Reiki Article of the Week
Is It Time to Upgrade Our Healing Paradigm?
It is easy to become trapped by paradigms, by the standard ways of seeing things.
When a paradigm has us in its grip, its way can become the only way, and as a result, we never raise our eyes to see the land beyond our feet. Yet, if we only looked up, we would so often discover vast new vistas in front of us, vast new possibilities.
Change the way we view the world, and the impossible becomes possible.
Change the way we view the world, and the entire landscape of our life transforms.
One of the most famous examples of smashing through a disempowering belief system occurred when Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile barrier. Until that point, such a feat – according to the scientific experts – was beyond the capability of a human body. It simply wasn’t built to go that fast. It couldn’t be done.
As a result of this longstanding belief, people often got close to the 4-minute mile, but no one ever broke it until May 6, 1954, when Bannister achieved the ‘impossible’.
After that, the impossible suddenly became possible, and almost immediately, more people achieved the same feat. Nowadays, over 1400 athletes have broken the 4-minute barrier, and the world record is officially 3:43.13.
Inspired by Roger Bannister, self-development courses often get you to smash wooden boards with your fists and walk on glowing coals. These are cool ‘party tricks’, but their real purpose is to help us better understand the limiting beliefs that keep us trapped living a small life.
For if we can walk over a bed of glowing coals without burning our feet – something we were certain was impossible – how many other ‘impossible’ things in life might actually be possible?
The challenge, of course, is that knowing this intellectually isn’t enough. It’s easy to know something without really understanding it, and unless we UNDERSTAND it on a gut level, it will seldom change how we act.
One of the reasons I love Reiki is because it too helps us to smash through limiting beliefs. Before coming to a level 1 course, you might have read about energy, you might even have talked about it, but unless you had EXPERIENCED it, then your knowledge on the topic would have been of little practical use. When you come to a Reiki 1 class, however, and not only feel energy in your body, but also learn to channel it into others, then your eyes are opened to another layer of existence.
Reiki 2 shakes up our beliefs even further by introducing distance healing. For if the concept of us being able to channel ‘invisible’ energy to heal ourselves and others is weird, then using this same ‘invisible’ energy to heal people in another city or country seems absurd.
And yet, in Reiki 2, we witness this seeming impossibility become possible, and learn how space is no barrier to energy. As a result, we discover that even at vast distances, it is possible for people to connect on an energetic level, and this makes us at the very least suspect that we might all be ‘interconnected’ in some way -- an idea proposed by spiritual traditions for millennia.
Interestingly, science and technology also seem to be moving in a similar direction – one where they help us become more and more connected with each passing year.
Mobile phones and the Internet make it easy to connect to people in almost any part of the planet. Cars and planes help us visit them, and one day in the not-too-distant future, implants will enable us to communicate ‘telepathically’ with only the slightest intention.
So science and spirituality both seem to be evolving in the direction of ‘interconnectivity’ and ‘oneness’.
In the world of healing, the two join forces to help us take the next evolutionary leap in the form of online courses. These courses are not meant to replace regular in-person courses, but they are a worthy alternative, and done well, will help reinforce our understanding of interconnectivity and oneness in an ever grander manner than traditional Reiki 2 classes.
If you can experience – in real time – the effect of energy travelling over space; if you can feel ‘group energy’ even when participants are scattered all around a country or planet; if you experience shifts from a distance healing or attunement, then you learn something profound about how energetically interconnected we are – something that will not only alter the way you view the world, but also the way you live.
This paradigmatic shift will make you question many of the limitations surrounding energy work. It will expand your healing horizons and unveil a world of previously hidden possibilities.
It will help you understand on a gut level that we are energy beings as much as physical beings. It will help you understand that on an energetic level, space is irrelevant, that we can connect to anyone – anywhere – on the energy matrix.
Truly understanding this will shift the way healers see the world. It will be like breaking the 4-minute mile barrier. It will teach us that many of the beliefs and paradigms that imprisoned us were never real. It will show us a new way of looking at the world.
And when this occurs, the impossible will become possible, and the possible will then become the norm.
After that, until the next paradigm shift, we will wonder how anyone could have thought about energy, space and interconnectivity in any other way.
(Article Copyright, Jeremy O'Carroll 2021)
Upcoming Courses
Oct. 30-31, Chi Activation Level 1
Nov. 13-14 Pellowah Levels 1 & 2
Nov. 20 Mastering You Chakras Meditation Course.
Nov. 21 Mastering Your Mind Meditation Course
If you are a Reiki Master, check out my Oct. 23-24 Daylesford Master Level Reiki Retreat.
