As a Reiki practitioner, I have been offering reiki sessions for clients with my understand- ing of the Buddhist concept of suffering and how surrendering allows flow into the present moment. In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths say that we are in a constant state of wanting, longing, suffering, pain, and sorrow due to desire, and suffering will end if we stop clinging to desire.1 Many of us have goals, desires, and intentions for ourselves and our futures, but not all will come to fruition. Some of these goals and desires will need to be surrendered out for many reasons. Some goals we thought were so important and right at the time be- come obsolete in the present. Things are always changing in our lives, and there will always be something we need to release. Often this surrendering to what we have out- grown, or that which is no longer for our highest good, allows for the birthing of something new.
Most of us love having goals and being able to work towards them. Goals give us a purpose and a direction to move in, but when that goal no longer aligns with our highest truth, it no longer serves us. Unfortunate- ly, sometimes our ego gets in the way and can become attached to the goal or desire valuing it more than our highest truth. This situation often creates disharmony and anxiety for us. Reiki works as a soothing balm in the scary moments where we are afraid to let go of the known path and surrender to the unknown—that place where the next step is not clear, and we don’t know what will happen. This fear often keeps many people stuck in a rut, not moving forward, or able to live their fullest potential. Being human means growth and change, but we can often be stubborn, wanting things to stay the same and forfeit growth for security.
Surrender, in the Buddhist sense for me, means al- lowing a higher truth to reveal itself by letting go of the known. Often this means having faith and trust in our highest selves, God, All-That-Is, or Universal Love. Reiki contains Universal Love. Reiki calms me back into my heart in those moments when I don’t know what to do. It bridges the space and time before I know the next step to take after surrendering. Reiki feels like that part of faith that glues me back together when I feel like I have broken down.
When I got the calling from my highest self and All- That-Is to become a Reiki practitioner as my sole career, my ego resisted. I had been an artist and hairstylist for twenty years. At age thirty-nine, I felt the inner call- ing to surrender to a new career as a Reiki practitioner. Fear about financially supporting myself with this new career rose. My life went into disarray as I hesitantly accepted this healing modality of Reiki as a way of life. My relationship of thirteen years was no longer serving me and fell apart; I found myself so scared as I surrendered everything I had known, including our home together and my old career.
I found Reiki to be my loving, healing balm. I gave myself Reiki every morning and prayed for help in this transition to have the strength to face the unknown. I gave myself Reiki in the evenings, grateful for the new opportunities that appeared. I found an office to rent part-time from a friend to start my practice and found a new apartment I shared with someone in San Francisco. I realized that only in surrendering everything I had known could I begin the life I was meant to live. I was birthing a new me, a new career, and a new home in which to live. All of this was meant to happen, and I was meant to surrender the old ways to birth a new me. I love my life now, and I am a stronger person from going through this life change.
Many of my Reiki clients often need to release old ways and surrender to seeking new ways within them- selves for personal growth or sometimes surrender old forms of their lives. One client I was offering Reiki to was holding on to a partner that had broken up with her. She wanted to get back together and had much anger and blame. Reiki helped bring forgiveness to her heart and power chakra where she was holding onto her ex-boyfriend. Reiki helped soothe her through the fear of being alone. It filled her up with Universal Love in the places where she wanted the love from the old partner. After many sessions, she could surrender to let him go and move through the fear with the help of Reiki as the healing balm. I urged my client to do creative things to engage some joy in her life, and she started taking dance classes. She was smiling again and was finding a new sense of herself.
Another client had a goal to work in the business world. She went to business school and graduated with a degree. But as she tried working in the field for over two years, she became very unhappy. Then she came to get Reiki sessions to help her heal all the anxiety she had when going to work. During our Reiki sessions, her anxiety was released. She realized her heart wanted a job helping people more directly and needed to let go of the goal she had worked so hard for. Reiki helped bring compassion and forgiveness so her ego could surrender the old goal and see she was not a failure by leaving the business world. Reiki helped bring the loving balm to accept that she was meant to follow her heart. She realized she wanted to become a life coach to support people in finding a true path, a career that made others happy.
One woman came to me with so much anger towards her mother, who had recently passed away. Her mother had been a difficult person and had emotionally abused her, especially when she was younger. In our Reiki sessions, I worked on my client’s heart chakra. I asked Reiki to help her surrender to forgiveness for her moth- er. Reiki soothed her pain and hurt and softened the anger. Reiki helped her heart feel compassion towards her mother by understanding her mother had also experienced a hard life. My client cried when she surrendered out all the anger because it was then that she could feel the love she had for her mother. Reiki helped her to start the grieving process so that she could move forward in her life. Surrendering allowed all the blocked emotions to release through tears, and Reiki flowed through her.
Sometimes, the things that made us happy in the past need to be surrendered and released. If we get attached to something in our past that was wonderful and want to keep it with us as we grow, it might block us from new things that are meant to come into our lives. For example, I was in a spiritual circle of women I absolutely loved. The group lasted for about four years. We shared lots of dancing, drumming, singing, and creating ceremonies to honor Mother Earth. Unfortunately, I became attached to this group. As we all grew and changed, people went their separate ways, and the group naturally ended. I often found myself wishing we were still meeting.
I realized I needed to accept the truth that this amazing group was in the past, and I needed to surrender to being in the present. So, I asked Reiki to help me let go of my attachment to this spiritual circle of women. When I surrendered to Reiki, I soon found a new group to fit where I am now. I met writers who wanted to start a writing group with me to support and expand our work. My current writing group is helping me grow in many ways, and I am so grateful.
Surrendering with Reiki allows us to gently move into being more present in our highest truth. When we surrender, we find a humbleness that allows us to open to a loving path more easily. Letting go is often an important part of the life process that allows the journey of creating a new self and a new future to take place. I am so grateful to have Reiki as a healing, loving balm to assist my clients and me through the path of surrendering into the unknown so that a new self can be born.
Photos courtesy of Shekhina von Recklinghausen
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1 “The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path Explained,” Teachings of the Buddha, https://teachingsofthebuddha.com/the-four-noble-truths-and-the- eightfold-path-explained/.