Seriously folks, what is that one thing that is holding you back from all that you want in life? Look inside yourself, and you will truly find the answer.

“Oh, but if it were only that simple.”

Excuses, excuses. I’ve heard ‘em and made ‘em. Visualize that which brings the churning anxiety deep within your stomach, ask your self what do you need to do to overcome it and if you listen long enough, you will hear your answer.

Trust me.

Namaste.

Reiki is an ancient, natural and simple form of energy medicine also known as “energy healing.” The word comes from the Japanese words rei, meaning “universal spirit” and ki, meaning “life energy.” In traditional Chinese medicine, this life energy is called qi or chi.

Reiki allows practitioners to serve as channels for this universal life energy, and the healing energy flows in a powerful and concentrated form through the hands of the Reiki giver into the body of the receiver. The Reiki energy vitalizes life force and balances the energies in the body. It is used to improve health and quality of life, reduce stress, and heal physical and emotional ailments. Its spiritual aspect is believed to promote harmony, self-awareness, creativity, and mental clarity. At times, Reiki is also used to impart a sense of peace to the dying.

Dr. Mikao Usui, the founder of Reiki, lived at the end of the 19^th century and was the director and Christian minister of the Doshinsha University in Kyoto, Japan. One day, during a discussion with his students about the healings of Jesus, they asked him if he believed in the Bible’s accounts of Jesus’ miracles. Usui answered that he did, and the students then asked whether he was able to demonstrate such a healing. Dr. Usui had no answer for this daunting question and began a ten-year quest to find and learn the skill.

Dr. Usui studied the Bible and various Christian scriptures, but he was unable to find the information he was seeking. He approached Christian authorities in Japan who told him that this form of healing was not talked about nor written. Knowing that there were noticeable parallels between the life of Buddha in India and the life of the historical Jesus, Usui was aware that Buddha had also possessed the power of healing. He searched for specific information on the methods Buddha used and was told by Buddhist monks that the ancient spiritual healing method had been lost, and that the only way to approach them was by entering the Buddhist teachings, more specifically the Path to Enlightenment.

Dr. Usui then travelled to the United States, where he lived for seven years. During that time, he entered the University of Chicago Divinity School where he studied comparative religions and philosophies and received his Doctorate in Theology. He also learned to read Sanskrit, the ancient language of India and Tibet. However, Usui still found no answers in his pursuit to learn the methods of Jesus’ healing.

Usui returned to Japan and took residence in a Zen Buddhist monastery where he found more scriptures describing the healing formula, which he now could read in their original Sanskrit. In one of these ancient writings he found the symbols and mantras which are the key to the Reiki system of healing. The material did not include, however, instructions on how to activate the energy and make it work. It is thought that the obscuring of such information was done intentionally to prevent such powerful material from falling into the wrong hands. So although Dr. Usui had finally found what he was looking for, he still did not have the power to heal.

Usui had befriended the Zen Abbot at the monastery, who was interested in Usui’s search of the Reiki healing method. On the Abbot’s advice, he embarked on a three-week period of meditation, fasting and prayer on Mt. Koriyama in Japan. He chose his meditation site and stacked 21 small stones in front of him, throwing away one stone at the end of each day to mark the time he spent meditating and praying.  On the last day of his sabbatical, he had a deep meditation experience and saw a shining light in the sky which moved quickly towards him.

This light struck his third eye (middle of the forehead), and he found himself to be in a state of extended consciousness. In this higher state, Usui saw many small bubbles of rainbow-colored light in front of him. Finally, a great white light appeared to him, in which, as if on a film screen, he recognized the familiar symbols from the Sanskrit sutras, glowing in gold. As he saw each of the symbols, he was also given information on how to activate their specific healing energy. It was the first Reiki attunement, the psychic rediscovery of an ancient method.

Dr. Usui left Mt Koriyama finally armed with the knowledge to heal as Buddha and Jesus had healed. Walking down the mountain he experienced what is traditionally known as the four miracles. First, he tripped and injured his toe and instinctively sat and put his hands over the pain. His hands became warm and the damaged toe healed. Next, he reached a dwelling at the bottom of the mountain that served food and drink to pilgrims.

He asked for a full meal, which was not wise to consume after a twenty-one day fast on water, but ate it without discomfort. Thirdly, the woman serving the meal was inflicted with toothache, and he healed her pain by placing his hands on the sides of her face. When he returned to the monastery he was told that the Abbott was in bed with an arthritic attack, and while relating his wonderful story of his experience on the mountain, he also healed the Abbott.