Should Online Reiki Courses Be Banned?
One of the challenges prospective Reiki students face is finding a quality course. With no official governing body to ensure standards, many classes can be laughably bad.
No more than a few hours in length. No course materials. Uncommitted teachers. They often have little to recommend them beyond an attunement and, hopefully, an encouraging word or two.
Not surprisingly, this lack of quality control has spawned hundreds of Reiki associations worldwide – all of them hoping, in some way or another, to help guarantee a certain set of standards.
In many ways, this is a praiseworthy thing, and since I’ve started my teaching career, I’ve always been a member of an association. Membership is voluntary, but it does give me a degree of credibility, and ideally, helps challenge me to ever-higher standards.
The downside of membership, however, is bureaucracy. As Reiki healers, we do what we do because we love working with energy and helping people.
That is what we live for. That is what we want to get out into the world and do.
We want to feel Reiki energy coursing through us. We want to heal the planet. We want to help people connect to a deep part within themselves.
What we don’t want to do is spend large chunks of time filling out forms and obeying rules we don’t believe in.
Of course, when associations are run well, you will hopefully believe in their rules and find sense in their forms. The challenge for associations, however, is to find a balance between ensuring standards and getting out of the way.
They need quality controls to have a reason to exist, but if they interfere too much in a healer’s work, they become an unwanted pain.
The Challenges of COVID
For the most part, Reiki associations do, thankfully, operate mostly in the background. Since the introduction of COVID, however, a new set of challenges has arisen, challenges that typically require more governance.
In some ways, this is a good thing, for associations can help healers navigate the minefield of COVID safety regulations. In other ways, it can lead to overregulation and a failure to move with the times and innovate.
In particular, dissension has recently arisen around the issue of online teaching. Is it a valid way to teach Reiki? Or will it lead to a drop in standards and unacceptably poor quality courses?
While there are exceptions, most Reiki associations have taken the position that you simply can’t teach Reiki online and have banned their members from doing so.
In fact, some have gone so far as to ban members from teaching any form of Reiki online, whether they call it by another name or openly state that online teaching is not recognized by their association.
I have to admit that before COVID, this position seemed sensible to me. I mean, how can you teach Reiki online? Don’t you need to give the attunements in person? Don’t you need to be in the same room as other students to practise properly with them?
To do anything else seemed laughable, and all but sure to guarantee shoddy standards and incapable students.
My Online Experiment
With Melbourne being the ‘lockdown capital of the world’, I’ve had to cancel or postpone a lot of my courses. For a while, I just accepted my fate, but eventually, last year, when lockdown was firmly entrenched and not going anywhere, I decided I wanted to do something for students who had enrolled in classes that had been repeatedly pushed back to a later and later date. In the end, I chose to run some courses in two parts: the first part would be unofficial and conducted online. The second part would be done in person.
Effectively, everyone got to do the course twice: once online and once in person. Ideally, this would give students some healing tools to practise while stuck at home during lockdown, but even in the worst-case scenario – if the online courses were garbage – I’d still get to teach them everything in person.
So by my way of thinking, there was no downside to my students, and potentially a good deal of upside depending on how well my online classes went.
Before my first class, I was confident that certain components could be taught well online: the meditations, the Reiki precepts, all of the Reiki theory – there was no reason they couldn’t be as good as in a regular class.
But what about attunements?
What about the Reiki healing?
To my surprise, the online attunements worked a treat. All of my Level 1 students connected to Reiki energy and, like in a regular course, could enjoy practising their new skill right away.
Admittedly, for Reiki 1, where there is no distance healing, the emphasis was mostly on self-healing. But I did get participants to practise on pets, family, plants, and anyone or anything they could get their hands on – and everything worked beautifully!
In fact, students seemed to connect to Reiki energy just as well as in a normal class – something I could verify later on when I met them in person.
What I Learned from My Online Experiment
Reflecting on my experience, it became clear that I had become blinded by tradition. Reiki had always been taught a certain way, so I presumed that was the way it needed to be taught. But that is, of course, laughably illogical.
Even so, when I tried to explain this to Reiki associations and healers, they would typically remain skeptical and trot out the usual mantra: ‘Reiki can’t be taught online’.
The problem with this position is that it all too clearly mirrors people who say that regular Reiki is itself fake, a placebo, ‘demonic’ or whatnot, even when they have never tried or experienced it.
You have probably come across people like this, and unless you’re in a particularly Zen state of mind, it is frustrating. For how can they judge something they have never tried? It’s like saying a particular dish at a particular restaurant tastes terrible when you have never eaten it. It just makes no sense.
