Reiki Gratitude

Illustration by Gaia Orion

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Reiki andGratitudeReiki andGratitude

B Y C O L L E E N B E N E L L I

“Just for today, be grateful,” is one ofthe Five Reiki Ideals. It is important forReiki practitioners to notice and to spreadthoughts of gratitude each day, because aseach of us lives in his or her grateful heart,we not only create light within ourselves,but we also become a powerful collectiveconsciousness for light.

Gratitude is a vibration of DivineLight. Everything in the physical universeshares gratitude as a part of its life force.When we live in gratitude, we are in theflow of creation, and we create a band oflight that collects the gratitude we expressand becomes a prevailing thought form ofpeace and thanksgiving encircling theEarth. I do not always know what to doabout the darkness in the world, but I doknow that the light always illuminates thedark, and that the greatest power I havepersonally to effect change in the world, isto add light to the light. And so I:

“Imagine all the people living life inpeace. You may say that I am a dreamer,but I am not the only one. I hope someday you will join us and the world will liveas one.” John Lennon, Imagine.

Reiki is a source of Divine Light.When we activate Reiki, we become aportal for the Divine Light to enter into

the density of this world. The Usui Mastersymbol literally means, “treasure house ofthe Great Beaming Light,” and “GreatBeing of the Universe, shine on me.”Reiki sends the vibration of Divine Lightto the Earth through us, and the more weuse it, the more Divine Light there is onthe planet.

Being human and living life on Earthcan be hard, and it is sometimes chal-lenging to be in gratitude. Therefore, weneed specific tools that help. Gratitude isa practice. The more attention and focuswe give it, the easier it is to be grateful. Itactually can be developed as a skill. Reikioffers many tools that can help us focuson our blessings each day. I asked myReiki guides for ways to express gratitude,and they gave me the Reiki GratitudeCeremony and the Reiki GratitudeTreatment as two powerful Reiki tools.

The Reiki Gratitude Ceremony createsan entrance point for the presence ofDivine Light. People gather together topray and claim their intentions. Thepower of the prayers and intentions isincreased when a circle of Reiki lightunites the people who are gathered. Reikiamplifies the light and invites the divinepresence to join the circle.

A Reiki Gratitude Treatment can helpto heal negative thought patterns andassist in the discovery of the grateful hearteven in the midst of turmoil. It canempower us and make it easier to perceiveand choose gratitude, wisdom, and loveeach day. Reiki can heal the places wherewe are blocked and ungrateful.

When we think about our gifts andblessings and say thank you, our hearts openand our minds are positive, inspired, andreceptive. When we are grateful, it is easierto have a creative mind, which makes iteasier to manifest our goals and dreams.

When we think about all that is notgood enough in our lives, we can spiralinto negative circling thoughts. Mindchatter, negativity, blame, and criticismrob us of a full and happy life. “Mindgarbage” distracts us; we cannot hear ourinner guidance, and there is no room forinspired ideas. We can become depleted,stressed, and anxious, and feel as if we donot control our own lives.

Usually it is a matter of training ourminds to think about our blessings, but wehave to make a deliberate choice to noticethem. This can be a full time job at first,but as we develop positive mental habits,it becomes easier and easier. Reiki and

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gratitude are powerful tools that caninstantly change our thoughts themoment we focus on our blessings. Agrateful heart is one of the quickest waysto heal mind chatter, negative thought,and unwanted perceptions. Jan Engels-Smith, writes in Becoming Yourself, theJourney from Head to Heart:

“Be directive in what youcreate in your life. If you aredirective, you are utilizing yourgift of choice—your sacred freewill—to choose the personalthoughts and beliefs that will man-ifest in your life. When you realizethe power of your thoughts, andstart to monitor them, you havetaken the first step toward creat-ing change for yourself.”

I recently had a client who struggledwith her negative “stories.” She was prepar-ing for a four-day ceremony of prayer andfasting, and negative thoughts were stuckin her head repeating themselves and cir-cling in her mind. She knew this would dis-tract her during her prayer ceremony andwanted a Reiki treatment to help her dumpher unwanted thoughts. Reiki guided me tolead her through the Reiki Burning BowlCeremony. I suggested that she write thetitles of her negative stories and burn themin a bowl imbued with Reiki. (See my arti-

cle in Reiki New Magazine, Winter 06.) I fol-lowed this with the Reiki Gratitude Treat-ment below, accompanied by upbeat music.She felt great afterward! The Reiki guidesasked her to continue to dump her distract-ing thoughts and replace them with grate-ful thoughts before her prayer ceremony soshe could focus on what she wanted to cre-ate in her life.

Reiki Gratitude TreatmentThis Reiki self-treatment is more pow-

erful if practiced daily. If you are using itfor a client, ask the client to say the affir-

mations during the treatment and athome. The more attention and focusgiven to gratitude, the easier it is to rec-ognize blessings, and the easier life feels.

1. Prepare yourself and the room withReiki.

2. Activate the Usui Mental/Emotion-al symbol and the Power symbol.

3. Ask the Mental/Emotional symbolto heal your mind garbage and thePower symbol to completely liftyour unwanted, negative thoughtsfrom you. Send the negativethoughts to the light to heal them.

