Reiki and Navigational Waypoints

8 December 2011
Wow, time has flown since I have written anything on my blog. Its not that Reiki has been silent in my life, by any means,  it is active, alive and I am doing well.

Artwork by Marsha Matta

This summer I moved my small boat, Shatoosh, an Albin 25, from the Columbia River in Oregon to Tacoma, Washington a distance of over 450 miles. We crossed the dangerous Columbia River Sand Bar and headed north along the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean. This section of water can be really rough and stormy. Prior to leaving, my twin and Reiki Master Jean Ferris and I laid out the charts on a table with all the different legs of the trip and treated each one with Reiki.

We could feel some rough water in some sections but after treating it with Reiki, the energy flowed nicely as we moved our fingers over the charts. As I approached departure day, many storms had been brewing, but the scheduled departure was met with calm seas, a full rainbow, whales passed our bow and dolphins jumped out of the water to greet us.

We met with similar events along each leg and while storms were seen all around us, we were always in the center with calm seas and no wind. My trip became a beautiful event each day and I arrived at my home port safe and sound.

When we practice Reiki we become a part of the still center, the calm eye of the storm, while chaos and confusion prevails all around us, we remain still and then can perform our best action. This is what Reiki teaches us.

Phyllis Furumoto Interviews Hira

Phyllis writes about our recent interview on Service on her Reiki Radio Talk Show scheduled for April 21, 2011. http://www.reikitalkshow.com/

"This interview is packed with great stories of service. Hira was generous in her sharing of the times in her life that were pivotal in her awareness of service. She starts with the story of how she decided to join the army and "knew" this was the next thing for her to do. She knew it in her heart. And goes on with the stories of her time in Viet Nam and then in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in India. Her two themes are "non-doing" and "doing with all your heart." Inspiring and thought provoking. You may want more of her stories!"
 
Go to her Reiki blog, http://reikireid.blogspot.com.

Anapra, Mexico April 2011

The morning sky is bright blue and cloud free. I drive up the El Paso, Texas valley to the Sisters of Charity casa in a small nook of New Mexico. After loading up the car, Sister Janet takes the helm of the dusty Subaru, Sister Carol rides shotgun, and Tracey and I have the back seat. Tracey is a new member of the team and desires to live in community and offers her service to the mission of the Sisters of Charity. She speaks fluent Spanish, is young, bright and full of enthusiasm.She is also writing the newsletter, Desert Blooms, which tells beautiful stories of the clinic activities.

There is no traffic jam at the Santa Teresa, New Mexico Port of Entry, so we whiz down the back road to Anapra, Mexico. We enter the clinic and I find it is sparkling clean with newly mopped floors, the mats and tables have clean sheets on them and I find my old friend, Isidra cleaning the window sills. She lost her 26 year son last year and has had trouble adjusting. I have sent her distant Reiki treatments from my home in Washington. She greets me, kisses me and thanks me. She takes me over to show me her new grand daughter who is 3 months old. She is doing well and is adorable, so I sit down and hold her to give her a Reiki treatment.

The children start arriving and within minutes the clinic is filled with Mothers, Grandmothers, brothers and sisters. The big bathtub with jacuzzi jets is filled and the children get cleaned and exercised in the warm water. Clean clothes are put on and Reiki treatments begin. Their little bodies soak up the energy while some are being fed. Everyone seems to know the dance and everything works like a well oiled machine. What makes this place so special is all the love that is present. From the Sisters to the Mothers, to the Children and back around again to the Sisters. Of course, the main engine in this machine is God's love, blessing and supporting all who enter.

I see new babies and new mothers. One mother, has given birth to her 3rd son who has an undiagnosed syndrome. She has previously lost 2 sons to this disease. This new baby had some additional complications at birth, so in addition to this other condition, he has cerebral palsy. All her daughters are normal. As I am treating the tiny 2 month old boy, Milagro, a lovely little girl wants to climb into my lap and watch as we treat her brother. I show her how to put her hands on him.