You would think that testimonials from lots of happy students would help, but not so. For people of a certain bent, it doesn’t matter what evidence you produce, their position remains immovable.
The crazy thing about all this is that Reiki has a long tradition of distance healing – something all associations and people involved with Reiki recognize.
“Yes,” they say with a sage nod of their head, “it may seem miraculous, but Reiki can certainly work over distance – even vast distances.”
But if this is so, why can’t you do an attunement over distance? Is it really logical to presume that regular Reiki energy can fly over distance to heal someone, but when it comes to an attunement, it loses all of its power?
Is it really logical to presume that the mechanisms that unlock a student’s healing potential during an attunement can’t work over space?
And even if it does seem logical, wouldn’t it still be sensible to test your belief and see what happens?
And if online Reiki teaching does work, wouldn’t the logical (and scientific) thing be to admit that, even if we don’t fully understand what’s going on?
Not so, according to most Reiki associations!
Why Online Classes Can Even Work Better than In-Person Ones
I love in-person courses. Don’t get me wrong. I love being in a room with other healers. I love getting to know them. I love sharing a space.
But I have also – to my surprise – realized that you can not only still share an energetic space online, you can even gain some advantages from learning to heal online.
For instance, in some ways, Reiki 2 works better online because you can properly test out distance healing. In my unofficial classes, I simply inverted my regular course structure and taught distance healing first. Then we practised all of the other Level 2 techniques via distance healing.
In one class, I had a student in Taipei, and guess what? She felt the Reiki energy just as clearly as the other students who were dotted around Victoria.
So students got more experience and actually became more confident in their distance healing skills than they would in a regular course.
Another virtue of online classes is that everyone can be in their own energetic space for the meditations and healing. While this isn’t necessarily an advantage, at times, when someone is working on really deep issues, it enables them to relax and flow more with the healing process than they would if surrounded by a roomful of strangers.
What’s more, even when done online, classes do still get to enjoy ‘group energy’. This, I admit, surprised me, but somehow, like with distance healing, group energy does form, and with it, everyone is able to go deeper into their meditations and healing than they generally would alone.
Of course, everything I’m talking about here regards ‘live’ online courses, as opposed to recorded classes. I’m talking about courses where you are getting direct and immediate feedback from your teacher, where you can see – live – the faces of the other participants, share your experiences, and practise your techniques together.
I’m not saying that recorded classes can’t work well, but although I have taken several, I don’t think I’m in a position to judge them properly.
Conclusion
Am I arguing that online Reiki courses should replace in-person ones? Not at all. Other things being equal, most people will still probably choose the in-person option. But I do believe online learning is a valid alternative, and in many cases, it may be the only viable option.
Sometimes people live in remote places. Sometimes (or in Melbourne’s case, often), people are in lockdown. Sometimes, for health reasons, people can’t travel. Sometimes people are too emotionally vulnerable to mix physically in a group. There are lots of potential reasons why you might want to learn online.
So from my experience, it makes very little sense to ban online Reiki courses. By all means, ensure they meet the same standards as in-person courses. Make sure they have the same amount of contact hours. Make sure they teach the same essential skills. Make sure the teacher is properly qualified. But once a teacher has ticked those boxes, let them do their work in peace.
If Reiki is a good thing. If it is a healing thing. If it benefits the world, then don’t keep it locked up in a box because ‘things have always been done in a certain way’.
Be scientific. Do your tests. And if teaching online does work, embrace positive change.
The world is no longer the place it was when Mikao Usui taught Reiki in Japan in the 1920s, and it’s time the Reiki community fully understood this.
And with COVID shaking up the world, now is the perfect opportunity to free ourselves from outmoded ways of doing things and evolve.
Have You Read Jeremy's Amazon Best-Selling Reiki Book?
If you want to better understand more of the intricacies of Reiki, get a copy of Jeremy's book 'The Perfect Reiki Course - Everything You Need to Know Before Your First Class'.
The book is meant not just for Reiki beginners, but also experienced practitioners who want greater clarity on all the key questions poeple are likely to ask about Reiki.
Get a free sample or copy on Amazon by clicking here.
Home Reiki Level 1 Reiki Level 2 Reiki Master Level Pellowah Courses
Level 1| level 2 | Master Lev
Looking for an Article?
Our article-of-the-week really is that: the article of the week. If you have clicked here from an older newsletter, however, you may still be able to find the article you are looking for by visiting our newsletter article depository.
To try your luck, click here.
