Be a Reiki Warrior

Many years ago, I attended a 10-day silent meditation retreat in Nepal. The organizers held it in an austere monastery with high stone walls and two towering gates. From the outside, it looked like a fortified castle — a castle that exuded a powerful presence from the moment we approached it.

Of course, as intimidating as the monastery might have been, I wasn’t worried. I’d done retreats before, and I thought I knew how things would go. But this time, things were different. This time, the organizers pulled a surprise the moment they met us.

Technically, they pulled two surprises.

First, the instant we were inside the giant gates, they shut and bolted them.

Second, they took our passports.

So if any of us were having second thoughts about the wisdom of what we were doing, it was too late to change our mind! This was one retreat we were going to see through to its end.

At the time, this seemed unnecessarily hardcore. But having now worked with thousands of students at meditation and Reiki courses, I at least get where they are coming from. The retreat was a process, a process we needed to complete to get the benefits.

This reminds me of many martial arts films where a prospective student is forced to wait several days outside a monastery’s gates before he is allowed to enter.

After that, he also typically needs to spend months scrubbing floors and washing pots before they teach him to fight.

It is only then, after the prospective student has proven that he is committed, that the real training begins. Since it is going to be tough, his teachers want to ensure he will be willing to go the distance.

The Reiki Healing Process

So how does this relate to Reiki (and healing in general)?

Well, Reiki healing – like meditation and martial arts training – is a process.

This point is often overlooked because the majority of people who get a Reiki session — or attend a course — simply feel great during and after it.

The importance of this is most clearly seen when you reach the feet (home to many acupressure points).

The Reiki energy is soothing. It is relaxing. It is pleasurable.

It is a delightful way to pass some time.

But every now and then, things don’t go according to this script. From time to time, a session triggers something, and a Reiki student/healing recipient undergoes what I call a ‘healing cleanse’.

This healing cleanse might be physical or emotional (or both!), and it can be unpleasant. Irritability, moodiness, physical pain, queasiness. These are all possibilities.

Not exactly what you had in mind when you rocked up for some Reiki!

Of course, since such things seem so contrary to how Reiki ‘should’ be, you might wonder whether something isn’t going wrong in such cases. In fact, in my early healing days, I had one client who worried he was ‘allergic’ to Reiki. But truth is, nothing is ‘going wrong’ in such situations. It is actually all part of the healing process.

In my level 1 course, I often liken this scenario to a glass of water with a centimetre layer of mud at the bottom of it. The mud has settled, so the water above it is clear. As a result, if you – metaphorically speaking – were the glass, you might think everything is going along smoothly. The mud is safely tucked away, and the only thing you are conscious of is the clarity of the water.

But let’s suppose we shook up the glass. What happens then?

The water grows murky, that’s what.

Doesn’t seem like a fantastic result, and yet here is a question: Is there any more mud in the glass than there was originally?

Nope. There is the same amount of mud, only it has shifted.

So even though you might get the feeling that you are going ‘backwards’ if the water grows murky, things really aren’t worse than when they began. All that has happened is that you are now aware of the murkiness that lay hidden inside you. It was buried, and now it has risen to the surface.

Of course, if this is all that happened, then nothing great has been achieved. In fact, given the choice, most of us would prefer not to be so consciously aware of the crap within us. But truth is, this raising up of the ‘mud’ is often the first step to gunk being cleared out of the system.

So although we might be tempted at this stage to get mad with Reiki or mad with our teacher (yes, I too have been guilty of getting irritated at teachers when healing cleanses occur!), to do so is to misunderstand what is going on.

Neither Reiki nor your teacher created the pain or the anxiety or whatever it is you are feeling. They simply helped start the process of drawing it out of your body.

But far better – in my opinion – to get the ‘poison’ out than leave it to fester unseen.

As I like to say: ‘You can kick a smelly sock under the bed, but it still stinks out the room!’.

So just because you are unaware of the gunk in your system, that doesn’t mean it isn’t affecting you. That doesn’t mean it isn’t lowering your daily energy levels, draining your enthusiasm for life, and limiting your happiness.

You Need to Be Committed

So, just like in traditional oriental martial arts training, we will get the best results if we are committed to our spiritual/Reiki pathbecause at some point – either at the beginning or later on – we will inevitably be tested.

Sure, the vast majority of the time, we will simply feel great, and there is no necessity to feel discomfort on the road to healing (often, you just feel better without any healing cleanses). But eventually – if you stay in the healing game long enough – something will pop up, and when it does, you will be challenged.

The key when this happens is simply to be brave and soldier on. Because if you are going through stuff, it is a clear sign that healing energy is operating. It mightn’t be operating in the way you’d like, but it is operating!

The thing to remember in situations like these is that as much as we often want change, change can be painful. As the saying goes, ‘Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone.’

And logically this makes sense because if you keep doing and experiencing what you have so far, you’ll keep getting the same results. So for something to change, something – duh! – needs to change.

The More You Carry, The More You Will Be Tested

Although it isn’t always easy to predict which students will have a ‘healing cleanse’, my experience is that the more someoneis going through, the greater the likelihood they will experience one.

So if you have been going through a period of intense emotional stress, if your body is unhealthy, if you have abused it with alcohol, drugs, or by eating too much junk food, then you are statistically more likely to go through a cleanse.

The positive to all of this, however, is that the more you have been going through, the more you stand to gain when the cleanse is complete. The ‘detox’ mightn’t be enjoyable, but like a successful fast, it will leave you feeling like a new person afterwards.

Conclusion – Reiki is not a Magic Pill

I once had a guy call me up on the phone and spend twenty minutes listing what felt like a million health issues that he was suffering from. He concluded by asking if a Reiki session – i.e., a single Reiki session! – could fix everything. When I said it was unlikely, he told me he would continue his search for a therapist who could fix everything in one go!

Of course, I have seen plenty of Reiki ‘miracles’. I’ve both participated in and witnessed many instances where a single Reiki session has seemingly cured a major issue. But these cases are the exception, not the rule.

In general, at least where chronic issues are concerned, well-being returns incrementally. It’s something that happens over time. You keep applying Reiki, and bit by bit, things start to improve.

The key, therefore — as I’ve already mentioned – is to stay in the healing game long enough to let this healing occur. Because if you are working on a serious condition you’ve had for years, chances are there will come a time in the healing process where you will be tested. And if this happens, then you are going to need to be brave. It’s easy to quit, but if you do that, you’ll just end up back where you started.

So commit to going the distance. Soak up the discomfort if you must. And know that if your condition seems to be intensifying, it is a sign that Reiki is doing some work. It is what I see as a ‘promissory note’ from the universe that healing is coming your way.

But quit too soon. Quit before the healing process has run its course, and you’ll have the pain without the gain. You’ll have suffered without anything to show for it.

So be a Reiki warrior. Soldier on. Conquer your emotional and physical demons, and reap the rewards.

Reiki wants to help you. You just need to give it the time to do its work.

(Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of Jeremy O’Carroll. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

Always seek the guidance of your doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard the advice of a medical professional or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article.This article is the fruit of Jeremy’s personal experience, but he is not a medical doctor and is not offering professional medical/psychological advice.)