Usui took his newfound healing method into the slums of Kyoto where he spent several years giving healing in the town’s beggars’ quarter. After healing each of these people – those with deformities, missing limbs or with apparent diseases – he asked that they start a new life, but after a time he found the same faces returning. He began to see people that he thought he’d healed back on the streets begging instead of making an honest living.

The people themselves were angry because with their diseases healed, they could no longer make their way as beggars and would now have to endure hard labor to make ends meet. Saddened and discouraged, Dr. Usui left the slums, using his experience to justify the high price of Reiki training today (as much as $10,000 for the Master level) – the premise being that people would not appreciate the healing because they did not pay for it.

After leaving the slums, Dr. Usui became a pilgrim, taking Reiki on foot through Japan, carrying a torch and lecturing while offering healing. In this way he met Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer still on reserve status. Dr. Hayashi was also deeply clairvoyant and psychic. He worked alongside Dr. Usui for many years and in 1925 received his Reiki Master’s training from Usui at the age of forty-seven. Dr. Usui died in 1930, having made several Reiki Masters, but only Dr. Hayashi is mentioned as his successor.

Chujiro Hayashi went on to train several Reiki practitioners, both men and women, including sixteen Masters during his lifetime. He opened a healing clinic in Tokyo, where healers worked in groups on people who lived at the clinic during the time of their healing. It was at this clinic that Dr. Hayashi met Madam Hawaya Takata in 1935.

Madam Takata (born Hawaya Kawamuru) was born in 1900 on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, at Hanamaulu. She was a Japanese-American who lived in Hawaii from parents who were Japanese immigrants. Once out of school she was offered a job as a servant in a wealthy plantation owner’s house. She lived at the plantation for the next twenty-four years becoming a housekeeper and then bookkeeper, a position of great responsibility. She met and married the plantation’s accountant, Saichi Takaka, in 1917, and they had a happy marriage with two daughters.

In 1930 her husband died of a heart attack, and over the next few years, widowed and with two small children to raise, Madam Takaka developed nervous exhaustion and severe physiological problems. She was also diagnosed with gall bladder disease that required surgery, but she had a respiratory condition that made the use of anesthetic dangerous for her. Her health worsened, and she was told that without surgery she would not live but that surgery might also cause her death. Madam Takata took the news to her parents who had returned to live in Tokyo and leaving her two children with them, entered the Maeda Medical Hospital in Akasaka.

She rested in the hospital for several weeks and then was scheduled for surgery.  By this time appendicitis, a tumor, and gallstones were also added to her list of diagnoses. The night before the surgery she heard an unknown voice saying “the operation is not necessary”, and she heard it again the next day while being prepared for the anesthetic on the operating table. She asked the surgeon if there was another way by which she could be healed. The doctor told her of Dr. Hayashi’s Reiki Clinic. The surgeon’s sister who had been healed by Hayashi’s healers and had taken Reiki training took her there that day.

Madam Takata lived at the clinic for four months and was completely healed. She asked to be trained in Reiki, but at first she was refused because she was a foreigner. Hayashi did not want the practice of Reiki healing to leave Japan at that time, eventually he relented and she received her Reiki I training in the spring of 1936. She joined the teams of healers that worked at the clinic, and in 1937 Madam Takata received her Reiki II training and returned to Hawaii. Madam Takata opened her first Reiki clinic in Kapaa, Hawaii and was very successful in her work.

In the winter of 1938, Dr. Hayashi visited Takata in Hawaii and they lectured together throughout Hawaii. She received her Reiki III training, and he announced her as a Master/Teacher and also as his successor. He insisted that she not give the training away without charge. He also told her that when he summoned her, she was to come to him in Japan immediately. In 1939 she opened her second healing center in Hilo.

In 1941 Madam Takata awoke one morning to a vision of Dr. Hayashi standing at the foot of her bed. She knew this was the summons and took the next available boat to Tokyo. When Madam Takata arrived at the Reiki Clinic, Chujiro Hayashi, his wife Chie Hayashi, and the other Japanese Reiki Masters were present. Being a gifted spiritual and clairvoyant man he told them of his vision of a great war that was coming and that all involved with Reiki would perish and the clinic would be closed.

He feared that Reiki would be totally lost to the world again, and therefore had made Madam Takata, a foreigner, his successor. He also told them that as a Naval Reserve Officer, he would be drafted, and that as a healer and medic he would not take life. Consequently on May 10, 1941, in the presence of his students, Chujiro Hayashi stopped his own heart by psychic means and died. The Great War he predicted was World War II, and Reiki was indeed no longer available in Japan.

