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Ahhh.... naps. What a delightful thing. Even the expression "taking a nap" has a nice sound to it. It sort of rolls out in a relaxed way. Yea, but who has the time, right? Years ago when my daughter was young, we used to jokingly say, "Naps are wasted on the young. WE’RE the ones who need a nap!"
Most of us can remember a time when a nap was the last thing we wanted. Remember that? "I DON’T want to take a nap!" Maybe you didn’t say it, but you probably thought it. Then you got older and came to see naps as wonderful little breaks from what’s going on. It’s not as if you are announcing, "Well, good-night everyone, I’m off to bed now." There’s an understood message that says, "I’m going to sleep for a short time. Relax, rest my bones, and recharge a little. But I won’t be too long. See-ya" I think the Europeans have it right. For them, a nap is an important part of the day. Hey, it’s what my dog does almost the entire day!
So What’s A "Reiki Nap"?
The short answer is this. A Reiki Nap is simply my expression for a Reiki Self-treatment that is used in an unusual way. Reiki is a gentle, hands-on technique for relaxation and healing. Pronounced, “Ray-kee.” it is a compound word that means, “the flow of Life Force Energy.” With the use of a few simple, easy-to-learn protocols, anyone can learn how to ground, focus, and allow Ki energy to flow through them and into other people, animals, plants, and minerals. There are so many different uses for directing Ki. Space and time are not obstacles because Ki moves through the either and is not restricted by space and time. It can be sent into specific events in your future to clear away any negativity. This is especially useful if you know that you are going to be in a meeting or an exchange that you know will be challenging. Ki will flow to where your intention directs it. When you direct Ki, it is always for the highest and best good for the person or place you are sending it to, as well as yourself. Before I describe to you how I do a Reiki Nap, let me tell you how I discovered this.
When I learned Reiki in 1995 I had a very stressful job in the design department at a major toy company in New Jersey. Everyone used to think that my job was just like what they saw in the Tom Hanks movie, "BIG." No way! It was a tough, competitive, corporate environment that often left me frazzled by the end of the day. I have always been a high-energy person, but often as much as two times a week, I would have to lie down for a nap when I got home because I was so drained.
That sounds like a reasonable, smart thing to do, doesn’t it? You’re tired, so lay down. But what I was experiencing was that about half the time, I would wake up and feel very groggy. Often it would take some time to shake off the grogginess and sometimes it was with me for the rest of the evening. Too often, the nap wasn’t worth it.
Learning the simple practice of Reiki took much of what I had been learning for the previous 18 years and bundled it into an easy to use set of protocols. I discovered that when the energy called Reiki is sent, amazing things can happen. After my Reiki Master, Bill Moore had attuned all of us for Reiki Level I (there were 13 in my class) and had shown us the traditional Usui hand positions, he mentioned to us that we now knew enough to be able to do Reiki on ourselves. I remember asking, "Really!?" Bill went on to explain that once you have Ki flowing in and through you, it is perfectly acceptable to direct the Ki into each of your own Usui positions. In other words, give yourself a Reiki session.
Learning Reiki was a very profound experience for me. About six weeks later, I was back with my entire Reiki Level I class to take Level II. Bill and I later became very good friends and he told me that never before or since did he have a class that size where everyone moved to the next level together.
Within days of my Level I class I began using my new Reiki skills. I came home from another one of "those" days. As I was about to take a nap, I thought, "Oh, I should do Reiki on myself." So I went through the protocols I had just learned and gave myself a Reiki session. About 30 minutes later when I was finished, I sat up, and the best way to describe this is that I felt like, "PING!!!" Not "buzzed" as in having too much coffee. It was more like a tuning fork tone, clear, vibrant, and alert.
I got up feeling great, mowed the lawn, fixed a few things, and had a very nice evening. It was like being recharged, just enough to energetically get me through the evening. Since that time, I have done Reiki on myself many times and the results are always the same, but the experience is often very different. After a lot of experience and considerable thought about this, I have several understandings that will help you to better grasp what this is all about. Then I will describe exactly how I do a Reiki Nap.
