Q. If you have limited time, would you spend the 30/60mins Reiki-ing yourself OR meditating?
Is there a difference? To me there is.
Meditation, in its purest sense, is the balance of doing nothing – which of course is a paradox but in its deepest sense, true. Meditation is the act of becoming aware of your essence, that which is nothing and all things – the energy, or flow, or life force that underlies your thoughts. In meditation you drop below the thoughts, sinking deep into a sense of self that encompasses everything – and in that way everything is allowed to be, including thoughts and emotions, distractions, aches and pains, irritations and nuisances, bliss and joy, happiness and gratitude – all has equal place and yet no place. Meditation is the touching of the paradox of who you are. The purpose of meditation is to become aware of your true nature.
Reiki, on the other hand, is an action. The applying of your hands on your body activates the channels of your hands to allow energy to pass through from the air (to be very simplistic) into your body. Reiki is an active flow of energy directed and absorbed by the body and so in that sense we are not allowing everything to be, we are filling up and energizing ourselves – the engine is on, the pump is filling, there is a whole bunch of stuff happening here! Of course, one of the benefits of all this balance and energy is our minds do quiet, and we do slip into a deeply meditative state, but we may or may not be aware of this, and we may or may not be looking for the underlying sense of self. The purpose of Reiki is to balance our body-mind-spirit.
So the answer to this question of Reiki or Mediation depends on your priority. At the end of the day it is only your own answer that counts, and it is up to you to come to your own conclusions – each person will make their own decision which is the priority, and it will change day to day, year to year.
Personally when I found Reiki I couldn’t meditate! I was so busy and stressed. So Reiki actually taught me how to balance and quiet my mind, and then I found I could meditate, and now I do both. As Reiki is my main source of fuel, I do this daily without fail, and with deep meditation on and off for intense periods I have found that it comes in more and more in my daily life so that the entire day can be spent in meditation – the sitting in lotus and doing it deliberately becomes less of a formality – I can meditate while waiting for the kids after school sitting in my car, or waiting in the supermarket queue – all through the day there are opportunities to come into myself and meditate, so over time there is less formal ‘practice’ and more simply being the results of the practice.
photo credit: Li Jen Jian Green leaf with small water drops. via photopin (license)
