A Month of Mays : May We Cultivate Inner Peace
Currently, reiki is best known as an alternative to Western medicine, with a focus on physical healing. But in my opinion, that only covers half of what it’s capable of. Reiki is a healing method with a focus on overall health, including mental and spiritual health. In fact, I think your physical state is, in many cases, a reflection of your mental and emotional wellbeing. A physical illness is more like a side effect of a disturbance in your inner peace.
The Path to Inner Peace Lies Within You
People who are drawn to reiki often have a strong desire to help others. Many decide to learn reiki because they have a family member they want to help, or they are in the medical field already. But as they quickly find out, reiki makes you take good look at yourself and heal yourself, too. It can be a tough pill to swallow at first, but you realize that what you’ve been wanting for others is what you’ve been wanting for yourself. All this time, you’ve been wanting YOU to step in and help yourself.
Once reiki becomes a part of your life, your priorities begin to slowly shift. Yes, helping others is still a big part of reiki, but in a slightly different way. When reiki flows through you, it fulfills you first, and then it overflows to others. You begin to realize that you can’t help anyone if you don’t help yourself. More importantly, you can’t love anyone if you don’t love yourself.
Reiki increases your opportunities for self-reflection. You begin to understand what self-acceptance actually mean. You begin to be kinder to yourself. And when you begin to love yourself, you begin to love others in the same way. The definition of the “self” expands to include all of existence. You realize we are all one, and what you do affects everyone. Making choices that aligns with the highest good becomes second nature because it ultimately benefits you too.
In this way, reiki is not just a healing method for the physical body. It is a way of life. In the next few posts, I’d like to explore what this way of life looks and feels like. Stay tuned!