Cleansing and Clearing
A Simple Breathing Technique
Here is a quick and simple breathing technique to help ground yourself, clear the mind and helps alleviate headaches. If you would like to, you can use calming, grounding statements as you breathe, as in the example shown below:
Inhaling (through left nostril, closing right nostril with right thumb), “I am breathing in calm” or “I am breathing in good energy.”
(Close left nostril with right ring finger) Exhaling (through right nostril), ”I am breathing out anxiety” or “I am breathing out bad energy ,” or “I am safe.”
Repeat rounds 6-10 times, focus on keeping breath smooth, deep and rhythmic. You will not want to practice this exercise if you have a cold.
It is not necessary to use affirmations with this exercise.
Source: Balanced Women’s Blog
Jyoshin Koki-ho
Jyoshin Koki-ho (Joshin Kokyo-ho) is a breathing technique. You breathe Reiki in through the nose through the crown and into the hara on the in breath. You breathe the out breath from the hara.
Jyoshin Kokiho is done to cleanse the spirit, heart and mind. It is a focus meditative breathing technique.
To do Jyoshin:
- Start by placing the hands in Gassho and your eyes closed.
- Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.
On the in breath, breathe in the light of Reiki through the crown and into the hara. Let the light fill your body completely transmuting all that is negative and stuck into light. On the out breath, breathe out that light and radiate it from you to all the universe.
For my sources see: Recommended Reading
The Kenyoku Technique
Also known as “dry bathing,” Kenyoku purifies body and soul. It strengthens your energy and helps you to detach from your clients, situations, thoughts, and emotions. It brings you into the present moment. It can be used before and after a Reiki session, and can also be used anytime you feel a need to release negative energy and/or nervous tension.
Kenyoku-ho is a technique to clear and strengthen the energy channels. The technique was common to many martial arts and chi kung schools such as JuJitsu, Aikidoand KiKo and was added by Usui.
Those familiar with the martial arts will recognize the two parts of this technique as common techniques. The first is a down block across the midsection (this technique is used in a variety of martial arts such as Karate, Kung Fu, Aikido, etc.). This down block is followed by what is commonly called in the martial arts as a “shirk” or technique to remove an opponents hand from your wrist that is done by sliding the knife edge of your hand down the arm.
Part One:
A. Place your right hand on the left shoulder so that the right fingertips are on the left shoulder. The hand is open, the fingers held together all point upwards. The hand (palm down) is against the body.
B. Slide the hand downward toward the right hip. Move the hand, going across the chest and ending up fingers down at the right hip. The hand (palm down) stays in light contact with the body the entire movement. (This is what is called an open handed down block in the martial arts.)
C. Repeat this process starting with the left hand on the right shoulder and going down to the left hip.
Part Two
D. Place the right hand again on the left shoulder. Slide the right hand down the left arm (inside or outside, each will cover different meridians) all the way to the fingertips. (This is what would be called a “shirk” in the martial arts, used to remove an opponents hand that is grabbing your arm.)
E. Repeat this with the left hand on the right arm.
F. Start with the right hand on the inside of the left elbow, and slide the hand down to the fingertips.
G. Repeat this with the left hand on the right inside of the elbow.
Note – Some masters teach the hand should slide to the inside of the arm and others teach it should slide down the outside of the arm. Different meridians are stimulated for each.
- The inside slide is yin and will effect the lung, heart, and kidney meridians.
- The outside slide is yang and will effect the triple warmer, colon and small intestine meridians.
It is interesting that this technique appears to have survived after a fashion in the Rand school that teaches to cut the cords on the solar plexus using a “karate chopping technique”
For my sources see: Recommended Reading
Gedoku-Ho
The Detoxification Technique.
The Japanese word doku means “poison” or “toxin” and the word ge means “to bring down.” This technique is used to detoxify a client or yourself.
Here’s how:
- Place one hand on the tanden and the other behind it on the lower back.
- Leave your hands there for 13 minutes while simultaneously imagining all the toxins leaving the body of the Reiki receiver.
- Encourage the person receiving treatment to also imagine all the toxins leaving the body.
You can imagine that the toxins are flowing out through the bottoms of the feet into the care of Mother Earth for purification and recycling.
When complete, give the client a glass of Reiki charged water, and encourage them to drink plenty of water for the next 3 or 4 days to facilitate the detox.
Also suggest an Epsom salts bath to be taken that evening. This will leach the released toxins out of the system, and the person will be physically more comfortable the next day.
You might also mention that a detox may have a physical effect on the body. The person might experience a “healing crisis” as the body adjusts.
If Gedoku-ho is done at the end of a Reiki treatment, or if it is done as a stand alone treatment, remember to sweep and seal the aura, and detach yourself.
If Gedoku-ho is done at the beginning, or middle of the session, you would then continue with the treatment. Always follow your inner guidance and allow yourself to be directed by Spirit.
