Elaine Grundy: looking for Urban Enlightenment

Why is it called 'Kundalini' Reiki?

I am writing about this as I continue to get questions about the origins of Kundalini Reiki and how it works, and as I enquire via my own experiences, it is easier for me to answer these questions based on my own intuition - though as always, this is my experience only and it is up to you to draw your own conclusions!

The word 'Kundalini' seems to throw people into spasms of delight or fear, depending on your outlook.  I have to say that after a year of Kundalini Yoga, when I saw the word 'Kundalini' I almost fell over myself to get into the Kundalini Reiki class to learn it for myself.  But for others I know the word 'Kundalini' conjures up all sorts of fears of energy blowing up inside the body etc etc.   As with all energy healing, alternative or allopathic medicine, there is a right and wrong way to do anything, and improper training and use of any therapy can lead to fairly disastrous results.

But let's explore more deeply what Kundalini energy really is.  If we look at the spine, we have many different levels of energy coursing through it and feeding all the different levels of our body energy.  At the most basic biological level we have our skeletal system supported by the back bone, at the next level the back bone protects our central nervous system which supports all our bio-electrical energies.  At the next level we have the Kundalini system which supports our etheric, emotional, and spiritual energy and this is the energy system we tap into when doing Reiki.

To clear it for the record, ALL Reiki makes use of the Kundalini energy of the body, whether it is Usui, Kundalini or many others.  In the Usui system we first clear the energy of the Chakra system in order to attune the body to the Reiki energy.  The Chakra system is essentially the gateway of the Kundalini system and this system ensures the energy flows through the body collecting Earth energy through the Root Chakra and Universal energy through the Crown Chakra.  In Usui Reiki we clear all 7 Chakras to enable the Reiki to automatically flow through the Kundalini system and out the hands.

In Kundalini Reiki we do exactly the same thing but we do it in an accelerated manner and via one attunement instead of four.  The Kundalini system is cleared in one step to allow the Reiki to flow.  There are definitely differences in terms of how the attunements are performed, and how the energy is directed afterwards, but in essence the activation is the same and uses the same energy channel whether you call it Kundalini or Chakra - it is still accessing the highest energy channel of the body.

Reiki is, and always will be, an exceptionally gentle and easy to access system of healing.  Reiki cannot do harm and its activation cannot cause harm - whichever system you choose to follow.  For more information on these systems of healings, please come along to one of my free talks and try it out for yourself!

What is Kundalini Awakening?

From The Kundalini Experience, Lee Sannella MD

Since beginning to teach Kundalini Reiki I have had several questions regarding the awakening of the Kundalini, especially from those of you who enjoy surfing the net – there is a lot of ‘danger – beware’ information on the internet and some people are concerned that Kundalini Reiki will inadvertently awaken the kundalini with unpleasant results.  To demystify the experience, I have excerpts from Lee Sannella’s comprehensive book to help to identify some of the main factors in kundalini awakening, please read this book for a greater understanding on the energy and how it manifests.

Key to note however, is that Kundalini Reiki is NOT designed to awaken the kundalini which normally only happens after rigorous and prolonged meditation or other spiritual practice.  Kundalini Reiki does help us to harness the power of this energy but it does not facilitate its release up the spine and into enlightenment, unfortunately for us!  To awaken our ‘greatest potential’ we would need to do at least 1-2 hours of meditation a day for several years, and even then it is a curiously rare phenomenon.

The following symptoms are not designed to scare the living daylights out of you (though they might!) but more to assure those of you who get the normal detox headaches, tingling or aches and pains that you are far removed from the real symptoms of Kundalini awakening and are simply experiencing a regular detox.  If however you are experiencing many of the symptoms below – don’t worry, you are not going mad but you are on your journey towards bliss – yay!

Benefits of Kundalini Awakening:

The awakening of the kundalini is seen by many as the gateway to enlightenment and unification with the universe.  The reports of those who have experienced this phenomenon include being bathed in ‘bliss’, peace, ‘oneness with the universe’, ‘ecstasy’.

