Irises, Weeds, and Reiki Contests
- lisa b
- Jun 13, 2017
- 2 min read
Yesterday I was walking home and I saw these irises sticking out from behind a black gate. I walked around back, inside, to admire them. Irises were on my mind then, and today I found this poem, by my favorite nature spirit guide, Mary Oliver.
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Mary Oliver, Praying
I thought this poem to be a lovely parallel to the truth of Reiki, which gets lots of weird, confused press, but is actually just a simple meditation process.
As with any style of meditation, sometimes the experience is vivid and grand, like the short-lived blue iris. Sometimes it is dull and forgettable like the weed in the lot.
As a client or practitioner of Reiki, it is easy to be drawn into the “contest,” but resist. Weeds in vacant lots have their secrets for you, too. Do your work so you can hear them as loudly as the iris.
Reiki is a fun way to meditate because of its hands-on healing and community components. But you can also practice only sitting alone in your living room. You can slowly learn to let go of the bullshit that irises are better than weeds, or that someone is better than you. Or that you are better than they are.
As a matter of fact, this is what you do to practice Reiki even if you do want to share it with others, especially if you want to share it with others.
Would you like to learn a basic Reiki meditation? Join us!
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