Reiki Book Club: Hands of Light, Chapters 1-3

Hi everyone and welcome to our first Reiki book club session, where we will be reading Hands of Light by Barbara Ann Brennan. I was initially only going to be starting with chapter 1. However, once I started reading I realized the first 3 chapters were more of an introduction to the book than anything else. It didn’t seem like enough to just post about one of the chapters so I’m going to write about 3. These chapters combined make up part I, Living on a Planet of Energy.

The section begins with a quote:

“I maintain that cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific research.” –Albert Einstein

Chapter 1: The Healing Experience

Brennan begins this chapter by introducing us to a few of the people she has worked with in the past and she recounts a few of their remarkable healing stories. Did you have a favorite story? Or do you have one to share too?

She then goes on to talk about her background some and how she came to learn about “High Sense Perception,” which is what allows you to see energy fields, the colors of which tell you the health and well-being of a person. I find it interesting that she was a atmospheric physicist who worked for NASA.

What I notice most in this chapter is that she doesn’t use the word “Reiki.” However, since she does refer to it as “laying-on of hands” and “spiritual healing,” I’m wondering that perhaps she avoided the use of the term “Reiki” to keep it more mainstream. Or maybe it was to allow her own system and terminology to be used, such as the use of “High Sense Perception (HSP).” What do you think?

Chapter 2: How to Use This Book

This chapter goes over who this book is for what you can expect to find in it. It’s “written for health care professionals, therapists, clergy, and all those who consider themselves aspirants to better physical, psychological and spiritual health.” Brennan sees this book as a handbook for self-healing and the practice of healing others.

Each chapter has questions at the end and she suggests taking the time to answer them before moving on. I’ll post the questions for us to go over them too. I also suggest getting a journal to use while you read this book. It gives you a place to jot down answers to these questions and to write down any notes too.

And this book isn’t really supposed to be used a substitute for classes, because you will need hands on experience to learn. I know, lots of us are Reiki practitioners so that’s a non-issue but she goes over it at some length so I mention it here.

Lastly, she gives and overview of each of the parts of the book. I’m not going to sum this up unless you really want me to. We’ll go over them one at a time anyway.

Chapter 3: A Note on Training and the Development of Guidance

Brennan uses chapter 3 to point out the importance of training and that healers need much technical training to be able work with other health professionals to help heal a client. Plus, The healer needs to understand how things relate together for a more complete, whole body healing. Some subjects for training she includes are counseling, physiology, and anatomy. She also touches on the need for some knowledge for things like acupuncture, nutrition, and herbal cures. She lists more, but this sampling gives you an idea of that list.

She then goes on to discuss the development of guidance by paying attention to discomfort. If you feel discomfort, you should ask yourself what caused it and what you are doing about it. “Any discomfort anywhere in your body/life is a direct message to you about how you are out of alignment with your true self.” Interesting, eh? How many times do you ignore what your body is trying to tell you? I know I do this all the time. But this is an important step toward becoming balanced so that we may attend to the healing needs of others. And the lessons we are being guided on only grow from there.

Chapter 3 offers the first summary questions for the chapter:

1. What kind of technical training does a healer need? and why?

2. What is the simplest form of guidance in your life?

Plus a few questions to think on:

1. What are some of the more profound experiences of guidance in your life, and what effect did they have on your life?

2. How well are you able to follow your own guidance?

3. Do you consciously listen for or ask for guidance for yourself? How often?

Post your thoughts below or out the Reiki Facebook Fan Page Forum. For those of you who want to read faster than this pace, you can chat about future chapters here.

Next up, we start Part 2, The Human Aura, with chapter 4: Parallels Between How We See Ourselves and Reality and Western Scientific Views.

I know, I jumped ahead by going over 3 chapters here when I said I‘d only be going over 1. I’ll give you time to catch up and won’t post about Chapter 4 until August 10.

That’s that. Have a happy day everyone!