This little guy has some fluid building in head and may need a shunt place to drain off the cerebral spinal fluid. There is also, a question of Down Syndrome. As I place my hands on his chest he grabbed my hand and placed it on his head, which was very hot. He had the sweetest energy about him. His mother looks very young, but had a 7 year old son with her.

Also, new to the clinic is a refrigerator and a stove. This new addition has been added since the clinic now has hired 2 of the young mothers to prepare lunch for everyone. They are good cooks and lunch was yummie. I had brought along dozens of cookies for dessert and everyone gobbled them up, mucho pronto.

He is clean, treated, and fed. So now he naps while everyone else eats lunch.

Renna is progressing so well. Now able to stand against the wall to walk sideways. Her legs are weak, she feeds herself, and demonstrates how she could place a straw into a small hole on her juice box. She waves, claps her hands, gives out lots of kisses and can say about 6 words...in spanish...of course..

Someone donated their large collection of Cabbage Patch Dolls to the clinic. So these cutey-pies each got a new doll today. As they left, I had to kiss each girl and they told me the dolls' names and then they wanted me to kiss each doll. This was easy to do, as they are all so adorable; the girls and their dolls.

I enjoyed my day; it was wondeful to get to do Reiki on so many children, see new babies, note progress on others, see how the mothers are doing, and give thanks that these Sisters of Charity are able to do this unbelievable task of taking care of all these children and mothers. God Bless them all.

More Thoughts on Reiki and Service

Phyllis Furumoto has stirred my "service pot" and I am filled with many thoughts and experiences of my time serving mankind. We have shared several emails, so I want to reflect on my thoughts. During contemplation, the topic may seem small at first, but sandwiched between having a quiet mind and performing Reiki on the process, the topic takes on a new life, a larger life, so we can really begin to see the enormity of the topic.

Such has been my process lately of contemplating the non-doership that Reiki offers its students. Rarely does one have this experience in life to be totally free when performing an action. We are taught as small children to senior citizens that we must be in control, in charge, in order to make anything happen and happen right.This is ingrained into our cellular makeup. So, with our egos and minds charging forth into daily activity, both of who are screaming "me", "me", "me", it seems impossible to stop, shift and make a complete turn-a-bout and surrender to the divine source. But, that is what we have to do, in order to serve, selflessly.

I continue to revel in the importance of non-doership with Reiki. I don't think the beginning Reiki student really understands the importance of this gift. This gift comes from mystical initiation to the student and within minutes they have experienced  non-doership. They may not call it that, but they realize something unique has happened, and over time they will know to call it non-doership. No where in our global upbringing are we trained or given the experience of non-doership. No where, is there a clearer experience, than with Reiki.

The key then, is to transfer the non-doership principle into all walks of our life. This is the aspect where we have to offer our actions to God or the Source. While Reiki is effortless after initiation, we have to make a conscious effort to offer our actions to God in all other avenues of our life. Our minds and egos really rebel and it is not easy. I remember while in India, I began saying every morning before meditation, "God, this is no longer my day, it is your day. I will offer this day to you and will do what you want me to do."  Surrendering to the higher being; asking for grace to descend into me to guide and bless me, trusting in his divine wisdom. I am being seen by the divine, I am being supported by the divine and I will act from the space of the divine. This is a giant leap, expanding every aspect of our lives into non-doership. This is what I mean, by allowing the topic to expand into the fullness of the divine. Allowing ourselves to be swept away with the currents of divine love and then to share that love with all we do and all we serve.

Reiki and Service

Phyllis Furumoto recently interviewed Sister Carol Wirtz, a Nun from the Order of the Sisters of Charity, on her Radio Talk Show, Reiki, Balancing Form and Essence. Sister Carol, lives outside of El Paso, Texas in a small community of other nuns who administer several charitable missions in the surrounding area. Dedicated to a life of service, Sister Carol is able to weave Reiki into their mission rather easily and speaks about  how serving the poor, the less fortunate becomes a motivating factor in her life.

