What is a Reiki Circle?

What is so profound about working with Reiki is the amount of light it brings into ones life. Especially when one has existed in the shadows or the darkneww for so long, coming into a circle of light is like entering a bit of heaven.

The first time I ever had energywork of any kind I laid on the table and my head was held by a woman, my freet by a gentleman and my arms by another person. I was supported in undconditional love from people I didn't know.

The perception of ‘stranger' dies in a circle of light. People come together to send healing energy to each other, to the world. Their individual differences are blurred into the healing collective.

No one ego stands out. No one is greater than the other, each person may have certain skills that differ, but together they form a healing unit that amplifies all those individual abilities and makes the unit function as a whole.

Circles are places of deep healing and self-discovery. They allow a recipient to come to a place of support and embrace and love reminiscient of being held by a universal mother.

The circle becomes the crucible for a recipients self-discovery and healing. How do I feel about being held by what I had perceived to be strangers? These are now people coming together to help me on my path. They have never met me and yet they hold me.

Each one in turn receives from the group. There are no expectations. An equal balance of giving and receiving.

Many individuals often state that the giving of Reiki in a circle brings more joy to them. Unconditional giving feels good. But it is also important to allow the space within ourselves to have permission to receive.

This statement is given as an offering at the beginning of each circle. Do you give yourself permission to receive? If one has never heard these words before they often resonate at a profound and deep level.

Yes, I do give myself permission to receive this healing energy from a group of strangers who I am putting my trust into.

Sometimes that first experience is too much. I've had people jump off the table because the concept is so foreign and the intensity of such love incomprehensible.

I tell such people take their time building up to being supported by a group. Work one-on-one with other Reiki practitioners first. But I still encourage them to make their way to a table at some point.

Being held in intentional love changes the individual, changes the world.

Circles can be done anywhere with or without massage tables. People can sit on the ground and be surrounded by a group holding their hands up to let energy and love flow.

Its important that the intention of the healing come from a place greater than oneself. Whether that is a belief in a higher power, nature spirit, etc. Let this energy flow through the circle participant to the recipient in the middle.

As above so below. The energy flow goes to where it is needed

When I was first introduced to a Reiki circle it was over thirteen years ago, on the East coast and it was called ‘Reiki share'. The concept and practice was the same: a group of Reiki practitioners getting together to take turns "sharing' in the laying of hands on each other.

My teacher's house was the place of my introduction, actually, her suburban basement, complete with left overs from her child-rearing days-her son's Spiderman clock still hung on the wall, the 60's era rec room furnishings-couches, shag carpet and wood paneling completed the décor for our weekly gatherings.

On any given Wednesday evening, a core group of six of us could usually be counted to show up. If Cherie had been busy promoting her work in the community, then that number might double with curious and potential new students.

She was always very gracious about encouraging ‘newbies' to watch, receive, practice and take in the whole experience. Learning from her, I continue that tradition today myself.

I also learned a lot of what I didn't want from doing healing circle work, which was non-ending conversation while the group put their hands over you. Yak, yak, yak, about mundane details of life-shopping, sales, and even personal traumas like divorces, lawsuits and the such.

Cherie had started her circle that way, giving permission for banal talk to occur while laying of hands. Had she learned this from her own teacher, Virginia Samdahl? Had Cherie decided that it passed the time more quickly during sessions? I never asked her. Not knowing any other model, I thought all circles were so ‘social'...but after a year of practice, I began to venture out to the one other circle in Northen NJ I had heard about and found that this other teacher had a much more sacred approach to the work.

Same idea-groups of practitioners laying hands, but this group wasn't talking DURING the sessions. They were creating a sacred, healing space for each member and recipient. The entire circle experience was transformative.

I went back to Cherie's, feeling actually embarrassed that I had sought out another model (not wanting her to feel threatened or insulted), but told her I had an ‘idea' to use the one private room in her open basement as a sacred, quiet, Reiki space...I used the excuse that several people who had been dropping by lately came with pretty severe physical issues-multiple sclerosis, heart conditions and post-surgery healing needs. A separate healing room would be a sanctuary for this needy population.

Cherie was open to the idea and let our core group know about this new part of the Reiki circle. They all wanted to be a part of the change, so when they came into the private room, they brought with them their ‘bad' habits of talking during treatments. Cherie tried to institute some kind of order, but she soon was back to talking during the session.

