Reiki Life Coaching, Reiki and you
I often get asked “So what is Life Coaching?” or “What is Reiki?”, yet rarely will I ever hear anyone ask “How are they both inter-related?”. I guess the reason no one asks is because they are still trying to figure out the first questions. So let me give you an overview of what both are and then we will get into the beautiful complement of each practice in terms of personal healing.
Before we begin I must also hasten to add that neither practices can or should be ‘boxed’ in anyway, in that to do so would contradict the practice itself. There are many different types of life coaches and there are as many different styles and practices of Reiki. The below is based on my knowledge and practice only and should therefore only be seen as an intuitive guide to each. I was taught in the traditional Japanese Usui Reiki Ryoho techniques, have a Bsc Hons Degree in Applied Psychology and have led what some would call a ‘colourful life’.
Before I can answer each question I need to help you understand who you are.
Science has pretty much pulled the human body apart, analysed it, tested it and re analysed it over the years. At the source of all of these conclusions is that we are energy. How do we know that? We now know that every living cell (the building blocks of life), in our body are built on the foundations of millions/billions of atoms. Each with its own particular function in creating the existence of our body. Quantum physics says that as you go deeper and deeper into the workings of the atom, you see that there is nothing there – just energy waves. It says an atom is actually an invisible force field, a kind of miniature tornado, which emits waves of electrical energy.
Now, to answer the question I get asked most frequently, “What exactly is Life Coaching?”. Firstly, life coaching has tended to fall into the bracket of ‘alternative’, or ‘new age’ and thus often gets boxed in peoples minds with a vision of something like a highly enthusiastic show girl trying to make your life ‘Sparkle’. No! this is not it. Life coaching is understanding that no one knows you better than you. No one. And the ultimate goal, is to help you become more self aware of who you really are.
My work as a life coach uses ‘clever’questions and exercises to draw out a true understanding of yourself free from the mental slavery of your minds fear of change and beliefs indoctrinated by your environmental conditions. Coaching will encourage you to look at your life from different perspectives, to really look at see what it is you want and why you have yet not achieved that, so in essence its re-aligning you with your ‘soul’ or ‘highest self’. With your lead and my encouragement we work towards creating realistic action steps to help you achieve whatever goal or balance in your life that you would ideally like. Part of the process in attaining your goals is then working on your ‘blockers’ or ‘saboteurs’, so things, people, mindsets etc that could stop you from achieving what you set out to do, to ensure that you overcome rather than succumb to their perceived threats to your happiness.
People choose coaching for all types of reasons ranging from decision making one off sessions, right through to years of self discovery sessions. In terms of looking at coaching through the lens of my own life I believe that all of us should be aware of every word, thought and action that we take and through the very act of this awareness, we become clear, decisive, creative and ultimately in alignment with our own inner peace.
Our second question, “What is Reiki”, I do get asked this question less frequently, not, I believe because they know ‘what it is’, more, well, people seem to be genuinely afraid of the knowing or at least the answer I will give. So for those brave enough to read on…. Reiki is simply a Japanese energy healing technique that connects to ‘Source/Sacred’ (Rei) Energy (ki), for others this ‘name’ will take on whatever feels most powerful to them, Buddha, Allah, Jesus etc., others wont find the name so important, for me its the Universal Energy of All Matter. Whatever your belief it doesn’t matter, its just to be aware that as a Reiki practitioner you are merely a conduit for which the Reiki Energy can be released and thus used to heal.
The Founder Usui Mikao created the principles and ideals of Reiki, which, in summary state, “The Secret method of inviting happiness, The miraculous Medicine of all diseases.” Reiki at a philosophical level is about uniting heaven and earth, thus creating oneness through ‘right thinking and right living’ and of course self healing. The belief is that we are made up of three distinct bodies, mind, body, soul and healing works by using different frequencies of naturally occurring energy to work at whatever frequency the illness/injury requires. So for example Reiki could be used on a physical level to help heal bones, ligaments, disease etc and on an emotional level to help coping with death, stress, illness etc. Of course it can also be used at a spiritual level. The principle behind Reiki is to create peace, balance and unity with our mind, body and soul. For me it works on the principle of ‘restoration’, by removing resistance so each cell can repair itself back to its natural state of well being. So in a sense removing stagnant energies that create trauma in our lives, either physically or emotionally and creating an easy flowing energy body.
Hopefully by now you will have a clearer picture as to what ‘Life Coaching’ and ‘Reiki’ are in my world!
From birth, to whatever point in life you are at now, your life has undergone many changes, some of these changes will create stresses on your life. Major ones for most people would be bereavement, job loss, illness, financial security, substance abuse, heartache etc., all of which, when viewed from a stance of negativity and locked vision will create an imbalance not only in our emotional lives, but also on our physical bodies, just googling ‘stress and’ brings back a sleuth of possibilities for you to choose from in how this mental state creates so much destruction in our physical bodies. We know that stress is a mental state (which may or may not be brought about by external factors), but it is generally in medical circles classified as primordial ‘fight or flight’ mode, i.e. when your body thinks it is under attack it reacts as though in survival mode. In the interest of a thorough explanation, I am going to hit you all with some science. Below is two studies I find particularly interesting.