Swami Narayanananda, in his book The Primal Power in Man, describes the classical account of Kundalini arousal which is also mentioned in traditional scriptures of Hinduism (especially Yoga and Tantrism) but also reflect similarities in Taoism, Zen traditions, and Buddhism.

The opening of the senses:

Common symptoms in cases of Kundalini awakening –

1.      Sounds such as tones, music, hissing, roaring, thunder, drumming, cymbals.

2.      Visualizations including colours, light inside your head or body, hallucinations, outside luminescence of objects.

3.      Temperature, extremes of heat or cold that can be measured by thermometer.

4.      Sensations of tickling, vibrating, itching, crawling moving about in a patterned manner or pulsating and flowing.  Especially movement from the legs, pain in big toe, up the legs towards the back, neck, head and face in that order.

5.      Movement, spontaneous involuntary positioning (often in yogic poses) of limbs, fingers, whole body.  Crying out or grunting, yelling, screaming involuntarily.  Odd breathing patterns.

These symptoms are often experienced during meditation, quiet times, in bed or sitting quietly.

Often reports of pain, fear of madness or psychosis, fear of illness or death creates such resistance to the energy flow that the opening is impeded creating much more pain or lengthening the time to completion.  Completion can be as long as months or years. If the fear is stopping you from moving forwards, simply stop your meditative practices and the flow will abate by itself.  The flow is completed when the feeling of bliss resides almost solely in your crown.  Reports of instant healing of ailments, clarity and insight is common with such awakening.

Kundalini awakening as yet is a very rare phenomenon but we believe it is growing as more people open the path and more people recognize what it is and how to handle the flow.  Although it sounds extreme, kundalini awakening is the fast track to inner bliss and enlightenment, though it is not the only route.

Reiki has been likened as another route to enlightenment, albeit without all the nashing of teeth and drama queen excesses.  Kundalini Reiki is a fast track of sorts, as the healing is done more quickly and intensely, so definitely there is opportunity to work on your kundalini energy and heighten this experience when done in conjunction with other practices such as Kundalini Yoga, Osho meditation, or other spiritual traditions.

However, it bears remembering that Kundalini Reiki done with the intention of healing and wellness and for only the prescribed 5-15 minutes a day will NOT create the experiences described above!

Reiki for Children

Giving your children the gift of Reiki is really a life long gift of healing and self-responsibility.  I was strangely blessed when my eldest daughter, Ella, was born with Reiki - I guess all those attunements I did when I was pregnant, she obviously decided she'd have some of it too!  Ella has always had a very strong immune system (I can't remember the last day off she had sick), and she is immediate in her requests for Reiki.  She can be seen reikiing friends at school, and she knows that if something hurts, there is a quick way to remedy it.  She is very good at self-calming and has even realised, at the tender age of 6, that when she gets angry her body responds physically (she gets a very itchy nose and eyes), she says she is 'allergic to anger' which I think is truer of many of us then we'd like to admit!  I am amazed at her self-awareness at such a young age and I am sure much of it is due to the Reiki she has been using on herself and others since birth.

A Children's Reiki course is a one day workshop with more focus on play then lecturing.  The time is given to allow each of the four attunements time to settle and the rest of the day is given to 'reiki' play, games, interactive reiki sessions, arts and craft and outside time to go reiki trees and run off steam.  It is held at my home so it is very informal and a very pleasant day for all.

Children can be any age under 12 (13 and above can attend the adult class) but I ask a caretaker to attend if the child is under 5.  The prerequisite is that the child wants it themselves, and that one of the parents/ caregivers already have Reiki so that there is home support available.

The investment is $170 and includes lunch and snacks, the teaching hours is from 10am-3pm.  For the next class, please check my schedule!

Reiki Healing Session

What is a Reiki Healing session?

A healing session is when a Reiki practitioner gives you a Reiki treatment whereby energy passes through their hands and into your body, providing you an energy boost.  The general uses would encompass anything from general stress relief and revitalizing to treatment for serious ailments, pain, or disease patterns.  Treatments can last from half an hour to one hour depending on the situation and the healer.  After a treatment you can expect to feel very relaxed, calm and rejuvenated, though this varies from session to session depending on what is going on in your body at the time.  For those in pain or suffering from specific ailments, a series of treatments will be required to see significant results, we generally suggest a series of three treatments within a week to kick start your immune system.