I was frustrated. I loved my home base circle, the people, Cherie, but the lack of ‘sanctuary' seemed counter to what the full Reiki experience could provide.

As I was graduating from my master's in counseling program, I was being confronted with moving away from this circle.

I reluctantly told the circle and Cherie I was leaving. I thought it was a big deal, but my sense was that the circle ‘community' had experienced their share of transition before. They wished me well, but the circle still went on.

I was shocked to not find any Reiki circles in my new home of Philadelphia. Through a series of coincidences I was lead to my next teacher, Alena Heble who held circles in her Delaware home.

I was so excited it didn't matter I had to drive the hour to get to her house. Her circles were held in the family room of her house, on the main floor, with an assortment of shaman's tools all around: masks, drums, rattles, bells. It was so exotic compared to the scarcity of Cherie's simple basement.

Alena used all those tools in her Reiki sessions, often channeling strange guttural sounds over her clients and doing what I later came to understand were ‘extractions' of pent up energies blocking the client's field.

Like Cherie's group, there was a core of about five or six who seemed to come each week. But new students were rarer. This seemed to be more of an established clique than an open experience for newcomers.

I felt honored to be a part of the group. But something within me still craved the quiet of the one group I had seen back in New Jersey. Learning how to use sound healing tools from Alena was its own experience and skill. I was happy to dive in to the unusual approach. But as the months went on, I think she began to sense my frustration, with making the commute to Delaware, with my desire to start walking the Reiki master path and for this other vision of a circle.

She pulled me aside one night after circle and told me that it was time for me to go forth and teach others Reiki. To establish my own circle. She wasn't kicking me out, she was birthing me forward. I was so scared. How would I do that? I lived in a one room studio. Where would the people come from? She told me ‘put it out there, they will come'.

I drove back to Philly that night excited, frightened and feeling a little lost. I could only trust that what Alena had said would come to pass.

A few weeks went by. I continued my job as a domestic violence counselor. Nothing seemed to change in my Reiki world. The DV home where I worked did not want any kind of Reiki circle on their premisis. I had checked with the administrator, but she said the hands-on work might traumatize the women. I look back at that now and realize perhaps I needed to explain what Reiki was a bit more because since that time the field of DV has included Reiki and many other healing modalities in their work.

I didn't have many friends in Philly at that time because I had been there less than six months. My body soon began to get achy from doing the DV work, the stress of dealing with some many emotional problems and complexities of a house full of battered women. I sought out a chiropractor. I found Lynn Kelly in a holistic practitioner guide. Our first meeting was magical. The energy from her hands was so strong. I asked her if she knew about Reiki. She had taken level I several years ago.

I told her I had just completed my Reiki master training and was looking to start a circle but didn't have the space. She told me I could have the circle in her office. I was beside myself. I had just met her. And there we were, setting a date for the circle. Alena was right. I had put it out there and it came back.

How was I to promote the circle? I had no formal business training, and I just modeled after what I had seen other practitioners do at Garland of Letters. I created flyers and began posting them around in other bookstores and coffee shops. I called up the local community paper to find out how to submit a press release for the circle and a lovely editor actually spent time educating me on the process.

The evening of the first circle was approaching. I was nervous. What would it be like? Could I actually create the quiet sanctuary I had always wanted? Did I have everything I needed? I got a few extra bottles of water and stocked up on cookies. I showed up to Lynn's office an hour early more to calm me down than to prepare. The room was set.

We awaited the first person.

One by one they came. Within half an hour there were twelve people in the small office. Some went outside in the hall to have a little bit more room. Lynn looked at me in astonishment. Did I know any of these people? No. All had found out about this circle through the limited amount of promotions I did between flyers and a press release.

And here they were. Each received a 15 minute treatment that Lynn and I were giving, and some of the people had done some hands-on-healing work before and were happy to help out around the table.

At the end of the night, three or so hours later, we had made over $200 in donations for treatment and about half of the participants had signed up for my first Reiki I class I was teaching in a few weeks.

Lynn looked me in the eyes afterwards and said, ‘Eileen, you are supposed to do this work'. Who gets 12 people to just ‘show up' for their first Reiki circle? I didn't know, I had never done it before.

And so the Philly circles began.

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