Helene Williams is a registered nurse and Reiki master/teacher based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has over ten years of experience providing Reiki sessions in a hospital setting and has a well-established private practice. Helene has presented information on Reiki and holistic health care at two national nursing conferences, participated in a hospital-based Reiki research study, implemented and facilitated a hospital Reiki Volunteer Program and in 2013 established the Lancaster Community Reiki Clinic. She also has experience providing Reiki for Caring Hospice Services and actively volunteers at the VA Medical Center in Lebanon, PA. Helene is passionate about educating health care organizations about the many benefits of Reiki for patients, families and staff.
DIVE INTO REIKI (DIR): Hi! Welcome to the first edition of the new video interview series of "Dive Into Reiki With…" Tonight. For the first episode, we have a very special guest, Helen Williams. Helene, welcome. Thank you so much for joining.
HELENE WILLIAMS (HW): Thank you so much for having me!
DIR: I'm just going to give a little bit of your bio, so people know your background. Helene is a registered nurse and Reiki Master Teacher based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has over 10 years of experience providing Reiki sessions in hospital settings and has a well established private practice. She has presented information on Reiki and Holistic Health Care at two National nursing Conferences, participated in a based hospital Reiki research study, implemented and facilitated a hospital Reiki volunteer program and in 2013 established the Lancaster community Reiki Clinic. She also has experience providing Reiki for caring in Hospice Services and actively volunteers at the VA Mental Center in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Helene is passionate about educating health care organizations about the many benefits of Reiki for patients, families, and staff. We met at a retreat when our mentor Frans Stiene two, three years ago? And also last year in a wonderful retreat, last year in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has many, many surprises, and she is just an amazing human being, so welcome, and thank you so much.
HW: Thanks, Nathalie. I am super excited to be discussing Reiki healthcare and whatever else you decide to ask!
DIR: Actually, I am going to start with the first time we encountered Reiki. I think, you know, it is great for us. We all find Reiki differently: through Google, friends... What was your first contact with Reiki practice?
HW: So actually, I'm not even sure it was Reiki. My husband and I used to have a farm, and we had a little pygmy goat. It wasn't so little. He was a smaller goat. And he got stepped on by one of our horses, and we still had phone books. I was looking into the phone book for somebody, a veterinarian who might be able to look at the goat and see what he could do for this little foot because he was limping. I contacted this vet, who I had never heard of before. He looked at the goat. The little goat's name was Elvis. And he said, "This is what I want you to do: every day, I want you to take your hands, and I just want you to think about loving energy and let it flow." At the time, I thought it was a little crazy because I had never heard any kind of energy healing—Reiki or anything else for that matter. So I did it, and [the goat] got better, and then I forgot about it. When I started working at Lancaster General in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, my manager wanted us t learn how to do Reiki. Then I was like, "Oh, OK!" That kind of reminded me of this goat experience, and it clicked; things connected. That was my first experience with energy healing; just I was not sure it was Reiki. Reiki itself, I learned at the Hospital within like three months of starting there, so I was really, really lucky.
DIR: Yeah, there is goat yoga; we should have goat Reiki! You trained a lot. So I would love to talk a little bit about your journey, trying to find that thing that really resonated with you when it came to learning Reiki versus just taking a workshop.
HW: Right, after I learned the first level at the Hospital...Because I kind of connected with it, I was encouraged to jump to level 2 and [then] level 3, so I could teach Reiki at the hospital. For some reason, I couldn't find the teacher that taught at the hospital, so I googled Reiki and, at that time, they weren't a whole lot of people, but there was one who was close to me. So I went to her. She's a great teacher, but it was much more of a very Westernized form of Reiki. I did it, and it was wonderful, but I still felt something was missing for me. I started going to different classes. I learned Karuna Reiki, but I still felt there was this missing link for me. And it was really hard for me to teach the Western form that I have learned in a hospital setting. I needed something that was more practitioner based so that it could be a self-care practice as well. And although I knew about self-Reiki, it wasn't really emphasized as much as I know it needs to be now.
