First Published – Reiki News Magazine, Winter 2018
Download the Article PDF
IN THE FALL 2018 ISSUE of Reiki News Magazine, my article, “Reiki for Spiritual Guidance,” mentions, “A second way that Reiki energy can be used for spiritual guidance is to enter a journey state.” I defined a journey state as when a person enters an altered state of consciousness to connect with other spiritual dimensions and spiritual guides. The common intention of a journey is to obtain spiritual guidance, information, healing and empowerment from a higher source of consciousness.(1)
In this article, Robyn and I will present specific instructions on how to journey with Reiki, sharing our experiences and preferences, as well as techniques you can use, including imagination, invocation, conscious intention and use of the Distant symbol.
Colleen: A Reiki journey is a technique you can use to receive spiritual guidance and information from the highest sources of consciousness. It is a method for accessing realms of spiritual knowledge not easily achieved in your ordinary mind.
Robyn: A Reiki journey is a skill I am focused on developing. At the age of 34 years old, I recognize that it is important to listen. I have an analytical mind and am learning how to give my heart an equal voice. A Reiki journey takes me deeper into my heart. As the Reiki energy aligns my head and heart, I have an opportunity to hear what my heart says about what my head is telling me!
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye.
—ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY
Journeying with Reiki is a tool to access spiritual guidance, and there are techniques you can use to develop your journey skills.
Colleen: A Reiki journey begins in your imagination. Your imagination is much more than what you use to make things up. Your imagination is another sense. Reiki activates your imagination.
Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For, knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” Allow Reiki to open your imagination and journey to amazing spiritual experiences.
Robyn: I feel that Reiki has healed my imagination. When I was young, I thought that artists, musicians, actors and other creative individuals were a type of people who had powerful imaginations. I am a linear thinker, so I always thought I didn’t have much of an imagination. Now I see that my imagination is part of my practical, analytical mind too.
I like the Wikipedia definition of imagination, “Imagination helps make knowledge applicable in solving problems and is fundamental to integrating experience and the learning process.”(2)
Now I use Reiki, particularly SHK, to empower my imagination to help me achieve a Reiki journey state. My imagination also gives me access to practical information. It guides me to conscious choice and solutions for my daily life.
Colleen: An invocation is a type of prayer or intention that invites spiritual energy, states your intention and empowers Reiki in the space. Here are the steps in my invocation. Yours can be simpler. I happen to like a long invocation, but it also works as a single thought.
Robyn: My invocation is simple. I like to place my hands in the Gassho position, imagine the Reiki symbols between my hands, focus on my breath and ask to set my ego aside. I state my intention, and I ask to open the field of possibilities and to receive the highest source of guidance and consciousness. For me, it feels more like activation of Reiki and a statement of intention than a prayer.
Robyn: I like to set an intention at the beginning of my Reiki journeys. I have lots of questions about my daily life. My intentions often center around self-evolvement through my practical decisions and choices. I ask to clarify my daily priorities with my family and two-year-old, building my Reiki practice, all while enjoying life. I also have intentions for our earth and helping others use Reiki for their intentions too.
Indira Gandhi said, “The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” The questions I ask in my Reiki journeys are unlimited. I can ask anything. I also ask my questions and intentions to be revealed to me, too, when I don’t know what they are. My Reiki journeys give me a method and technique to listen for my answers.
Here are some examples of my questions—What questions do I need to ask right now? What is my next step? What are my solutions? What clarity do I need right now? What are the actions I need to take? What are my conscious choices? What is in my way? How do I accomplish my goals? Show me the love in this circumstance. Empower me with joy and so forth.
I like to think about setting conscious intentions. Now, when I make important life decisions, I “listen for the answers” in addition to “thinking about my answers.” A Reiki journey gives me the time and place to listen and to receive the answers and spiritual guidance about my questions so that I can determine my choices consciously. The information I collect during my Reiki journeys lasts long past the journey itself. More is revealed about my questions, days and weeks, even years later.
Colleen: The Usui Distant Symbol, HSZSN, is a bridge of light to the light. It transcends all time and space. When I journey with Reiki, I invoke HSZSN and imagine it as a bridge of light to enlightened spiritual realms. I walk across the bridge, and when I arrive on the other side, I am in what we call the third heaven. The third heaven is an enlightened spiritual realm where all there is, is love and grace. Once there, I can wander and explore this extraordinary spiritual realm. My mind moves into another whole state of consciousness, and I can listen for the answers to my intentions.
I have also used HSZSN as a bridge of light that starts at my ego and personality and ends in my spirit and higher consciousness. I use my imagination to cross over the bridge to my authentic self.
Robyn: I use HSZSN as a bridge of light as well. However, if I’m struggling, it can also show itself to me as a stairway to heaven and higher states of consciousness. This way, in my Reiki journeys, I can climb the stairs made of light and count to ten as I ascend. When I reach the top, I imagine myself in divine spiritual realms and higher consciousness, and say, “I’m there.” The act of climbing upwards and counting to ten helps me get there.
Colleen: Reiki creates a very safe journey experience. When you journey, it is essential to know the spiritual realms with which you are working, as well as which guides are assisting you. The terms spiritual realms and spiritual beings mean they are nonphysical locations and beings. There are many levels of consciousness in spiritual realms and spiritual beings. Reiki guides you only to enlightened or divine ones. The Japanese kanji for the word Reiki expresses this concept.
