10 Years, 10 Lessons: What I’ve Learned From Practicing Reiki
Ten years ago, I was in the midst of a health issues with my stomach, and I was in search of something, anything to help me. The physical pain and discomfort were also impacting me emotionally and mentally, and I was becoming more and more unhappy and defeated. Thankfully, I found Reiki and it was a great support to me during that time. The past few months, I have been experiencing very similar issues again, and it’s pushed me to go back and lean on Reiki more. I’ve noticed where I’ve been ignoring my body and what it needs, where I've taken things for granted, and how important it is for me to have a daily practice. It also got me thinking about why I fell in love with Reiki in the first place and everything I’ve gained from it over the years.
I’ve learned so much about myself, others, and life. It’s helped me slow down, expand my understanding, and gain an appreciation for what I’m experiencing, whatever it is. The lessons I’ve learned extend beyond my practice and have impacted me and my life in really positive ways, so in this post, I’m sharing ten of those lessons that have been on my mind lately. If you’re interested in hearing more, let me know and I’ll do a part 2!💕
If you’d rather watch, here’s a video that captures a lot of what I say in this post!
Lesson 1: Daily practices keep me aligned and build stamina and resilience for challenging times.
When I first learned Reiki, my daily practice always consisted of a large chunk of dedicated time to hands-on energy healing. It helped me so much and made me feel grounded and equipped to handle whatever came my way. Over the years, my daily practice has evolved and shifted as I’ve evolved and shifted. I don't do the exact same thing every day for my daily practice (that can get boring for me and it’s not always manageable!), and I have a mix of self-care, wellness, and spiritual practices that I draw on. Some of my favorites are Reiki, affirmations, meditation, praying, EFT tapping, journaling, exercising, gua sha, and laying on my infrared mat.
Carving out time everyday to step back and focus on my mind, body, and spirit has given me an opportunity to more deeply connect with myself and build stamina and resilience so that when something challenging does come up, I already have a foundation that can keep me steady.
Lesson 2: When I prioritize keeping my energy light & clear, I show up as my best self and am able to more effectively help others.
When I began offering sessions to others, I immediately saw how my energy impacted how I felt and how well I was able to hold the space. I saw that my gifts strengthened and became more powerful when my energy was light (I was trusting and optimistic) and clear (I was open and not influenced or weighed down by thoughts or emotions).
Practicing self-Reiki has helped me become more mindful and attuned to what I’m thinking and feeling and my energy in general, so that I can keep it as pristine as I’m able to! It’s not always easy and I need to work on this everyday, but focusing on being clear and prioritizing my energetic hygiene has been key for me in bringing my best self to whatever I’m doing.
Lesson 3: I am not what I feel—it is energy that I’m experiencing.
This one has been a big lesson for me because pretty much my whole life, I identified with everything that I felt. I thought that I didn’t like myself for a long time, and I was mind blown when I realized that I actually did like myself. I just didn’t like the things that I often felt.
I remember being a child and feeling waves of shame and really hating that feeling. At the time, I didn’t even know what shame was and I had no idea where it was coming from, I just knew it was an icky feeling inside of my body, so I thought that ickiness was me.
Practicing Reiki (along with meditating and other tools/practices), has helped me separate myself from whatever I’m feeling and better understand that I’m not what I feel. This is still a work in progress for me, so I’ve started to catch myself when I say, “I am [an emotion],” and instead say, “I feel [an emotion],” which has been helpful. Observing and being with my ranging emotions during my practice proves to me over and over again that I’m not what I’m feeling (or thinking!) and it’s all temporary.
Lesson 4: All energy is neutral. It is “good” or “bad” depending on how I think about it. When I accept it as it is, it can shift.
As you can maybe tell from the previous lesson, I had a habit of disliking or judging certain things that I felt and experienced. And I totally understand why (and I sometimes still do it!). As a result of my practice, I have been able to gain more perspective on energy in general. When I am practicing Reiki and I feel something, my first instinct is to no longer assess whether I like it or not. Instead, I observe it. Detach. Allow it to be there exactly as it is. Show myself as much love as I can. And it eventually passes. I don’t think about it, judge it, or create a story. I just feel the sensations in my body.
This practice has helped me to do this in my everyday life as well, although, it takes more focus and awareness when I’m living life as opposed to when I’m giving myself Reiki. I try and be as mindful as I can to think about whatever I experience as neutral. The fear that I’m feeling is only bad if I think it’s bad. It could be a positive thing if I see it that way. And the same goes for other emotions, thoughts, situations, everything. I’m the one that assigns the meaning to it through my perspective and the story I’m telling.
Lesson 5: Creativity connects me to God and makes my practice fun.
