Live a Reiki Lifestyle

by Colleen Benelli 

First Published – Reiki News Magazine, Winter 2015. Artwork by Gaia Orion

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REIKI IS MY LIFESTYLE and my life management tool. I use Reiki all day long for everything. I am in a deep personal relationship with Reiki that guides me throughout my day. But in the beginning, I had no idea that Reiki would change my life so much, that it would become my lifestyle. In fact, I didn’t believe Reiki would work. I had no idea that it was possible to be connected to Reiki through an attunement. I was raised with the idea that I had to work hard and sacrifice if I wanted something; I had to do to earn it or deserve it or be good enough for it. So when I received Reiki simply by receiving it through an attunement, it completely expanded my belief system and opened a whole new awareness of possibilities. Reiki started to teach me how to receive as the first lifestyle change I experienced.

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Living a Reiki lifestyle gives me the ability to be who I want to be in this world. Reiki is a tool I use to manage my life. It enhances every part of my life. It heals the injuries and revitalizes my spirit. Reiki helps me stay in a state of listening so I can receive divine guidance and divine revelation…

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Receiving

Here is a quote from a previous article that I wrote in 2012:1

“What I have come to realize is that the real reason I couldn’t accept the idea that Reiki could just be given to me is that at the time, I was not very good at receiving. I now know that I didn’t have any concept that “receiving” would benefit me. I had never thought about it. I was always the giver, the independent one, the one who could do everything herself and didn’t need any help. In fact, I was a tremendous “over-giver.” I would give at great personal cost and not even think about how it affected me. If anyone asked me if I needed help, I would politely smile and decline the offer, saying, “No, I’ve got it covered. I’m fine, but thank you anyway!” And I believed it and was proud of this part of me.”2

If this seems similar to your story, consider using Reiki to heal and empower your ability to receive. There may be ancestral, spiritual or past life healing that is needed and that is hidden from you. Since I wrote the article in 2012, I have consciously used Reiki as a tool to ask for divine assistance to help me receive. I now say yes when someone asks if I need help. I also ask others for help when I need it. I graciously receive compliments and comfortably allow others to show appreciation to me, which used to be very uncomfortable for me.

Divine Revelation and Spirituality

Learning how to receive was probably the most significant change Reiki made in my lifestyle. At first it seemed that I was learning just about receiving for my personal relationships with others, but I found that it also changed how I receive from my relationship with God. Activating Reiki each day shows me that I am always connected to God so that divine guidance is available to me all the time. Divine guidance sparks divine revelation, which is a pure resource of information to guide my decisions, choices and activities from a much higher perspective than my own.

Reiki is a tool I use daily to connect divine guidance and divine revelation with my inner guidance. HSZSN and the Holy Fire Reiki Master symbol create a bridge of light that unites God with my spirit, soul and my ego. This inner spiritual unity provides the trust my ego needs to receive and follow divine guidance in my daily actions. When I invite Reiki into my day, my spirit is present and has a voice. It is more connected to God than my ego.

DKM connects the light of God with the light of my spirit. It is a treasure house for the great beaming light. HSZSN helps me to see the divine in myself, and then see it in everything and everyone else. When my spirit is present and active my life flows more smoothly. And if it isn’t smooth in the moment, then my reactions to my circumstances are more peaceful. CKR helps me have the physical abilities I need to take action based on the guidance I have received. It brings the power of divine love into every situation so that I am aligned and operating through love in my daily life. SHK helps me stay in a state of active listening and also translates the messages and revelation I receive.

Living my life through divine guidance and revelation provides ease and freedom. I always thought I had to figure everything out for myself, that I was the ultimate creator of my reality. Reiki has taught me that there are incredible spiritual resources available to assist me and highlight the path in front of me. I am able to receive, understand and implement the spiritual guidance intended for me. This allows me to simply follow a path rather than trying to navigate through the world strictly by my own will and desires. My ego is set aside, giving my spirit the bigger voice in making the decisions that create my lifestyle.

Resources

Reiki is a tool that has given me greater access to my internal and external resources. The deeper I go with Reiki, the more unity I experience with spirit, God and my worldly resources. The internal unity gives me a deep well of inspiration to rely on. Holy Fire Reiki connects me to the Holy Spirit as a resource of love and joy to guide and manifest my life goals.

