Don't knock it til you've tried it.

SO.

Tonight I sit, having virtuously bathed and cleaned both the boy Cats, and I have a day off tomorrow...for ChristiHimmelfahrt, a Christian holiday (the German translation is "Christ drives to heaven" Isn't that funny? Dude probably owns a Prius). The Germans go BIG TIME for all the Christian days, some years we've got almost 1 holiday day a month for some Christian thing or other. Gotta love that.

But anyway. I had my first Reiki level two weekends (on Saturday 5.5) ago, and have had a little time for it to sink in, so to say.

I found my Reiki teacher online. My first requirement? That I felt intuitively that the person was good. I had looked at females and males, and really had felt that I should have a female teacher, but it didn't work out. Einar came in the picture and I felt very good towards him, so onward I went.

It was a four-hour train ride (with changes) getting there, but worth every minute. The scenery was great, the hubs wasn't there on the weekend and the boys had each other pretty well under control.

Start off: Einar is a total hippie, but I like it that way. He's lived in Tibet, and met up with the Dalai Lama, which I think is highly cool. So we talked a long time about Reiki, what it is, why I want it, and everything. He doesn't give it to just "anyone", he never does Distance initiations, as he feels that he needs to see the person's soul before agreeing to give them the Initiation (no naughtiness or anything, he just doesn't have that in him). I hadn't felt so calm around a male I'd hardly met before, and usually that is a real problem for me. So finally it came time, and he prepared the Reiki room, and ushered me in.

He started, and my eyes were closed. I was so worried - what if it didn't work, what if I couldn't do it, worst of all: what if it wasn't real, and people just screwed you out of money for nothing. Gradually, my whirling thoughts came into order, and I became aware of my spine tingling. And warm. It was the strangest thing ever. Sooo warm. And then a rushing of relaxation just washed over me, and I felt almost faint.

After the initiation, we went through the hand positions, and I gave myself Reiki, and afterwards was even more chill. I don't know how I got home...I think I was half comatose.

And I've made sure it's stuck. I take the time to do it to myself every day, and it's helped my meditation immensely. The Cats love it too - the new boy a little more, he will sit and take it as long as I give it to him. The Cat not so much - but I think that he is so stable and knows he is so well-loved (plus hasn't had anything bad happen to him in his whole life other than baths) that he doesn't need it as much. But the Blue Cat definitely. He adores it.

The difference in myself? I can feel it, when it comes through. It gives me so much relaxation and calmness, and my stress level has gone so much down, it is not even funny. (And this with someone from my work stealing my laptop this week - this tells you the level of calmness I've reached).

I really like it. Now I've got to work on my positions and my feeling for the energy of a person, then I'll do the second level with the distance healing signs...which will totally float my boat. But I have to wait - Einar believes that you must first work on the Reiki 1 to have Reiki 2 be strong.

So great.