Before I even knew what Reiki was, this healing energy practice came to me repeatedly… introduced years ago by my Tai Chi teacher who became a Reiki Master. Then in a period of 16 months at various different workshops, I met three women who just “happened” to be Reiki Masters in addition to being workshop instructors. They arrived in my life from California, New York, and Australia. The last Reiki Master I met during that time finally asked me the frank crucial question… “With all your inclinations towards teaching and healing, why aren’t you studying Reiki right here in Kerrville?”

It was true, I had sought to nurture those around me – intuitively helping them to heal and grow in whatever ways I could. I found I could often do this through my workshops and teaching Tai Chi, and through my writing. I decided to take this a step further with Reiki and actually study healing in order to promote healing within myself and within those close to me, primarily my family.

Now Reiki is the first thing I do for myself each morning as I sip a cup of green tea. The Reiki helps to calm and center me for the day, as well as addresses any minor aches and pains. Reiki is also a wonderful tool for helping my occasional migraine, sore back, or allergy symptoms. My husband and I were delighted to find that Reiki could help bring relief to his hips – both prior to and after his hip replacements. (Still under the influence of the anesthesia for his second hip replacement, he asked for “more Reiki,” not drugs.)

My 83 year-old mother, my two grown daughters, and my two grandsons all regularly request Reiki. My 30 month-old grandson even had his mother phone me one night so he could say, “Nana, please send Reiki…my head hurts.” I’ve given Reiki to ill friends, to dogs and cats, to my computer, and to my new rose bush. My Reiki clients have included a doctor, a retired State Department worker, a writer, a teacher, a disabled person no longer able to work in a career position. The lists of “who” or “what” are not important. The point is Reiki raises the energy, within any matter, to a higher level that assists the entity’s ability to heal itself.

For more information, please read below for excerpts from Anne’s work on Reiki instructional cards for Rockport Publishers/Fair Winds Press. The illustrated 50-card deck will be available in 2008, from Fair Winds Press.

What is Reiki and where did it come from?
Reiki is a world-wide practice that promotes relaxation and healing. This system originally developed in Japan, founded by Dr. Mikao Usui (1865-1926). Rei means spiritual wisdom and ki means universal energy. Reiki is practiced by laying on hands. The comfort that human touch can bring, coupled with a higher source of life-force energy, forms the basis for this alternative and complementary therapy.

Reiki Masters train and “attune” all students as they advance the in levels, or degrees, of Reiki. These teaching Masters can trace their lineage back to Dr. Usui. Reiki teachings were formally introduced to the West in Hawaii during the early 1970s by Mrs. Hawayo Takata. Today there are many branches of Reiki around the world and some differ in their approaches and the way symbols are drawn.

How does Reiki work?
Reiki is recognized as coming from a “higher source” – you might call it God, creator, higher power, or spirit. The attunements you receive from a Reiki Master serve to open or “turn on” your ability to channel Reiki energy. This ability and your intention enable you to help yourself and others. Reiki is available to everyone, no matter what age or illness.

Reiki achieves healing at multiple levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Reiki can do no harm. Its goal is the highest level of healing. Note that Reiki “healing” does not mean “curing,” though many times this is the result. With Reiki, there is always the experience of an energy shift. It may be very subtle, even imperceptible, but the Reiki energy that enters the body raises the lower vibrations of the body’s cellular energies to a higher level.

Reiki is considered “intelligent” – it guides itself to the places in the body, mind, and soul in need of healing. The Reiki practitioner is simply the one who turns on “the switch.”

These cards are offered as a reference guide and aid for Reiki teachers and students. They do not replace the need for teaching and training from a qualified Reiki Master. You should always follow your Reiki Master’s traditions in regards to philosophy, symbol drawing, and hand positions. This deck may be used to interest and inform the public about Reiki and its uses. Reiki does not replace professional medical care.

Tai Chi
My study of Tai Chi began briefly in 1994, as a curious student in Houston, before moving to Kerrville, Texas in 1995.

The following year, my husband's surgery for cancer prompted me to seek Tai Chi once again…this time to nurture myself, in hopes the gentle martial art would promote a sense of calm and help me to relax. I joined a twice-a-week Tai Chi class at the local sports center, gradually adding more classes through a community education program and a senior center's classes. Soon I was attending five Tai Chi classes a week, totally immersing myself in this incredible "exercise."