4. Fill your body with Reiki and thePower symbol where you are deplet-ed, stressed, or tired.

5. Ask Reiki to empower you withgratitude. Fill your heart and bodywith Reiki and light.

6. Close your eyes and say, “I amgrateful.” Notice the subtle shift inyour mind and notice how yourbody feels.

7. Now close your eyes and say,“Thank you.” Invoke the Mental/Emotional symbol again.

8. Say thank you again. Ask and listenfor the deeper meaning of the words.

Left and below: Reiki GratitudeCeremony for Family.


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Centerpiece.

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anniversaries, birthdays, memorial servic-es, holiday meals, or anything else forwhich you are thankful. The ceremony canbe as simple or elaborate as you choose.

Here’s how it works:

• Decide who or what the ceremonyis for.

• Make a centerpiece of flowers andplace within them one large candleand a tea candle for each partici-pant and imbue the centerpiecewith Reiki.

• Invoke the Reiki symbols you areattuned to, fill yourself, and theroom.

• Say an invocation to open the cer-emony.

• Say a prayer for the purpose of theceremony.

• Light the center candle while youpray about what you are grateful for.

• One at a time, have each partici-pant light a candle and say what

they are grateful for. • Close the ceremony with a prayer

thanking everyone present and sealthe ceremony with the Usui Powersymbol.

• When you are finished with thecenterpiece, dismantle it withthankfulness and Reiki.

• Give the flowers to the Earth.

Several ways of using the Reiki Grati-tude Ceremony are shown in the accom-panying photographs.

The first photo is of a “Reiki GratitudeCeremony for Family,” which I did whenwe went to our son’s home for dinner. Itwas short and simple with prayers ofthanksgiving for our healthy, happy family,and for our granddaughter Eva. I said theprayer of gratitude and lit the big candle,and each person said their prayer of thanks-giving, and then lit a tea candle. The cere-mony gave us the opportunity to thankGod and each other for the love and bless-

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Listen for the truth of the words asyou speak them in your daily life.

9. Invoke the Mental/Emotional sym-bol again and say, “I am grateful,thank you. I awaken my mind andheart to my blessings.”

10. Notice the light in your gratefulheart.

11. Make a commitment to yourself tosay the affirmation, “I am grateful,thank you,” many times daily, untilit becomes a habit and feels true.

12. Ask your Reiki guides to help youremember your gratitude and bless-ings each day.

13. Say, “Thank you, I am grateful,”and seal the treatment with thePower symbol.

Reiki Gratitude Ceremony The Reiki Gratitude Ceremony is a

powerful way to combine Reiki with inten-tion, prayer, and thanksgiving. Use it forhonoring any part of your life: babies,

Reiki Gratitude Ceremony for the Earth centerpiece.


ings in our lives. It filled their home withReiki and light. Baby Eva really liked it!

The remaining photographs are of aReiki Gratitude Ceremony for the Earth,which was done during a Reiki II work-shop. Native American prayers for theEarth are blended with Reiki in this beau-tiful ceremony of thanksgiving for ourEarth, all life on it, and for the gifts andblessings we receive from the naturalworld. The ceremony sends our love andblessings of peace to all of creation.

I placed photographs of the WorldPeace Grids under the center candle, thenI placed traditional Native American sym-bols of gratitude for the Earth over the pho-tos; dirt, cornmeal, tobacco and flowers. Isaid an invocation and a prayer of thanks tothe Earth, lit the center candle, and theneach person said what they were thankfulfor and lit their candle. Next we invokedthe Usui Distant Healing symbol and sentblessings to the World Peace Grids, askingthat all people feel peace and thanksgiving.

The prayer I used is an Iroquois prayercalled Ohenton Kariwahtekwen, whichtranslates as, the words that go before all else.It gives thanks to the people, the Earth, thewaters, fish, plants, food plants, medicineherbs, animals, trees, birds, the four winds,the thunderers, the sun, the moon, stars,enlightened teachers, and the Creator.

(The complete prayers and instruc-tions for the Reiki Gratitude Ceremonyfor the Earth are on my web site,www.reikilifestyle.com)

This wonderful ceremony also taughtthe students attending the Reiki work-shop another way to use the Distant Heal-ing symbol. Afterward, I allowed the flow-ers to dry, then gave them as a blessing tothe tree in my yard.

My Reiki guides also suggested that apowerful way to increase the vibration oflove and thanksgiving on the planetwould be for many of us to send our bless-ings using the Reiki Gratitude Ceremonyfor the Earth during the upcoming holidaymeals, especially Thanksgiving Day!

The Reiki Gratitude Ceremony andthe Reiki Gratitude Treatment are twoReiki tools that can help us and otherslive in gratitude.

My Reiki guides continually tell me toshine the light in my heart. They say thatliving with a grateful heart heals the Earthand us. When we are in gratitude, it is eas-ier to remember that we are beautifulbeings of light, spirits being human. As weshine our inner light, we increase the lightvibration of gratitude in the world. Wecan empower light, love, and thankful-ness, and bless our amazing planet, Earth.In so doing, we truly live Dr. Usui’s wiseadmonition to his students to be filledwith gratitude, just for today. 1—Colleen Benelli can be reached by email [email protected], on her Web sitewww.reikilifestyle.com, or by phone (503)668-3308.

Reiki Gratitude Ceremony for the Earth

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