Then I found out about a teacher who was probably two hours away from me. Somebody told me, "Helene, you need to take this Reiki class." And I was, "Really, I took so many, what else can I learn?" It was actually one of Frans Stiene's students, and after the first day, I was like, "This is exactly what I needed." And it is, of course, a much more traditional form, where it's focused on the practitioner, mostly, doing their own work. That is kind of my journey. And that journey was probably five or six years.
Helene Williams.
DIR: Yeah, I loved when you told me you went to Sedona how many times for the trainings?
HW: Too many to count, and they were great trainings. It wasn't that there were not good trainings, they were excellent. It's just that, for some reason, I wasn't connecting with the way I really felt like I needed to when I started...really delving into my spiritual practice. I was really glad that I was able to keep going. To find something that I really connected with and blended so well with teaching in healthcare.
DIR: And I love that you still were so convinced there was something more, right? So you kept trying to go deeper, and I think that's the beauty of different lineages: we can all connect. Sometimes it's hard to find the teacher and the lineage that we need to really practice the way we feel is right for us. I am so glad you found the teacher!
HW: Yeah, you know, I always tell my students that too: "I am glad that you are here, and I am glad you are loving this class, but if you feel you need to add something in or if something is missing, then go and take another class from another teacher." I think that's really important, that we like, as teachers, we open that up and say, "Whatever feels right for you."
DIR: Absolutely and continuing education. I think that is so, so important as well, versus just training for eight hours … So, that means you practice like Japanese -style traditional Reiki. Will you define it that way, right?
HW: Yes, correct. Just that is more of a set of elements for spiritual development for myself—it includes the meditations, the hands-on practice, working with the precepts... Because to really hold that space for others, we have to do our own work first, and there is lots of work to do. I have 63 years of work to do! [Laughs.] So, the more we delve into ourselves, the more we can really hold that space for others.
DIR: When I took my first three classes—three to four classes—I basically wasn't even taught a self-care protocol, like the hand positions on the self. Sometimes, in our wish to help others, we forget that the base is us, and I think you also as a nurse you're already giving so much; if you don't have a self-care routine, you can risk burnout. And we will talk about that later. So tell me, what is your daily self-practice?
HW: Definitely, meditation. Meditation, for me, didn't come easily. It's taken a really long time to do that because I am a type-A; I am a nurse. We're always overachievers and tons of things to do, and we are always in our heads. So, it took me a long time to develop my meditation practice, but that's a really important component of my daily care now. So, meditation every morning, a lot of times in the evenings as well, and then I focus on the precepts. And that's something… that was missing from my earlier trainings as well. [Although they said] these were the precepts, it wasn't kind of pulling them apart and saying, "Oh, I got really angry today, let's pull that apart and see inside what's going on with that anger or where is all this worry coming from today." For me, the precepts are the foundation of the practice of Reiki. We have to try to really be the precepts, really embrace the precepts in all that we do, because that's what is all about—it's about healing our minds, right? Stress causes illnesses. So, the more that we can reduce stress with meditation and working with the precepts in meditation, the more we can heal our minds so that our bodies can be healthy and whole, as well. And then hands-on practice as well, of course. And I usually do that in bed in the morning.
DIR: Nice; when it comes to hands-on healing, I do it sitting because when I do it in bed, I fall asleep. I loved what you said about the precepts. A lot of times, I feel like the precepts have become like an Instagram meme, right? We post them, or we have them in pretty posters, but there is little teaching about how the precepts are guiding your hands-on healing, right? Don't worry about where to place your hands exactly, don't bring your anger, be grateful that you're sharing this space with someone, be compassionate. Or how they guide your meditation: "Why am I getting angry? What are my triggers? They should guide everything we do in Reiki and should be a guide for life. I love that, for you, they have made such a difference. You said meditation is challenging for you. What's the difference that you felt when you started integrating meditating with the precepts in your practice versus just focusing on others' care and not meditating as much.
