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Episode 31 | Self Reiki Journey with Johannes Reindl, Lineage Bearer Usui Shiki Ryoho

Self Reiki Journey with Johannes Reindl - Join Johannes Reindl and I for an interactive session where we'll dive into a guided Self Reiki practice designed to unlock deep relaxation and inner peace.


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Podcast Transcript


Episode 31: Self Reiki Journey with Johannes Reindl, Lineage Bearer Usui Shiki Ryoho


Self Reiki with Johannes Reindl

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[00:00:00] Amy Squires: Welcome to the Holistic Health Show, where the worlds of science and spirituality converge to illuminate a path towards total well being. Join us as we embark on a journey to bridge the gap between Western medicine and complementary therapies.

[00:00:14] Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Holistic Health Show. We're back with another excellent episode for you this week. I'm always so pleased to be able to connect with people all over the world. And today we have Johannes Rendell joining us. And Johannes, we're going to talk all about self reiki today.

[00:00:33] So anyone who is an avid listener of the show or has tuned in here and there, they know that I talk about Reiki in some of my other episodes, and we talk about the chakra system. And I go over a brief introduction to what those things are and what that might mean. But I've never gotten straight into self Reiki.

[00:00:53] And Johannes, I would love you to tell us a little bit about what that is and what it means to you.

[00:01:00] I'm happy to do that. Thank you. I appreciate it. And thank you for the invitation. I just thought while preparing for this meeting today, before talking a lot about self treatment, I would like to invite us all to simply do it for a moment. I would love that. I invite you to just place your hands on your body wherever it feels comfortable for you.

[00:01:27] There's no right or wrong place, only your [00:01:30] place. Connect with your hands on your body with the energy of Reiki

[00:01:41] and just feeling.

[00:02:54] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that [00:03:00] invitation. That's self treatment. That's already it, right? And of course, there's a little bit more to say, but That's the core of what I do and what we practice when we speak about self treatment, Reiki self treatment. And for me, this is the core of my practice, the core of what I'm holding and what I'm teaching and what I do for myself daily.

[00:03:25] And when I was introduced to Reiki and when I took my Reiki first degree class, Quite a while ago, we had four consecutive sessions for consecutive on four consecutive days when we met with our teacher and master and every, every day at the end of the session, she said. And homework till we meet tomorrow, do at least one self treatment.

[00:03:52] So that was our, homework to do our work to prepare and to connect and to explore what the practice of Reiki is doing with us. And also to develop our own questions till we meet again. So then the last day, the fourth day came and I was wondering what she might say at the end of the class, right?

[00:04:15] And so the end of the class came and she said, Oh, well, homework till the end of your life self treatment every day. And I thought, Oh, wow, that's a job. Yes. [00:04:30] Commitment. It is a commitment. And in the very beginning, I was very enthusiastic and very disciplined and very really every day. And after a while, it got a little bit less disciplined and a little bit less than to the aesthetic maybe, and out of every day.

[00:04:49] grew more kind every now and then. And so it faded a little bit away. And whenever I went to my Reiki master at that time and to exchange treatments, to have, to be with my questions, to share my questions, almost always she asked, and how is your self treatment practice going? And I thought, Oh, right.

[00:05:14] There's some homework to do. And looking back, this was a very, very important. Teaching and a very, very important experience to really learn and feel in my body that this self treatment practice is the core of the practice. And also nobody else can do this for me. It's only me who can do this. And for me, the self treatment practice is.

[00:05:44] As I said, the core of the practice, because it is the place where we as students of the practice develop our own relationship, the relationship with the practice, the relationship with the energy of Reiki. We step into self [00:06:00] responsibility of self agency of taking care of all that, what, what comes with us or comes through us.

[00:06:08] And we also, I would say we also connect with the interconnectedness of, of all life and, maybe also step out a little bit from this this place and relationship with our masters. which is a very, very important and a very powerful place. And at the same time, it's important, I would say that we start our own journey alongside with our masters.

[00:06:34] Of course, we are supported by them, but it's us who need to do the work. We can't blame it on our masters, right? There's quite an element of self discovery in there when you're doing self breaking. Yes, it is self discovery, it's a lot of healing, it's the potential of healing in so many levels and so many ways.

