Why do we need attunements?

Originally Posted by Xan

Gee Troll... I'm a reiki master although I'm not involved with that method anymore... and I, nor any other reiki master I know, have never done any of those dramatic things you are claiming.

Reiki is a simple system for directing healing energy for yourself and others. If some people go all weird about it, that's not reiki but their own personal twist.


Xan

American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders : heading "Spiritual Emergency"
DSM-IV
Kundalini Awakening

Reiki is not a 'simple system blah blah'

its one avenue of a large number of various eastern meditation practices, like yoga, like Qi Gong, like Tai Chi,

and like those,
Acute Psychotic Manic episodes are common

Of what I can gather it doesn't tend to happen through a master-teacher relationship, but often happens when those students do work on their own

[Xan]

Acute Psychotic Manic episodes are common...

That's just not so, Troll. The great majority of people who practice yoga, qi gong, tai chi, reiki and other methods find they come more into balance and well being. That's why they are so popular.

Dramatic stories do get people's attention, but that doesn't mean they are the norm by any means.


Xan

Originally Posted by Xan

Acute Psychotic Manic episodes are common...

That's just not so, Troll. The great majority of people who practice yoga, qi gong, tai chi, reiki and other methods find they come more into balance and well being. That's why they are so popular.

Dramatic stories do get people's attention, but that doesn't mean they are the norm by any means.


Xan

No they are the norm

that is why it is in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual DSM-IV

Its just that not everyone is honest about it..
There are lots of doctors who have dedicated the better part of their lives to studying it

This is my criticism of reiki in particular : the delusion of it being purely good its a false dichotomy. it has also profoundly disturbed people


Korean Shamanism
Shinbyeong (spirit sickness)

The central feature of a shaman's initiation is her affliction with an illness known as a shinbyeong. This is also called the "spirit sickness" or "self-loss" and characterized by a loss of appetite, insomnia, visual and auditory hallucinations. A ritual called a naerim-gut cures this illness, which also serves to induct the new shaman.


Symptoms

The symptoms of a mudang's shinbyeong differ, depending on the mudang's cultural background as well as her surrounding environment. For example, in the most basic, frequent type of shinbyeong, the initiate is afflicted with the characteristic symptoms without apparent cause. The mudang cannot eat and becomes weak physically and psychologically. In another type of shinbyeong, these basic symptoms are preceded by physical illness. In yet another, the shinbyeong is caused by a psychotic episode. In a type of shinbyeong that is relatively rare, the mudang's mental state becomes weakened by an external shock. Another rarely occurring type of shinbyeong, called the "dream appearance type," the shinbyeong is triggered by a dream in which the mudang sees a god, spirit or unusual occurrence, accompanied by a revelation.
The symptoms of the shinbyeong can last a surprisingly long time: an average of 8 years and as many as 30. Most mudang have little appetite during their shinbyeong, some having indigestion and partaking in only a limited diet. The body of the mudang becomes weak and is subject to pain and cramping accompanied by bloody stool in some cases. Physical symptoms progress to include mental illness. The initiate has a generally restless mind and is said to experience dreams in which she communicates with gods or spirits. Eventually dreams and reality become blurred and the mudang suffers hallucinations. In some cases, the mental illness becomes so extreme that the mudang leaves home and wanders through mountains and rice fields. The symptoms are said not to be susceptible to normal medical treatment and such treatment is believed to only exacerbate them. Rather, the symptoms are to be cured through the gangshinje, a type of gut in which the mudang receives her god or spirit.


Religious aspects

In the tradition of Muism, the shinbyeong is considered a structured religious experience demonstrating the vertical connection between god and humanity and showing that "god in some form exists in human consciousness." It is a form of revelation that causes the shaman to become one with god and, consequently, change her patterns of thought. The shinbyeong is dissociated from reality and enters a higher form of consciousness.

I've had reiki attunements from three different reiki masters and I don't offer them fealty of any kind. I had no further contact beyond the attunements with the last and the first one a couple more after the attunements because she was sending healing to my newborn daughter who was in NICU. The second reiki master (who gave me my level 2 attunement) was a very warm and sweet lady I made contact initially for healing for my daughter's eyes. I then received the attunement and I would go over to her house for monthly reiki shares. I've not spoken to her in about 4 years now.

I'm not sure where you got your ideas and views on reiki and reiki masters but for myself, I can tell you that none of it is true.

iolite,
After being attuned do you do routine rituals of reinforcing spiritual power over distance?

I didn't mean my reply to be so dramatic but reiki does rely on two people being open to one another, and it is possible to be closed off. I've experienced it and had to direct my focus elsewhere.

Sometimes you don't necessarily get along with your master and you're forced to break ties

No I don't do any routine rituals, other than having coffee every morning. What spiritual powers need to be reinforced over distance? Energy knows no distance. Energy follows thought. I do distance healing quite easily and without any rituals. I wasn't forced to do anything. I just never saw the need to keep up contact with my teachers.

Originally Posted by Xan

Acute Psychotic Manic episodes are common...

That's just not so, Troll. The great majority of people who practice yoga, qi gong, tai chi, reiki and other methods find they come more into balance and well being. That's why they are so popular.

So called healing crisis' are very common.
One could ask when does a healing crisis become a psychotic episode?

[Uma]

Originally Posted by Rin

So called healing crisis' are very common.
One could ask when does a healing crisis become a psychotic episode?