Each of the Reiki symbols is an external resource of life force energy that gives life and vitality to the life force energy within us. I invite in the Reiki symbols and I receive a variety of gifts from each one depending on what I need in the moment. I may need spiritual, physical, mental or emotional guidance, and I may need the resource from the spiritual world or the material world or both. Having Reiki engaged aligns me to the resources available and necessary. If the resource I need isn’t available to me in the moment, Reiki will help me heal and empower me to develop the resource I need.

Worldly resources are also necessary in life, and Reiki has certainly guided me in creating my material world. Reiki has helped me manifest the lifestyle I envision. I am very blessed with a good life, lots of love and the ability to live my heart intention; to be the change I want to see in the world and to spread Reiki in the world for the children.

Reiki helps me listen for the solutions I need each day. Listening is one of the most important qualities and skills I have developed. Active listening allows me to receive guidance on my priorities in each moment. It guides me to the actions and the doing-ness of my day. Reiki and listening give me clarity and clear access to my resources, both internal and external.

I wrote about the art of listening with Reiki in an earlier article. Here is what active listening can add to your life.

“I love that I have become a person who listens. It has brought me great joy and personal freedom. When I am listening, I am present, my senses and perceptions are heightened and awake. I can hear myself think, and I can dialogue with my heart. I can hear the world around me, and I am in the moment. Spirit and my Reiki guides can talk to me because I am listening for them. When I listen to others with my full attention, they know they are being heard, which makes it easier for them to speak from their hearts, and easier for me to understand them.”3

My lifestyle is more peaceful because I listen. There is so much more to life; blessings are more apparent because I notice them. My mind chatter is quiet. I can hear the people around me. My relationship with God is more available to me.

Relationships

My lifestyle includes a lot of family, friends, colleagues and community. Reiki is active in all of my relationships. I am fortunate that my family loves Reiki too. Most of them have their Reiki attunements, even my nieces and nephews. Each works with Reiki in his or her own way, some use it a lot, others just a little. There is a heart connection between all of us through Reiki, a closeness even though we may see and live in the world differently and have different beliefs.

My 83-year-old mother has had a variety of illnesses, and I have been in intensive caregiving for her at different times during the past five years. I give her Reiki regularly and it keeps her spirit and vitality strong. My mom prefers Reiki while we talk, so I usually sit next to her bed and place my hands on the closest position I can comfortably reach, and we talk about whatever is going on that day. Reiki has made a huge difference in her recovery from very serious ailments. I keep it very simple with her and she responds beautifully to it. I don’t worry about specifically inviting all the Reiki symbols or using all of the hand positions. I just put my hands on and give her Reiki. Like Takata Sensei, “Hands on, Reiki on, hands off, Reiki off.”

I give Reiki to my grandchildren who are eight and four years old. It heals their skinned knees and tears. They usually just want a few minutes of Reiki when I give it. My grandson always asks why my hands are so hot with Reiki. I watch as they grow older and use Reiki to help them retain their childhood wonder and imagination. I attuned my granddaughter Eva and showed her how she could use self-Reiki to talk with Jesus when she is in her room at night. Reiki is helping her to remember how to do this. I told her that Reiki would help her align her imagination in a positive way. Instead of seeing the shadows in her room in the dark, she will see and talk with angels. And they will be there to reassure her and be her friend.

My husband Robin uses Reiki in his work. He owns Benelli Construction here in Portland, Oregon. The other day on our walk he said, “I think about the problems that need to be solved, I invite Holy Fire and then listen for the answers. It always lets me know the best way to handle the situations that arise.” Not only does Reiki work for the problems and issues, Robin also uses Reiki to manifest his business success. Just this morning, he talked about the difference in his business success when he actively uses Reiki. He invites the Holy Fire master symbol, which can present itself like a colorful flame, then steps into the flame and listens for his solutions. Reiki answers him with the best way to approach each circumstance.