[00:06:56] It's a lot of unfolding. And when we practice Reiki, I mean, at least speaking for myself, when I do self treatment or when I offer treatment to others, or when I receive one well, we never can predict the outcome of the treatment, right? I mean, we have our experiences, and quite often this experience repeats and repeats.

[00:07:17] But we never know, right? We never know what, how it will be this time. And when I go back to that place, when I first learned Reiki, I also learned about not, [00:07:30] not to have expectations, which I find quite challenging. Yes, I think most people do. And sometimes frustrating, because I have a clear idea of what I would like.

[00:07:40] to happen. Yep. We all want one thing, but it's not necessarily what we're going to get. Exactly. And to work with that and be with that and go beyond these expectations and allow, allow the practice to unfold and allow the energy to To do what needs to be done and also to surrender in a way so that I can rest and I don't, do not need to know, to know better, maybe.

[00:08:07] Hmm. You hear that a lot, let Reiki do the work. And my question lends to that if I could just give an example, you know, you have, your client. So I practice Reiki as well and I'll have a client and you know, especially if there's their first time, they're very aware, very conscious, asking all the questions and having expectations and you guide them through that.

[00:08:29] And It's a journey for them. It's a journey for you with them as a practitioner as well. When you're practicing self Reiki, Both as a as somebody new who's who's learning and adjusting to all of this but as someone who is more seasoned but falls back into the But I want Reiki to help me with this.

[00:08:48] This is what I want. And you're, you're, you're putting these expectations on. You're trying to direct it and give it this direction and you're, you're really, you've moved away from letting Reiki do the work because it's a [00:09:00] challenge. So how do you move past that when you're, you're stuck or you're new and you're in a place and you want to have the expectations and you want to see the outcome that your brain is telling you that you need, even though you, you know, you may need something entirely different and Reiki will get you there.

[00:09:17] But how do you put that trust? On one hand, hearing and saying myself no expectations. On the other hand, I know. I have them, and I know that's totally okay. There's nothing wrong with the expectations. And it's very human to have expectations, right? Somehow they come naturally with us.

[00:09:38] To me, it feels and it's clear that when I hear and say also to my students who come to Reiki class not to have expectations. is to allow ourselves to go beyond, to be open to go beyond these expectations, expectations and keep a door open, keep a door open to the potential of the unknown, because we do not know what can happen and what, what might happen and how and when.

[00:10:05] And I mean, so how to maintain this trust or how to develop trust, one part is to. Practice, start practicing and really doing it and not only thinking about it or talking about it, but really doing the practice. And also to to connect with the community, to be with others who are doing the same so that [00:10:30] there can be a conversation about experiences conversation about the expectations, maybe.

[00:10:38] But to be together with others who hold and share the same experience, so that what I feel, what I experience, and what my processes can land in a larger place, and I don't need to hold that alone. For me, in the very beginning, these were these Reiki exchange groups my Reiki master was holding.

[00:10:56] And later it became the more international Reiki community where I took part. And I think also what can help us or support us to develop trust is to

[00:11:08] be patient, to be kind to ourselves, to ask for support when I need support and also to ask for treatments, to go somewhere, someone else treating me. So for me, the self treatment practice, even it is the core, and it is my daily practice, it is not it is not that It makes me not needing receiving treatments, of course, this is, it's, for me, it more comes together.

[00:11:38] The self treatment practice makes me aware of my needs and makes me aware of when I need somebody else. So when I need to call someone and say, well, do you have time for, for Reiki treatment? Can I book you? Or ask my friends or ask whoever is practicing around me. And all that's together. Can give me a place so that I can develop trust and the other part [00:12:00] is I would say we have to test the practice for ourselves.

[00:12:05] Is this what I want? Is this what is this what Reiki does that what I need that what I want that what supports me? And maybe I need to expose myself to Reiki too, right? To go to this practice internally. With all my challenges, with all my vulnerability, with all that makes me, that, that makes me be me.