Chi Activation Level 1
Chi Activation is an advanced healing method that is ideal both for healing newbies and experienced energy workers who want to take their healing to new levels.
Learn to channel multiple energy frequencies, stay energetically safe and grounded at all times, as well tap into the energies of the Earth and Soul Star chakras.
Next course, Oct. 30-31 (online via Zoom).
Discover why Chi Activation Healing is so powerful by clicking here.
Redesigning the Energy Body Meditation Course
Clear the past to enjoy the present. Remove energy blocks. Raise your energy vibration. Heal from past hurts and traumas. Learn how to use your ability to connect to energy to create more success.
Find out more about our transformational meditation course on Sept. 25-26 by clicking here.
Mastering Your Chakras Meditation Course
Heal your chakras. Connect to their full power. Master the 'Sushumna' – the energy channel connecting them all.
This course will give you all the tools you need to tap into the vast energy of your 7 chakras, and as a result, transform your life.
It will be held together with our Mastering Your Mind meditation course on Nov. 20-21 at our gorgeous new 100-acre property in between Woodend and Daylesford. Accommodation is available near the venue.
To find out how to go deeper into your meditation, click here.
Mastering Your Mind Meditation Course
Learn to flow with the mind rather than fight against it. Remove the division between your 'everyday' life and your 'spiritual' life. Discover how you can meditate throughout the day, even when you are walking, reading, surfing the Web, or working on your computer.
Our next class will be held together with our Mastering Your Chakras meditation course at our gorgeous new 100-acre venue (just 65 minutes north of Melbourne in between Woodend and Daylesford) on Nov. 20-21. Accommodation is available near the venue.
Click here to find out more...
Level 1 Courses
Learn to heal in a fun, detailed, structured and professional environment. Gain certification that is recognized by Australia's leading Reiki association.
Next Melbourne course, Nov. 6-7 in Fitzroy.
Daylesford Courses
Like to learn innovative, accredited Reiki in beautiful surroundings? Get the most in-depth Reiki training in Australia with our Feb. 12-13 (2022) Daylesford Reiki 1 course. Held at our gorgeous new 100-acre property, you'll be replenished both the Reiki energy and the energy of the land.
Want to Chat to Us?
If you would like to talk to us about a course, simple call us daily between 9 am and 6.30 pm on:
1300 853 356 or 0417 328 457
Level 2 Courses
Take the next step, learn powerful new skills, and get the qualification needed to work as a Reiki practitioner.
Next Reiki 2 course, Dec. 18 in Fitzroy North.
Reiki Master Level Course
Take the next step, learn powerful new skills, and get the qualification needed to teach Reiki. Our next Reiki Master Level course will take place at our beautiful new 100-acre retreat centre in between Daylesford and Woodend (just 65 minutes from Melbourne) on Jan. 7-9 (2022).
Free Reiki Video Portal
Get free access to our new 'Everything You Need to Know About Reiki Video Portal' and have all your Reiki questions answered!
Level 1 & 2 Pellowah Course
Pellowah operates at an extremely high energetic vibration and is the perfect addition to Reiki.
Working on the level of mind and spirit, Pellowah relaxes the body and helps restore optimum health.
Upcoming Course: Nov. 13-14 (Fitzroy North).
| Upcoming Courses |
| Oct. 30-31 Chi Activation Level 1(Online) (Find out more...) |
| Nov. 6-7- Melbourne Reiki 1 ( Find out more..) |
| Nov. 13-14- Melbourne Pellowah ( Find out more..) |
| Nov. 20-21 - Mastering Your Chakras + Mastering Your Mind Meditation Courses (Find out more..) |
| Nov. 27-28 - Daylesford Reiki Retreat ( Places still available...) |
| Dec. 18 - Melbourne Reiki 2 (Find out more..) |
| Dec. 19 - Melbourne Reiki 1 (Find out more..) |
| Jan. 7-9 - Reiki Master Level (Find out more...) |
| Jan. 15-16 - Reiki Master Retreat (Find out more..) |
2021 Calendar
Click here to download the Om Reiki and Pellowah 2021 Calendar as a convenient PDF flyer.
Reiki Facts | Reiki Articles | Healing Session | Bacchus Marsh | Reiki Courses
Reiki Daylesford | Reiki Ballarat | Contact Us | About Us
Health warning: Reiki is a complementary health method. It should not be used in place of traditional medical care. Information on this site is given according to our best knowledge and experience. Each person uses this information at his or her own risk. We will not be held responsible for any alleged negative results that supposedly follow from the use of this information.
Copyright © 2008 www.om-reiki.com.au