When one serves God, one serves from the heart and not the mind. When the mind drops into the effulgence of the heart, then service becomes selfless. God moves in and takes over, conducting a bigger plan that is freeing to all involved. It becomes a two way street, the giver and the receiver are equal players, each receiving love from the divine source. Both are fed and nurtured by the divine source.

Reiki, in all its wonderment, is so simple. Reiki immediately removes the do-er, for the first time in our lives, we know we are not doing Reiki. Reiki is doing us, the source is providing Universal energy to bring balance to all living things, their systems, glands and organs. To quote Helen Haberly, my Reiki Master, "you can't do Reiki wrong, you can't do Reiki right, because you are not doing it." Reiki gifts us non do-ership. We, along with our egos, step aside and let this benevolent energy do its work. We can't make it better, we can't make it less, we can't change it, and all that is asked of us, is to sit with it and become the witness. Reiki becomes the Grand Master. It teaches us every time we reach out with our empty hands and place them on ourselves and others.

In contemplating service in my lifetime, which has taken many forms, serving in the military for my country, serving my Guru, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, serving the poor and infirmed, and serving myself, I have learned many lessons. The first question in contemplation arises, is how well do I serve myself? If I can't serve myself, how then, can I effectively serve others. When I offer service, what is my intention? Am I serving out of a wounded place within myself, causing me to let pity orchestrate my service or have I healed that wounded place within me, therefore allowing me to have compassion orchestrate my mission for the suffering masses? Do I stand from the pulpit of duality or do I see everyone as one? Is my ego orchestrating the mission or am I able to serve with compassion and out of love? Can I step aside and let the universal energy do the work?


I always refer to Mother Theresa's reply, when asked many years ago, about how she could bear to take care of the poor, the infirmed masses of her mission? Her reply, profound and simple," I only take care of one. I feed Jesus, I bathe Jesus, I clothe Jesus." She only sees one, and that is her beloved. She treats everyone as though they were Jesus. When we serve with that one-pointedness, then we are free, free from duality, free from all that binds us. Serving with single vision that is non-dual in nature.

With Reiki we can pull our chair up to the treatment table and sit back and relax. God steps in and ministers the treatment. When we draw our sacred symbols into the air, someone out there is listening and seeing and immediately answers our call. The treatment starts. There are no treatment hours on God's master board. Call anytime, night or day, God says, we are always open and ready to serve humanity.

Remember to call  God, step aside from your intention, always be in your heart, so that you can serve selflessly...

Reiki and Unconscious Forgetting

Lately as I walk down the Reiki path I marvel from time to time how Reiki students seem to slip into a state of unconscious forgetting. Forgetting to utilize the gifts they have received in their various Reiki trainings from 1st degree to Mastery. A friend was fretting about not being able to be with her sister during her surgery. I said send her a distant treatment. Her response was,  "Oh, I forgot how to do that." Then her mind took off in another direction and I said, "well, then treat yourself" and her reply was that she hasn't done that either. A Reiki master forgets, to treat her pills that are causing some nausea and after treating the pills the nausea is gone. Another has been bothered for years with ear problems, but hasn't committed to treating herself during this whole time. Then states there has been immediate changes with just a few sessions. Surprise, Surprise.

So what is this unbalanced state that everyone falls into.. The State of Unconscious Forgetting is a place people go when they are not present, not conscious, not in tune with their patterns, their beliefs, their sacred support systems of meditation and Reiki. A place of non action which results from not being in touch with the most conscious system they have ever learned. The simple Reiki, balanced in the pure form and essence. Available at any given moment and just a hand placement away.