Madam Takata was the means by which Reiki continued. She had brought it first to Hawaii, then to mainland United States and finally to Canada and Europe. She lived to be 80 years old and was rumored to look decades younger. She trained hundreds of people in the Reiki healing system, and died peacefully on December 11, 1980.

Since Hawaya Takata’s death, Reiki has gone through many changes in the West. Phyllis Furumoto, Takata’s successor and granddaughter, has been named that Grand Master of Usui Traditional Reiki. Usui Traditional Reiki, also called Usui Reiki Ryoho, is probably the closest to what Hawaya Takata originally brought from Japan. It teaches Reiki in three degrees with Reiki III as the Master/Teacher’s training. Teaching techniques and methods have undergone changes, and several branches of Reiki have evolved. Each of these branches claims to possess the only correct way, but the fact is that all the methods work and all of them were derived from Madam Takata’s teachings.

Works Cited:

Gaudet, Tracy W., Richard S. Liebowitz, and Linda Smith. The Duke Encyclopedia of New Medicine: Conventional & Alternative Medicine for All Ages. N.p.: Rodale Books, 2006.

Honervogt , Tanmaya. The Power of Reiki: An Ancient Hands-on Healing Technique. N.p.: Holt Paperbacks, 1998.

Stein, Diane. Essential Reiki: A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art.  Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1995.

The Human Movement System, also known as the kinetic chain, is comprised of the nervous system, the skeletal system, and the muscular system.¹ Under ideal conditions, the central nervous system sorts the cumulative information from these systems during functional activities, through a process called Sensorimotor Integration, to produce coordinated movement.² However, if the kinetic chain is presented with injury, poor posture, and/or muscular imbalance, this may lead to altered neuromuscular control and faulty movement patterns.²

If one component of the kinetic chain is out of alignment, it can initiate the cumulative injury cycle.² The term injury may apply to a specific traumatic event to healthy tissue, or may apply to the result of a cumulative or repetitive stress in which the tissue eventually fatigues and weakens, resulting in an acute onset of inflammation.³  Compensatory adaptations evolve, leading to habitual, “built-in” patterns of use emerging as the CNS learns to compensate for modifications in muscle strength, length and functional behavior.⁴ These secondary movement compensations, known as serial distortion patterns, may lead to decreases in performance, synergistic dominance, and possible further injury.²

Posture is distribution of body mass in relation to gravity over a base of support. The base of support includes all structures from the feet to the base of the skill.⁵ Ideal functional posture maintains the structural integrity and optimum alignment of each component of the kinetic chain which promotes optimum length-tension relationships, force-couple relationships, and joint kinematics.²

This optimum posture enables the neuromuscular system to perform dynamic eccentric, isometric, and concentric actions efficiently in a multi-planar environment, as well as allowing the muscles to produce force, stabilize, and reduce force efficiently in all three planes of movement.² If the kinetic chain is out of alignment, the individual will have decreased structural efficiency, functional efficiency, and performance.²

Muscle imbalances are alterations in the lengths of muscles surrounding a given joint, in which some are overactive and others may be underactive.¹ They are caused by structural and functional inefficiencies of the kinetic chain such as postural stress, pattern overload, repetitive movement, lack of core stability, and lack of neuromuscular efficiency.² In response to stress (overuse, misuse, abuse, disuse), particular muscles have a tendency toward shortening while others have a tendency toward, inhibition, weakness, and sometimes lengthening.⁵

Vladimir Janda’s classification of muscles as “postural” and “phasic” states that postural muscles become hypertonic in response to stress, whereas phasic muscles become weakened when similarly stressed.⁵ The postural muscles, part of the movement group, can cause reciprocal inhibition to their functional antagonists, and the phasic muscles, part of the stabilization group, can allow synergistic dominance.²

One such example that I deal with far too often is functional hyper-kyphosis. Hyper-kyphosis is an increased kyphotic (posteriorly arcing) curve present in the thoracic and pelvic regions.⁶  Because many of today’s tasks require one to spend long hours with the shoulders medially rotated and the head jutting forward (work at computer, long commute, read in bed, etc), most of my clients come to me exhibiting pain symptoms brought on by thoracic hyper-kyphosis. The primary contributing factor to functional thoracic hyper-kyphosis is upper-cross postural deviations resulting from voluntary poor posture.⁶

In this condition the muscles that medially rotate the shoulders and the cervical extensors are short and tight, which reciprocally inhibits their functional antagonists, the muscles of scapular protraction and the cervical flexors. Overtime, this may lead to permanent postural distortions, and other conditions such as thoracic outlet syndrome, temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), and chronic tension headaches.⁶ These secondary conditions will further affect other structures, thus perpetuating the injury cycle and ensuring my continued success as a healer.

