Observations—One (Reiki) Teacher’s Point of View: Part II

Waking Point

by Helen Noakes

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”—Vincent van Gogh

SAN FRANCISCO California—(Weekly Hubris)—8/1/11—I repeat, we cannot begin healing without confronting the lies we tell ourselves.

We’re told that the first step on the journey to mental, physical, and emotional health is the admission that one needs help. I believe that to effectively restore oneself, it is essential immediately to follow that first step with the admission that the self-deluded life we’ve been living is a lie. I believed it then, in that year immediately following my initiation into Reiki III, and I believe it now. Because everything I did in that year, and that I continue to do, reinforced the idea.

I worked on myself every day, both through meditative and Reiki practice but, also, through the daily repetition of a mantra taught to me by my Reiki teacher: “Every day, be a Master.”

To be a master with a capital ‘M’ is definitely not an easy task. I know that even after all these years of conscious effort and affirmations, I am far from that goal, but I also know that to move a few inches closer to it, one needs to continue striving towards it. Remember, it’s the process. It’s the daily strengthening of your purpose that matters. And each day, inch by inch, one gets closer to mastering those strange, sometimes elusive, forces of imbalance.

I said it requires patience, but it also requires discipline and determination, and the ability to see the process less as arduous work, and more as the joyous endeavor of freeing oneself of all the detritus that keeps one from embracing the deeply fulfilling experience of living life at one’s fullest potential. And there are other things the process requires; it requires courage, and an unwavering faith in oneself and one’s abilities.

I taught my first Reiki class precisely one year after I received my Reiki III certificate. It was a terrifying and exhilarating experience. Every possible doubt cropped up as I prepared for my students’ arrival. But I kept repeating the mantra, kept asking for spiritual witnesses to my work, for guidance and courage, and something quite strange happened when I saw my students sitting around me. I began the lesson and did not look at the carefully prepared notes that I was gripping until well into the first hour of teaching.

I had no idea what happened, but I found myself talking to each of the people gathered around me as if they were old friends with whom I was happy to share a gift. I spoke to them about the many aspects and manifestations of healing, of the workings of our miraculous system of body, mind and psyche, of the great power within each of us that can heal and eradicate imbalances. When I finally consulted my notes, it was only to be sure that I had covered all pertinent data related to Reiki I.

My students came up to me during the break and told me that I had addressed issues with which they had been struggling for some time. Each person who spoke to me about that first hour of class told me that they were sure I was addressing them personally. I was touched, delighted, and left wondering how that had happened.

That evening, long after everyone had gone, I realized that their collective energy dictated the direction of my introductory lecture. I also knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was my surrendering to a wisdom far greater than the one I felt I possessed that had led me to convey precisely the message that my students needed to hear.

As the years passed and numerous classes gathered, I realized something else quite remarkable. Each class brought together people from all walks of life, people who were strangers to each other at the beginning of the weekend, but who became close friends by the end of it . . . because they had certain issues in common.

I never know what those issues might be until after that first hour of teaching and I see the pattern emerge: one of my classes consisted of six mothers who were in various stages of separating from their children. The youngest among them was trying to wean her two-year-old off her breast; the oldest was dealing with the ordeal of watching a daughter die of cancer. In between were mothers who were sending their children to college, or whose adult sons and daughters were going off to other parts of the world. I watched the women bond, the older ones giving tips to the young mother about weaning her child, all of them sharing their love and kindness with the woman whose daughter was dying.

In another class a group of seekers gathered. It’s the only name I can think of that applies. It comprised men and women of various ages, who were searching for spiritual paths that would hone their psyches, give them strength, help them bring their particular talents into the world.

Something miraculous happens between a teacher and her students, something akin to an orchestra of divergent instruments playing in harmony. Invariably, a chord is struck, and we realize that each of us learns from the other.

I write this in hope that some of my Reiki III students read it. I address this to the ones who have not gone past that initial fear and proceeded to teach. That fear, I assure you, is there to be surmounted. It is a healthy fear only if it is seen as surmountable, only because it keeps us humble, only because it leads us to elicit help from powers stronger and wiser than ourselves. It is those powers that give us the courage to proceed. It is those powers that open us up to our students’ needs. And those immense, wise, and effective powers are in you—in every one of us.

When a teacher knows she’s given her students all the tools with which to do their work, when she sees the tremendous potential in her students, it breaks her heart to see them demur and avoid using their talents.

That’s when I feel the need to demand:

What’s really holding you back?

Are you so vain, so fragile, that you fear failure?

Why do you think you’ll fail?

Have you so little faith in yourself?

Or are you afraid to succeed?

What right do you have not to share your gift?

Have you considered how many people you have not helped in your refusal to confront your fears?

Something compelled you to learn the process—why don’t you find that impetus and move forward?

I imagine that those questions are the lament of every teacher. My fervent hope is that they serve to dislodge a few people from the flypaper-fear that keeps them stuck.

I urge every one of my Reiki students to reach out and work on someone. Start with one person a month. You’ll find great joy in what you do.

To my Reiki III graduates, I urge you not only to give treatments, but to teach. Your fear is serving no one, least of all yourselves. And you know how much the world needs you.

To everyone out there sitting on a talent, afraid to share it with the world, stop being a perpetual student. It’s time to grow up and give of your gift. The rewards are exhilarating and boundless.

I have an urgent request of all of you. Whatever your belief, whatever your particular methods and talents, please apply yourselves to healing our nation and this troubled world of ours. Every day, take a few minutes, to do something positive. We may believe that, as individuals, we have no impact, but if each of us does one small thing, to follow the orchestral analogy, we can create a magnificent sound. Many blessings to you all.