The Reiki Affirmations

     Like all systems that deal with energy, Reiki practitioners are extremely conscious of the positive and negative energies that swirl around them.  Their life mission is to eradicate negative energies and harness positive energies for the betterment of themselves, their patients and the humanity around them.  So Reiki practitioners attach much importance to building up “character” in the followers.  Every practitioner is given five affirmations that have to become part and parcel of his or her daily existence.

     Surprisingly, the five affirmations that are taught to Reiki students were not laid down by Dr.Usui the founder of Reiki practice.  These were propounded by Japanese Meiji emperor as five guiding spiritual principles for the Japanese people.  Dr.Usui adopted them as they helped Reiki students build greater awareness in their daily practice.

     "Just for today I will live in an attitude of gratitude." 

     This is the first of the affirmations that direct the attention of the student towards the need to always count his blessings rather than bemoan all that he has not acquired in life.  This consciousness brings with it a feeling of fulfillment in life and creates an actual environment of abundance.  It connects the individual to the treasures that lie buried in the consciousness and fosters a sense of wonder.  It makes the practitioner humble, stabilizes and calms his mind and strengthens his resolve in the face of adversities. 

     A good way to begin is to maintain an attitude of gratitude while doing Reiki for others. This prevents ego from asserting itself.  Every session is to be regarded as an opportunity for service and every act is to be seen as a chance to discharge a debt for the bounty that nature has conferred on us. One begins to see the wealth that we have been conferred with and our gratitude grows geometrically.

     "Just for today I will not worry." 

     This is the second of the affirmations.  Worry is an expression of a fear that our desires may not be fulfilled.    It is also an indication that the ego is predominant and will tolerate no loss of face.  The worry then begins to impact the whole being.  It deprives the individual of sleep, puts him off his food and distorts his facial expressions and causes a lot of stress to him and those around him. It is a declaration of a lack of trust in the Universe. 

     When there is a commitment to drop worry from your mind, you are taking our first step towards empowerment. It is a call to do your duty without expectation about the fruits of your action.  It is a state of mind where you will take appropriate and right action for a given task but will not focus on the results of the action.  You will develop a dispassionate state of mind where the action and not the results are important—a state of mind where you will trust the Universe decide on what is the best and most appropriate result of a given action.  This will help you see life’s little setbacks as challenges posed to you by the Universe.  It will de-stress you and help you develop an impartial perspective on the events that happen in your life.  You will appreciate that concern for the events is OK but not anxiety about them.

     "Just for today I will not anger."

     This is the third of the five affirmations. Anger is a function of the ego and must be recognized as such.  A thwarted ego reacts with anger.  Resistance to anger will make it persistent.  It has to be rooted out.  This affirmation is an expression of your desire to root out the anger and in the process, the ego.

     When anger rises within you, pause a while and examine it dispassionately.  What is causing this anger in you? Has some desire –expressed or unexpressed—been thwarted by some event or action of someone else?  If so, examine whether the desire was right or appropriate in the given circumstances?  How was your desire viewed by the other person?  Does the non fulfillment of the desire in any way make you worse off than you are?  Does it change the way you view life?

     Reiki practitioners advocate that when anger rises within you, it would be desirable to visualize it as a red fiery ball that you are flinging away from you or it is gradually expanding till it is completely dissipated.

     "Just for today I shall do my work honestly."

     Is an affirmation that is a natural corollary to the above affirmations.  Honesty is a willingness to accept our limitations and work upon our strengths to the best of our abilities.  This affirmation re-establishes your contact with the real you and enables you transcend the ego which tries to overreach and is dishonest or boastful of your abilities. It will bring with it a deep contentment and an acceptance of yourself as you are.  This will be reflected in your attitude to life and help you live your life with gratitude and tolerance of others weaknesses.  This awareness will destroy your anger and overcome your tendency to worry about outcomes that you boasted about dishonestly. 

     The last of the affirmations is a celebration of life itself:

  "Just for today I will show love and respect to all living beings." 

     This affirmation is intended to foster in the Reiki practitioner a sense of oneness with all life on this planet and elsewhere in the Universe.  It is a tenet that Jesus Christ advocated in the Bible “Love thy neighbor as ye love thy self”.  It is also a call to mankind to “do unto others what ye would have done unto ye”.

     By affirming that you will spend the day giving and spreading love you are delving into the roots of existence itself—you are defining the meaning of life, of creation.  

     As a Reiki practitioner you are acknowledging that God created this world out of love.  He wanted to share his love and wanted to be loved.  Love is the foundation upon which the wrap and woof of the Universe was defined.  Without love there is no life.  Hate is an invitation to sin and death.   Reiki is a positive energy that is given for love.  It is soothing, healing and curative energy that loves the being it is coursing through.  You as the medium of transmission must be a personification of the love.  You must be an effective instrument that transmits the energy selflessly and unconditionally.

     Reiki affirmations are not in the exclusive domain of Reiki.  They are universal affirmations that are the very foundations of every spiritual teaching.  A practitioner who strictly follows these five tenets of the teaching will find that he is directly connected to source of energy and the more he gives the more he receives to give. 

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