters that span two pages each. This consistent format ensures that by flicking through the book there is easy access to the chapter of your choice. Chapters also include an information box with either a case study, Reiki research, experiment, or hint for the client.   Your Reiki Treatment is an excellent guide to everything about Reiki treatments for both clients and professional practitioners. Included are explanatory case studies, tips and research in an "easy to find" format.   So our suggestion is if you are wondering about what it means to have a treatment that you get this book.   And if you're a practitioner who'd like to be able to answer this question for your client - then get this book too!   This week's podcast on The Reiki Show is probably a little cheeky too. It's called Pamper Yourself Reiki House Parties and we suggest you go and listen to find out more.   Looking forward to teaching the USA again in April and seeing many of you there. Until then!   Love, Frans and Bronwen