[00:12:31] Yeah. And be honest, I mean, self development in whatever form of practice is a challenge and it's sometimes hard work. And sometimes painful work, and sometimes we feel like we are, I don't know, we're totally working in the dirt, right, we're in the mud, we are, there's nothing beautiful, there's nothing, relaxed, nothing is, is great, it's just hard and painful work.

[00:12:56] And you can even. Sometimes feel as though you're moving backwards, you know, you, you start practicing Reiki, whether it's with someone else or doing self treatment only. And, and I do, I appreciate entirely what you said about seeing someone as well, not just practicing the self Reiki, but I'll, I'll, we'll touch on that again in a minute.

[00:13:16] But it's, you expect this big, beautiful, Progress forward sometimes and that's not always the case because like you said there's work to be done and it can really be [00:13:30] challenging and feel like you've got to step back before you're ready to move forward and Letting the reiki work does help you get through that Yeah, totally.

[00:13:41] And sometimes, well for me, and it does not matter how long I practice, this comes again and again, it asks for even more patience. And sometimes I feel the practice And I'm sorry for saying this publicly, but it is so boring. It is so boring. It's like, Oh my God, will this ever end? And at the same time, I realized that this experience of being bored during the treatment or also treating somebody else, it doesn't matter.

[00:14:13] It's a deep teaching, right? It is another deep layer of, well, it's very human to feel bored sometimes, and maybe feeling bored is the great source for creativity for something new to come, right? But I feel sometimes I need to go to that place where it's like, okay, Oh my God, this will never end. This is horrible.

[00:14:34] I want to stop this and to be, yeah, to be honest with ourselves, what we feel. It's not always glory and beautiful and, and nothing's wrong with that. And The other part of the practice that is a lot about our self development and, and being also part of a community and being of service to each other as we said just now, [00:15:00] that it brings us to deep work where the guidance of the practice can be, and for me is the most important resource.

[00:15:08] And when I speak of self treatment, it is on one hand, as I just said, to the hand positions on my body for, for an hour a day. And together with that comes also, for me, the Reiki principles. Which are for me a very deep another very deep guidance, not only in a, in a moral way and an ethical way also, but the principles are inviting me to look deeper than my, my worries, than my anger to have a deeper look.

[00:15:41] Where am I with myself with the world around me? What do I need to be fully present? What do I need to be in the presence of myself, to be in the presence with others, to be in the presence of Reiki. Yeah, so, self treatment practice, the hands on part, and being with the Reiki principles together make for me practice of self treatment.

[00:16:03] Yeah, I would agree with that. It's interesting, I mean, I suppose it's expected that you'd bring up the principles given the topic, but I've recently recorded a, an episode on the principles, what they are, and. How I apply them to my, my practice and, you know, my self practice and my practice with my clients and.

[00:16:22] I find myself, you know, because there are stages in your life, and like you said, there was a time when you weren't quite , as [00:16:30] disciplined, and so there's been stages throughout my life, depending on what's going on, that I've, not intentionally, but I've stepped away from Reiki as more of a daily practice, as more of a, I don't really want to use the word lifestyle, but I use the, the principles in my, in my daily life as you know, the, the, we, we say that they're the principles to live by.

[00:16:53] And I, I try that, like you said, morally and ethically, but it's deeper than that. And I find that when I. In the past have have kind of come away from that and not applied it as much I come back to it because I've been missing it and yearning for it and something has brought me back and said this is what is actually missing It's it's this way of approaching It's just the way you approach the world I think is and this is kind of coming up to me as we're talking which is why i'm You can kind of see the wheels turning, I think, in my head, but it's the way I approach the world, and it, you know, sometimes they just get you through the day, and it's not, maybe not all five, right, but maybe, you know, there's one of them, it's, it's, just for today, I will not anger, and sometimes you really need that, sometimes you really need to remember that, and, I am happier, I think I'm probably kinder and gentler and more relaxed when they are a feature in my life.

[00:17:58] Yeah, I [00:18:00] mean for me sometimes the Reiki principles are reminding me like like a stretching exercise. Yes. Like stretching exercises where I know they're good for me, they're good for my body. But I don't like them because I don't like the pain that comes with the stretching exercise and I want to avoid them.