A note on Detox:  For most clients, a Reiki healing session results in feelings of calmness and peace and a general improvement in their symptoms.  However, it must be cautioned that in a minority of cases the body needs to detox in order for proper healing to take place.  This is especially true if the body has been neglected, or the issues have been ignored or suppressed for a long time.  This is an important point to note as detox can sometimes produce uncomfortable symptoms such as headaches, stomach upsets, aches and pains, tingling in limbs, stiffness, rash or skin inflammation, heightened emotions or emotional releases.  Detox symptoms of course are rare, and are a natural process of the body healing.  I always think of these symptoms as great signs (better out than in!) that the body is releasing toxins that could otherwise cause disease later on. 

The process of 3 successive treatments is specifically designed to ensure any detox is supported through the Reiki treatments and the shift happens as smoothly and quickly as possible. 

The following practitioners trained with me and I highly recommend them:

Karen Michelle Taylor, Tel: 9666 4322
Karen has trained in Usui level 1 and 2 and is a Kundalini Reiki Master.  She is also a trained Hypnotherapist and has a wonderful manner and caring nature.  A very nurturing and competent Healer.  Her treatments can be mixed with hypnotherapy and fine tuned according to your needs. 1 hour $100.

Agnieszka Czarnowska, Tel: 9101 3185
Agnieszka has trained in Usui level 1 and 2 and Quantum Touch, she is a very dynamic Healer.  Agnieszka has a grounded and practical approach (definitely no fluffy airy fairy here!).  Her fabulous treatments are $72 for an hour session.

Dara Inoue, Tel: 9644 1986
Dara did her Reiki Master's training in New York and we met during her Kundalini Reiki training with me.  She is a real gem with wisdom and joy oozing from every pore! Dara studied whole foods healing/macrobiotics in NYC and is training to be a yoga teacher.  She also has the wonderful benefit of speaking fluent Japanese!
1 hour $100.

Jacqueline, Basic Essence, Tel: 64684991
Jacqueline trained with me many years ago and is a very experienced Reiki 2 therapist.  She also does Angelic Reiki, massage, specialized Tibetan healing and is an accomplished Yoga teacher.  She is the co-founder of Basic Essence and has great wisdom and mindfulness.  I hour $85.

Had a great experience with one of these Practitioners?
Please leave your comments below!

The Reiki Rice Experiment!

I was inspired by Emoto's rice experiments and decided to try my own Reiki version!  Two identical glass jars were sterilized by boiling water.  I then put 2 tablespoons of cooked rice from the same batch into each pot and created one control, which was left alone for the entire time, and one 'Reiki' pot which received a 1 minute blast of Reiki every other day.  Here are the results, pretty interesting right?!

As with all experiments, it is not easy to judge or decipher the outcome.  Why did white mold begin growing in the Reiki jar and not the Control?  How did the Reiki jar remain so white and fluffy?  I don't know what it means, I only know that in an experiment we are looking for significant differences in outcome.  My only hypothesis is that Reiki makes a difference, and I think we can see that it does.  Its not a belief system or in our imagination - we can actually try it for ourselves with experiments like these.  Very groovy!

In the beginning: 2 identical samples

After 1 week: some browning on the control, Reiki jar looks fresh and some white mold beginning to grow

After 2.5 weeks: Control continues to brown, Reiki jar grows white mold prolifically

 

After 4 weeks: a significant difference!  Control rice is all brown with white spotting, Reiki is all white with a proliferation of white fluffy mold.  I didn't open the jar to smell it, but the difference was very clear.

 

 

 If you decide to copy this experiment, please post your photos here too!