In 2013, study researcher Brian Dias of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, conducted a study whereby he trained male mice to fear the scent of cherry blossom by administering mild shocks on their feet in correlation with the scent. The male mice where then bred and as a result the next generation, once raised into adulthood and never having been exposed to the smell of cherry blossom before, became immediately fearful and anxious upon smelling it for the first time. Further study found that these mice had also been born with more cherry-blossom-detecting neurons in their noses and more brain space devoted to cherry-blossom-smelling. They have also found this to be multi generational, in that the next generation also carried the fear of cherry blossom, having the additional neurons and brain space also. The study also concludes that the Mice appear to have inherited their fear of Cherry Blossom through a change in genetic code. So in simple terms they discovered that ‘fear’ is past down through our DNA.
I didn’t have to do my Psychology Degree to hear of this next one, for it is one of the most recognisable studies, often a good pub quiz question, “Pavlov’s Dogs”. Where Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, in the early 1900’s, studied the salivation in dogs and discovered that, he could train the dogs to salivate to a bell by using association with meat powder. Meat Powder was the unconditioned stimulus (US), the salivation to the meat powder was the unconditioned response (UR), a bell was the conditioned stimulus (CS), and salivation to the bell was the conditioned response (CR). This is known as classical conditioning and became the foundation of behaviourism and birthed many further studies, hypothesis and theories on conditioned learning. In other words if it is repeated enough times we condition our reactions.
Finally, I now can begin to explain how I tie both practices in together.
Firstly, but most importantly, I believe that in either life coaching or Reiki it is not me who heals you, it is you. Actually even the word ‘healing’ suggests that something is ‘wrong’ and therefore needs to be ‘fixed’, which is not the case, its all really about removing limiting beliefs that reside within our energetic bodies and helping remember who we really are.
Life coaching is primarily directing you away from all of the unconscious social, economic and environmental conditioning that you have been exposed to from birth, to really strip back and look at who you are had you not been exposed to any of it. Of course not all learned behaviours are negative, but most, if left un-analysed become just another automatic behaviour, with no conscious action behind them, in fact most of these behaviours are what we would call, ‘self sabotaging’. If we go back to both of our studies mentioned above, we learn that fear and behaviour are both inherited in our DNA and learned from our environment. In turn this becomes the building blocks of our own imprisoned beliefs, which in turn create our ‘worlds’. By understanding that we are all energy then you must also understand that you are constantly emanating an electrical signal. In 2013, Researchers at Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, led by Professor Daniel Robert, showed for the first time that pollinators such as bumblebees are able to find and distinguish electric signals given out by flowers in an effort for pollination to occur. As humans we also send out our own electrical signals depending on how we are feeling in that moment and in return, due to the ‘Law of Attraction’, will get back what we send out in a like for like sense, even if we aren’t aware of what those emanating signals are. As mentioned previously, Reiki works at the level of multi frequency healing, which literally means it will work at the specific frequency level for healing to occur and it aids in gently ‘lifting or ‘removing’ energetic resistance to the natural flow of your of your life. Thus, coaching and Reiki both help energetically to remove stagnant blocks and beliefs and therefore open up our energetic space to receive from the Universe what it is we really want. Below is a working example of how this would be applied.
*Joe* has been feeling discontent in his current job, wants to take the leap into something else but doesn’t know how to do it and they are not really sure what they want. They decide on booking ‘coaching and reiki healing sessions combined.
Coaching Sessions:
Through these sessions Joe will discover what it is they really want. Why they want it. Ways and methods to achieve desired results. If it is in alignment with their beliefs and values. Personal saboteurs and practices to overcome these and maintain motivation. The true value of self. Living life in alignment and abundance.
Reiki Sessions:
Joe will utilise the ’emotional’ healing frequency, which will be directed as either a full body ‘ reiki chakra cleanse’ or alternatively directly at the site where they feel the energy block. The Reiki energy will gently lift away the stagnate beliefs that create discontent in Joe’s life, even if they are not directly aware of their emissions and fill that space with new, lighter, freer, intentions.
Outcome:
Joe will feel energetically renewed, feel the creation of openness and space in their lives and with such, a renewed and awakened sense of possibility, personal control and freedom.
This is by no means an exhaustive article on either coaching or Reiki, but hopefully by now you should have a sense of how the two inter relate and how ultimately when you view your life from an ‘energetic standpoint’, you will understand that you are the creator of your entire existence. Whilst others may have impacted you in ‘many’ ways, ultimately you have a choice, or as some people call it ‘free will’, to live how you truly desire, its just that we often have to take the first step in the process, which is to first ask, “Who Am I?”and then be courageous enough to receive the answer.