Excerpt from the book, "Usui Reiki-Level One Manual," by Francine Milford and available from this website at the button below:
Purchase of book entitles reader to a FREE long distant Reiki One attunement. The attunement will enable the reader to practice Level One Reiki on themself, their family and their friends. It's that easy!
Introduction
Today, there is a need for healing that goes beyond just the physical body. The need runs deep into the mental and emotional soul of the human spirit. People are searching for answers for illnesses. They are looking for a way to become whole again.
There are many paths to wholeness, many systems to healing. Some people choose to go to conventional doctors and listen to conventional wisdom. Other people choose to go to Alternative practitioners and begin a journey of self discovery and understanding.
I, myself, began this journey many years ago through my own physical problems. I was around 39 years old when I started to get severe and debilitating migraines. I would literally go blind during an attack. This was especially frightening to me since I was the mother of a 4 year old and part of car pool. How could I be responsible for all those little lives with me behind the wheel? How would I handle an attack while I was transporting these little children? There were no answers and then things began to get worse.
Then came the panic attacks. For those who don't know what a panic attack is, or who think it is trivial, take it from me, it is not. Since I was unfamiliar with what it was, it feels like a heart attack. In fact, it was horrible to me that I actually had my first out of body experience during an attack.
Back then, I was unfamiliar with alternative anything, so I went to the doctors for help.I was given a prescription and went home and tried 1 pill. Let me tell you the experience of that 1 pill. That 1 pill took over my body so completely that I had to lie on the couch because I couldn't stand. Once on the couch, I couldn't lift my head up from the couch. I was extremely frightened but the drug made be not care.
It was weird, laying there knowing that if the house caught on fire, I could not get up and save myself or my child who was playing on the floor next me, and I wouldn't care. This was also the same day I saw my first aura. Well, at least that was pretty cool. It was a good thing that my husband was home that day and we just had to wait out the effects of the drug which took about 6 hours to wear off so that I could stand again. I reported this to the doctor and do you know what I was told? Oh, just take 1/2 the dose next time. Next time? Oh, I had decided there wasn't going to me a next time.
I wanted to return to my old health and I had to find a different way to get that accomplished. This is where and when I began looking into alternative healing.
The first book I ever read to begin my journey was the Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. This book alone opened doors and avenues that I never felt possible. I learned what an aura was. I had seen auras since I was a child and went to the eye doctor because I thought something was wrong with my eyes. He couldn't find anything wrong with my eyes and didn't know how to explain what I saw. I then joined a discussion group that had formed due to the book and it was totally wonderful. It was here that I met people who introduced me to words such as "Chakras".
We ended up moving within months and I had to leave my curiosity behind. However, once we were settled in Venice, Florida, other doors began to open. I joined a group who was discussing Louise Hays book, "You Can Heal your Life". Well, that was it. I questioned that poor instructor over and over again. There was so much I wanted to learn and know, I was a sponge and I was only beginning. We become great friends-thank you Shelby! It was at this time that I began taking courses in Herbology and Aromatherapy and Bach Flower, and more.
I was also a Fitness Specialist and started to learn Qigong. Qigong is a very, very powerful form of martial arts and should not be used and practiced by just anyone. It became so powerful for me that I could harm with a look. When that happened, I decided to pray. I know I loved to work with energy systems so I prayed for a system that would be safe to use on children. I wanted a system that worked on unconditional love and acceptance. A giving and loving system, not one based on fear.
The next day there was an ad for a Reiki Level One training class about an hour or so drive from my home. In the ad it stated, "A safe and loving energy". That was it, my prayers had been answered and I called and signed up.
The rest is history. I finished my Reiki Level One training in a two day workshop and went back a month later for my Reiki Level II training. Some time passed before I found a Reiki Master and finished my training. After several years of teaching Reiki using the information that was handed down by my master, I began to take additional Reiki training from other Reiki Masters.I explored new methods and techniques, compared symbols and their uses, and even tried new attunement processes. I have incorporated the best of ALL of my teachings into my own personal manuals. Reiki has literally changed my life. I am not the same person who stumbled into the first class not even knowing what a "Chakra" was. I felt foolish and dumb then, but somehow I knew that I was meant to be here and that I was meant to learn Reiki - the Universe was right. This book is my way of thanking all my students who have blessed me with their presence in my Reiki classes both in person and through the Internet. I offer you my sincerest and deepest gratitude for allowing me the opportunity and privilege of sharing Reiki attunements with you. You have all confirm the truth that we are all one in the Universal consciousness. That we share all that was past, is present, and will be in the future. We are all connected. We are all one.
When you use your gift of Reiki, you honor me and all those who have gone before me. And most importantly, when we use our gift of Reiki, we honor ourselves and everything on this planet. So use your gift, often.
"May Light and Love Surround You Always" Francine Milfordn
History of Reiki
What is Reiki?
Reiki, (pronounced ray-key), in the Japanese Character system, is a combination of two separate words. meaning universal, spirit, a boundless essence and meaning life force energy. Together their meaning is roughly Universal Life Energy, or Universal life force energy. Life force energy is resides in everything you see around you, yourself included. All animals, plants, humans, have life force energy. The ancient discipline of Qigong is the practice of gathering up this energy and directing it into parts of the body. When a person dies, this life force energy departs the body. For you to understand and experience this life force energy, I have devised some simple exercises for you to perform.