1. Clark, M. A., Scott Lucett, and Rodney J. Corn. NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training. 3^rd ed.  Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007.

2. Postural Considerations.  National Academy of Sports Medicine. Chapter3. Module 3b Text.

3. Hendrickson, Thomas. Massage and Manual Therapy for Orthopedic Conditions. 2^nd ed. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009.

4. Chaitow, Leon, and Judith Walker Delaney. Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques: The Upper Body, Volume 1. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2000.

5. Chaitow, Leon, and Judith Walker Delaney. Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques: The Lower Body, Volume 2. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2002.

6. Bucci, Celia. Condition-Specific Massage Therapy. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2012.

But instead of leaving Him
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
With ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried,
“How can You be so slow?”
“My child,” He said, “what could I do?
You never let them go.”

- Author Unknown

Why aren’t you doing that which you know deep within your heart you were destined to achieve?

Why aren’t you pursuing that hobby that you have loved for years?

Why haven’t you quit that dead-end job and/or relationship that you been clinging on to?

Why haven’t you made the change(s) that you know you need to make?

I’ll even go one step further and answer the question for you (don’t take my kindness for granted) . . . it’s fear.

Now that you know the answer, it’s up to you learn how to turn the “why not?” into “I know I can because …”. It is a very humbling journey – trust me. The suffering that you may be going through right now is a good thing, for how can you truly find yourself if you haven’t even realized that you are lost?

Hope all is well! Namaste.

With tenderness and love she folded to her breast the wounded bird, then hurried to her place. And Jesus said to her, Why did you leave your dead to save a wounded bird? The maiden said, This lifeless body needs no help from me; but I can help while yet life is; my mother taught me this.

My mother taught that grief and selfish love, and hopes and fears are but reflexes from the lower self; that what we sense are but small waves upon the rolling billows of life. These all will pass away; they are unreal.

Tears flow from hearts of flesh; the spirit never weeps; and I am longing for the day when I will walk in the light, where tears are wiped away. My mother taught that all emotions are the sprays that rise from human loves, and hopes, and fears; that perfect bliss cannot be ours till we have conquered these.

And in the presence of that child did Jesus bow his head in reverence. He said, For days and months and years I’ve sought to learn this highest truth that man can learn on earth, and here a child, fresh brought to earth, has told it all in one short breath. No wonder David said, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength. And then he laid his hand upon the maiden’s head, and said, I’m sure the blessings of my Father-God will rest upon you, child, forevermore.

Aquarian Gospels of Jesus Christ, 54:15-30

“Music is an incredibly direct language – it bypasses traditional logic and speaks directly to the soul.” ~ Yanni

I recall the days as a child when I would line up tupperware bowls, and pretend to be a world-famous drummer.  In retrospect, through the power of visualization my destiny was already taking shape.

I was blessed with my first instrument around the age of 10 when a visitor “accidentally” (there are no accidents in life – everything happens for a reason)  left his keyboard at our house after a brief stay. It was a little, itty-bitty thing, but I practiced and practiced non-stop. However, due to the frustration of the limited octaves, I decided to drop the keyboard and pursue other avenues.

I joined choir in 6th grade and enjoyed great success, but puberty ushered me into marching band my 8th grade year (I was a tenor with soprano outbursts, lol). While in marching band, I had the opportunity to play snare, tenors, and bass in the drumline and was section leader Junior and Senior years.

Sometime early in high-school, I happened to stumble upon my father’s old guitar and took a liking to that instrument. I practiced intently for about 6-months, and I wound up playing bass guitar in Jazz band and upright bass in concert band my Junior and Senior years.

After graduation, I started marching with drum corps (San Antonio Revolution), but had to retire due to a back injury. My passion for the piano re-ignited when I received an upright piano for my 20th birthday, and that’s when I became more serious about playing. I even decided to change my major to music, but that only lasted 2 semesters because I listened to my thoughts when they were telling me that I wasn’t good enough. Which, looking back, was actually a blessing in disguise, for I later changed to a double major in Kinesiology and Spanish and fell in love.

I’ve only taken a semester of formal piano lessons, but my music is in the key of life. Music (especially piano) has always been there to lift my spirits when my ego was trying to control me with its negative thoughts. I remember when I suffered from depression how I would often times run to the piano with tears streaming down my face and just play whatever my heart desired. I would let the energy of all those emotions which I could not express to my team of therapists (!) just flow through my hands and into the piano (I’m in tears now cause I can still feel the pain of that lost little boy). Hours later, I would emerged feeling refreshed and a new sense of hope. Music was my therapy.