HW: I don't go through a day without some kind of worry, right? I can sit with that now and really pull that apart. Not go down the route so much of stories, not that they still don't happen—the stories that I make up or things that I worry about or things that are going to happen. But when I sit in meditation with the precepts, I can sit and say, "OK, what is the story that you are following now? Is this realistic?" And then just sitting with it, not judging the story so much but just observing and realizing that it's a story. Then I can go back to my breath and my meditation, using the Joshin Kokyu Ho breathing, focusing my mind on the breath. It's like that with everything. And some days, I'm in my meditation, and I just feel grateful. Then I use gratitude, that Reiki precept of just sitting in gratitude and feeling wonderful. And of course, being kind, being compassionate, all those things, but you know, it's the first two that always trip us up: the anger and the worry.
DIR: Yeah, those, and #fakegratitude in my case. "Am I grateful? No, I am not." I always check with my body to know. I would love for you to give some tips for people to deep into their practice. A lot of us we experience that: =we go to training, Reiki 1: eight hours; Reiki II: eight hours... I now some trainings, like the Open Center in New York and others are longer, but the average training is eight hours per level and then Masters, with luck three days. For Reiki 1 and 2 practitioners mainly, can you give some tips to deepen their practice? Three easy things they could do to really improve their energy flow, for example.
HW: I was one of those people who did level 1, level 2, and level 3 in three days—and I did it a couple of times! I think that's why I kept searching for something else... If you are taking a Level 1 class, they talk about the 21 days of practicing. That's great as a jump start, but you have to continue after 21 days. Everything is not all rosy after 21 days; you have to keep doing the practice. So, encouraging meditation, and if meditation is hard for you, there is a lot of tools on the internet that can be really helpful. If you only want to meditate for two minutes, that is fine. Or, if you want to sit quietly and you are struggling, you can reach out to your Reiki teacher or a meditation teacher. Meditation, for me, is an essential element after a Reiki I class. And sitting with your feelings after the Reiki class and journaling about them. What's come up for you? Have things shifted within you? Sometimes things get stirred up, right? Sometimes we get angry about things afterward because something has changed and shifted within us. So self-reflection, I would say, would be the second thing. And a third thing, out of four, is just your hands-on healing, of course, and the precepts, just don't forget the precepts. I think Frans [Stiene] says the too: the precepts are the foundation and the outcome of the system of Reiki. It's everything that we need to really bring those elements into our daily lives. So that when we have, like somebody gets mad at us, we don't have the knee reaction...like we typically do. We can be thoughtful and mindful about it if we are working with the precepts and being compassionate to ourselves and others.
DIR: I think that is such a beautiful thing you said. A lot of times, when I get students, like, "I want to do Reiki full time, but I need to pay my bills." I tell them that we can do or be Reiki full time. We can do our jobs and be compassionate, be kind, be grateful, not worry other people, not be angry with other people. Then we are actually changing the world even further. Not all of us can live for Reiki practice, but we can Reiki into our lives 24/7 no matter what we do. So what just so said I think it is so beautiful and so crucial.
HW: Yeah, that's so important, too. When I was still working at the hospital, a lot of times, my coworkers would call me into a room where there were angry people. If something went wrong in somebody's care, or somebody was not happy with something that happened, they would say, "Hey, Helene, can you go into that room and do your thing?" I wasn't doing a hands-on session; it was just going on and being present, allowing all that energy to flow, allowing that loving compassion to flow… So, I was not always doing hands-on Reiki. It's doing the work on yourself, so you can go into this kind of situation and… and just be able to be a calming presence. And what a difference can make for people when you are just present and allowing that beautiful energy to flow.
DIR: I love that. We are going to take you all over the country and share your calming presence! Especially here in New York!
