JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN
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First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Piatkus Books Ltd
First Tarcher/Penguin edition 2013
Copyright 2008 by Penelope Quest
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quest, Penelope.
Living the reiki way : reiki principles for everyday living / Penelope Quest.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN: 978-1-101-61603-1
1. Reiki (Healing system). I. Title.
RZ403.R45Q475 2013 2013009658
615.8'52dc23
Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.
While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is dedicated to my mother, Irene Monica Harris (19131999), who taught me to appreciate life and live it my way.
This book gives nonspecific, general advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for proper medical consultation. Reiki does not replace normal allopathic medical treatment. Reiki helps to enhance the process of harmony of the mind, body, emotions and spirit, and is a means of supporting and complementing medical treatment. If you have any acute or chronic disease you should consult a qualified medical practitioner.
While all suggested treatments are offered in good faith, the author and publisher accept no liability for damage of any nature resulting directly or indirectly from the application or use of information in this book, or from failure to seek medical advice from a doctor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the many people who have helped, directly or indirectly, with this book, especially to my friend the Reverend Simon John Barlow, for allowing me to adapt some of the material we wrote together for our workshops on consciousness, meditation and visualization. I would also like to thank my son, Chris, and daughter, Kathy, for their unfailing love and support in everything I do, and my many Reiki friends and students for the love and learning they have brought me. In addition, thank you to Helen, Gill, Krystyna and Rebecca from Piatkus, for their enthusiasm and help, and to my readers for all the wonderful e-mails you send me, which are always greatly appreciated and very inspiring.
Of course, special thanks go to my Reiki teachers Kristin Bonney, William Lee Rand, Andrew Bowling and Richard Rivard, who have been so instrumental in my own Reiki journey. Thanks also go to the many other teachers and writers who have advanced my knowledge and experience in various other subjects, such as psychology, NLP, EFT, abundance theory, meditation and spiritual development, which have been such a useful foundation for writing this book.
INTRODUCTION
Reiki has been an essential part of my life since 1991 when I attended my first Reiki course, and I have been trying to live the Reiki way ever since. I worked part-time as a Reiki practitioner for a number of years, alongside my work as a lecturer and senior manager in a college, and in 1994 I qualified as a Reiki Masterthe term that describes a teacher of Reiki. By 1996 I knew that practicing and teaching Reiki was what I really wanted to do, so I left my job in order to devote more time to teaching and writing about Reiki.
However, along the way, in addition to learning more and gaining further qualifications in Reiki and writing a number of books on the subject, I have followed many other interests and gained knowledge and experience in a wide range of topics, including psychology, meditation and visualization, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Native American and Celtic shamanism, abundance theory and cosmic ordering, and other areas of study that promote understanding, personal growth and a holistic view of the person. My special interest in healing has also led me to learn a number of other healing methods, such as Hawaiian Huna and Karuna Reiki, and recently I added to my academic qualifications by gaining a masters degree in Health and Healing Science.
It was this wide-ranging background that led me to want to write a book about living with the Reiki principles in todays hectic world. For me, living the Reiki way hasnt just been about Reiki, although Reiki has certainly been the most important aspect of my personal spiritual and healing journey for nearly twenty years. But I believe that Reiki has also been instrumental in guiding me to other methods for personal growth and spiritual development, as well as to various self-help techniques for my own healing, and this is why I have incorporated some of these into this book. While I think Reiki is fantastic, I am aware that it isnt the only way forward, so I wanted to present some other methods for people to explore. Sometimes Reiki is all you need, and at other times another method, such as NLP, EFT, or working through a visualization, will help to produce the shift in perception or energy you need to help you to deal with a problem.
Nearly a century ago Dr. Mikao Usui, the founder of the healing system we call Reiki, encouraged his students to live by the following precepts:
Just for today, do not anger, do not worry, be filled with gratitude, devote yourself to your work, and be kind to people.
Reiki students today are advised to live by the same principles, but perhaps these present even more of a challenge in the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, I believe they can be a great help and support to people in their everyday lives, as well as offering a way to a more spiritual path of personal growth.