Now that I am embarking on a wonderful spiritual journey, I can sense the shift in my music. I am able to shut off my reality, shift into a world sans bothersome preoccupations and let my soul speak. I hope my music lifts the spirits of those who may be suffering by touching their soul with love. From my heart to yours. Namaste. =)

By: Ben Mickens, BS, NASM-CPT, PES, FNS, LMT, MTI

If I were required to recommend only one form of exercise to an individual to potentially enhance their quality of life, I would recommend qigong. Qigong, a medical practice originating in ancient China, is both a physical and mental exercise in which the practitioner tries to manipulate the regulation of the body, breath, and mind into an integrative whole, with the breath as the key regulator practice to make this happen.¹ The benefits of qigong are multifactorial and extend through all walks of life.

Although less physical demand is required of workers as technology further infuses with the workplace, the working environment has become more detrimental to employee health. Qigong training over a five-week period has been shown to reduce symptoms of stress (heart rate, temperature, and adrenaline levels) and low-back pain symptoms associated with computerized office work.² In another study, performing Qigong exercises twice per week for 8 weeks significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure in sedentary, middle-aged subjects with essential hypertension.³

Women especially have much to gain from frequent practice of qigong. Performing 90-minutes of qigong twice a week for 12 weeks helped improve maternal/fetal interaction in expectant mothers, while lowering the maternal depressive symptoms and physical discomfort associated with carrying a child.⁴  Also, a 12-week Baduanjin qigong training program demonstrated efficacy in lowering Interleukin-6, a strong stimulating factor for the development of osteoclasts, and maintaining bone mineral density in a group of middle aged women (35-60 years old) – suggesting Baduanjin qigong may help prevent bone loss common to this age group.⁵

A review on the literature regarding qigong therapy for type II diabetes mellitus suggests that Qigong practice may not only relieve the clinical symptoms of the disorder but also improve quality of life by controlling or alleviating same of its complications, especially cardiovascular conditions. The literature also shows that some patients have withdrawn from all medications after Qigong therapy and report that they are completely symptom-free.⁶

After a 6-month follow-up following discharge from a pulmonary rehabilitation program, qigong, as an adjunct to a home exercise program, was shown to increase the functional capacity, strengthen immune responses and enhance circulatory function of patients over the age of 70 who were diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).⁷ Qigong exercise was also able to improve the quality of life for patients diagnosed with a cardiac disease (myocardial infarct, post-coronary intervention, valve replacement, and ischemic heart disease) by reducing blood pressure and heart rate, reducing anxiety levels, and improving general health status.⁸

In the coming decades, all efforts of healthcare will be focused on trying to manage the plethora of chronic diseases and movement impairments plaguing the aging population. The recent hot topic of discussion is how to financially support this daunting task. As waists thicken and pockets shrink, the regular practice of qigong is suggested as a viable and cost-effective option in the management and possible prevention of these debilitating ailments to ensure a healthy and functioning society.

1. Shinnick, P. (2006). Qigong: Where Did It Come From? Where Does It Fit in Science? What Are the Advances?. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 12(4), 351-53.

2. Skoglund, L., Jansson, E. (2007, May). Qigong Reduces Stress in Computer Operators. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 13(2), 78-84.

3. Lee, M., Lim, H., Lee, M. S. (2004). Impact of Qigong Exercise on Self-Efficacy and Other Cognitive Perceptual Variables in Patients with Essential Hypertension. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10(4), 675-80.

4. Ji, E. S., Han, H. (2010, May-Jun). The Effects of Qi Exercise on Maternal/Fetal Interaction and Maternal Well-Being During Pregnancy. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 39(3), 310-18.

5. Chen, H., Yeh, M., Lee, F. (2006). The Effects of Baduanjin Qigong in the Prevention of Bone Loss for Middle-Aged Women. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 34(5), 741-47.

6. Chen, K. W., Liu, T., Zhang, H., Lin, Z. (2009). An Analytical Review of the Chinese Literature on Qigong Therapy for Diabetes Mellitus. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, 37(3), 439-57.

7. Ng, B. H. P., Tsang, H. W. H., Jones, A. Y. M., Mok, T. Y. W. (2011). Functional and Psychosocial Effects of Health Qigong in Patients with COPD: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 17(3), 243-51.

8. Hui, P. N., Wan, M., Chan, W. K., Yung, P. M. B. (2006). An Evaluation of Two Behavioral Rehabilitation Programs, Qigong Versus Progressive Relaxation, in Improving the Quality of Life in Cardiac Patients. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 12(4), 373-78.