Exercise 1:
As an exercise to feel this energy, begin by rubbing your hands briskly together for one minute. Bring your minds focus to your hands. Now, slowly and gently, pull your hands apart about 1-3 from each other. Slowly bring your hands in together, without touching, and take them apart a few inches. Do this for a few minutes to feel the energy. That is your life force energy. Write in the space below your experiences and any sensations you had while doing this exercise: _________________________________________________
Exercise 2:
Rub your hands briskly together again as you did the above exercise. Bring your minds focus to your hands. This time, bring your hands to 1-3 from your partners hands. Slowly bring the hands together without touching and then apart. Do this a few times and write down below any sensations you experienced with this exercise _________________________________________________________
Exercise 3:
In this exercise, you will experience seeing your aura, the life force energy that surrounds all living things. To do this you will rub your hands briskly together once again. Focus your mind on your hands. Now place your hands, palms facing you above your head. Have the fingers of both hands facing each other and keep them about 1/2 inches apart. It is also helpful if the ceiling behind your hands is white. Now, allow your eyes to go out of focus and just lazily stare at the space between the tips of your middle fingers. In time, you will be able to see a haze appear around your fingers. This haze will be translucent or opal in appearance. This is your life force energy. With practice, you will also begin to see a second layer form. This layer has a jagged edge and is blue in color. This is a layer of your aura. Write down your experiences with this exercise. Do not be too hard on yourself if you did not see anything while trying this exercise. With patience and practice you will succeed: __________________________________________________ When working with Reiki energies we can significantly alter and modify the layers of energy that surround each and every one of us. Reiki works on ALL levels for healing, both inside our bodies dealing with physical, emotional and mental healing, as well as, outside of our bodies dealing with the many layers of our aura (our first defense against disease and illness).
Exercise 4:
To help you experience the possibilities of working with the energy, I want you to do the following exercise: Rub your hands briskly together again. Bring your minds focus to your hands. Take your hands and place them, palms facing each other in front of you. I want you to play with this energy by pulling your hands apart and bringing them together. You can play with expanding the energy in front you. Make the energy between your hands larger and larger each time you come together and pull apart. You can also compress this energy into an egg shape of concentrated energy and place this egg of energy into a particular body area, or organ. It is very helpful in your Reiki practice, to become familiar and learn to work with energy. It is NOT necessary to become an energy expert in order to practice Reiki; it is just one more tool you can place in your little black bag of healing systems. Write down any sensations or experiences you had while doing this exercise: ________________________________________________________ Reiki, in practice, is a safe, natural, and holistic way of treating yourselves and others from many acute and chronic conditions. It helps to brings about physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well being. Conditions that Reiki may improve include stress, menstrual problems, pain, insomnia, anxiety, tension, headaches, asthma, anxiety attacks, intestinal gas, etc. Reiki is not a substitute for traditional medicine. No Reiki practitioner should ever tell a client that they can cure an illness or advise their client to stop taking any prescribed medicines or to stop seeing their doctor.
This is very bad business, and the Reiki practitioner must stay out of the choices their client's are making.
The History of Reiki
As the story goes.......Dr. Mikao Usui, a 19 Century Christian Monk was teaching his class one day when a student asked the question, Show us the methods that Jesus used to heal the blind and walk on water. Usui answered that he did not know how to do these things but had faith that Jesus did indeed do these things. His students replied, We do not want to live on faith, but we want to see with our own eyes. This prompted the good doctor to find the answers that he himself had been asking. Usui believed there was a system of healing out there in the world and He began his journey to find that system. Usui's journey led him to America where he attended the University of Chicago and became a Doctor of Theology. He still had not found the answers that he was seeking in Christian writings regarding hands-on healing so he traveled to North India. He studied the Holy Writings while he stayed there. He still received no answers. He then returned to Japan where he started to translate Sanskrit Buddhist Sutras where he found formulas and symbols. Having found the symbols, he needed a way to activate them. He decided to do a 21 day fast at the Holy Mountain of Kuriyama. He set out 21 stones in front of him. Each day he would cast out one stone. On the 21st and last day of his fast and meditation, he saw a shining light coming towards him at great speed. It struck him in the Ajna center (middle of the forehead) and knocked him unconscious. He saw millions of little colored bubbles that contained symbols in them. Along with the lights, came the knowledge of how to activate them. He had found what he was searching for. In ancient tradition, proof of receiving information from meditation was expected to occur in the occurrence of three miracles. According to the Reiki story, the following are the three miracles that occurred following Usui's meditation. (1) When Usui returned to natural waking state of consciousness, he was elated and began to run down the mountain. Being in a weakened state from fasting, he stumbled, fell, and his toe was bleeding. He instantly grabbed his toe in both of his hands and both the bleeding and the pain stopped. T his was the first miracle. (2) He was hungry and stopped at a wayside inn where the innkeeper told Usui not to eat such a large meal after a fast, but Usui ate and was not sick. T his was the second miracle. (3) The innkeepers daughter was in great pain from a bad toothache for many days. Usui laid his hands upon her swollen face and she immediately felt better. This was the Third miracle. Upon Usuis return to his monastery he decided to go into the slums of Kyoto to treat the beggars and help them to live a better life. He worked for seven years in an asylum treating many illnesses. One day he noticed some of the same people returning for treatments. When he asked them why they had not begun to live their new lives, he was told that working for a living was too hard, they preferred to beg. Usui was deeply saddened by this and wept. He realized that he had forgotten the most important ingredient in his healing work, gratitude. Ethical Principles of Reiki:
The Secret Method of Inviting Blessings
The Spiritual Medicine of Many Illness
For Today only, do not Worry, Do Not Anger Do Your Work with Appreciatiion Be Kind to all People
Show Gratitude to Every Living Thing
Say this in the morning and at night, with hands held in prayer,
Think this in your mind; chant this with your mouth.
By Dr. Mikao Usui
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