I consider a Reiki Nap or a Reiki Self-treatment to be a form of active meditation. Meditation isn’t just sitting in a meditative position and tuning into the cosmos. There are many forms of meditation. What is always consistent is that the meditation leads you to a place of being completely in the moment... then the moment... then the moment... for as long as you are meditating. Of course, one of the highest attainments is living your entire life, always in the moment. But that’s another article.
Whenever I do this, I follow the exact protocol taught to me to initiate a Reiki session. I do this as if I was about to do Reiki on someone else. In Reiki Level I you are taught the Usui Reiki Hand Positions. These are specific locations on the recipient’s body, and the order of where you start and finish for a complete Usui Reiki treatment. These positions correspond with the body’s chakra points. Chakras are energy portals that start at the base of the spine and move up to the top of the head. There are seven major chakra points on the body and dozens more in the arms, hands, legs, and feet. There’s also an eighth chakra that it located over your head. Each chakra point has specific energetic qualities and corresponds with body function in that location. (Briefly explain what a chakra is for the unknowing reader)
When you are giving a Reiki session, you are allowing pure Ki energy from the Ether to enter into your crown chakra and flow down through your heart chakra and out the minor charkras in the palms of the hands. It is like clear, flowing water that is pouring warmth and new energy into the chakra points, displacing anything that is not like itself. Out it goes. Afterwards the recipient feels balanced, relaxed, and calm. If a Reiki session is done in the mid-evening, you can almost guarantee a very restful sleep. It also has a “mellowing” affect.
Receiving a Reiki session can put you out like Mr. Sandman. Doing Reiki on yourself is a very different experience. Because you are the one placing your cupped hands over your own chakra points, you really have to stay with it and pay attention. Here is where you use the power of your mind to stay focused on what you are doing and not allow yourself to slip through the “alpha-state barrier” into dreamland. And this can easily happen. Depending on how physically tired I am, sometimes while doing Reiki on myself I begin to realize that my mind has drifted off into a dream fantasy. Then I gently say, “come back... come back... we’re doing Reiki here...” And I’m back in the alpha-state... relaxed, but very aware. I find that if I stay focused on the feeling of the Ki moving and flowing, it keeps me aware. Then when I begin to notice the flow slowing down, I recognize that is an indicator that it’s time to move on to the next chakra point. Then before I know it, I’m finished. I sit up, fully alert. PING!!! And ready to move into the evening.
Reiki Nap Instructions
Here is exactly how to give yourself a very powerful Reiki Nap. I do all of the same things I do to start any Reiki session. Comfortably dressed, I begin with a brief "shake out." That’s where you shake you arms and shoulders and bounce on the front balls of your feet. This helps break up any kinetic energy that we have stored in our body. Next I do a brief "grounding" visualization. I envision powerful roots growing from my feet with great speed. They are growing deeper and deeper until I can begin to feel the energy of the earth pulling up through the roots, up the back of my spine, over my head and back down into the ground where it returns to the energy source, thus creating a constant flow of Earth energy.
Next are the Kanji positions. These are three hand positions that take you through a process where you; 1. make a request to your higher self and the ascended Reiki Masters, asking for assistance. 2. You make contact with the ascended Reiki Masters, and 3. Experience the flow of Ki from the Either, into your crown chakra, down through your third eye chakra, your throat chakra, your heart chakra, and out through the chakra points in the palms of your hands. By the time you get to this point, you will be completely relaxed, in the moment, and alert. Then, inside my head, I think, “Reiki on.” Now you are ready to go.
If you have had Reiki Level II, you can also use your Reiki symbols here. Part of Reiki Level II training includes an explanation and the use of three of the four sacred Reiki symbols. Each symbol is an energetic portly that has a specific purpose. They are great to know and use, but not necessary to give yourself a first-class Reiki Nap.
Then you begin with the first position with the hands over the front of the eyes and you let the Ki flow into your own third eye chakra. A common question for us when we begin learning Reiki is, "how long do I stay on each chakra point?" Unfortunately, there is no sacred number of seconds or minutes that you should be at any particular position. Ki, or Universal Life Force Energy has a mind and a knowing of its own. When we practice Reiki we are a conduit, or a pipeline. Granted, it’s a porous conduit because when you practice Reiki, you absorb some as well. If you experience being drained during a Reiki session, check your energy connection. Ki should only flow through you, not from you. Set that as your intention, and it will be so. Remember, much of this is "intention."