For my sources see: Recommended Reading
Preparation For A Reiki Treatment
Before giving an intensive, or full body, Reiki treatment, it is important to prepare yourself.
Make sure the treatment area is as clean and as clutter free as possible. Even if all you do is clear off the sofa, this small step will help clear the energy around you and around the person you are working with.
Wash your hands, and rinse out your mouth with cold water. It is always important to do this before any full body Reiki treatment.
Close your eyes and focus on your physical body. Take three deep breaths and focus yourself on the work ahead, then say a silent prayer to ensure the best Reiki treatment available to them (or you).
You might also want to do Gassho, Reiji-Ho, Joshin Kokyuu-Ho, Kenyoku, or other forms of centering and meditation.
After accomplishing this, it is very important that you ground yourself. This keeps you present here on the physical plane. And if you are working on a client it helps you to keep them here. Without the grounding some people have a tendency to “travel out.” While this is not bad, it certainly can be difficult to “come back.”
When you are channeling energy, it is important to ground:
- Make a connection to Mother Earth.
- Stand with your feet flat on the floor, knees slightly bent.
- Visualize a cord extending from your Root Chakra going deep into the Earth.
- Down to the center of the Earth…
- Hooking or attaching itself to the Earth.
- Feel it.
Once you have made your connection you can then travel back up to your physical body and begin the treatment.
If, after a treatment, you or the client feel light headed and can’t seem to be present, here are a few suggestions:
- Eat a meal, but stay away from sugar as this tends to be in direct opposition to what you wish to accomplish.
- Take a walk indoors and become aware of the plant kingdom.
- Hug a tree.
- Take a shower.
- Soak for at least 20 minutes in a warm bath with 2 cups of Epsom Salts. This also helps to discharge toxins and negative energy.
For my sources see: Recommended Reading
Coping With Cleansing
Accept everything about yourself ~ I mean everything. You are you and that is the beginning and the end. No apologies, no regrets.
~Clark Moustakas
Do self-treatment every day, and be sure to drink six to eight glasses of pure water daily. This does not include tea, coffee, or any other water-based beverage.
Soak in a hot tub with 2 cups of Epsom Salts dissolved in the water. This facilitates the release of toxins, and will absolutely help you feel better.
It may also be useful to repeat the Reiki Principles to yourself:
Just for today do not anger.
Just for today do not worry.
Honor your parents, teachers and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show your gratitude to every living thing.
Living “just for today” you focus on the “NOW”. Anger and fear are replaced by love as your vibratory rate and consciousness are raised. But the shift is not always without pain or letting go of old patterns. In Reiki we call this releasing of old patterns, the 21 Day Clearing Process.
You will be lifted even higher when the transformation is complete. You may not recognize the new “You” at first, but trust me, you will never want to go back to that Old Self again.
For my sources see: Recommended Reading
The 21 Day Clearing Process
I like to compare the initiation process in Reiki to a vortex of Universal Energy pouring into the crown chakra. At each level of attunement, the vibratory rate is heightened, and you are able to tap into a higher, wider channel of that Universal Energy.
Some may experience this shift immediately, expanded color consciousness, a buzzing or heightened sensitivity in the crown center, or a sense of floating or light headedness. (It is important to remember to remove all jewelry, watches, and barrettes prior to any attunement as metals may create discomfort in the chakra areas.)
In order for the vibratory rate to be raised with each attunement, there has to be a clearing of old patterns and thoughts that inhibit the growth of the consciousness. This clearing takes place in an orderly fashion, proceeding up the axis chakras one by one:
Week one consists of one day each for the chakra center of the root, spleen, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and then the crown.
Week two begins at the root chakra and proceeds day by day up to the crown center.
Week three is a repeat of the other two. (This is the same cycle and procedure for healing acute dis-ease in others. It is best if they are treated for twenty-one days straight to clear the chakras three times each in order to remove old patterns and pain.)
I like to compare this chakra healing (clearing) process to a check mark. When making a check mark, you have to go down before you can go up. This process may prove to be uncomfortable for many people. As the blocks that are preventing your progress are brought forward, they are released by your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies.
The effects that you may experience are wide spread, and could range from irritability and crying to the inability to eat low vibration foods (like red meat). You may also be unable to tolerate negativity of any ki8nd.
Please keep in mind that this process is detoxifying your life. What you may feel as various degrees of discomfort during the 21 day “clearing” or “cleansing” cycle creates more space for transcendence. You experience a sort of Shaman’s Death, so to speak, to go far beyond the self.
Each attunement is life-altering. I ask that you embrace the 21 day clearing cycle as a glorious opportunity for soul growth. Honor the process and be kind to yourself.
For my sources see: Recommended Reading
- Cindy Plante: Gedoku-Ho
- Gregory: Natural Power Spots
- Alexander Boyd: The Seven Subtle Bodies
- Alexander Boyd: The Seven Subtle Bodies
- Alexander Boyd: The Seven Subtle Bodies