Meditation to move forward.

While. we ground to move forward, we also need to be open to let go. While we will be looking at letting go as a capacity much more extensively later, we can begin to loosen any gripping we have right now as we ground to move forward.

While I am much more practised as a yoga teacher, I also am a reiki healer. One of the preparations for reiki healing is a mantra meditation that helps to liberate us from unskilful capacities that usually grip us throughout the day.

The meditation uses the Five Principles of Reiki by Dr. Mikao Usui, and you too can use it in your meditations for transformative change in your (mid)life. Before we begin, however, let’s take a look at each of the principles in turn.

The Five Reiki Principles.

As a preamble, we begin each principle with “just for today” or even “just for now”. This is to indicate that we are fallible, we aren’t perfect. But if for just today, or just for the moment, we could be something more than we usually are, that is already progress. And that is why this mantra is perfect to use to move forward.

So on to the the first principle.

1. Just for today, let go of anger.

Anger sometimes is simmering in us for ages. We could be angry with our parents, our siblings, our teachers, and we could be harbouring this anger for years. We may find ourselves easily triggered when someone else does an action that reminds us of that action, and we may just totally overreact.

It’s time to let go. All the drivers who cut into us during our commute, all the bosses and co-workers who don’t understand us, or under- / overestimate us, all the people who make demands on us, that simmering resentment and anger doesn’t belong to us anymore. Let’s just move forward.

2. Just for today, let go of worry.

While anger may be a capacity that belongs to our past, worry is a capacity that belongs to our future. We cannot change the circumstances around us. What we can do is just move on from the worry, letting it go, while try to gain some calm, and through that calm some clarity, and perhaps from all this, a solution to what we perceive is the worry.

3. Just for today, receive gratefully.

We may think we receive gratefully, but do we really? Even if a $100 million landed on our laps, is the first capacity we experience gratitude? Don’t worry though, it may not be even my first emotion, but it should be one of the first.

But more importantly, is gratitude something we feel or express when the outcome isn’t what we wanted or had hoped for? If another car were to hit us, do we have thanks? My partner, Eddy, always says, “We should be thankful it wasn’t worse.” This too is gratitude, and there is great value in trying to cultivate this capacity.

4. Just for today, work honestly.

The key capacity we are hoping to cultivate here is honesty. When we say “work”, it means in all we do, not just for meaningful gains. Let’s just live in honesty at all times, like one of the capacities of the Yamas (the first step of the Eight-Steps of Yoga – Ashtanga Yoga), namely Satya – truth.

5. Just for today, be kind to others.

Being kind isn’t just charitable work, or being nice to people we like. Being kind is also being gracious when someone has wronged us, or being open to an apology, as well as giving an apology when necessary.

Setup:

• Begin by finding a comfortable – preferably disturbance-free airy space – in which you can sit or lie down comfortably (if lying, a hard surface – like a yoga mat on the floor – is better than a soft, downy mattress);
• If you are living with family or other people, just tell them you need 10 mins to half an hour (or however long it is) for meditation and avoid disturbing you;
• Switch off your phone or put it into airplane mode / silent (non-vibrate);
• Check that you are comfortably attired;
• Check that the temperature is suitable;
• Then you can begin.

Try to get the inhales to fit “just for today”, and the exhales for the remainder of the principle.

Inhale	Exhale
Just for today,	let go of anger;
Just for today,	let go of worry;
Just for today,	receive gratefully;
Just for today,	work honestly / diligently’
Just for today,	be kind to others.

Sit for as long as you like, using your favourite meditation app if you wish. As a challenge, try sitting with this mantra for at least three minutes for the duration of a month.

Now you have learnt the Five Principles of Reiki, in the form of a mantra meditation. It should help to loosen the grips of these unskilful capacities in us so that we can move on towards our transformative change for our (mid)life awakening.

Do comment below or email me if you have any feedback or queries on this.