– Reiki for a Better World –

Leiston Abbey Suffolk 14 -17 November 2013

From mid afternoon until dinner people began to arrive from all corners of the UK, Europe and indeed the world, at beautiful Leiston Abbey – in readiness for this special weekend led by Phyllis Furumoto, Ben Haggard, and Jessica Palin. Leiston Abbey has been a place of spirituality and prayer for centuries and its atmosphere was part of the Reiki greeting as we assembled for what was a remarkable time of exploration.

During the first evening we formed a circle and Phyllis introduced the topic and the three workshop leaders. The following morning we created a new pattern when the group halved with one group sharing ideas and concepts with Phyllis and Ben and the other working in a circle with sound and percussion instruments with Jessica. During the afternoon the groups swapped and complemented the mornings work with the other workshop.  Thus a sharp contrast was set up between working with the ‘mind’ and complex ideas that influence and reveal the way in which our Reiki practice is held, and working with the ‘body’ and the individual and collective sound created by percussion instruments. The impression of the interplay between the two groups was pivotal to the work of the three days together and made complete sense when experienced as a whole.

Ben with his gift of communicating deep and profound ideas with simplicity and clarity, introduced the morning session with a concept called ‘nesting’ illustrated with three circles (an inner, middle, and outer circle). He explained, “All living systems are nested within larger living systems and contain smaller living systems nested within”. He then took this understanding into thee levels of participating with the gift of Reiki.

The first level or circle is I have Reiki and I practice on myself.

The second circle is taking the practice to others, working with organizations becoming more visible etc.  By necessity both of these still involve our ordinary BEING and ego.

The third circle is when you embrace the first two circles and much more and suddenly you have a bigger picture and Reiki!! Here we can listen to the voice of Reiki as it has called us all along without the filters of our ordinary levels of practice and participation in Reiki.  This is a mystical place where more becomes possible in a way that is hard to understand in the lower circles.

I for one became acutely aware and disturbed at just how ‘domestic’ my Reiki practice is.  I began to see how my first level or circle of participation attempts to bring my experience and understanding of Reiki down to my level. This does not limit Reiki; but I am limited within my practice of the unlimited! I asked myself the question -what would Reiki within me, within us, be like if I / we could acknowledge the utter universality and scope of Reiki. What would we hear, what would we do, what would we BE?  What impact would this have on the state of the world around us?

The sound percussion workshop was a complete revelation once I got out of my first circle and let the joy of movement and sound speak for itself. Then I had the possibility of a different listening. Here we were creating both individual and collective sound and music that was both personal and but part of the greater whole. It was amazing how everybody’s contribution to the greater sound worked and became harmonious!!! It was joyous! This was collective sound, part of a global sound and music to be. There were many octaves within the musical part of the weekend, just as in Reiki there are many octaves or circles depending on our listening.

In closing Phyllis talked about the ‘reality’ or ‘non reality’ of ‘Reiki Home. This seems a vast subject that embraces the idea of a place on a level where Reiki is a powerful container for the practice as a whole. Phyllis spoke with complete openness about something – which can only be understood from a much deeper part of our listening and practice calling us moment by moment as Reiki always does…

Gordon Melvin

By the way, “Reiki for a Better World” is coming to Arizona February 19-23.  Link to information and registration:

http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=pvbnd7eab&oeidk=a07e7oydee8ae8720da