This "exercise" became my inner-cise. I found Tai Chi practice takes a tremendous amount of focus - and that, gratefully, there is no room for worrisome thoughts. Tai Chi calls for a release of self-judgements and expectations. Tai Chi prompts its student to live "as is," not "as if." I discovered slowly but surely that with focus and practice I became not only a calmer person, at peace with myself and my world, but that my body also gained strength, balance, and flexibility. I was delighted to read that these physical benefits of Tai Chi in my life were well documented in studies around the world. And that doctors today frequently recommend Tai Chi to their patients of all ages for a variety of reasons…orthopedic rehab, reducing blood pressure, improving balance, bio-feedback for pain, and even doctor-ordered relaxation.

Today I teach Tai Chi in my Ventana al Cielo Studio. The class consists of a dedicated group of people who come together weekly to experience the joy and peace of "cummulative chi" - a sharing and a celebration of the life-energy that is in everyone. Tai Chi class is a gift we give ourselves. Tai Chi is a way of life - embracing all as One.
I hope my story and the following information will encourage you to seek a Tai Chi class near your own home…and if you are ever visiting the Texas Hill Country, I hope you'll contact me and stop by the studio for a class with us in Kerrville on Tuesdays from 4 - 5 p.m.

Below, you can read more about Tai Chi in excerpts from Anne's class handouts…

Tai Chi (pronounced "Tie Chee") is a moving form of QiGong (Chee-Kung), the ancient practice of "breath work" or "energy exercise." Qi (or Chi) is Chinese for "life energy." Everything in creation possesses Chi. When Chi flows freely in our bodies, we feel well and are healthy. If our Chi becomes stagnant or blocked, we experience discomfort, pain, stress, or dis-ease.

Tai Chi is a system of health and exercise that develops flexibility, co-ordination, and concentration to produce strength, endurance, and confidence. It is practiced around the world by people of all ages. Traditionally, students study for years to master the 108 movements that comprise Tai Chi's Long Form. From this practice, they learn how to breathe efficiently, to be centered, and to apply Tai Chi principles to their everyday lives.

The Tai Chi Long Form takes about 20 minutes to do, and between 6 to 8 months to learn. The Short Form takes about 10 minutes, and between 2 to 6 months to learn. Over time, the practice of Tai Chi develops a "cellular memory" within the body. Once the body is capable of "remembering" the Tai Chi movements, it frees the mind for deeper levels of meditation. Advanced students often repeat beginning or intermediate classes for years to refine their understanding and performance of Tai Chi.

Tai Chi came to the Western world through a number of Chinese families who taught Tai Chi in their own unique style and passed down those traditions. As a result, the sequence, execution and names of movements will vary from style to style. Tai Chi's roots are generally credited to Chang San-Feng of the Sung Dynasty in the 12th century. But there were two important predecessors - Ta Mo, an Indian monk who came to China to practice meditation, and Hsu Hsuan-Ping, a woodcutter who lived around 750 A.D.

It is believed that Ta Mo invented a form of exercise for the Shaolin monks who led a meditative but inactive life-style that left them physically degenerated. Also recognizing the monks' need for self-defense in their remote monastery setting, Ta Mo blended that idea with one of non-aggression to create this ancient exercise form.

Hsu Hsuan-Ping performed the long-boxing exercise, a series of movements containing many of the positions seen in the Yang-style Tai Chi form, such as Single Whip, Seven Stars, and White Crane Spreads Wings. Tai Chi students find these unique names helpful in remembering the form's moves that often mimic the lyrical names. Students are referred to as "players " - perhaps in view of the whimsical names for the movements they perform, or because they are sometimes "contestants" in jousting bouts and competitions…or perhaps it is because they become "players" on a bigger stage.

Whatever the case, Tai Chi players practice their deliberate, slow-motion movements and their mind becomes calm, their breathing deepens and slows, and their muscles relax. Learning Tai Chi is like learning biofeedback - training the mind and the body not only to release stress, but also to change the way they handle future stress. Working from the inside out, Tai Chi encourages self-acceptance and self-nurturing.