The Weight of the Word

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In my other professional life, I write content and rules for games. Board games, mostly - social party games involving cards, questions, and friendly competition. I learned through having this kind of job that every word is important. Words for cards, questions and rules must be chosen carefully in order to be clear about how to play the game, and the meaning of each question. I really notice when I come across a game with poorly written rules or cards.

When I was in graduate school, I used to take Biblical text study courses. Studying Torah (Bible) is another very detailed word-based discipline. Every word is thought to be significant, and we would often debate why one word may have been chosen over another, and read about what the great Rabbinic commentators' thoughts were about these choices. Detailed text study gave me a profound respect for the process of choosing words carefully.

When I learned Reiki, I became fascinated with the studies of Masaro Emotu. He determined that words have energy. Positive energy and negative energy are emitted by spoken and written words. The words absorb the intention in which they are spoken or written and emit that energy to others, water, or where the words are directed. Emotu's experiments with water are truly inspiring. Some of them involved writing the word "Peace" on a piece of paper and affixing it to a container of water, and writing the words "You Fool" on another piece of paper affixed to a different container of water. The water came from the same original source. After a few hours, droplets of the water were quickly frozen and examined under a microscope. The water with the word "Peace" had grown beautiful detailed crystals. The water with the words "You Fool" had disjointed, chaotic pieces of broken crystals, and a muddy appearance. Other words were also used, such as "Hope," "Thank You," "Despair," and "War," with similar and predictable results. You can learn more about Emotu's various experiments with water here. What moves me the most is considering the implications that this experiment shows of how our word choices can affect others. Our bodies, the air we breathe, and our environment are all permeated with water. If energy, whether via words, music, or Reiki, make profound and measurable changes to that water, consider how that concept could become a means of making a positive change. Our words, thoughts, and intentions are at work improving the quality of water that is within others and the world, bringing about healing, beauty, and love. We are so much more powerful than we realize!

I regularly give healings with and teach a method of Reiki called Kundalini Reiki. I absolutely love this Reiki for its powerful and direct way to connect with the energy. It involves no symbols; needs no hand positions. You intend for the energy to affect an issue, person, or goal, and it flows. For me, it works instantly, and it seems to do the same for my students. When I'm teaching Kundalini Reiki, I use a manual. I did not write this manual, but found it after exhaustive research on the Internet. It's not the one I was given when I learned Kundalini Reiki. Let me explain.

Kundalini Reiki is a variant of the "original" Reiki, Usui Reiki Ryoho. It was channeled and developed by Ole Gabrielsen, and English is his second language. As well, he wrote the manual for someone who was already familiar with Reiki, probably Usui Reiki, someone who understands the basic concepts of calling in (or activating) energy, distance healing, and what energy healing is about. Therefore, these things are not covered much in the manual. I was fine learning from the manual provided, as I already was at Master/Teacher level of Usui Reiki when I took up Kundalini Reiki. However, I was interested in finding a more explanatory and better organized manual when I decided to teach this method of Reiki. I began my research.

I found another manual that had the addition of a Table of Contents, and some revised explanations for some of the healings, while retaining most of the original content. This was the best one I found and it was the one I started using for teaching. It's still not as explanatory as I would like.

The more experience I have teaching Kundalini Reiki, the more I find myself writing longer and longer emails to supplement this manual when I send the manual to my students. This is because even this manual is not very well written. Some of the explanations are incomplete, the wording is unclear, and I've found that it can be downright confusing in many places! As their teacher, I like to give my students the best chance for understanding what they will learn. My deep love and respect for this Reiki system drives me to keep teaching it, despite the challenges of working with the manual and trying to explain via email what it should say instead of what it does say. Even so, it's frustrating at times!

I know that I need to, and will, write a new and improved Kundalini Reiki manual. I owe it to my students, and I know that they, in turn, will find it useful when they want to teach Kundalini Reiki to others. When I do, I will mindfully select each and every word. I know that words have weight, energy, connotations, and divulge important information. I also know that the manual I write will be passed along to future generations of Reiki students who can benefit from learning this amazing Reiki modality by having a manual that is worthy of the method. I also think that a manual needs to respect the person reading it, meeting that person where he is and taking him to a place of deep and complete understanding of the method. It's a challenging task, and necessary.

Completing a new Kundalini Reiki manual is on my short list of priorities.

Meanwhile, I will continue to offer as complete guidance as I am capable of, and I appreciate my students' willingness to see the value in the method beyond the quality of the materials currently available. My individual attention and complete email support are key components of my teaching methods.

Blessings.