My Reiki Journey
My attunement to Reiki 1 began a formal training for something I knew was innate within me, healing with my hands and channeling energies to help me do it.
I had been stopping myself in my tracks, mostly when I spent time by myself in silence, intuitively imagining that I had my hands on peoples heads, foreheads, hearts, back, feet. All the places I place my hands now during a healing. For a while I went without questioning why? But I would burst into a wild imagination that I was doing something like that. Then wonder truly kicked in. It felt so real, so right. For years I had looked up healing courses, especially Reiki, but it was never the right time to pursue or believe. I still really didn't get the amazing power of energy healing and that it was what I was meant to do. It took me to really reach a turning point in my life for me to just do it. A crisis point, like so many people who do this work and healing.
Why read on?
The below is a personal journal that accounts for how long I trained for; how I felt and what I experienced throughout (this is not an outline or any content of the course itself). If you are currently on a healing modality learning journey, or have started one and come to a crossroads/ barrier or are curious about what this journey really means, then read on. I write this because an awareness that as you heal, you are healing many layers of you is needed. You will be faced with challenges and delight along the way, light and shadow, flow and massive times of questioning and it is important that you understand that you are not alone and you are supported. Whilst we have our own strength, the support of an experienced authentic mentor and team of like minded people is truly necessary also. And here's some of the reason why -
Reiki 1
Workshop: 2 x days
Hours 12 hours
Cost €195
Cleanse 21 days
How I felt after the 1st and 2nd days are hard to explain, I just felt different. I had the most 'weird' experiences and connections to spirits, Angels and source energy throughout the workshop and I knew that they wouldn't be the only time I'd feel that wondrous way. I had before but know I was doing consciously.
This was truly my solid foundation. After the weekend workshop, I whole-heartedly and habitually woke each morning 30mins earlier to sit in my meditation chair by my window that looked out upon the Phoenix Park and did my daily self-healing practice. It was the first time I experienced a 21day cleanse and I was intrigued and excited about how I would feel during and after, overall I felt physically well and emotionally and mentally clearer that the path I believed in my heart was mine, was for sure the one. It gave me more confidence and belief in myself. It helped my stress levels massively. So thus began my awakened soul that I had been not been honouring for years and most excitingly, but unbeknown to me at the time, it began to shake me so hard that all that was no longer working or for me in my life started to fall away, some quickly and shockingly and the rest, well the only way I can explain it that what I was holding on to for dear life because I 'thought' it was the best option to stay, was making me feel worse, less confidence, more sure of ego, is what I needed to move away from and it was definitely happening also. But afterwards I felt like I was on the journey by myself. My workshop experience showed me how to use the symbols and do a daily self-practice but how I felt and what I experienced after I did myself through a real desire to learn more and about myself and layers that needed healing! There was a lot more going on than what I had initially thought. It began with a true desire to heal my Throat Chakra little did I know there was so much more to it.
Reiki 2
Time from Level 1 - 3 months
Workshop: 2 x days
Hours 12 hours
Cost €245
Cleanse 21 days
I had been so committed to my practice and felt the benefits, I knew I was ready to move on. This was my decision, I don't remember being asked by anyone was I ready to?! The biggest realisation for me was that this was definitely the path for me, a huge part of it anyway. I did wonder though was there some or more assistance or guidance that was missing from the workshop and guess what? This was when I really used social media to my advantage and learned from it instead of flicking through it with no point or purpose. I loyally and yes Mon-Fri habitually did my daily practice and was able not to adjust ok for weekends or when I travelled (which was a lot, I love doing my self-healing on a plane). I was fully committed and knew that this meant I could continue on at what seemed to be a fast pace, but I was ready. I also did it because I knew it was working, I knew that by doing this I was getting the answers and moving. Patience became my middle name. I knew the more I practiced the more I was in flow and getting further into alignment. To be clear, I also felt stressed and very unhappy in a certain situation but there was a bigger picture and I had a plan, although there was no 'evidence' to suggest that, I just knew, I trusted my intuition and I believed in universal energies.
Reiki Practitioner Training
Time from Level 2 - 6 weeks
Workshop: 2 x days
Hours 12 hours
Cost €245
Mostly what I can remember about this is a lot of repetition from previous level and if I knew what I know now, I would have asked more relevant questions and asked to be guided differently. But in line with the Reiki Federation we had to do so many hours to qualify to become a practitioner and we also had to do this to be able to do the necessary case studies (12) to be able to receive a certificate and also to qualify to become a member of Reiki Federation this is optional but at the time was recommended. The practice and time spent doing healings on others was so beneficial as a refresher. Truthfully in some part I wondered, from a place of a lack of confidence, who made me think I was able to practice Reiki? However, I just knew that I was meant to. Every part of my being felt in flow with it. It seems part of a plan in the course I was doing but I felt so good about it and knew the response I was getting some people when I was giving them healings meant they felt it too that no part of did not feel it isn't right for me, it was in my path.
Seichem Levels 1, 2, 3 & Mastership including Practitioner Training
Time from Practitioner Training 6 weeks
Workshop: 2 x days
Hours 18 hours
Cost €295
Cleanse Level 1 1st 21 days; Level 2 2nd 21days; Level 3 final 21 days - 90 days in total
If this is the first time you've heard of Seichem, here is the briefest description. Reiki is the earth energy and Seichem is the other 3 fire, air and water. And WOW this really did bring to a head what needed to surface in me. It truly made me make a decision but intuitively I knew that it was not going to be the smoothest of endings but I was able to handle it, I had the power. My daily practice and continuance was giving me strength, and when I say I needed it, I truly needed it like never before because in some parts of my life I felt very stressed, under appreciated and absolutely not seen, I had started to dull my light in that experience in a way to protect myself. I was listening and trusting that all was going to be ok, but oh boy did my patience at times feel like my resilience was out of balance.
