Post by dancingwind on Nov 2, 2005 7:17:12 GMT
A Simple Way with Symbols
Taggart King
Well firstly, Usui taught symbols to a very small number of people, just in the last few
years of his life. The vast majority of his students were taught in a very different way.
Most of his students were given meditations to use so that they could, over a long
period of time, become more and more familiar with the three energies taught at
second-degree level, for example. Once they were thoroughly familiar with the
energies, once they had *become* the energies again and again, then they were given
a shortcut – a trigger – to connect them to those energies. The triggers that they used
were ancient Shinto mantras called kotodama, or jumon, not symbols.
In the West we do it backwards by comparison: we are given a trigger (a symbol) to
connect us to an energy that we are not familiar with, and with which we may never
become familiar, depending on how we have been taught to use the symbols. Usui had
his students become the three energies again and again and again, and when they
were ingrained, when they were innate, only then would you be given a way of
connecting to the energies that were already within you.
The energies were also viewed somewhat differently. The first energy was not seen as
some sort of ‘Power’ energy, in the way that the first symbol is seen as the ‘Power’
symbol in the West. The first energy was simply earth energy, energy of the physical
body, a physical healing energy. The second energy was seen as heavenly energy and
the third energy was said to produce ‘oneness’. Usui’s students learned to get to grips
with these energies through meditation, so how can we learn to experience earth
energy and celestial energy? Well we can do this by using the symbols…
Try this solitary exercise: sit comfortably in a chair with your eyes closed and your
hands resting in your lap palms uppermost. In your mind’s eye, visualise the first
symbol up in the air above you, and say its name silently to yourself three times. Now
imagine that cascades of energy are flooding down onto you from that symbol,
cascading into your head, your torso, your hands; endless cascades of energy or light
keep on flooding into your body. Do this for several minutes. How does that feel? What
impressions do you get of the energy? Where was your attention focused? What were
your thoughts?
Now repeat this exercise using the second symbol, again visualising it up in the air
above you, saying its name three times, and drawing down endless cascades of energy
into your body. How does this feel by comparison? What impressions do you get of the
second energy? Where is your attention focused? What is going on in your head?
If you have a Reiki friend to hand, you can do this exercise together: one person sits
comfortably in a chair and the other stands behind. The person standing up is going to
send energy from the first or second symbol in quite an intense way. What they do is
this: ‘charge’ your hands with the energy of the first symbol, say, by drawing the
symbol over your palm, saying the name three times, and press your hands together to
‘transfer the effect across’ to he other hand. Now in your mind’s eye draw out the
first symbol up in the air above you and say the name three times. Move your hands so
that they are hovering alongside the recipient’s temples, and imagine that you are
drawing down cascades of energy from the symbol above you, which flood into your
crown, through your arms and out of your hands into the recipient. Keep on
visualising. How does the energy feel as it comes through your hands? What
impressions do you get in your body? How does it feel for the recipient? What
adjectives can they use to describe the essence of the energy that they have received?
Now repeat this exercise using the second symbol. How does this differ from the first
energy?
Having carried out this exercise countless times and with many, many students, I can
generalise about the sort of impression that most people tend to get from the two
symbols, the two energies. Maybe you will notice some, though not all, of these
experiences.
The first energy seems thick, dark, heavy, dense, solid, maybe oppressive or
claustrophobic sometimes, hot, fierce, coarse, penetrating, with pressure and slow
pulsation, your focus is on your physical body. The second energy seems soft, light,
gentle, ethereal, like soft fluffy clouds or marshmallows, cool, blue, expansive,
exhilarating, and uplifting.
What you have experienced is the essence of earth energy and the essence of heavenly
energy, and these are two energies that you have available to you when treating
others. These energies are the essence of Usui’s system at second-degree level. The
first energy focuses on the physical body, and the second focuses on thoughts and
emotions. They are so different, so distinctive. Try using them on their own, just one
energy, just one focus, without mixing symbols together. Keep things simple and
uncluttered by focusing like a laser beam on one thing at a time, and see what
happens. And with time, and with familiarity with the two energies, try producing
those energies directly, using intent, and see what happens.