Reiki Community and Goals

My heart intention with Reiki is to help create local, national and global Reiki community. In my vision, the communities will help to build Reiki as a mainstream practice and household word. Children will grow up and use Reiki for their healing, empowerment and spirituality and perhaps even support their lifestyle as a Reiki practitioner and teacher. That is my dream and why I spend so much time with Reiki. Our Reiki community makes my heart sing. Because I am a full-time Reiki practitioner and teacher, I spend many hours with the Reiki community. People from all walks of life, all ages and beliefs are interested in Reiki, how it works, how to learn it, how to heal from it and how to share it with others. Many people are looking for a tool like Reiki to help them in their daily life. They are looking for like-minded people who are interested in living a meaningful life.

Holy Fire is a fire of unity and is very involved in creating Reiki community. It showed me an image of a young tribal girl offering the gift of a hot coal to her neighbor, then that neighbor built her fire, and passed a coal to her neighbor. Holy Fire shows me that we are all community and there are enough resources for everyone to share. The belief in the fire of unity is part of my lifestyle now Spirituality and Healing Reiki has continued to evolve my spirituality through the years. Holy Fire Reiki has expanded my belief system again. Years ago, I distanced myself from my childhood religion and my spiritual relationships with Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit because of my own issues around the Catholic religion. In the quote above from my article “Listen with Reiki,” I mentioned listening to “Spirit and my Reiki guides.” At the time, Jesus was my main Reiki guide, but even though I wanted the relationship with him, I still kept him at a distance.

Holy Fire Reiki has been healing the separation and my spiritual relationships with Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. I work with these beautiful beings in all of my Reiki work and it is profound and very different than what I was taught as a child. Reiki creates a connection between my spirit and God in every aspect of my life. I can talk with Jesus again without fear or judgment. My relationship is directly between him and me. Reiki has created a path for me to know him from my own inner authority instead of an outside authority. Now Jesus is my main Reiki guide and this creates a much higher frequency in my Reiki work than ever before. This has brought great inner peace, as if I am finally resolving past issues probably from other lifetimes as well as this one. I love what I am learning now. Jesus was a master healer who said we could do what he did and more. He is teaching me what he meant by that. This enriches my life and fulfills my heart.

Conclusion

Living a Reiki lifestyle gives me the ability to be who I want to be in this world. Reiki is a tool I use to manage my life. It enhances every part of my life. It heals the injuries and revitalizes my spirit. Reiki helps me stay in a state of listening so I can receive divine guidance and divine revelation, and take action with the guidance. It reveals spiritual and material resources available to me. It helps me achieve my goals and manifest my heart intentions.

The Reiki ideas presented in this article reflect how Reiki is a lifestyle for me, but how you live a Reiki lifestyle will be unique for you. You will notice that the Reiki techniques I shared in this article were very general. There are many ways to use Reiki to enhance your lifestyle. Just invite Reiki in whatever way occurs to you in each moment. Experiment with ways to bring Reiki into your daily life. Play and learn from Reiki itself.

I do Reiki in every way I can think of. Sometimes I take a long time with self-Reiki and just as often I use Reiki on the fly. I simply invite Reiki in the best way for the moment. I listen for divine guidance in my daily life whether I am still or busy. I open my heart to receive and let God and my spirit guide my ego. It is quite a nice lifestyle to live.

1 Colleen Benelli, “Reiki and the Art of Receiving,” Reiki News Magazine Fall 2012. You can find this article on the author’s website, www.reikilifestyle.wpengine.com. 2 Art of Receiving, 27. 3 Colleen Benilli, “Listen with Reiki,” Reiki News Magazine, Winter 2007, 37. www.reikiwebstore.com/ProductPage.cfm?ProductID=668&CategoryID=39.

Colleen is the founder of Reiki Lifestyle and a Senior Licensed Reiki Master Teacher for the ICRT. She teaches all levels of Usui/Holy Fire Reiki including Holy Fire Karuna Reiki®. She is also an Associate Teacher for the LightSong School of Shamanic Studies. Colleen lives in Portland, Oregon. Join her on ReikiChat™, a free, monthly Q & A teleconference call, by going to www.ReikiChat.com. For all other information, Colleen can be reached by email at colleen@reikilifestyle.com, through her website at www.reikilifestyle.wpengine.com or by phone at  (503) 912-0664.

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