HW: It's not that it isn't challenging at times, that's for sure, but usually, a lot of times, it was amazing to watch how quickly the de-escalation can happen when you are just being in a space of loving compassion. People can feel that energy.
DIR: Imagine if most of us would do that, right, like I have a beautiful Reiki 3 student, and she told me, "I didn't expect my life would be so hard after the Reiki Master, right?" And I told her, "Listen, life still is going to have a lot of crap, but you are going to walk on the crap with calm and poise." You know you're going to be able to deal with it. Life is not going to be perfect or magical because you are a Reiki practitioner or a teacher. Still, you are going to be able to make it a lot better and improve the lives of others by just being centered, calm, and grounded. Allowing that compassion to go through. So, I love that you're not very focused on the hands.
HW: Yeah, yeah… absolutely, and I think that's a piece also for me that I was searching for: more about a grounding practice. I just needed something stronger to be more grounded because I suffer from anxiety a lot; I've come a huge way from where I was before. Sometimes it's still a challenge, but I think with the meditation practice. The way that I've been taught now, being grounded is such an important piece going into our daily lives, not only into Reiki sessions for others but also for just walking out into the world.
DIR: What would you say is the biggest gift Reiki practice has given you over the years?
HW: I'd said the meditation piece. As hard as it was for me, I think that was a key element. You know, we have to learn to quiet our minds a little bit. It is hard nowadays because of computers, cell phones, and social media. Our minds can't stay focused for more than ten seconds because we are so stimulated. So, I think the meditation practice is really an important piece to be really well-grounded and creating some space in our minds so we can go out in the world and be better.
DIR: I want this series of interviews to be very human. Obviously, we're amazing practitioners, teachers; we have an amazing practice... But I also want to talk a little bit about the biggest "oops" and the mistakes we have made. Ironically I have learned more from my biggest mistakes than from my good, calm meditation. I was wondering if you would mind being vulnerable and sharing one of your biggest Reiki "oops"?
HW: I don't know if it was an "oops," but it was kind of the way that I went about things when I first started doing Reiki at the hospital. I had no clue, there was no real precedent for me to follow, so I kind of had to find my way. The first time—actually it was the second time—because the first patient that I ever did Reiki for, he was just in so much pain, it didn't matter, he was like, "Whatever it is, I want it." And it did help him a lot. But the second patient that I went in to see, you know, I just knocked on the door, said, "Hey, I am Helene, I do something called Reiki, would you like to try a session?" And she said, "Well, tell me what it is?" And I came out with the standard "it's universal life force energy" explanation. She just kind of looked at me like I had three hats and said, "No, thank you. I don't think I want anything like that". It was for me learning how to be thoughtful about how I explain Reiki. I think it is so individualized, because you go and chat we people first, and kind of see where they are coming from, and then tailor your definition to the understanding they might have already, because now Reiki is more well known that when I first started, so it makes it a little be easier.
DIR: I love what you said, because I think a lot of us when we start being practitioners, we go like, "Do you know Reiki? Reiki is blablablabla," and we give a whole speech. What you are saying is listen and then explain, and check if they know or not about Reiki or not, what their perception is. That is such a great tip for practitioners in general.
HW: Some people knew there was a program there, so they would Google something before I came in. That was not always a great thing because sometimes you can Google and get good information and maybe not so great information. So it would be like, "Oh, it's this, and this, and this," and I would like, "Well, you're on the right track." But how can we explain it in a better way, so there is more understanding?
DIR: I think it's really great we can frame it in the healthcare world; how would you explain it now? Imagine that I am not Nathalie, I am a person not close-minded, but I do not have very much idea of Reiki, and I am probably in pain, on a bed. How would you approach me right now? Maybe we can do a little bit of role-playing.
HW: Yeah, absolutely. So, I knock on the door, ask you how are you doing, if I can talk to you for a few minutes and… Is your name still Nathalie?
