Reiki In Light

02/18/2026

Beautiful lesson

02/14/2026

Stillness is inside

You are not in the world.
The world is appearing
in what you are.

Body, breath, forest, light—
all arise within the same still field,
without boundary or centre.

Meditation is not an act here.
It is the quiet recognition
that nothing has ever been outside.

01/27/2026

A wonderful practice for everyone!

01/26/2026

Trees are amazing and so beneficial for us.

01/26/2026

Sundar Kadayam, a sincere and accomplished teacher that I have studied with for many years, reposted this beautiful teaching…

Being compassionate towards yourself

You are probably like many others, ready, willing, and able to be compassionate to others. In your own ways, you may approach being compassionate towards others by judging them less, being present with them, holding kind thoughts about them, saying prayers for them, indulging in kind actions towards them, being generous, being grateful, being forgiving, and more.

If that describes you, you are a blessing in this world. My deep gratitude to you.

Let us turn that around. What are the ways in which you are compassionate towards yourself?

When I ask this question, often I get a blank stare back. And that used to surprise me. The unstated question back to me seemed like this: "What do you mean being compassionate to myself?"

It appears that what we are willing to give others, in terms of non-judgment, understanding, appreciation, love, and more, we are not willing to give ourselves.

And it appears that this has, at least in part, to do with believing that loving yourself is a selfish act. After all, discerning people, and spiritual practitioners for sure, shouldn't be selfish, right?

Other beliefs may exist that bolster this attitude: "I have to hold myself to high standards." "I have flaws and thus am not good enough to receive love." "Even without receiving love, I should be good enough." Many are the beliefs through which we may be withholding love for ourselves. What remains is self-judgment, self-criticism, self-loathing, and downright anger or disappointment towards ourselves.

Dear One, if this describes you, know that you are in the vast majority of wonderful people that have withheld love from themselves. Without being compassionate towards yourself, can you not see that your compassion for others will be limited and stilted?

People have asked me, "How can I be compassionate towards myself? What does that even mean?"

Here are some thought starters for you:
* You can nurture your body. Check if you have deficiencies of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and such, and address them. You can eat healthier meals in a timely manner. You can mindfully eat each meal or snack. You can undertake some steady physical activity or exercise to counter today's sedentary habits. i.e. Treat your body with compassion.
* You can nurture your mind. If you are accustomed to negative thinking, you can work towards relieving yourself of that burden. Many are the ways to do so. Cultivating gratitude is a master key to creating lasting positive transformation in your life. If you find yourself being self-critical, take a step back, and give yourself some space, and realize that you get to fulfillment not through judgment and criticism, but through forgiveness, understanding, and love. i.e. Treat your mind with compassion.
* You can nurture your spirit. Find what makes you feel uplifted, energetic, and ready to get up and give your best. Once you find that, give it some attention every single day, consistently. The world is not complete without you, and what the world awaits is for your light to fully shine, so the collective darkness we can often be stuck in, may heal. i.e. Nurture your spirit with compassion.

By no means is that an exhaustive list, but it should orient you in the right direction.

Most important of all, and this is a game-changer, cultivate the art of resting your scattered attention in the silence within. When your attention is rested in silence, you are resting attention in the unconditional love, the unchanging peace, the causeless happiness of your true nature, your original nature. i.e You are giving yourself the pure love that is ever-present in the silence within. This, of course, is the most compassionate thing you can do for yourself - Be silent!

Love
Sundar.
~~~~
Cultivate the art of resting attention in silence. Join us in this simple, live, online, free meditation sessions, just 15-minutes, 7am and 10am Eastern time on weekdays, called The Peace Practice:
Learn more: https://bit.ly/ThePeacePracticeHome
Join for free: https://bit.ly/MyPeacePractice


~~~~

01/21/2026

Powerful teaching!

Most people don’t realize that life doesn’t repeat because of fate — it repeats because of loops.

This image shows two very different cycles we can fall into, often without noticing.

At the center of both is INTENTION.
Not the intention we say we have — but the intention we act from when things get uncomfortable.

🔁 The Victim Loop

This is the loop of unconscious living.

Something happens. A situation triggers discomfort.

Instead of facing it, we:

Ignore what hurts

Deny our role

Blame circumstances or people

Rationalize our behavior

Resist change

Hide from truth

And then… the same situation shows up again.
Different face. Same lesson.