Wow - so much confusion about all of this. I'll try to separate everything so we're talking about the same thing.

healing crisis
- this is the releasing of toxic things (thoughts, emotions, toxic cells in the body) that proceed healing
- it is usually associated with things like fasting, things to do with the body

crown chakra energy = reiki energy
- this is pure Spiritual energy (chi, qi, prana...) that comes from the Source of everyone, accessed through being in a state of meditation, prayer or perfect attunement with a reiki master or symbols

any healing energy = positive heart chakra energy = love
- this can be reiki also if done with the intention to bring out the purest most divine qualities, but strictly speaking is an emotional surge coming from your own being (reiki is that too but with the added dimension of infinity)
- crown chakra energy may also come through the heart chakra

kryias (DSM-IV, Code V62.89) = spiritual experiences that cannot be explained by medical science (read this article: http://www.spiritualcompetency.com/jhpseart.html which is a complaint that hardly anyone exists neither in the medical establishment nor in the clergy who is competent to treat this)
- these are energy experiences manifesting at the level of body, mind or emotion
- when they come about before the person is ready they can create problems (Gopi Krishna wrote about this in Living With Kundalini)
- when awakened naturally (without forced methods like pranayama and bandhas) through the guidance of a master, all kryias are beneficial and lead to higher consciousness
- the purpose of kryias is to purify the body to receive more energy and higher consciousness
- the tantric view of the universe is that all is energy and information (the two go together like wife and husband)
- the purpose of spiritual enlightenment is not to acquire kryias but to come into a space of the peace that passeth all understanding (which is a space of pure silence, of pure meditation)

psychotic episodes
- this is dealt with in the rest of the DSM-IV manual
- people who are schizophrenic, psychotic or take drugs should not be doing practices that can produce kryias

shamanism
- this is a practice of going into trance states in order to access information from the great memory field of the universe (the causal field)
- it is usually done as part of a cure, looking for root causes such as karmic issues, soul retrieval...that kind of thing
- shamanism is a risky practice for the shaman because it is a type of channeling in which the person loses conscious control (to a degree) opening themselves up to any outside guidance rather than their own inner Kundalini

Now...spiritual energy is spiritual energy but when you take something that is very pure and noble and good and channel it through something that is tainted, selfish, impure...or immature or incompetent to receive it...resistance is going to happen. There will be pain instead of happiness.

A good lightworker, a good energy master will admit to their limitations and will try to discourage dependency on them. A true master will lead you to the master within. Their purpose is to awaken the flame of spiritual light from the Source that is dormant within you and to guide you in how to allow this light to grow brighter...and through this process eventually lets go your hand so you are flying by yourself.

This is a lot of stuff condensed into a tiny space but just to give you an idea and not to lump everything into one category!

There is no need to fear spiritual energy - it is the power of God - it is the light of all things. But it is important to respect it!
and in general like attracts like...positive intentions, positive behaviour will attract positive energy; negative intentions, negative behaviour will attract negative energy (and "negative energy" is a misnomer but that's another discussion and this post is already too long)

Originally Posted by Uma

Hi kimmery,

I'm so glad to have an opportunity to share this as my spiritual teacher explained it so clearly to me.

Reiki literally means spiritual energy. Where does all this spiritual energy come from - the same energy that powers up the entire universe - all the planets and stars and every flower and everything? There is one Source. Everything emanates from that one Source.

In meditation we try to touch that Source - that is our highest God experience. But not everyone can do it, so we connect to that Source through beings who are directly connected to it all the time. That's the idea of attunement. It doesn't matter what lineage you go through as long as two criteria are met:

1. Your heart chakra must be open. This is what allows your energy field to enter the energy field of another person.

2. You are attuned to a person or the reiki symbols that in turn are connected to the Source.

All it takes to become attuned is a receiver and a transmission source. If your heart chakra is awakened and you are a willing receiver, you can connect with that transmission source. This could be Jesus - you don't have to pay $10,000 for an attunement (which is highway robbery if you ask me).

The way to test whether it is working is to try to reiki somebody. If you feel energy flowing through you and if they feel it too, you'll know you are powerfully attuned.

I detest how reiki has been packaged by marketeers who make it sound like you need this course and that course etc. Once you are attuned, you are attuned - the rest is just variations on a theme. If you want to waste your money this way, go ahead - that's your choice. I have no problem with paying someone for their time and services, but not for the energy - which belongs to all. That is free.

Basically i learned the basics. Through a online reiki course. The rest i learn by doing and practicing as much as possible.

I also ask my teacher as many questions as possible.

[Xan]

Excellent presentation, Uma. Thank you. I'm sure I'll pass the information on to others from time to time.

I like this especially:

kryias = spiritual experiences that cannot be explained by medical science
- these are energy experiences manifesting at the level of body, mind or emotion
- when they come about before the person is ready they can create problems
- when awakened naturally (without forced methods like pranayama and bandhas) through the guidance of a master, all kryias are beneficial and lead to higher consciousness
- the purpose of kryias is to purify the body to receive more energy and higher consciousness
- the tantric view of the universe is that all is energy and information (the two go together like wife and husband)
- the purpose of spiritual enlightenment is not to acquire kryias but to come into a space of the peace that passeth all understanding (which is a space of pure silence, of pure meditation)


I have often said that in our awakening awareness and subsequent energy shifts, resistance will always come up in one form or another. If there were no such resistance we would all be fully free already.

Moreover, there are ways to ease through the difficult parts... the simplest of which is breathing in the belly and simply allowing it all.


Xan