The training was very demanding, both physically and mentally. We could spend hours looking at a bamboo stem until finding enough steadiness of mind to make a perfect cut, not doubting, not thinking. It was as if the blow of the sabre had its own life and with a whistle and great precision it cut through what was ahead. This exercise, called “Ki-Ai” represented a total union with your sword as if we both were one. At the beginning, in the early years, we trained with some rudimentary swords, made of bamboo or rough sticks called “boken”.
(Meditation and spiritual practice from childhood)
In the college they disciplined us with long meditation exercises and the learning of extensive religious Buddhist texts. So concentration and meditation were always present in my life from when I was little.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICES Swamped with so many studies and not having found the hoped for results I used to spend long periods in spiritual exercises, such as fasting, meditation or reciting sutras and mantras. Sometimes I practiced in my room, and other times in temples and places of pilgrimage. I participated in a group, called “Tatsu no Retsu3”, that carried out mystical magical practices. We went to woods and remained there motionless or entombed for days. On other occasions we invoked the elements with long recitations. We connected with something so special that we always wanted more.
(Death exercises and sensory deprivation as awakening)
BURIED ALIVE We did exercises on dying, because we had to die in a fictional reality to wake up to the true reality. We practiced dying because one day we would really die.
Reciting the heart sutra, the main sutra of our school of practice, we quickly entered into a state of trance. Within this tiny space inside mother earth we sought death so as to be born again. We used medicinal herbs with anti inflammatory, insect repellent and analgesic properties to cushion the ground and to help the body to get through so many days immobile. We also used esoteric practices for energy cleansing and the raising of vibratory frequencies. In this chamber of sensory deprivation one soon becomes alone with one’s mind.
When you return to the world, you feel as if you do not belong to it. It was very difficult to adapt to it once again. After the death experience, one doesn’t worry about the price of rice, or if the neighbour has bought a wonderful new horse, or if your wife isn’t happy because you don’t pay her enough attention. People in their mental worlds are so disturbed that they cannot escape from their mental prisons. But for them the mad one was me - the one who was totally in peace, the one who wasn’t affected by anything and who nothing annoyed. Those were some of the exercises we did. Either you find yourself or you go mad fighting with your mind.
Exercise suggestion: Meditate on the concept that we are buried and die4.
further from my mind, my past, my studies, and my desires. I distanced myself so far from all this that soon I found myself alone with myself. At last, my essence, my purity, my true nature of light emerged. I was filled with so much light and energy that I fainted. When I came to, I woke up to a new understanding thanks to this experience, to a new level of consciousness, to a new connection with everyone and everything. I, Octavio, asked him with curiosity while channeling his words, “why twenty one days?” Twenty one days represent the three states of mind: Seven days to pass through the conscious mind Seven days to pass through the unconscious mind Seven days to be in the state of “no-mind” In the first seven days you keep your thoughts at bay so that they don’t interfere with your work. You shut them off, you block them and you do not let them develop. When your mind is at peace and not distracted, then comes the following period of seven days. In this second period, a deeper unconsciousness emerges; sometimes it is almost impossible to distinguish between dream and reality. During this stage, one can have experiences with Buddhas or demons, or others, with characters that bless you and give you peace, or with beings that annoy you, frighten you or attempt to spoil your work. If you hold firm, you enter into the next period of “no-mind”, where everything is empty, where everything melts away. It cannot be explained, it is as if you explode and blur into every cloud, every mountain, into each human being, into emptiness itself.
I rose so high that I could touch the source or the source touched me! When you have gone beyond the mind, one is not the same and the mind can no longer manipulate you. Having reached this state it is very easy to teach others the true path and it is very easy for them to understand you, but it is very, very difficult for them to leave behind their old thought patterns and thinking habits.
(Reiki as soul connection and energy transmission)
Spiritualization is necessary because one cannot live in a healthy way without the spiritual facet. This spiritual aspect gives clarity, understanding, raises the vibrations and improves quality of life. Usui sensei not only gave healing, he helped to connect people with the deepest and most forgotten parts of their being. A person who connects with their soul, connects with a source of energy and infinite information because souls are connected. Souls connect on levels according to the levels of consciousness and those different levels are interconnected with each other. So we can live always at the same level, or we can take energy from other levels of consciousness to help us reach other levels. We can also make use of this energy to help someone to overcome an illness.
Reiki practitioners can practice every day and at all hours and all that they will notice is that the more they practice the better they feel. The person with “bad” energy It is always important to observe a rule based on the philosophy that goes “to treat others as we would like to be treated” (here the verb to treat refers to our behaviour towards others). But if we invert this phrase, we have this other piece of advice “do not allow those we don’t want to treat us to treat others”(here the verb to treat refers to the treatment itself). In addition, one should not be treated by people who, even if they know the Reiki natural system of healing, have what is commonly called “bad” energy. Usually these are people who have practiced magic, spiritualism, witchcraft or other forms of esotericism, and have become “negatively influenced”. Neither should one be treated by people who take drugs or drink a lot, or people we don’t know who give us a bad feeling.
It does not depend on the state of consciousness; in other words, we can give Reiki to someone while they are asleep, in a coma or conscious. It is not necessary to believe in anything or have knowledge of anything to receive a good Reiki session. In the case of accidents, when we act quickly, we minimize the consequences or make them less perceptible. I mean that, for example, it can reduce the size of burn marks and scars. Also it favours speedier recoveries. Those suffering from chronic illnesses require longer sessions over longer periods of time.
Advice: drink water from a glass bottle that you have put stickers with positive messages on.
(Water memory and food as energetic medium)
FOODS In “Messages from Water” (a video by Dr. Masuru Emoto) he explains that a primary school boy does an experiment with two identical jars filled with cooked rice. For a month he said “stupid” to one, and “thank you” to the other. At the end of the month one could see how in the first jar the rice had gone black and rotten, while the other was still white and smelt good. This is because all foods contain water and as we know water remembers
(Twenty-one-day purification protocol for attunement)
SHOULD I PREPARE MYSELF IN SOME WAY TO RECEIVE ATTUNEMENT? To improve the attunement process, a period of 21 days of purification is recommended, this period of time echoes the time spent by Usui sensei on Kuruma Mountain. This makes the work more efficient and leads to better results. The following steps are ideal, and nowadays they are usually optional. Avoid eating meat as well as poultry and fish. These foods often contain hormones, antibiotics, nitrites, toxins and heavy metals that make our systems bloated Follow a vegetarian diet Avoid the consumption of sugar, (cakes, chocolates, biscuits, etc.) Drink water and natural fruit juices. Avoid coffee and drinks with caffeine. These create imbalances in the nervous and endocrine systems. Consider the possibility of a water or fruit juice fast for one day or a few days especially if we have experience with fasting. Don’t drink alcohol Don’t smoke or keep smoking to a minimum Don’t take drugs Meditate twice a day Reduce the time spent watching television, listening to the radio or reading newspapers Do suitable physical exercise Make contact with nature Be aware of our thoughts and words and make an effort to keep them neutral or positive For some people, trying to do all this, even if only for a day, would be a difficult challenge. For others it will always be the right way to live.