More on Kundalini Reiki

Kundalini Reiki is quite different from the traditional Usui Reiki that originates from Japan.  It originates from a Danish healer and meditator, Ole Gabrielsen.  In discussions with my mother, also a Reiki Master, she points out that 'Reiki' is a Japanese term for Universal Life Force and like many eastern terms (eg Kundalini meaning 'coiled' or Chakra meaning 'wheel') has become part of our healing language but this does not confine it to only its original source.  The meaning of Reiki can be applied to any healing modality which utilities Universal energy.  I am still playing with the terminology and for me the term 'Reiki' still applies to Usui Reiki, whilst other terms need to be qualified - thus I still refer to and make a distinction between Reiki and Kundalini Reiki. 

Kundalini Reiki seems to be the 'next generation' of energy healing as we continue to grow and evolve our abilities around our mental energies.  Barbara Brennan says in 'Hands of Light', The Mental energy field "has been the hardest for me to observe.  This may be partly caused by the fact that human beings are really just beginning to develop the mental body and are just beginning to use their intellects in clear ways. For that reason we are very conscious of mental activity and consider ourselves an analytical society.” 

Over the past few decades many 'mental' disciplines are becoming more popular and more accessible.  The Law of Attraction movement made popular by "The Secret" coincides with the development of a wide range of healing modalities which can heal through intention, and thought.  In decades gone by, this type of healing was the domain of 'gifted' people and shamans or their equivalent.  Nowadays, these disciplines are taught to laypeople and our own personal power in terms of self-healing and self-responsibility are greater now than at any previous time.  Kundalini Reiki sits in this mental body area and as such will appeal to those who are already exploring the power of intention.  As we continue to develop this entire field, anyone can develop their power of intention and Kundalini Reiki is a powerful stepping stone to this end.

Kundalini Reiki requires mental thought to activate the healing.  Practitioners are taught to think 'Reiki' to get the flow going.  As a result the practitioner is more involved, and more influential in the healing process, this is particularly true at higher levels of healing in Kundalini Reiki 2 and 3.  Although this may seem like hard work, the process is quickened because of this higher energy involvement so treatments can be as short as 5 minutes.  In my experience, the energy continues to work well after the treatment, sometimes lasting several days.  Through intention, the practitioner can also manipulate the energy and move it around the body, as well as harmonize situations and events, emotions and conduct distance healing.  

If Kundalini Reiki is so versatile, why doesn't everyone do it?

Ever heard the phrase "its too good to be true"?  Well, it is a question of self-trust and how comfortable a person is with their own innate healing powers.  Kundalini Reiki requires the healer to take an active role in the healing, and to trust his/her abilities without question.  It can sometimes be too large a leap of faith, especially if the person is new to energy and healing. 

The people who get the most out of this kind of energy healing are those already doing some kind of energy work, or at least sensitive to energies already.  The great benefit is the speed at which training occurs - one day for Kundalini 1 and then two separate evening sessions for kundalini 2 & 3.

In Kundalini Reiki 1 the Chakras are opened and prepared for the advanced attunements.  This opening allows practitioners to use the Reiki energy as well as several other attunements designed to open and activate individual chakras for specific healing.  Of course we also learn self healing, healing others, distance healing and how to harmonise and heal situations, relationships, karmic and other events.  How to heal emotional traumas, blocks and clear space.  This is all packed into one day with time to practise and experiment.

In Kundalini Reiki 2 (taught 3 weeks after Kundalini Reiki 1), the evening consists of a further attunement to open and enhance the bottom chakras and allow the Kundalini energy a gentle opening to begin is flow up the spine.  This is done as a very gentle process and their is no danger of over-activating the Kundalini or causing any damage whatsoever.  This process, as with Kundalini Reiki 3, is an ongoing process as the body continues to open.  Within the evening we also learn advanced healing, strengthening techniques, and meditations.

In the final Kundalini Reiki 3 (taught 2 weeks after Kundalini Reiki 2) we complete the opening with the top chakras which allows the Kundalini reiki to flow unimpeded throughout the spine.  We also learn more specific healings including DNA reiki, past-life trauma reiki, locational balancing and Crystalline (toxin removal) reiki.  This is the final level which will then allow participants to pass on the attunements and activate Kundalini Reiki in others (Reiki Master equivalent).

All three courses can also be taken via distance attunements directly from Ole Gabrielsen.  My classes and attunements are face to face only as I believe the teaching wisdom and ongoing support is as important in a person's growth as the actual attunements.

