There are three degrees of Reiki practitioners. If you choose to go through the process, feel free to ask your teachers about the topics listed below.

The First Degree

In the first degree, students tend to learn about the following things:

• The History of Reiki
• The Attunement Process
• Energy
• The Chakra System
• How to do Reiki on yourself
• Hand Positions

The Second Degree

In the second degree, the following information is revealed:

• How to do Reiki on others
• Symbol of Power
• Symbol for Mental/Emotional Healing
• Symbol of Distance Healing
• Self Empowerment Positions
• The Bodies
• Kundalini Energy
• The Rays of Manifestation

The Third Degree

The third degree is taught in one of two ways, depending on the Master’s beliefs. Traditionally, the third degree was the highest level in Reiki. At this level, you were taught everything about the final symbols and how to attune others.

Through time, it became evident that many people wanted to reach the third degree and learn more about Reiki but had no intention of teaching or felt that they were not ready to guide others. For these reasons, many Reiki Masters saw the need for an intermediate stage between the second degree and Master level. The tradition of only having three degrees broke, and the third degree split into two parts: 3A and 3B. Under this adjusted system, people normally train up to level 3A unless they want to become a Reiki Master and teach Reiki.

At level 3B, people learn how to pass the Reiki philosophy onto others and give attunements.

After you are attuned to the First Degree, you have a new choice in front of you…

You can choose to begin working on yourself, or you can return to the life you led before your first thought of Reiki appeared. (Although you are reminded that since you have initiated a powerful energy transformation within you, beneficial changes will occur slowly even if you do not practice on yourself every day – they will simply be more subtle and unconscious.) If you choose to embrace a new level of vibration into your existence, then there are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, you have been given access to a much greater flow of energy then you were most likely connected to prior to your first attunement. In order to develop a full awareness of what it feels like to actually function on a day to day basis at a higher frequency, you have a responsibility to work on yourself as often as you can. You may choose to do a Reiki session on yourself once a week. You may also choose to do full Reiki sessions on yourself twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Rather than imposing rules, it is suggested that the more energy you allow to directly flow through you, the greater results you will notice.

Working on yourself

The most important thing to remember is not to judge. Judgment diminishes the results of a treatment, but in a way that you may not expect. If you judge what happens, you will by no means be punished for it. It is simply a case of energy distribution. If you choose to judge, you are utilizing energy for the creation of doubt and fear. The energy that is used to judge is then no longer available in the moment to balance your chakras, heal your body, sooth your mind and all of the other benefits that come with attuning to a higher vibration. Remember that there is a cause to every effect. If you choose to think one way, you will be affected in that way. Rather then creating illusions of what you think is happening, put faith in the process and simply BE within the energy.

A reiki session may start off as an exercise in meditation. You may wish to clear your mind as you place your hands on your chakras because our minds get in the way of the things we are here to work through. You may find that you drift off into a place where you are not exactly sleeping, but not completely awake either. Sometimes your body asks for a deep rest during a session and will put you to sleep in order for you to receive the full benefit from a session. You may dream or see visions. You may have thoughts that you would normally have missed in a busier state. You may not remember anything that happens during your session including when your hands moved to different positions but your inner knowing tells you that all was done perfectly.

Allow nature to run its course. Your body enters into its natural state of harmony while energizing. At first you will feel the differences between your natural state of peace during Reiki and your daily state of preoccupation with life. Once you pass this stage, you will transition into a more harmonious state even while walking down the street. It is a process. Allow it to take you to your highest good and trust that you are cared for by the powers of love.

Many souls will look to different ways of becoming fully enlightened. If any school of thought does not lead you within, you should remove yourself from that school. However, if it leads you within, you can be sure you’re on the right track. All the answers, knowledge, enlightenment, and peace lies within you. You will never become truly enlightened by any school, nor by any person external of yourself. It does not do any harm to be aware of another’s opinion. Just remember; you are cautioned not to become that opinion.

I somehow find myself attracted to Shiva and Shakti lately. It first came up when I was reflecting about the way my life has shed a layer of itself as I knew it and is now sprouting new buds and seeing fresh branches extend from the maturing trees I planted who knows how long ago. Shiva and Shakti came up again when I was writing a post about meditation in which I shared with you a mantra that I find very powerful. Today I have come across it again through my exploration of the various aspects of the Third Eye.

The January 19 2009 entry on the A Light in the Darkness blog talks about “The Eye of Shiva” (a.k.a. Third Eye Chakra) in which it explains that in order to have a fully functioning Third Eye Chakra, three elements (on the physical and etheric planes) must activate and be able to function harmoniously. The required balance in the relationship of these three elements is almost breathtaking in its perfection. Read on to see what I mean…

In order for the Third Eye to be fully functioning, the Ego must fully immerse into the physical body. When a Soul is just beginning its evolutionary path, the Ego first makes contact with the physical body through the top of the head (where you would find the Crown Chakra). Once the Soul has evolved into a sufficiently conscious state, the process of immersion continues until the Ego absorbs into the area of the pituitary gland. (Keep in mind that this process of immersion takes place with each new life when Spirit enters into a new body each time it returns to a physical existence.)

The state of a Soul’s consciousness dictates not only how deeply the Ego can immerse into the physical being, but this also impacts the physical senses of the body. The more evolved the Soul, the higher the sensitivity and receptivity of the being. In other words, the higher the consciousness, the higher the receptivity to higher and more subtle vibrations. (This is explained further in the blog entry I mention above.) But the point to understand here is that once the Ego is able to immerse deep enough that it makes contact with the pituitary gland, the evolution of consciousness can progress into fundamental levels.

“As these three types of energy, or the vibration of these three centers, begin to contact each other, a definite interplay is set up. This triple interplay forms in time a vortex or center of force, which finds its place in the center of the forehead, and takes eventually the semblance of an eye looking out between the other two. It is the eye of the inner vision, and he who has opened it can direct and control the energy of matter, see all things in the Eternal Now, and therefore be in touch with causes more than with effects, read the Akashic records, and see clairvoyantly.”

Source

Kundalini and I have a peaceful relationship. I have read the experiences of many others who have had spontaneous Kundalini awakenings that have…caught them off guard.

To me…
Kundalini is force.
It is intense, focused and merciless.
It is throbbing, pulsing and whirling.
It is unseen yet unmistakably felt on this side of the veil.
It is multi- and omni-present.
It is simple, subtle, supporting and sustaining.
It is nurturing, natural and native.
It is complex, cumulus and cohesive.
It flows, spins, shoots and thrusts.

Polarity.
Attraction.
Magnetism.
Unification.

When awakened, Kundalini is the fire of life that weaves itself through our energetic essence, mingling with the chakras, melting obstructions and exploding life into all it touches.

Whether it be through yoga, meditation or spontaneous awakening, Kundalini is a force of indescribable potency, intensity and union with all that is.

What is your relationship with Kundalini Shakti?