"Reiki On",  Mrs Takata said, "Just Do It".  Come on, all you forget-tors, wake up and become Conscious Remember-ers. Keep Reiki flowing in your lives. Its the best gift you have ever received. If everyone who has been trained in Reiki kept forgetting to use it, then in one generation, Reiki would be gone from the face of this planet. We have to keep Reiki alive within ourselves and alive for future generations. It is our duty. We are the keepers of the flame.

A Final Voyage

A friend of mine had had a relapse of his cancer last spring. I went to see him and was able to give him Reiki and send him distant Reiki treatments. It was at this time, I was able to thank him for all he had done for me and that I cherished his friendship tremendously. While not an outwardly, spiritual man, we often discussed the underlying spiritual foundation in our lives. He was open to Reiki and asked many questions about it.

The other night I was awakened, by what one would call, a prophetic dream. All of us in the dream were boaters and, to make a long dream short, we were traveling in the dark and I felt we should tie the boat up for the night, but my twin stated we should just drift for the night. I asked my friend and twin to show me the charts and the plan for this journey. They said they had none. I was adamant, to go on a journey, we needed charts and plans. They both said again that there were none.

I knew, intuitively, that my friend was near death and before I could call, his son called to give me the news that he was under hospice care. I sent another Reiki treatment last night. Today, as I was out making my round of errands, I had the sudden urge to pull over and make a call to his wife. My friend had just died.

So, on our last journey across the sea of consciousness, we are adrift, and we can no longer be at the helm. We have surrendered and have let go of our earthly attachments. God is steering our vessel, and he needs no charts or plans to bring us home to be with him.

Hira's New Email

Yesterday my email account was hacked into and a bogus email was sent out to all my contacts.I am sorry for this inconvienence that may have occured for you.

My new email is: hirareid@gmail.com

Reiki And The Autonomic Nervous System

The ANS is the automatic wiring of our system. It is the "Flight or Fight" response that controls all our organs, glands and systems. In today's hectic lifestyles, people in great numbers are living unbalanced lives, can't sleep without sleeping pills, have hypertension, heartburn, gastric reflux, auto-immune diseases, and are driving their bodies in high gear with multi tasking, and people are out of control. They are swinging on the extreme ends of the pendulum. Rage, fear, depression, hyperactivity, The list goes on and on, chaos prevails and I sit in my favorite Reiki chair and send treatments to lots of friends.

Reiki brings balance to all the organs, glands and systems. One treatment will support our internal foundation. I've been contemplating this the last few days, so this is what I'd like to share.
Since we are all hard-wired for the autonomic response we can look at each body and ask, " Am I wired for flight or fight?"


I consider my spiritual body as one that is steady and stands firm no matter what is happening in my life.

My mental body certainly stands firm and will fight, if push comes to shove.

My physical body is wired for fight, but with age the grip to fight seems to lessen.

My emotional body, as is with most people, was fragile from birth and would run as fast as it could away from any confronting situation, however, with time and lots of work, I have learned to be there in the middle of confrontation, not running away or fighting.

Reiki provides each of us to neutralize the extreme reactions, to bring balance in a chaotic life, to give our overworked glands, systems and organs a moment of rest, reprieve and an opportunity to regain balance in an unbalanced life. Life is a teeter totter, we are riding up and down all the time, but Reiki provides such an incredible fulcrum that creates equanimity at every swing of the pendulum.

I wrote an aphorism several years ago:
Become an action figure
Not a reaction figure

Reiki Hands In The Sands

Recently, I was at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Someone had placed their hands in the beautiful white sand which is made of gypsum. I couldn't pass up this wonderful photo opportunity. The purity of the dunes and energy  is breath-taking. My great niece, Georgia, has fun making a "Sand Angel". I reflect upon the joyous nature of Reiki and how pure the form and essence is. After sliding down a dune, Georgia says, "I tried it and liked it, lets do it again". So it is, with all of us, we tried it (Reiki) and we liked it, so we do it again and again.