The Victim Loop feels safe because it protects the ego.
But safety comes at a cost: stagnation.

Nothing grows here. Nothing heals here.
Only stories do.

🔁 The Accountability Loop

This is the loop of conscious growth.

The same situation arises — but this time, we choose differently.

We:

Recognize what’s really happening

Own our response, not the story

Forgive ourselves and others

Self-examine without self-attack

Learn the lesson

Take action, even when it’s uncomfortable

This loop doesn’t feel easy.
But it feels free.

Because every pass through it makes you wiser, lighter, and stronger.

⚖️ The Truth Few Talk About

Both loops begin with the same situation.
The difference is choice.

You don’t escape the Victim Loop by blaming less people.
You escape it by telling yourself the truth.

And you don’t enter the Accountability Loop by being perfect.
You enter it by being honest.

🌱 A Gentle Reminder

Accountability is not punishment.
It’s self-respect.

Forgiveness is not weakness.
It’s clarity.

Growth doesn’t happen when life gets easier —
It happens when you get braver.

Ask yourself today:
Which loop am I feeding — and which one is feeding me?

Because the moment you change your loop,
your entire life trajectory shifts.

01/18/2026

Honoring Usui and the pioneers of Reiki.

According to the caption of this remarkable photo, it was was taken 100 years today, on January 16, 1926. Read from right to left, it says that it contains all of the Shinshin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryōhō "reiju-sha" (people who could give reiju, the precursor to Reiki initiations) at that time. Less than two months later, Usui-sensei would make his transition.

I first* encountered this photo in Frank Arjava Petter's groundbreaking 2012 book This Is Reiki (I believe there was an earlier 2009 German edition), and I would like to express my gratitude to Arjava, as well as to Olaf Böhm and Mochizuki Tosh*taka, for sharing their research.

Arjava's caption in This Is Reiki identifies six of the twenty-one men in the photo (please note, I am just numbering them in order that they are in the photo).

1. Back row, far left, Captain Wanami Hōichi (1883–1975, would become Rear Admiral in 1931), fifth Gakkai president (c. 1960–1975)
2. Back row, third from left, Rear Admiral Taketomi Kan'ichi (1878–1960), third Gakkai president (1935–1945, c. 1947–1960)
3. Second row, third from left, Usui Mikao (1865–1926), founder and first Gakkai president
4. Second row, fourth from left, Rear Admiral Ushida Jūzaburō (1865–1935), second Gakkai president (1926–1935)
5. Front row, far left, Captain Hayashi Chūjirō (c. 1880–1940), founder of Hayashi Reiki Kenkyūkai
6. Inset, far right, Tomabechi Gizō (1880–1959)

I don't know exactly who the other fifteen men are, but judging from a 1928 Gakkai list of dai-shihan and shihan, they likely include most of the following:

7. Rear Admiral Eguchi Kaname (1877–1942)
8. Captain Tsunematsu Kenzō (d. 1945)
9. Rear Admiral Imaizumi Tetsutarō (1877–1945)
10. Captain-Engineer Sadanaga Jigorō (d. 1944)
11. Mine Umetarō (1865–1934)
12. Rear Admiral Harada Shōsaku (1874–1961)
13. Rear Admiral Mikami Yosh*tada (1880–1947)
14. Senju Takejirō (1870–1957)
15. Haraguchi Saburō
16. Ōtsuka Kaoru
17. Naval Engineer Yoshizaki Tokuichirō
18. Ueda Matajirō
19. Miyagawa Yoshisaburō
20. Sumida Akira
21. Captain Isobe Ken (b. 1873)

100 years later, the number of people authorized to give reiju / initiations has grown dramatically, from these 21 Japanese men to likely tens of thousands worldwide. Our research into these early Reiki Masters continues, but for now I would like to raise my hands in gratitude to these pioneers of our practice, as well as to all of my fellow historical researchers for our collective efforts to better understand the roots of our practice.

*Edit: It has been pointed out to me that I likely first encountered this photo in Tadao Yamaguchi's Light on the Origins of Reiki, which was translated into English and published in 2007, and I think that is likely correct. Apparently the original photo comes from a relative of Tadao's mother, Chiyoko Yamaguchi. Apologies for the mix-up and thank you to Mari Okazaki for providing some more information about the origin of the image.

12/26/2025

Reiki helps you on your journey.