Hope to see you in a class soon!
This article is dedicated to Janet Bowden, my original Kundalini Reiki Master and inspiration!

You are nothing but hot air!

What is Universal Energy?

Atoms, Greek for “Indivisible”, is the smallest particle (we now know we can subdivide further), and is the general measure of the building blocks of our material body, and our material world.  Atoms are 1 part physical particle, and 999,999 space.

A great example of scale of a hydrogen atom is at http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/atom/

To give you an example, if a nucleus was the size of a golf ball and you placed it in the middle of a huge row of football pitches, the nearest electron would be over eleven football pitches away.  The rest of this enormous atom is empty.

So that begs the question, if we are 99.99999% empty space, why is it so hard for us to believe that energy healing works?  We are so indoctrinated by our 5 senses, what we see, hear, feel,touch, taste that we have forgotten that the vast majority of this universe we live in is unseeable, unhearable, untouchable, unfeelable, untastable by our meager physical senses.  If we open ourselves to the 99.99999% of extra-sensory resources, we will open ourselves to an entire untapped potential of both energic and thought power.  Even tapping into 1% more of our innate potential will unleash a power 10 times what we have already.  How awesome is that for a concept?!

Reiki is one way to access this hidden potential.  Reiki works in this vaste energy space.  Healing and allowing energy to freely flow where it is needed is a big step to uncovering that extra 1 or 2%, it will affect your life in ways you cannot imagine, and in some ways that you can (if you can imagine your life free from pain, blocks, fear, anger then you are getting some indication of what the imaginable part is!). The unimaginable is the course your life takes, the new openings and horizons, the release of personal power and confidence that comes from having more energy.  Sound good?

Kundalini Reiki

Kundalini Reiki is quite different from the traditional Usui Reiki that originates from Japan.  In my honest opinion, it shouldn't be called 'Reiki' as it is not from Dr. Usui's lineage, but originates from a Danish healer and meditator, Ole Gabrielsen.  However, the efficacy of the treatment and the power of the attunements cannot be denied.  It seems to me to be the 'next generation' of energy healing as we continue to grow and evolve our abilities around our mental energies.

It is no accident that many 'mental' disciplines are becoming more popular at this time.  The Law of Attraction movement made popular by "The Secret" coincides with the development of a wide range of healing modalities which can heal through intention, and thought.  Kundalini Reiki sits in this 'mental body' area and as such will appeal to those who are already exploring the power of intention.

How is Usui Reiki and Kundalini Reiki different?

Usui Reiki seems to work on the etheric energy level of the body, or the 'blueprint' of the body.  Energy from the Universe travels through our hands and into the body automatically and without thought or intention.  The healer can actually be asleep or can be an animal and the reiki will still flow, as if by osmosis.  Energy will travel from areas of high energy ie. the Universe, to areas of low energy ie our body.  It is a very simple, natural and totally automatic response.  The Reiki workshops I conduct activate the Reiki in a person's hands and allows this process to flow.  As a result the Reiki practitioner does not need to be aware of energy, or of flow, or indeed of any sensations.

More on Usui Reiki, click here

Kundalini Reiki appears to work through the mental body (a higher vibration energy body) and requires mental thought to activate the healing.  Practitioners are taught to think 'Reiki' to get the flow going.  As a result the practitioner is more involved, and more influential in the healing process, this is particularly true at higher levels of healing in Kundalini Reiki 2 and 3.  Although this may seem more like hard work, the process is quickened and shortened because of this higher energy involvement.  It also means that through intention, the practitioner can manipulate the energy and move it around the body, as well as harmonising situations and events, releasing emotions and conducting distance healing.  This is much wider in range than Usui Reiki 1 (these techniques are taught in Usui Reiki level 2).

More on Kundalini Reiki, click here

If Kundalini Reiki is so versatile, why doesn't everyone do it?

Well, it is a question of self-trust and how comfortable a person is with their own innate healing powers.  Kundalini reiki requires the healer to take an active role in the healing, and to trust his/her abilities without question.  It can sometimes be too large a leap of faith, especially if the person is new to energy and healing. 