In Reiki the Healing Touch, William Rand talks about the meaning of the kanji for Rei, saying this about the upper section which portrays clouds—“The spiritual realms are represented and more specifically those higher areas of consciousness that are beyond ego. This area goes by various names such as spiritual consciousness, the Universal mind, God, the Supreme Being, the third heaven and so forth. It is out of these realms that creativity, genius, miraculous experiences, and spiritual healing originate.” Moreover, “The middle section… composed of three rounded squares… represents the healer, who is located between heaven and earth and acts like a bridge to bring the wisdom, guidance, and healing of heaven down to the people and living things of the earth.”(3)
William also states, “During the attunement, the Rei or spiritual consciousness… links the student to the Reiki source.”(4) This aspect is the greatest blessing of Reiki. The connection to Reiki consciousness, spiritual realms and beings automatically occur through your Reiki attunements, Placements and Ignitions.
The Reiki symbols contribute to the ability to journey with Reiki. You will activate them at the beginning of your journey, so their energy will automatically guide you. You will acquire greater knowledge about them as you develop more skill journeying. Reiki is overseeing the entire process, so you will be able to
observe how the symbols are working for you over time.
The Reiki techniques taught in Holy Fire Reiki classes provide Reiki experiences that contribute to developing Reiki journey skills. Experiences, such as the Ocean of Holy Love, guide students to the divine spiritual realm we call the third heaven. There they often meet the spiritual teachers and guides of the third heaven, enlightened beings such as Jesus, the Brothers and Sisters of the Light, the Divine Mother, angels, as well as the divine energy of the earth and the animal kingdoms. They spend time in silence and often receive profound spiritual guidance. The experiences begin the training in how to personally access these spiritual realms and guides in a Reiki journey.
Colleen: Music is a personal preference. I first learned to journey using a drum or rattle; however, now I use instrumental background music. I choose music that doesn’t influence my journey.
Two of my favorites are Julie True, Music to Journal By, and Reiki Chants, by Jonathan Goldman.
Many people prefer using a drumbeat for their journey. Michael and Arthur Baird teach Reiki drum journeying in their Reiki Drumming course in Sedona. I talked with Arthur after his presentation “A Reiki Drum Journey,” at the recent Sedona Reiki retreat. He said, “I grew up drumming with my dad, Michael Baird, so Reiki and drumming is a natural combination for my Reiki journeys. I use a modified shamanic journey technique using Reiki energy with which to journey. I set an intention with HZSZN and Holy Fire to deliver the Reiki energy on the sound from the drum. I like a drumbeat at 180 drum beats per minute in which I enter a theta state of consciousness, which is a meditative state. Science has proven that 160–220 beats per minute physically entrains the brain to theta state. When I make a Reiki drum journey, the drumbeat takes me into theta; then Reiki guides me in my journey. When I am journeying for others in a Reiki drum session, I bring the Reiki energy into the client at a deep physical level through the vibration and the sound of the drum.”(5)
Robyn: Sometimes my Reiki journeys are long, other times they are walking journeys. I can mentally activate my Reiki journey and keep doing what I am doing. Instead of quiet time, I take a few minutes and then listen as I go. My mom calls this Reiki-on-the-fly. Other times, I spend extended time on my Reiki journey. I enjoy doing it because I like that elevated state of consciousness in which I find myself.
In the Holy Fire II experiences, we journey for about twenty minutes. However, you can journey for as long or short a time as you like.
People sometimes ask if they will always “come back” from a journey. Reiki will always bring you back. Your body will also have needs that will always bring you back. It is okay if you fall asleep. The journey can happen on a subconscious level too. Ask for the information to be revealed to you regardless.
A Reiki journey is a method of observation from a higher perspective and can deliver answers to your questions and provide powerful insights and revelations. It is essential to understand that Reiki is still doing the healing and empowerment when you are in a Reiki journey state. Your Reiki healing is not dependent on your ability to journey. Instead, journeying is a rewarding tool for spiritual guidance.
I encourage you to read my article, Reiki for Spiritual Guidance, for more information about how and why a Reiki journey assists in providing spiritual guidance. It also talks about some of the critical skills to develop in journeying with Reiki.(6)
Listen to our podcast, Reiki Lifestyle®, for our guided Reiki journeys to beautiful spiritual locations.(7)
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 III Reiki including Holy Fire III Karuna Reiki®. She is also an Associate Teacher for the LightSong School of Shamanic Studies. Colleen lives in Portland, Oregon. You may email her at colleen@reikilifestyle.com, visit her website www.reikilifestyle.com, or contact her at (503) 912-0664.
Robyn Benelli is a full-time Holy Fire III Reiki master and practitioner in Portland, Oregon. She can
be reached by email at robynbenelli@gmail.com and by phone at (503) 912-0664. Listen to Colleen and Robyn on Reiki Lifestyle® podcasts on Reikilifestyle.com or Apple podcasts/Reiki Lifestyle.
Colleen offers Reiki training and Reiki sessions. She is a compassionate, conscious healer who has clients around the world. Her healing methods include decades of discovery into the world of Reiki, including the new and powerful Holy Fire III Reiki. Learn more >