[00:18:20] Oh my god, it's work again. Yes. And at the same time, I know the benefit of it. And I might not know the benefit of it in the moment when I am connecting to the principles, but I know that there is an effect and sometimes it comes a little later. But to remind myself to not to worry, just for today, do not worry.

[00:18:43] And just saying that makes me, okay, there is the worry, the worries here, I'm here to just let it be as it is for a moment and just sit with it and, and again, giving, giving myself time not to push myself, not to push, push the world around me and not to allow the disappointment and the worry and anger be what they are, not making them bigger, not making them go away.

[00:19:14] But also knowing there are other options. I can go deeper and I can go, I can ask for support. I can, when there's so many options, right? And not to, not to let them take over. And [00:19:30] I think this is what popped into my head because when you, when you have the principles and you are, you know, just for say, I will not worry, you're sitting there with your worry and you're sitting with it.

[00:19:41] I think the difference is you're not stewing in it. When you, when you've learned to accept and really appreciate and understand the principles, it's not, you're not sitting with it in a sense of,, you're stewing, I think it's the only really, the best word I can think of it, you're, letting it be in your being and acknowledging and accepting.

[00:20:01] And understanding that it will pass and something will happen that you, your, your worry will be resolved in whatever way. And again, this element of trust, but it's a very different thing to sitting there and just really, you know, harping over and repeating it and wondering what if, and , it's so, it's just remarkable how that approach can completely change your approach to the situation.

[00:20:29] Which extends to, you know, the world around you and how you're then presenting yourself to the world. It's this domino effect. Again, it's not easy, but it's, I mean, interesting. It is not easy and it is very easy at the same time. I think it is, it comes again through a part of the work we are doing, the constant work.

[00:20:55] It comes through being disciplined, and in disciplined, I don't know how [00:21:00] it is in, for you as an English native speaker, but in German, the word disciplined has often a bit of a bad or not so good connotation, because it's seen as something rigid, as something not flexible. But for me, disciplined, Discipline connects to the disciple to be the student and to be the student of a practice.

[00:21:23] It allows me to be the constant learner and to allow myself not to know everything and not to be the superhero and, and allow myself, there's always something new I can learn. And I know we say this quite often and, but it's very, very true. Right. We always remain the student of a practice. Does not matter how advanced, so called advanced we are, or how much experience we have, or whether we are teaching Reiki, or how many masters we initiated, or whatever the story is we're telling ourselves.

[00:22:00] That's all great work, but we always remain the student. We always go back to that place of learning. And when it comes with learning, and not only in Reiki, many things I have learned, I often failed very often. I mean, I had to, otherwise there would no, no effect of learning. Right. And then. We get up and then maybe next time we fail better.

[00:22:25] I don't know. But we keep going. We keep learning. We keep processing. [00:22:30] And, I mean, there might be this, concept or idea around in the Reiki bubble, in the Reiki universe. Once we practice Reiki, then magically everything goes away and everything's beautiful. And if it not does, then we did something wrong.

[00:22:43] Oh, well. No, that's not how I see it. It's a constant inner work. And sometimes, and, or, well, sometimes, often, things get, get lighter. They get easier. And they get easier through this work we are doing. And, my Reiki master, Phyllis Day Furimoto, often said with Reiki, it's like in partnership. Reiki is doing its part.

[00:23:06] Do yours. And one hand, this reminds me of do your homework every day. And that's a big commitment, as we said, and allowing Reiki to do its part and to keep that door open to that room where this relationship is formed, is created again, every day new and every day.

[00:23:26] It's present. It's, it's always there. It's always accessible,

[00:23:30] Even this morning I was recording and we were off to a bit of a bumpy start. And , I'm not often recording with guests who are Reiki practitioners or have, have Reiki practice. But today I was, and I just said, you know, let's take a minute.

[00:23:44] And would you like to just sit in some self Reiki for five minutes before we just. Reset and try this again and You just get this, you know, you just start and you have your deep breath and you feel yourself reset and oh, okay You know, i'm i'm here i'm present things [00:24:00] are fine. Nothing is wrong and, I feel that immediately and when I start self breaking, particularly when, you know, you're in that presence with someone, I don't know about you, but I just get so much joy from that.

