Although we learn a great deal about Reiki from instructors, mentors, articles, books, and colleagues, I believe that Reiki itself is our best teacher. Once trained, if we are willing, Reiki will reveal the best way for each of us to work with it. I believe this is individual to each practitioner.

Over the years I have practiced, Reiki has revealed mantras, prayers, meditations, and visualizations for specific purposes and sometimes for specific clients. It has revealed additional hand positions and a technique for clearing the aura that takes a different form with each client. My partnership with Reiki continues to deepen as I strive to become a completely yielding instrument of its healing grace.

Several conditions help me learn Reiki's lessons:    

• Practice: The more frequently we give Reiki treatments, the easier it is for Reiki to teach us how to work with it. It is often during a treatment for a client that a new technique or a visualization is given to me.
• Meditation: Entering a completely relaxed and open state allows information to flow more easily. During meditation I may receive ideas for articles, information that may benefit a client, or a healing prayer.
• Cultivating Consciousness: This includes a commitment to self healing, holding the highest vibration possible at all times, and, not just being compassionate, but becoming compassion. It means releasing judgment of ourselves and others, so that we know ourselves and others as light.
• Being Awake and Aware: Messages come in many different forms. We must remain awake and aware to receive them. And finally, we must trust the messages we are given and act on them. 

By definition, energy cannot be stagnant. It is constantly moving, changing, and being transmuted. If we embrace it, our own expression of Reiki also changes, becoming more fluid and increasingly synchronized with the vibration that is Reiki.   

Download related articles: "How Hawayo Takata Practiced and Taught Reiki," "Choosing Compassion," and "The Voice Within."

Marketing Reiki to Health Care Facilities 

Reiki Rays of Hope for Caregivers, a non-profit based in Ohio, has developed a 15-minute DVD and printed materials for explaining Reiki and its benefits to health care professionals. Check it out at: www.reikiraysofhope.org.