I find that I am struggling with the idea of explaining what Reiki is to people who will likely consider it to be a bunch of woo (from Wikipedia: “a term used by scientific skeptics for pseudoscience, alternative medicine and New Age beliefs, or a person who holds such beliefs”).

I e-mailed Michelle to ask her if I can accurately describe it like “acupuncture but without the needles”.  I don’t want to misrepresent Reiki while I navigate my own self-consciousness around it.  She said she has described it that way on numerous occasions, and I could also say it’s “universal life force energy”.  That’s what I’m trying not to say!

See, there is a supposition here that all around us in the physical world and in our physical bodies is an energetic field that gets out of whack through our life experiences – stress, trauma, etc. – and that a skilled practitioner can access and balance said energy, stimulating the body’s natural healing response.  This makes perfect sense to *me*.  On a quantum level, all matter is energy.  It’s just a “matter” of how fast the particles are vibrating.  (I’m so clever.)

I have seen Reiki described in multiple places as “a Japanese stress reduction technique that promotes relaxation and healing”.  I suppose that’s a good opener, and if I end up going into more detail like that above, I just have to get over the fact that some people are going to think I’m a nutter.

After being attuned to Reiki in mid-May, I’ll be looking for as many opportunities as I can create for myself to practice, practice, practice.  I’ll be doing self-Reiki daily, but I will also want to practice on others.

When I have a practice up and running, I plan to do some volunteering, and for whatever reason, I’ve imagined that being in a hospice setting.  But when I received an e-mail on Monday from Michelle inviting me to a volunteer training session tonight at New Avenues for Youth – since I’ll be attuned by the time there is a Reiki clinic there – I figured I might as well.  From the New Avenues web site:

“Our mission is to work in partnership with our community to prevent youth homelessness and provide homeless and at-risk young people the resources and skills needed to lead healthy, productive lives.”

As you might imagine, trust of adults is hard to come by in this population, and there are strict guidelines around establishing physical and emotional boundaries, so it’s a big deal to be setting up a Reiki volunteer program there.

Honestly, some of what I learned tonight gave me trepidation, but this entire adventure has me FINALLY (that word deserves caps lock every time I use it in this particular context.. it will be a running theme on the blog) stepping outside of my comfort zone.  So I look forward to being of service to the at-risk youth community, as well as having some new experiences myself.

Having published this blog over the weekend, I decided to see if it would come up on a search in Google Blogs.

I typed “Reiki Zoe” in the search box.  This site did not come up in the results, but one that did and caught my eye is written by someone named Zoe who just started practicing Reiki in February, just started blogging about it, and even chose the same Blogger template I did!  Weird.

Zoe Merkle, meet Zoe Pilmer: http://zoepilmer.blogspot.com/

Since I booked myself a week ago into the Reiki I class in May, there hasn’t been much else to do to further myself along. For most of the week, I didn’t read any blog posts or news articles about Reiki as I’d been doing daily for the past month.

To reconnect with the journey, and to satisfy my inner historian, I created this blog.  I’ve described each development so far, backdating the entries.  I used to write a daily journal, and I mean daily… except for one or two small gaps, I didn’t miss an entry for 20 years.  That was tedious, though, and there are other ways of keeping one’s own history now.  Like a blog.

This morning, I called two of the three references Michelle provided.  Both had nothing but glowing praise for her, and they both said one thing in common: that she remains available to her students forever, for any purpose, which I’d already gotten from her myself – she was very generous with her time when I received my first session with her.

I particularly enjoyed talking to one of the former students because she is doing exactly what I want to do.  Continue reading →

I don’t know how many different practitioners I thought I would see before I found my teacher, but it happened fast.  I had a good feeling about Michelle from my first interactions with her through her web site and e-mail, and then again in person on both Saturday and Sunday last weekend.

Tonight, I e-mailed her and asked to take Reiki I with her.  My left-brained self, despite having made up my mind, thought I should do some research/due diligence, so I asked her for references and I also mentioned that I’d read that some in the Reiki community feel that lineage is important, so perhaps she could share hers with me (that is, who was her teacher, and who was their teacher, etc.).

She replied with some references and said she’d rather discuss lineage over the phone and would be available for me to call her on Saturday.

I had reservations about attending a share circle.  My irrational fears included being surrounded by earth mothers in floor-length velvet dresses holding blessed crystals and chanting.  I don’t know where I got the idea that that’s who would be attending and that that’s what would happen, but as it turns out, I made it all up. Continue reading →

I arrived at Healing Waters & Sacred Spaces 15 minutes early for my appointment.  I filled out my personal info and waited in the store for Michelle to come get me.  She did, and we walked around the corner to her studio in the same building.

We sat and talked for what felt like a half hour.  In contrast to my appointment with Deborah and without knowing why, I opened up immediately about my desire to practice Reiki on both myself and on clients in the future.  She was enthusiastic about her practice and about Reiki in general, and I loved that she took the time to talk with me before the session. Continue reading →