When you are allowing Ki to flow through you, it has a sensation. Ki will flow until it knows when to stop and you will feel it slowing down. When you are focused on the flow, you will stay alert to that sensation. When it slows down, that is the indication that you are finished at that point and it is time to move on to the next chakra point. Briefly, here are the standard positions and the ones I use for a Reiki Nap.
Reiki Nap Hand Positions:
1. Hands over the eyes and the sixth chakra.
It is at this point that you are engaged in active meditation. You are very relaxed, your thinking slows down, and your mind becomes quiet, yet alert. You are in an alpha-state. This is the airy-fairy zone we all pass through as we drop off to sleep and as we are awakening. Sometimes, if we are lucky, we can hear the whisper of your higher self, or of God. Our higher self is very quiet most of the time and difficult to hear because of all the junk that is blasting through our head usually. It’s what I call the "Radio Voice." It’s like bad talk-radio playing in your head all the time, complete with music, commercials, call-ins from the people of your past and wild previews of coming attractions. Some call this the "reactive mind" or "monkey-mind."
To continue...
2. Hands over the crown chakra.
3. Hands in the back of the head behind the sixth chakra.
4. Hands over the throat and the fifth chakra.
5. Hands over the chest and the fourth, or heart chakra.
6. Hands over the abdomen and the third chakra.
7. Hands over the groin area and the second chakra.
8. Hands at the hips aiming towards the base of the spine and the first chakra.
9. With the palms up, beam or direct your Ki at your knees and the minor chakras located there.
10. With the palms up, beam or direct you Ki at your feet and the minor chakras located there.
11. Relax for a minute or so and gently come back to normal wakefulness.
The protocols of the Usui Reiki session can be a tremendous help in getting you to the place where you can hear, sense, and learn from your higher self. Sometimes I will get pieces to a life puzzle I’ve been working out, or a really cool idea will arrive completely formed, or sometimes I will get the whisper of a direction I might want to take if I want to move closer to a desired outcome. And then there are times when I hear nothing at all, but am relaxed, alert, and recharged.
Why This Is Useful
The road of Life can be bumpy and harsh for some of us, and very long for a few. I recommend to anyone who is interested in spiritual awakening to learn this simple yet wonderful tool. We all endure many slings and arrows, and all of us have our ‘story." I believe that we are all here to create who we most want to be, remember who we really are, and gently help others awaken if they express an interest in doing so. Being on the path towards your own fulfillment helps to create an inner light of peace. We don’t see it often, but we all have known people who are supremely calm and serene. They have an inner light that can make the homeliest person look radiant. We all have also seen the opposite - a sour-minded, bitter person whose face shows the wear and tear of their inner discontent.
Learning Reiki and using it, can energetically take you to a new level of awareness. After I had some experience of what directed energy could do, it opened me up to a whole new level of understanding of what this is all about. Using Reiki on myself was one of the best things I ever did to start the process of living my life "now" and forward. Choosing to let go of the dumpsters full of old, dysfunctional ideas of what is possible.
I mentioned in the beginning that this is a form of active meditation. The key word here is "active." I have known people who have taken a Reiki class, hardly used it, and said they didn’t get much out of it. Although we all have our own unique resonance with different methods, at least give it a thorough try. We’re all familiar with the old Bible expression, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Whenever someone uses this line, everyone always nods in agreement, "yes, that’s true." But there is a missing step in the formula. Here it is. Now that you know “how to fish,” the next day, YOU gotta go out and fish!
The Reiki protocols are so simple and easy to do, they’re almost impossible to forget. So if you have had Reiki training but never thought about doing a session on yourself, you might be in for a surprise. If you haven’t had Reiki training and find this interesting, consider that nothing happens without a reason and it may well be that it is time for you to seek out a Reiki class. My advice is, "Go for it!" A good place to stsrt to look for a Reiki Master is your local metaphysical book store or health food store. If that doesn’t work for you, look up The Directory of Reiki Practitioners online at: http://www.nlp-reiki.ca. Reiki won’t make you into a wizard or anything like that. But if you let it, you will be opened up to a whole new realm of what’s possible.
Shine on, and on, and on...
Scott
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