This
article was carried by news portal newswithchai on March 26, 2015.
The Anatomy Of Peace: Mind, Body And Soul ~ Hariharan Iyer
POSTED
BY NEWS
WITH CHAI - MARCH
26, 2015 ⋅
The body, with which we identify so deeply, is actually a solidified form of energy, which we have mistaken to be matter. It is matter alright, but it’s form has manifested from formless energy. Just as a potter can give any shape to his clay, energy can attain any kind of shape. The beginning of understanding lies in the appreciation of energy as the essence of existence and not matter.
A
human being goes through many small life changing events. Yes, there
are major experiences that change your life forever in some way. But
truth is it is the series of small experiences that keep impacting
your life continuously. I
have felt this deeply over the years as I keep going from one life
changing experience to another.
Having
said this, what brought about an institutionalised change in my life
was the First Degree Reiki Seminar I attended in December 1993. That
day something dramatic happened – I got introduced to myself. I was
just 24 years old and had been meditating for the past four years,
thanks to the shaktipat
dikshaI
received from my Guruji Dada Nakhate. While Dadaji’s divine touch
at the center in between the eyebrows, much like the Guru-Shishya
initiation
parampara,
was
all grace, the Reiki training on that day was grace, science,
introspection and inner opening – a package deal. I believe it is
because of my Guru’s grace that I came into Reiki and life has
never been the same again.
Reiki
taught me two critical things that day: 1. I am responsible for my
life and everything that happens in it and 2. My physical sickness
was a result of my emotional and mental processes. This understanding
was a massive opening as it unleashed in me a healing power I am
enthralling in ever since. I was a sick child and till that day
suffered from problems like weak digestion, nose bleeding and poor
stamina. Reiki taught me that I was basically `sick` – in my
thoughts and in my feelings.
In
many ways what I learnt that day and teach now as a Reiki
Grandmaster
is common sense. The whole understanding emerged from a simple
awareness that happy feelings create a healthy mind and body, and
unhappiness creates an irritable mind and body. But simple as it may
seem, it is difficult to accept this phenomenon. This emerges from a
lack of holistic orientation in life.
The
body, with which we identify so deeply, is actually a solidified form
of energy, which we have mistaken to be matter. It is matter alright,
but it’s form has manifested from formless energy. Just as a potter
can give any shape to his clay, energy can attain any kind of shape.
The beginning of understanding lies in the appreciation of energy as
the essence of existence and not matter.
That
day during the Reiki First Degree Seminar I acquired the
quintessential understanding that emotions and physical well being
have a deep connection. In fact, it may stun you to know that the
visible body is an inept entity. Its harmonious functioning is purely
dependent on the invisible forces of emotions and thoughts. This is
contrary to what is normally understood – that the body is an
independent entity in itself and sickness and health are factors
which are caused by chance or are connected to nature’s whims.
While
this may seem true given the strong tangibility of the physical, it
rebels against the fundamental principle of inter-connectivity in
nature. Everything in this universe is connected by an invisible but
not unfelt thread, which binds people, objects, dynamics and
perspectives in a manner both perplexing as well as wondrous. To
think that the body, mind, emotions and spirit are disjointed
independent entities co-existing in a single person smack of an
understanding disorder which is creating havoc in the lives of people
globally.
A
holistic approach, rather than threatening you with an abstract
existentiality, actually empowers you to take charge of your life and
health. What could be more empowering to know that what you feel,
what you think, how you behave can have a direct impact on your
physical energies? Acceptance or realisation of this understanding
helps you to take charge and do what is entirely in your control –
change yourself. What could be more un-empowering than to believe
that things happen by chance in your life, that you are a slave at
the hands of `luck`?
Spiritual
sciences like Reiki – yes, spirituality is the mother of science
and it is not obligated to prove its worthiness to its child by
proving its efficacy as a science, though a scientific approach to
spirituality does help build greater connection with the real essence
of life – explore the inner dimension of a human personality
through both technique and satsangs,or
put simply discussions and arguments. While there might exist a whole
body of research on the mind-body connection, we can do this at our
level and within ourselves everyday. All we need to do for that
is, observe ourselves – our thoughts, our emotions and our
behavior.
We
are our own best teachers, provided we are ready to be good students
of life. In the Reiki system we learn about the inner reasons for
both common diseases like cold, cough, etc, as well as the life
threatening ones. When we are armed with the understanding that cough
is a result of lack of expression and headache is a function of
intellectual conflict – just to take couple of simple examples –
we can rise above our limitations and act on the inner weaknesses
rather than hope for external solutions which are largely dependent
upon somebody else’s intelligence, interpretation and knowledge.
In
the Reiki Level 1 course, we help students analyse a range of
diseases which can potentially offer sustainable solutions to long
standing physical-mental-emotional issues and open up long-held
blocks. Essentially, the whole discussion about the anatomy of peace
is about who we are from the inside. The `outside` is an illusion,
simply because we all are present even physically within the universe
which is just ONE large entity without a beginning and an end. So
everything is really within and `without` is just an imagination we
can actually do without. So
peace needs to be released from the clutches of both pieces of
understanding as well as piecemeal understanding. A holistic approach
to life is both empowering and enchanting. Let us weave in the pieces
together to form a whole rather than get stuck with the parts which
just appear to be the whole.
Article
Contributed By: Hariharan
Iyer,
who lives in Mumbai, is an Inspirational Speaker, Corporate Trainer,
Author and Reiki Grandmaster. He is practicing meditation for over 25
years and Reiki for over 21 years. You can get more details of his
work from his website www.lifetransformation.in.
You can write to him onlifetransformation69@gmail.com.
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