The benefits of beginning with Usui Reiki is that it is absolutely the best foundational healing course for the beginner, or the skeptic.  The benefits of beginning with Kundalini Reiki is that it is more versatile.

My recommendation is that if you are new to energy healing, you begin with my Reiki 1 course and see how it fits with your beliefs, and your comfort zone.  After that, should you wish to continue, you can decide on which Reiki path will suit you better.

Hanging out with the right people

Over the years, during class and beyond, people have asked me how to deal with ‘energy vampires’, those people who suck our energy and make us feel exhausted.  Those people who have a loooooong sob story and a ‘poor me’ story, and life has treated them sooooo bad.  People who just want to talk and talk and unload all their woes and all their troubles onto you.  I was reminded of this type of person a few nights ago when I was attending a function and from out of nowhere an energy vampire descended and began to feast on me!

The short answer is: run for the hills!  That’s exactly what I did with this particular person, and here’s why.  You can try to save them, change their mind, let them see the light, support them and listen emphatically, and do all the other things we’re taught to do (ie. Be NICE) but the truth is, they will not change an ounce of what they’re doing – they will not suddenly wake up having spent an hour feasting on you and declare “eureka! I see the light! From now on I shall only be optimistic and positive and vibrate love!”  NO!  They will say “phew, that feels better, I need to do more of that unloading – where’s the next victim I can talk to?”  OK, of course they are not thinking of you as a victim – but that’s what you are.  No matter how much you ‘support’ them, listen to them, sympathize with them - it will never get better until they can see for themselves the cycle they have got themselves in. 

I am writing about this because too often we get trapped into thinking that we need to ‘support’ our friends and family and we spend far too much time hanging around in negative energy instead of positive energy.  As a weekend Reiki class will teach you, hanging around in positive energy for a prolonged period of time can be a really cool thing to do!  Perhaps redefine what ‘support’ means to you.  For me, it simply means ‘to help another person’ and I mean that in the very literal sense.  Often I withdraw myself from people or situations because I know that I am of no true help here – I may be able to provide ‘relief’ but not true and lasting ‘help’.  And frankly, relief is simply prolonging the pain.  If you really want to help you friends and family, you’ll focus on yourself and keep blazing the path towards the light.

What that means for me is spending time with myself and with the things I truly enjoy doing.  Spending time with my children and soaking up their purity, spending time with yoga and meditation, and reminding myself frequently during the day how incredibly lucky I am to be a spiritual being having a physical experience.  I take the time to hang out with positive people,  I take the time to find these people and nurture the relationships. To me, being positive and loving and beaming out this energy is the most helpful thing I can possibly do, and if we all took the time to focus on being positive and loving, what a different world we’d live in today!

Reiki and Epilepsy

I have been asked before about the effect of Reiki and epilepsy, and to be honest I haven't been able to say through experience, until last week!

During a Yoga class we were breathing using a rapid and deep technique when the lady next to me began fitting.  One of the things that I love about Reiki is the intense sense of calm it gives you, simply knowing that you have a powerful tool in your hands to help others.  Whilst the rest of the room flew into panic, my hands took on a life of their own as I grabbed the woman's head without thinking and began giving her a Reiki 2 technique specifically for calming and unlocking blocked Chakras.  As soon as my hands touched her head I could sense her inner core, or spirit, was totally calm and in control - and that gave me reassurance that she was fine and working on some much deeper level of healing than I could personally understand.

Within about 30 seconds the fitting subsided and she came back into her body and the entire incident was over.  I'm not sure how long her fits normally last but it seemed very short to me.  So I feel that the Reiki definitely helped to unlock her energy system, but who knows.

To me though, the biggest benefit was the feeling of calm and control that I felt emanating through me - a girlfriend who was at the same class later said it was like "watching an oasis of calm descend around you and a feeling that it was all fine and under control".  That's also how it felt, and I'm sure for the woman it was a welcome change to the normal panic and stress surrounding her during a normal fit.

The other rather magical thing about the entire incident was that out of a class of 40 people, she was sitting directly next to me - go figure!?