I'll admit it: I've traditionally had difficulty with money. It makes me uncomfortable, because I feel a constant battle. I am bombarded by feelings of lack, but I recognize how fortunate I am to have always had what I need. I've been strapped for cash, perhaps not being able to pay every bill, but I have never been truly hungry, homeless, or in poverty. When you consider our cultural preoccupation with money, wealth, gain, and competition, it's no wonder that we lose sight of what wealth truly is.
Along with this feeling of lack, I've found myself lost in cycles of frugality (alright, downright stinginess) and overindulgence. I will spend exorbitant amounts on things I don't need but want desperately, and later (or immediately) suffer with guilt and buyer's remorse. Conversely, I will deny myself purchases because they're "too expensive," and go without things or services that are worth the investment for my own or others' well-being. This cycle serves no one, and mostly hurts myself.
I've come to understand that money is energy-- like any other energy that flows in ebbs and tides, it can be balanced or not. Energy exchanges are necessary events in our lives, and financial energy is not "the root of all evil" or the "key to happiness," but rather a physical and spiritual matter of reality.
But if Reiki is a Universal Life Energy that is available to all living beings, why do practitioners charge money for their services? Why can't healings, attunements, and all feel-good Reiki vibes just be free?
One story has it that the founder of Reiki, Master Mikao Usui, having discovered this new and extraordinary method of healing, opened a free hospital to help as many people as possible. People came from all around to seek his services, and immediately felt better after seeing him. Everything was going great... until it wasn't. The same folks kept returning, with the same complaints they had before their first treatment.
Master Usui was perplexed. How could this be happening? The people immediately felt better after receiving Reiki... they told him this everyday, and he saw it himself. But the problems were not solved. It was then that Master Usui realized that since he was offering his services for free, there was no investment from his patients. Because the treatments cost the patients nothing, the patients saw no motivation to change the patterns that had thrown their chakras and energy out of whack in the first place; because they could just return for another treatment when they needed it. Reiki is a tool toward relaxation and healing, but it is not the cure. For true transformation to arise from Reiki, energy must be exchanged; a give-and-take, if you will; to make the healing long-lasting. We humans are, at least a bit (or a lot a bit), externally motivated. Pay in, pay out.
The world's spiritual traditions recognize this. Right now, Christians are in the season of Lent, where many make sacrifices in recognition of the sacrifice of the Christ. Next week, Jews will begin Passover, the celebration of the Israelites' freedom from Egyptian slavery; and even within that celebration of freedom is the memory of sacrifice, and the giving up of leavened grain. Pagans of new and old times often make sacrifices to Gods and ancestors in hopes their prayers are answered. Sacrifice is a theme everywhere, as if to say, "Look, I'll give this up in exchange for that, because it is that important to me."
Paying for Reiki services is like that. But it is not to say that money is the only right way to "pay" for Reiki. An exchange of some sort of energy will sometimes work. Bartering for goods or services, when finances do not allow, can be arranged. In some instances, an agreement to "pay it forward" in some act of kindness or goodness to another, is acceptable, when made with pure intent. Just remember, it is the exchange, the sacrifice, that makes the healing "stick." It is not the miracle cure; it is the tool that facilitates true healing.
I can not fix you, but I can help you fix yourself. Reiki can not fix you, but it can be the tool to open your blockages that keep you from being the best, healthiest, you that you can be. Let me show you how!
With love and light,
Jess
