“Release into the pose.” How many times have I heard this gentle guidance? Yet, it is more than learning about the pose, it’s a mantra for moving through life. Even when addressing one’s health, release into the pose—the experience—is a foundation upon which to build our daily health practices.
It was sometime in my late 20’s that I first clearly experienced how the body is designed for healing. I was playing pick-up basketball; the running game was a thrill. As happens now and again, I sprained an ankle. I knew it was bad but my options were to quit playing and not be able to play for weeks or keep playing and at least enjoy the rest of the games before being laid up. That night as I lay in bed I heard myself say, “Well, I think it was worth it.” (Did I mention I’m a guy?) “Tomorrow will be interesting as to how much I’ll be hobbling.”
The next morning I placed my feet on the floor, followed most directly by my butt. I could not stand on my foot. Literally on my hands and knees, I made my way down the hall to my meditation pillow. “now what?” I asked. I decided to experience the pain – to release into the pose, so to speak. each time I felt the full essence of the pain, I would bring my consciousness into the core of the pain. And each time the pain became less. This went on for 15 to 20 minutes. What began as a radiating pain from the bottom of my foot up to an inch or so below my knee ended as a sensation the size of the end of my little finger just below my ankle. I picked myself up and walked into my day.
Truly, the body knows how to heal and is designed to continually move forward to optimal function. Trust, faith, and many times, forgiveness are the inner attitudes that are necessary for our healing. Stillness, presence, responsibility and inspiration are the actions that serve as catalysts of the healing process. Although each of these attitudes has multiple depths and dimensions, here are some basic, simple thoughts on each. The actions we shall address at another time.
Trust
As just noted, we are designed to be well. In fact, we have an innate drive to wellness. This means that when we trust ourselves, our true nature, we will always move forward. It also means we don’t need to create our health, just don’t get in the way of it. Therefore, the search for optimal well-being is also the search for inner truth. As such, when looking at healing the body or relationships, we must be vigilant not to get caught in a ‘truth’ that is not complete but only an insight. Although the insight may feel wonderful, many times it is the next step on the path to the deeper truth. For example, if I am feeling really sad and I go within, I may find a truth that I have felt disrespected and am angry at another person. This is a ‘truth,’ but only a truth on the way to realizing a deeper truth of feeling helpless. The feeling of helplessness is, of course, another step to a deeper truth. how do you know when you have reached the real truth of the matter? Trust the process and don’t stop until you see the light!
Faith
At any point in time, we all make the best choices we know how to make. When a disharmony is created at a specific level, we must go beyond the level of consciousness within which it was created and bring back tools from a different, preferably higher, consciousness to address the issues. hence, we search for insight, for an added supplement or medication, for a spiritual practice – and many times these are effective. What is taking place is that we go beyond our current understanding or skills and rely on something we do not fully comprehend. Going beyond what we are comfortable with and being open to a new influence is an act of faith. Yes, and courage, as well.
Forgiveness
When the heart is not fully open, it is hard for the body to nourish itself. When there is a trauma, the body protects itself from further harm by shutting down to some degree. We also internally become very vigilant about future dangers and therefore expend significant resources in keeping ourselves safe. This is all very normal and very wise. Yet, there are times when our healing calls on us to open our heart fully to the experience of the trauma. not to relive it, not to condone it, but to free ourselves from it. In energetic healing we do not need to relive the harshness of the trauma, but move beyond the yolk that binds us. Forgiveness occurs when we open our hearts fully to the experience and move beyond its influence in our lives.
One of the reasons I love to teach reiki energetics is because the reiki energy brings a higher God-level energy into the dynamics of the healing process that we are naturally designed to express. reiki means “spiritual life energy” and its teachings include an initiatory experience within which the student’s direct connection to divine energy is enhanced and reinforced. After the initiation, the student can place his/her hands on another and feel the blessings of the higher frequency of the Reiki energy. We can also place our hands on ourselves to boost our own energy field at any time or place.
As the higher frequency of energy is shared with the client, the Reiki energy brings balance to the energy field. As the energy field is balanced, this balance is reflected in the mental, emotional, and physical bodies of the individual. Can you imagine the benefits?
Imagine surrendering into the experience and having an additional boost of divine energy influencing the process. Trust is easier, faith is easier and forgiveness is easier. A major reason the process becomes easier is because we are changing the level of reality within which we are addressing the disease or disharmony. Using an energetic approach – the Reiki energy – we are simply trusting, placing our faith, and opening our hearts to our highest and best selves.
The terms “energy medicine” and “energy psychology” are being used more and more. This is a positive movement, to be sure. Energetics, however, is its own field with its own skill sets and approaches to healing. In
energetics, we are working with energetic principles, balancing the energy system. That is, we are no longer attempting to figure things out, as in psychotherapy or fix things, as in medical therapy – we are simply releasing into the truth of the pose.
Most who study yoga or other spiritual practices already understand the concepts of trust, faith and forgiveness in our lives. With these inner attitudes we move into a healing environment that includes the added frequency of higher spiritual presence – Reiki energy.
Further add into the recipe a compassionate practitioner and client self-awareness and we have the Reiki energetic approach.
John Kroneck has been studying and practicing Reiki since 1982, and teaching Reiki classes since 1990. Along with his training from the Reiki Plus Institute, John has Master’s degrees from Central Michigan University in counseling and public health education, with an emphasis in patient education. He is also a certified substance abuse prevention consultant and is a licensed professional counselor in Michigan. He is the author of “Reiki Energetics.”