[00:24:14] , and when we did it today, it was not coming after a stressful or an awkward or a tense moment. But this morning it was. Bumpy start to the recording and I mean, nothing was particularly wrong, but it wasn't the same sort of situation, but you still you get that same feeling when you start the self reiki, it just almost like a reset.

[00:24:36] I totally can relate to that because I had a. Kind of similar experience this morning when I prepared my computer and actually did this yesterday evening to have everything sorted with the link and the program you're using for recording, etc. So everything worked. And today, when I came back to my computer, nothing worked.

[00:24:56] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Today of all days. Exactly. And then to sit there. And feel my anger very present and feel my worry that I would not show up on time and Just feel that. And if I then would rush and make it go away and, and I don't know, explode and yell and things that doesn't make sense at all and are not helpful at all, but then make a step and say, okay, this is it.

[00:25:27] I can deal with that or whatever the form that [00:25:30] is. But I think this is a big, for me, it is a big, big gift of the self treatment practice that comes after a long time or also, but after regular time, it doesn't need necessarily to be long. I think a first degree student who is. Practicing regularly can easy connect with that very, very simple and can, experience the benefit of such a practice.

[00:25:56] And of course, like everything else in life, what we practice for a long time becomes more and more part of ourselves. It becomes more natural, doesn't it? On the show, I talk about a lot of different modalities. And so Reiki to me is another tool in the toolbox. And self Reiki is another tool in the toolbox again, in those situations of tension or frustration or anger, just to remember who you are and things are okay.

[00:26:25] It's just, it's really something else that we can add to any situation to help us just not explode. Not yell at your computer.

[00:26:35] And it's a lifelong practice. So that also gives me peace. I don't have to be perfect because I very much know that I'm not. . And that's you know, another important thing to note. You had mentioned earlier as well that sometimes people think when they do a Reiki course or if you're a Reiki practitioner, your life magically, everything goes great.

[00:26:56] And that certainly is not the case. And,[00:27:00] , I've been hearing this more lately, and I guess this is why it popped in my mind, is that some practitioners , are feeling like, well, their life isn't perfect, so they can't go ahead and be a Reiki teacher, even though they've, they have the practice and the discipline.

[00:27:15] And yeah, it's something that I, I haven't. I experienced myself, and I, I don't know anyone personally, but through the circles that I've been in lately, it's been coming up that they feel not good enough to be a practitioner. And I know this is getting off the topic of self Reiki directly, but I think it just comes back to, you know, recognizing that this isn't magic and doesn't fix your life.

[00:27:40] And no matter how much self Reiki you might do. And it doesn't place worth, I suppose. There's no value in, in this feeling of my, well, I'm doing Reiki, but my life isn't perfect, even though I'm doing this practice daily. Oh, wow. That's, that's a very,

[00:28:00] it's a very beautiful question. When I just connect with or seeing myself in a situation where Someone is asking me that or thinking that about myself, then at the same time, I would say, come as you are, come with all your imperfections, bring them, they are wonderful, they are precious, they are sparkling, they are important, they are [00:28:30] treasures we bring, right?

[00:28:32] We don't need to be perfect, we tried, so I don't know how long humanity tried to be perfect and it just got worse. And I think we all can, can, can come and be Reiki practitioners and those who feel called and want to follow that inner calling can become Reiki masters and, and teachers.

[00:28:53] And again, it's very important to give us time and space to develop. And not to rush and not to fulfill a curriculum or to fulfill a program and I've done this and check, check, check, check. And once I've done everything, then I'm perfect. That's not true. And we all know that never was true.

[00:29:13] What we need. Is that we show up in our authenticity, in our honesty, and with that comes that we are not perfect and to hold that lightly without fixing it or without changing it or without, I don't know, just come as you are and and practice. That's what's so beautiful that we don't have to be different.

[00:29:41] We are as we are, and then we practice. And then, Reiki comes in, and something is transforming, maybe, or something is bringing us to a much softer place inside of us. That maybe is guiding us to self acceptance or guiding us to, Oh, I [00:30:00] need to call that friend again. I haven't talked with her since quite a while and she always had been so supportive.