DIR: Yes, but I do not have an accent! [Laughs.]
HW: OK. So, I'm a Reiki practitioner, and I share Reiki with patients at the hospital. I was wondering if you would be interested in a session today, but before we even go down that road, I would like to know if you ever heard of Reiki…
DIR: I've heard of Reiki, some people say it's like a massage with no hands, and then other people say that you just put the hands and the pain goes away, but I really don't understand how it works.
HW: Well, Reiki can be done with hands-on or hands-off, so that piece is definitely correct, but it's really about the practitioner just moving in a space of quiet, peaceful energy and allowing that energy to flow to you, where you need it. Sometimes it's a little hard to understand, but it's more experiential. What I would like to do is do a short session for you, maybe just for five minutes of being quiet, maybe turning down the lights a little bit if you are OK with that. If you want to, we can play some quiet music and just allowing you to experience this loving energy. Then we can talk a little bit more about it afterward, about what your experience was with it. And if you feel you connected a little bit, we can do a longer session.
DIR: I love that because it's so hard to explain Reiki; it's great to use their experience and then using their own words to guide them. I think that is brilliant, and I am stealing that from you, like so badly.
When in healthcare, there are a set of rules; it's different from your personal practice. So, what would you say are the main differences in terms of bringing a practice that maybe is more Western or uses more symbols into a hospital or a healthcare environment, whatever that is.
HW: Yeah, to keep it as simple as possible. When you go into a hospital, you can't practice anything in a hospital unless there is research to support it. We can talk about it later, maybe, but that is an important element. Still, as far as going in and starting a program, you need to know that hospitals, of course, have policies and procedures, so it's not as easy as always just going in and say, "I want to do Reiki." There has to be a protocol. There has to be usually a mentorship, so people who have never been in a hospital before, know what to expect in that kind of setting because sometimes it is a little shocking for practitioners to go in, who aren't used to people suffering or seeing blood or things like urine, people throwing up, right? There are all these surprises that you don't expect because you just want to go in and help people not be in pain, and things like that. But you have to know that it has to be done in a structured way. So when we started our Reiki volunteer program, we created a manual of structured hands positions for the hospital setting so that it was a protocol, pretty much, because it kind of had to be that way in order to pass all the powers that be. The hand positions were pretty much around the head, the arms, the knees, and the feet because you have to remember that people had surgery. If they might have had surgery in their abdomen, we don't want to touch them on their abdomen. You want to be very careful in talking to the patient: "This is where you can expect my hands to be placed. Is that OK with you?" Just like I do in my private practice as well. Just so there are no surprises for the patient, but there are a lot of steps to get to before you get to even the patient part. There are things as simple as knowing how to put a hospital bed up and down safely because that is an important safety thing in hospitals: preventing falls. If you put a hospital bed up and you leave with the bed up, and the patient gets out of bed and falls, that's not good. There are a lot of things you have to think about going into that kind of setting that is definitely more structured. Not that it can be an intuitive session at all, where maybe you aren't quite following the hand positions—we just want to have a roadmap, basically, [with a] protocol and the way we speak about it. There is a lot that goes into it.
DIR: There is a couple of things that I think are really important: uniformity is for people just to feel safe; it's not about limiting your practice. [To create] a sense of safety, because you have, first of all, patients from systems, people who do not believe in anything, so you want to make it very simple and paired down. The other thing I like is when you say it can be intuitive, but you have to follow [the protocol]. Sometimes we perceive intuitive Reiki as being better than just hand-on positions. If, as a practitioner, you're in a place of compassion, your energy flows free. What seems limiting can also be an opportunity to grow as a practitioner. If you have to do six hands positions, make sure you do them with all your energy at it doesn't limit you because you can't do the practice as you want to. So, I think limitations imply an attitude of "how can I grow as a practitioner" versus complaining. I was hearing a lot of people starting the programs that are already established, and for them to follow the protocol—some programs they just hover, some use only touch—is difficult because it's different from the way they\ practice, but I would love for them to understand how important it is to create uniformity and protocols for the hospitals to feel safe for the patients, right?
