So much of what happens in our lives is a matter of timing. We heal when we’re ready to heal. We learn our lessons at the exact moment we are prepared to experience the great aha!
The same is true when we embark on the path of the healer. Because the world has accelerated and our vibrations are rising as Lightworkers, it’s ever more important to embrace our gifts by allowing ourselves to process them fully. When learning the Usui System of Natural Healing, more commonly known as Reiki, we have a responsibility to honor the power of this amazing energy by integrating each of its levels or degrees before moving on to the next one.
Because I recognize the impact and power of each degree of Reiki, I teach the three levels successively allowing sufficient time for the cleansing and integration process between each class.
I remember well how eager I was to learn the second level after taking Reiki I. As a fire sign (Sagittarius) who wants everything to happen yesterday, I was champing at the bit. But I recall with equal clarity that period of processing after the first incredible Reiki class. During those first three weeks, I experienced some detoxification or clearing, which is relatively common. More importantly, I truly could sense the tremendous changes taking place as the energy became more and more at home in all aspects of my life. It was beautiful to experience the power of Reiki unfolding like the petals of a lotus blossom.
When I took Reiki I in 1997, I received four attunements—each one more potent and amazing than the last. There are Reiki Masters who shortcut this process and teach Reiki I in an afternoon offering only one brief attunement and little instruction. As a Master teacher, I prefer to honor the power of Reiki I by offering four attunements to my own students, just as I received, because I wouldn’t want them to miss out on any aspect of the full first degree Reiki gifts. I give the attunements over a span of time (Reiki I is a 10-hour class) along with the knowledge of how to use the energy more effectively.
On my own path as a student of Reiki, I waited a little over a month between Reiki I and II. My patience couldn’t hold out for longer, and I sensed intuitively that the time was right. Because I had fully processed the first degree energy, when I was attuned to the second level, I could distinguish the difference in the vibration of this life force energy.
To make an analogy to music, I liken Reiki I to middle C on the scales. Reiki II raises the vibration an octave higher, and Reiki III an octave higher still. Had I taken all the levels at once or too close together, I would never have known that first beautiful note that so graciously set the tone for everything that followed.
As an intuitive, I listen to my inner voice and connect with the Divine to seek insight and guidance. For me that wisdom was clear: To learn and to teach Reiki as a matter of degree—one class at a time on a path to greater enlightenment.
My inner sense is that those who learn Reiki as a brief workshop or take two or three levels at the same time miss something vital in the awakening process. A greater concern is that taking too many levels at once could cause an energetic overload unless the attunements given were far less powerful than those I received when opening to this wondrous energy.
I grew up taking piano lessons for seven years. My teacher didn’t start me out playing Bach, because I wasn’t ready for that. First I had to learn the scales. Of course, learning Reiki is much easier than learning piano. For many, it feels like coming home to the light of the spirit that has always been there.
The point is we need to ground ourselves in one level before moving to the next. For some, that time is shorter than for others, but the time required for processing, 21 days, has not changed in the years since I began teaching in 1998.
As a Reiki Master I place great value on each level of Reiki. Each has its unique resonance, its perfect flow of Light and Life Force. I invite those interested in opening to the gifts of Usui Shiki Ryoho to find a Reiki Master teacher who embraces the complete power of each degree of Reiki and honors its mastery.
copyright 2004 L. Diana Henderson, Reiki Master Teacher