[00:30:05] You know, there can be a simple inspiration. It can be anything in my experience and what I see when I connect with the Reiki community is that the inspiration, the healing. All that would make it does cannot be limited. It is so big. It is so diverse. It comes in the way so that we can take it.

[00:30:30] It comes in a way so that we can. Hear it and understand it and sometimes it needs a while. Yes. Yeah, but again, it's always accessible and there's nothing wrong the way we are. And with that as well, you know, it lends back to your comment about we're always learning and I mean when you're teaching anything and you have students you're you know, what teacher doesn't learn from their students?

[00:30:55] There's always more to learn and you, you know, so when are you going to reach perfection if we have so much to learn? It's endless. Reiki is, it's always teaching you and you have all these people that you're now interacting with and they're, everyone is so different.

[00:31:12] There's just so much room to learn and opportunity to learn there. Totally. And that's why I wanted to become a Reiki master myself, because I felt I want to learn more. I want to learn how am I when I'm stepping into that place of teaching, and [00:31:30] also to learn a way of how to hold others in this process and support them and, and being available for them.

[00:31:37] And also to hold. Students and clients in an honoring way. When I link back to the Reiki principles, when it says, honor your parents. Teachers and elders, and I refer now to the teachers or masters, then honoring my teachers is not honoring them, but honoring also that role and function and being of a Reiki master.

[00:32:02] and a Reiki practitioner and honoring that role for me means also how do I hold my students, how my students, students who are coming to the class I teach, they're not mine, they're Reiki students, or how do I honor clients who are coming for a treatment? What space do I have to offer them?

[00:32:22] How do I need to hold my, my personality in this? What for do I need to prepare myself so that I'm really fully present? So, to step forward and, being willing to develop ourselves to become Reiki masters or practitioners and offer this service to our communities. It's a huge gift we bring, it's a big gift we bring to the community, and it needs preparation.

[00:32:48] , it needs time to develop, it needs time to grow so that we can be fully present and can accept the full gift that comes then through us when we are teaching or having a [00:33:00] public practice. And yes, then the learning continues. And it's another circle of learning. And I guess it will never get boring, even though sometimes it is boring, as I said.

[00:33:13] Yeah. Sometimes you do think, how long has this been going on? Yeah. But you get there in the end and it's very rewarding. I always find myself grateful that I've survived. Stuck with it. Now, we've leaned a little bit away from actually talking about self Reiki, but I think it's all so connected, and it's hard when you have the passion of, you know, we're two passionate people when it comes to Reiki and, and the gift that that Reiki gives us.

[00:33:41] So it's hard to kind of stick to one narrow stream, , yeah, well. Of course, this is a topic for a huge retreat, right? We could dive in and go deeper, deeper, deeper. But I think for that time we have now, I think, yeah, we covered it all, more or less. I hope that. We maybe also provoked some questions that are coming up in listeners, and, or new insights or wonderings most important message, if there is a message, is to just simply do it.

[00:34:16] Practice. There is no excuse for not doing it.

[00:34:21] Oh, I really want to thank you for coming on the show and having this conversation with me.

[00:34:26] It's been an absolute pleasure. And anyone, listening, [00:34:30] I'd love to hear, you know, your insights on our conversation, on what self reiki means to you maybe you've already commented on the five principles when that episode came out, but if you haven't and something resonated, I'd love to hear all about it, I always love getting feedback from anyone listening.

[00:34:48] And so if you'd like to do that you can just leave a comment on the video if you're watching on YouTube or send me a message. But I really hope you enjoyed the show today. I loved having you on, Johannes, and I just want to thank you again. Thank you for inviting me. It was really a lovely conversation.

[00:35:06] I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you. It was. Thank you so much. And to everyone listening, if you enjoyed the show today, make sure you like, subscribe, leave your comments. I'd love your feedback. It's all appreciated. Thanks again for joining me.

[00:35:24] Thanks for joining me on the Holistic Health Show. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe now and get ready to embark on an incredible journey toward holistic wellness. Until next time, be well and stay holistic.

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