Join quiet attention to a concrete choice outside your practice space.
A practice that reaches beyond the chair
Gassho, bringing the palms together, offers a simple beginning for quiet attention in many Reiki teachings. Let the hands meet comfortably in front of you without pressing hard. If that position is uncomfortable, rest them separately. The point of this exercise is to connect a quiet moment with one of the principles you can practise during the day.
Start with two minutes. Notice the contact of your hands or the support beneath you. Allow normal breathing rather than taking unusually deep breaths. When attention wanders, return to that simple contact. You do not need to suppress thought or create a special state before continuing.
Choose one principle, using the wording from your earlier course. For example, work with kindness, honest work, gratitude, or your relationship with anger and worry. Repeat the principle quietly, then ask what it could look like in the next few hours. Keep the answer small enough to carry out: listen without interrupting, complete a promised task, or pause before replying to a difficult message.
A worked example: anger without denial
Imagine that a colleague has taken credit for your work. A forced reading of the principle against anger might make you pretend you feel nothing. A more workable reflection is to notice the anger, avoid sending an impulsive message, and decide how to raise the issue clearly. Kindness includes your own boundaries; it does not require accepting mistreatment.
During Gassho, you might name the feeling silently, rest with the support of the chair for a moment, and choose the first sentence of a later conversation. “I want to clarify who completed this work” is more useful than rehearsing an accusation. The quiet practice has supported a practical decision, without claiming to erase the feeling or settle the disagreement by itself.
At the end of the day, revisit the choice. Did you remember the intention? Did it help? What made it difficult? If you forgot, choose a cue for tomorrow, such as pausing before opening your messages. Repeating this cycle is a way to study the principle through experience rather than merely reciting it.
Sources and further reading
- After a third-degree course — First-party guidance on continuing practice and the meaning of course completion.
- Level 3 manual, page 6 — Master study as continuing personal development; this practical principles exercise is an authored application.
- ICRT: Reiki ideals — A Reiki organization’s account of Gassho and ethical ideals; its broad healing claims are not relied on here.