In general, creativity is such a part of who I am, and I’ve learned that it is necessary to incorporate it into my practice in some way: I love creating different guided practices for myself. I love creating art after my practice to process what I experienced. I love writing my own tapping scripts and creating card decks based on what I’m going through. I love painting my emotions and using art to shift my energy.
When I’m creative, I also feel very connected to God. This may not be true for everyone, but for me it feels so spiritual. I’ve found so much healing and positivity in creativity, and it brings a lightness and freshness to my practice and my life that I appreciate. If creativity isn't that for you, I totally get it, and recommend incorporating whatever brings you purpose, meaning, connection, and fun into your own practice or life in some way.
Lesson 6: Healing and spirituality don't have to be serious. We are meant to be playful, and our practice can be this too!
For me, it’s important to completely be myself during my practice. The last thing I want to do is put on a persona or act a certain way because it’s what I think I should do. Just because I’m practicing Reiki doesn’t mean that I have to dress differently, act differently, or be someone different than who I actually am. I want to show up in the same way during my practice that I do for the rest of my life.
Sometimes I want to laugh and be silly and playful, and I’ve found that at times this can be exactly what is needed to move and shift energy. I’ve also noticed that I’m more likely to stick with my daily practices when they are fun and something that I look forward to. The last thing I want is for all of this to feel like a chore or another thing that I have to do.
Lesson 7: We are all unique, so don’t be afraid to experiment and do things in your own way.
Another thing that I learned that I think is so cool is that every healer, intuitive reader, meditation teacher, etc. is so different. You can have two people learn the same modality, but their essence and how they express that modality is so unique to them. They can offer something similar, but it will never be the same exact thing.
When I allowed myself to experiment and trust my instincts and intuition in my practice, I found that’s when I really expanded and developed my own style. I like to think of it like handwriting: we all learn how to write each letter of the alphabet, but then we all put our own personal touch on how we write each letter. The same is true for Reiki (or whatever you’re learning). We can learn the foundation and the technique, practice it, master it, and then put our own unique spin on it to personalize it and make it our own.
Lesson 8: Intention influences how energy flows.
Our intention is so powerful, not only when it comes to Reiki and energy work, but in life in general. It literally shapes everything around us and impacts our actions, our behaviors, what we're thinking, and how we're interacting with others. I’ve seen this so clearly in my practice and life.
Whenever I set an intention for the day, that intention somehow pops up over and over again. When I set an intention for my practice, things may not happen in the way I expect it, but by the end I realize that somehow that intention guided the whole thing. Whatever we put out, always comes back to us.
One thing I’ve learned with setting intentions, is that it’s important for me to get really clear on what it is that I desire, and then to completely let it go. Whenever I focus on the how or try to achieve something using my mind, I end up getting confused, stuck on details, and things feel really hard. When I get out of the way and believe that things are possible, that’s when the miracles start to happen!
Lesson 9: Miracles can be a normal part of life.
Before I learned Reiki, I did not believe that miracles could be a normal part of my life. But, I had hope, which was why I learned Reiki in the first place. I knew it would be a miracle if I could use my hands through energy healing to help my stomach, increase my energy, improve my attitude and perspective, and ultimately change my life. I took a risk and I’m so happy I did.
Right after I learned Reiki, I felt a huge surge of positive energy (which was so different than what I had been experiencing) and started to experience miracle after miracle. I found money that I didn’t even know I had on my closet floor that helped me pay for my training, things that I wished would happen started to happen, my stomach began to feel better and my doctors finally had some answers, I felt more optimistic, and I experienced so many magical synchronicities.
Lesson 10: Reflection can bring clarity, understanding, and grounded energy.
As I created my own practice, I made sure to spend a lot of time reflecting. I am naturally pretty reflective, so I always found myself thinking about what I experienced, how things shifted, and how my practice was impacting me. Thinking about things in this way helps me get clear on what is actually happening and grounds me in a way that I really appreciate.
I feel like whenever I take time to reflect, I gain a deeper understanding and see trends, patterns, behaviors, and progress that I might otherwise miss. One thing that used to happen to me a lot in my practice, was that I’d experience something over and over again. It was usually something that I thought I had already dealt with, so it left me feeling like I was stuck or doing something wrong. But every time I would reflect, I would understand its purpose and realized it wasn’t just repeating, I was actually going deeper. Maybe it was coming up again so I could see a different perspective. Or maybe a buried emotion that I hadn’t gotten to yet was surfacing. Or maybe it was an opportunity to see the whole situation with more love. Whatever the case was, reflection played a big part in me seeing things in a clearer way.
As you can see, my practice has helped me so much beyond what I initially thought it could do for me. It has been a huge blessing in my life and one that I want to share with others who are interested (obviously!). If you want me to go deeper, are interested in Reiki training, have questions, or you're curious about anything or you want to share what you've learned as a result of your practice, please let me know! Thank you for reading💖
xo Andrea