Taggart King
Well firstly, Usui taught symbols to a very small number of people, just in the last few
years of his life. The vast majority of his students were taught in a very different way.
Most of his students were given meditations to use so that they could, over a long
period of time, become more and more familiar with the three energies taught at
second-degree level, for example. Once they were thoroughly familiar with the
energies, once they had *become* the energies again and again, then they were given
a shortcut – a trigger – to connect them to those energies. The triggers that they used
were ancient Shinto mantras called kotodama, or jumon, not symbols.
In the West we do it backwards by comparison: we are given a trigger (a symbol) to
connect us to an energy that we are not familiar with, and with which we may never
become familiar, depending on how we have been taught to use the symbols. Usui had
his students become the three energies again and again and again, and when they
were ingrained, when they were innate, only then would you be given a way of
connecting to the energies that were already within you.
The energies were also viewed somewhat differently. The first energy was not seen as
some sort of ‘Power’ energy, in the way that the first symbol is seen as the ‘Power’
symbol in the West. The first energy was simply earth energy, energy of the physical
body, a physical healing energy. The second energy was seen as heavenly energy and
the third energy was said to produce ‘oneness’. Usui’s students learned to get to grips
with these energies through meditation, so how can we learn to experience earth
energy and celestial energy? Well we can do this by using the symbols…
Try this solitary exercise: sit comfortably in a chair with your eyes closed and your
hands resting in your lap palms uppermost. In your mind’s eye, visualise the first
symbol up in the air above you, and say its name silently to yourself three times. Now
imagine that cascades of energy are flooding down onto you from that symbol,
cascading into your head, your torso, your hands; endless cascades of energy or light
keep on flooding into your body. Do this for several minutes. How does that feel? What
impressions do you get of the energy? Where was your attention focused? What were
your thoughts?
Now repeat this exercise using the second symbol, again visualising it up in the air
above you, saying its name three times, and drawing down endless cascades of energy
into your body. How does this feel by comparison? What impressions do you get of the
second energy? Where is your attention focused? What is going on in your head?
If you have a Reiki friend to hand, you can do this exercise together: one person sits
comfortably in a chair and the other stands behind. The person standing up is going to
send energy from the first or second symbol in quite an intense way. What they do is
this: ‘charge’ your hands with the energy of the first symbol, say, by drawing the
symbol over your palm, saying the name three times, and press your hands together to
‘transfer the effect across’ to he other hand. Now in your mind’s eye draw out the
first symbol up in the air above you and say the name three times. Move your hands so
that they are hovering alongside the recipient’s temples, and imagine that you are
drawing down cascades of energy from the symbol above you, which flood into your
crown, through your arms and out of your hands into the recipient. Keep on
visualising. How does the energy feel as it comes through your hands? What
impressions do you get in your body? How does it feel for the recipient? What
adjectives can they use to describe the essence of the energy that they have received?
Now repeat this exercise using the second symbol. How does this differ from the first
energy?
Having carried out this exercise countless times and with many, many students, I can
generalise about the sort of impression that most people tend to get from the two
symbols, the two energies. Maybe you will notice some, though not all, of these
experiences.
The first energy seems thick, dark, heavy, dense, solid, maybe oppressive or
claustrophobic sometimes, hot, fierce, coarse, penetrating, with pressure and slow
pulsation, your focus is on your physical body. The second energy seems soft, light,
gentle, ethereal, like soft fluffy clouds or marshmallows, cool, blue, expansive,
exhilarating, and uplifting.
What you have experienced is the essence of earth energy and the essence of heavenly
energy, and these are two energies that you have available to you when treating
others. These energies are the essence of Usui’s system at second-degree level. The
first energy focuses on the physical body, and the second focuses on thoughts and
emotions. They are so different, so distinctive. Try using them on their own, just one
energy, just one focus, without mixing symbols together. Keep things simple and
uncluttered by focusing like a laser beam on one thing at a time, and see what
happens. And with time, and with familiarity with the two energies, try producing
those energies directly, using intent, and see what happens.