HW: Rights, the hospital needs to know that things are structured because that is how it works. It's a part of a hospital environment. You're so right about being present for the patient. Sometimes we think that "If I don't have my hands at a certain place, the energy is not going to flow," but it always does. We set an intention, too. I also talk to patients about intention because a lot of older people don't really understand what that means. So, we talk about that a little bit too before the session—setting an intention because that's what Reiki should be doing in that kind of setting: empowering the patient to work on their own healing process. That's what Reiki is helping with, self-empowerment.
DIR: That is amazing. Honestly, I am taking that tip up because I always say, "Set your intention to receive healing," and I never considered someone may not understand it. I think what you're saying is very valuable: let's not assume they know our Reiki language. To take a step back and make it very approachable for them.
HW: Yeah, and I think the whole part about being present. We have to be present so that we can make sure that we're communicating clearly. That's a really important piece in that setting. That we have really clear communication. And I have been in settings already where I go to a patient's room, and I've said, "I think you signed up for a Reiki session. Would you like it? And somebody got really angry and said, "No, we absolutely don't want it." Then I have to ask why. It's because they've had a bad experience at another healthcare facility where a practitioner had come in and not even talked to the patient and was drawing the symbols over the patient. The family was sitting there, and they had no understanding of what was happening. It was really scary for them. So, I think we need to be very clear in our communication when we try to explain what Reiki is and how we do it. And so, just being present is really important. When I talked to that family, I said, "Can you tell me why?" And they, of course, told me the story, and then I was able to re-educate them, and they were OK with the session then.
DIR: Oh, that is beautiful. I am hearing that we have to put patients first and listen to them first rather than put our practice first. In the end, we have to ask ourselves, is it an ego thing? We really need to take that step back and put their wellbeing front and center.
I know you have been trying to elevate the standard about how we train for healthcare—if I'm a nurse. I want to bring Reiki to a hospital, what can I do to make sure I am getting a real good practice. Also, what steps should I take not to burn out?
HW: I think researching is good. I get people that call me and interview me to ask about my experience, and I think that's really important. I think that's really important to do with any Reiki practitioner. If you're going to take a class from somebody, call them up and say, "What's your practice like? How do you teach?" Make sure you're connecting with somebody who may have had some experience doing Reiki in healthcare settings. Ask them what kind of practice they are doing, if it's a structured practice. There was a practitioner—I'm not exactly sure where it was—they were doing tarot card readings before the Reiki sessions in the hospital, and that's not a typical standard of practice. Asking a lot of questions about how the person practices, and make sure that they have some experience in healthcare. And there are people out there who are doing it. Just make sure that there is some kind of protocol that is followed. What was the second question? I am sorry, Nathalie…
DIR: My bad, I'm being a bad interviewer. Because also, some teachers like you give a credit that is also valid for nurses, right? For example, I'm not qualified for that—I just can train in regular Reiki. If you are a nurse and want to practice in hospitals, your teacher should be someone [who can give you credit and be a nurse.] Can you talk a little about the credit?
HW: Every two years—at least in Pennsylvania—nurses have to have 30 hours of continuing education credits. So, it's a great way for nurses who want a self-care practice and also get their contract hours in for their state licensure. I applied through the American Holistic Nursing Association for my continuing education credits. And it's definitely a process. It's a lot of paperwork to fill out but helps you to really define your programming as far as teaching. So, I have a Reiki I for health providers Reiki Class. That's a two-day class and has 12 continuing education credits. So when you apply for that type of thing, you have to also, for nursing anyway, you have to have a nurse planner, so I had to contract with a friend of mine who does that so she could be part of that process. It's a requirement because they want it to be very educational and solid. That's why I think traditional Reiki practices are also great for healthcare because it's all about focusing on the precepts, it's all about meditation, it's all about taking care of yourself with hands-on practice. So it's very easy to teach. Not that you don't get the application returned three or four times with little tweaks, but it's relatively easy to get something like that approved for continuing education hours.