This is truly where I felt in my path that all the work I had been doing and the commitment to my practice meant my own intuitive ability came to the forefront. Whilst I was definitely experiencing overwhelm and stress, I got an immense strength and inner power to see a situation through and get the best outcome for me, whilst it was so hard ( and that's a polite understatement) I knew the why and that was why I was able to do it. I experienced freedom but once against experienced a power struggle that was going to be a huge life lesson for me and one that I now realise I had experienced in past lives, so some major healing to be done there. The workshop also included psychic surgery and it really did have a deeper profound effect on me than I gave it credit at the time (because truthfully a lot of that weekend is a blur).
I don't always use Seichem in my Reiki healings, but there are clients who come and I know that is what is being channeled for them. I'm not sure that during the workshop I truly understand why I was learning it, we were shown how to rather than why but I did that work myself and understand now why I did it and why I chose it as part of my healing modality training rather than just falling for the marketing of the workshop! It was also a time when I understood that Reiki may not and would not be the only modality or type of healing I would learn, teach or use. I met some wonderful new friends, colleagues, mentors, teachers and healers around this time and so many of them have had such a profound effect on my life, for the best of-course.
It was also in this time that my back pain reared it's ugly head and I sought healing from a new healer in my life one who I had been looking at for a long time. That person truly helped to bring healing to me and continues to be one of the most significant teacher, mentor, friend and healer in my life to this day. In this time and the time after my Master level i needed that person just as much as everything else. A major lesson for me that the right people in my life was so important. I had realised so many were not and some were easier to let go of than others.
Reiki 3 Mastership
Time from Level 2 - 6 months
Workshop: 2 x days
Hours 18 hours
Cost €345
Cleanse 21 days
I knew it was ok for me to move to this next level, I was doing the work and practicing. Like most people that had started my Reiki healing journey with me (you know who you are) we knew no one else in the class. We were all a little unsure and shy but we all knew our life had to change, and that we had the power ourselves to do that with some help along the way. That 'some' way changed my life, for the absolute better. It began with Reiki. When we went around in circle, as we did at the start of each weekend, I remember the face of my teacher who was shocked that I said how my life had changed for the better but in some ways not the way I would have hoped it went. Reiki really had shook me and some of the ways were not smooth. In some parts the dramatic changes brought along trauma, shock, stress, and I now see I experienced a healing crisis. Some of the people who I had started my journey with and attended all the workshops with, expressed that they had experienced similar feelings and emotions. No-one went into the details (neither did I) but we all just knew that the road had been immensely healing, changing, and at times hard along the way. But we were all there. We made it. We were all so proud of ourselves and I look at some of those people now and can see that like me, it was worth it. We could accept what happened to get us there and we had dramatically and for the best changed our lives for the better.
What I know for sure now, is that it doesn't have to be that way. That is why I mentor and why it is a huge part of all the workshops, programmes or relationships I have with all my clients. (That is of-course optional in all cases but in teaching Reiki, a check in service is a part of the programme*) And for that I am so grateful. Receiving the Master attunement was so powerful, I remember it like how I received the attunement in Level 1. After I was so proud of myself. I had believed in myself and I did it! And I am doing it! After it I again felt different for the better, I was definitely more connected to source, more aware of my 4 bodies and able to find the true teaching it needed to show me and that also flowed with more ease. My heart was fuller and I knew that I was part of something that was bigger than me, my part in the universe was important and I knew I was doing what I was meant to be. There was no doubt I was in a better place in my life than when I started, but I still had lots to figure out and that was ok. What I know now is that life is a journey, once something is figured out, something else comes up and I am embracing that. As a Healer that means healing layers, and that doesn't have to be thought as a negative thing I'm embracing it all. And my soul is thanking me because as I do the work my soul moves in the path I chose in this lifetime.
The lessons I learned to take through to my own courses
This is truly some of the most crucial lessons I learned and how I am able to support other people with their Reiki journey
Each training level cannot be thoroughly given in less than 2 days
Spiritual Mentorship is absolutely crucial to my programmes and to a students development. I must offer a support service to check in with my students or clients along their path, where they can ask questions about the course content and their own experiences and journey
No ones experience is the same so there needs to be time to listen in the workshops and after/between levels
Checking in between each level that everyone's own self-practice is going well, especially over the 1st 21days after each attunement whilst they are experiencing the cleanse is so important to ensure that it is ok to start the next level and providing support where needed. Some people need longer in between and that is ok.
If you are training to practice on others and it is so important to understand what it is like to receive an energy healing, having had one and continuing to have private healing sessions is a huge part of the journey as a student and teacher/practitioner
Not everyone will become a Healer or Practitioner and that is ok. Level 1 is enough for a self practice. Not everyone will become a professional Healer and that is ok, you can become a Master and not practice for a living. It is also ok to ask for money for your time, energy and expertise because of all the work done behind the scenes.
Reiki will improve your life, but like the other work I do it will expose what needs to be healed and an awareness that is the case before is necessary. Intention will keep you guided and supported and support by a Mentor if you are on a spiritual journey is so beneficial.
If you have any questions or queries or just comments please do share them with me, I'd be honoured to hear from you.
Your journey will not be like mine. But you will experience light and shadow, love and fear, passion and lack of motivation. There both come but I can honestly say, in my experience the light always shines brighter.
Dates for my Reiki courses and other workshops etc on my website and Facebook page.
With gratitude
Ciara ✨
All workshops were in accordance with the Reiki Federation of Ireland