Rush Hour Reiki

I’m not a morning person. I like to set the alarm for six AM, knowing I don’t need to get up until 6:30, and keep hitting the snooze button until about 6:45, when it is finally late enough to panic. OK, I used to panic. I’m a lot more chilled since I started down the Reiki path. But I’m still not a morning person.

I need to get to work and I’m already running late. Shower, dress, eat, run, catch the bus, jump to the train, work. Wait a minute, where does the Reiki fit in? Actually, there are two places where I can consistently get in practice during the morning rush – the shower, and the bus. I want to point out that shower Reiki involves multitasking. Just sayin’.

A shower might only take a few minutes, but I find it to be plenty of time to reflect on the Reiki precepts. I’ve tried going through the precepts while lying in bed when I first wake, but I find it so relaxing that I fall back to sleep before getting through all five precepts. Did I mention that I’m not a morning person?

I also call in Reiki for the day while in the shower, feeling it flow with the water through my crown chakra, through my heart and root chakras, and to ground in mother earth, giving thanks for the Reiki and for mother earth letting me ground to her. The calling in is quite effective for the minute or two it takes, so I tend to rinse and repeat throughout the day as needed (sans shower of course).

The bus is a great place for longer meditations since it takes 35-45 minutes to get to my stop. I have iPod ready with relaxing music, grab a window seat, close my eyes and focus on my breath to begin. Now, some of you may have reservations about meditating in public, especially in such a seemingly incongruent environment. I did too, for about 30 seconds. Then I noticed that a significant number of passengers were sitting with their eyes closed, apparently asleep, or maybe they were meditating too. Either way, one more person with closed eyes wasn’t going to register with anyone. It was certainly nothing to feel self conscious about. I figured anyone who could distinguish whether someone was asleep or meditating was probably not going to judge me for doing the latter.

I generally use the bus time for chakra meditation, cleansing, and/or balancing, a much longer calling in Reiki meditation (skipping the shower one), or a combination. In the four months I’ve been commuting on the bus, not once have I been interrupted by anyone for any reason, although I should emphasise that having a window seat is a major factor in not having to move mid-meditation.

By the time I get to downtown Dublin I’m focused, balanced, refreshed, relaxed and ready to start the work day.

Where do you find your Reiki time?