DIR: I love a couple of things about what you said: a solid practice and a solid understanding of the practice. But also, if you are a nurse and you are going to be offering Reiki in hospitals on top of your nursing job, if you don't have solid self-care, burnout is going to happen. And I don't know if you have any experience with burnout or any experience with burnout, and what advice can you give them?\
HW: Yeah, burnout, [even] before COVID, it was a real problem. Of course, it really is now again. I think that's one of the reasons I am really a proponent of teaching Reiki in hospitals because the staff needs a structured self-care program that they can do for themselves every day. So definitely Reiki, if you can take Reiki classes on your own or whatever [healthcare] setting [you're working at], it's just a really great self-care practice.
The other thing is setting boundaries. It's an important piece of avoiding burn out. Not only for RNs [registered nurses] but also for Reiki practitioners because innately we want to hear people's stories and people like to share their stories, but we also have to be mindful of respecting… people's time and our time. Being able to set boundaries, which was a really hard thing for me to do because I am a hand holder; I worked for hospice for five years, so I like to sit and listen, but you need to remember that you need to take care of yourself. Setting boundaries is a really important piece. Also, self-reflection and journaling are an important piece too of avoiding burnout. Or working through burnout if you are feeling like you're getting there. Reflecting on your Reiki practice and what you need to do in order to really care for yourself. It's really always about filling your cup first. People in the healthcare industry are such givers; they just want to give and give until it is too late and you're tired, you're burnout, and you're angry, and you don't want to do it anymore. But the same thing could happen with Reiki practitioners if we go to a hospital and volunteer for a two-hour shift of sharing Reiki with the patients, and we end up only seeing two because we are a little too involved and not able to set boundaries. So that's really important. Not taking on people's things. It's part of boundary settings, of course, and doing your self-practice as a practitioner. Just recognizing that we need that self-care piece and sometimes knowing that it's OK to walk away and say, "No, I can't do this tonight," or whenever it is you are going in. Saying. "I'm really feeling depleted today, and I don't think I can be the best I can if I need to go in and do Reiki at the hospital this evening, so I'm going to take some time for myself tonight, refresh myself and then go back next week or whenever.
DIR: That takes guts and being brave and brutally honest, and I see that's also not the usual woo-woo perception of Reiki. We see Reiki as very angelic, and we think of practitioners as angels always saying yes. Reiki should be more human, and part of being balanced humans, as you said, is accepting that it's OK if we can't do it. We have to be responsible with ourselves first and then others. To communicate it and then set boundaries.
HW: We are human beings, right? Whether we are Reiki 1 practitioners or Reiki masters is all the same thing. We still have times that we experience a lot of stress in our lives. It's kind of pulling back and saying, you know, I'm not feeling great today, so I'm going to take a break. Just recognizing that within yourself. Because when you push and push and push, you just get burnout, and you don't want to do it anymore.
DIR: I think there are a couple of great things for what you said, we always… we hear it from Frans [Stiene], and we hear it from Japanese monks, "If you don't have tea, you cannot serve tea." Sometimes, when we feel bad about doing that, we have to remember we can't really serve tea if we do not have it. And I think it's that again being human. We take an eight-hour class, and we forget the word practice. I am a Reiki 1. No, you are practicing Reiki 1. It's an ongoing thing, and some days are going to be hard, some days are going to be good; that is part of the practice. It's not that we get an attunement, and we are magically a Reiki 1 person who is going to behave at a higher level of consciousness. That's a little bit of a fantasy. It's beautiful, but it's not helping us to really understand Reiki as a practice. That Reiki is sitting on your bum and embracing all your feelings, as you said at the beginning, going back to the precepts. Am I angry? Let me deal with it. Not, "I should not feel angry because I am a Reiki attunement." I see healthcare can make Reiki even more human—the need for being human and down to earth is even more important in that framework.
HW: Yeah, definitely. While the attunement is a wonderful spiritual blessing, you know, it doesn't mean we don't have to do our practices. We have to do our practice...keeps going for your entire lifetime; it's part of the whole journey. Reflecting on the It journey, where you were and where you are, it's just so important. Recognizing when you are not feeling good, your worry and anger are coming in and taking the time to work on yourself. Because you are going to be so much better for everyone else if you, instead of pushing yourself constantly and trying to be this person that maybe thinks that needs to be up here, but we are all the same… me and you going through this journey trying to find the right way and in a peaceful place.
DIR: I am going to open the chat to questions. Meanwhile, I wanted to point out that you have hundreds of hours of experience, but you still do continuing training. I would love it if you talk a little about what you do to keep going deeper into your practice.
HW: I go to Reiki retreats. I do online things a lot since this is a great time [to do so]. Not necessarily Reiki classes, but delving deeper into your own practice, meditation work, and things like that... For me, it's ongoing education, and I think that's just so important. I've heard of people who took one Reiki class, and they are Reiki Master. They haven't taken a class for 20 or 30 years. There's been so much that's been learned about Reiki history and even, of course, delving deeper into your own spiritual practice that you can learn by going to more and more trainings. It's this endless journey, and the more we can have tools that we can connect with to go deep within, the better for the people that we live with, and the people we encounter every day, people that we work with, just for the whole world.
DIR: You and I go to the same retreats. Sometimes we hear the same things, but because our practice has moved one or two years, we understand it differently or understand different layers. Sometimes you can go to the same kind of trainings but because you are in a different place you get more subtleties. Sometimes it's not like having to do 300 different trainings but just …. Even like sharing time with people you have been practicing for years, sharing points of view, and those reflections you mentioned. That's why it's so important to have a community to share. Clare, she is a Patreon member, and she just commented, "I got my attunements and expected that it would bring many changes. I realize now that the practice is ongoing." She also asks, "Do you share your hospital protocol plan with other practitioners who would like to start a program in a healthcare setting?"
HW: I don't because every hospital program is going to be different. You're going to have to tailor it to a program of the hospital that you are working with …. I have a Reiki in Hospitals workshop that I do for Reiki practitioners that kind of gives you ideas on how to set that kind of thing up, but as far as the whole protocol...I can't share the protocol from a hospital because that's their information. [However,] I can give guidance on to that end. And again, I do that in a workshop that I do.
DIR: That makes sense because those protocols are confidential to every hospital, and at the end of this interview, I will give all of Helene's information so you can reach out to her, see her website and her volunteer clinic. Since I met Helene, I gravitated to her. We were 43 people in a room, and, among a bunch of calming presences, she was a big calming presence— loving and light. I was really grateful we were able to meet again and deepen that connection last year, but I really want to say how much I admire what you do and your work and how much effort you put into it, and also how grateful I am that you are sharing this [wisdom] with everyone. We don't talk a lot about Reiki in healthcare… we talk a lot about peace and love, but we do not talk about the details. Yet these make all the difference when we are going to take our practice into everyday life. One thing is a beautiful workshop, but when you get into hospitals, you need to apply your practice. So, I'm really, really grateful.
HW: Thank you, everybody, for coming, for being here tonight. I am really grateful. I love talking about Reiki in healthcare, so Nathalie will share my information. If you have questions, please contact me. Thank you, Nathalie!
DIR: Thank you, Helene; I really appreciate you being my first guest!
You can find out more about Helene at: https://www.helenewilliamsreiki.com/
Drawing inspired by Helene Williams and the idea of “self-compassion.”