Upcoming Heart Light Reiki Training
with Reiki Master Joanna Pinney Buell
September 11, 2010, 9 to 6 PM
at Light Heart Retreat in Sullivan, Maine

Heart Light Reiki is a unique approach to the traditional practice of Reiki.  It’s founded upon the Usui Method of Natural Healing and your Master is of Usui lineage. You will receive a Reiki attunement and learn the fundamentals of the Usui system.  However, the emphasis in class will not be on the history or the structure of Usui Reiki.  This is a heart centered focus on practical application for the challenging times we find ourselves in. If you’ve been thinking about learning Reiki, there is no better time than NOW!

Heart Light Reiki for Self Health Training

Giving yourself a daily Reiki treatment is one of the most beneficial practices that you can cultivate. The thrust of this class is to teach and inspire you to develop this practice. You’ll also be given suggestions to help you incorporate Reiki energy into your everyday life. A simple method for distant treatment will also be taught, empowering you to help your friends and family with their challenges. You won’t find this element in any other Reiki I class. You will receive a Reiki I attunement as part of this training. This is an excellent entry into Reiki, even if you plan to attend the integrated RI&II. It’s also recommended for those who may not have the stamina to complete an all day class and who primarily wish to use Reiki for themselves and in their homes.This is a 3 hour training.

You won’t find this Reiki training anywhere else, as it’s a class I’ve designed to meet the need for an excellent entry level Reiki class at a price that anyone can afford.

The energy exchange rate for this training is $75 which includes a manual, Heart Light Reiki for Self Health. Students also receive a certificate of participation and CEU documentation. A minimum of 7 students is required for this class. I go on site to teach this training to your group. Registration required 30 days in advance. info@lightheartretreat.com

Integrated Reiki I & II, Usui-Tibetan Enhanced
Septemer 11, 2010, is the only class scheduled for this year
Registrations due by August 11, 2010

This comprehensive approach focuses upon the essentials of Reiki, to empower you to begin working with Reiki energy immediately. You will have been sent a manual upon registration that requires a commitment of at least four hours home study time.  In distilling trainings down to the most powerful essentials, training time has been reduced for RI/II class from 2 days to one long day. It’s recommended that you attend a Heart Light Reiki for Self Care training first, though this is not mandatory. Having had a period of practicing Reiki on yourself, you will be better prepared to absorb and implement all the skills presented in the Integrated Reiki I&II. 

The following elements are included in the integrated Reiki I /II training:

• The Reiki symbols for increased power, mental-emotional healing and absent treatments.
• Integrated Reiki I/II attunement.
• Self treatment with Reiki.
• How to scan the energy field and facilitate a hands-on Reiki treatment.
• How to send distant treatments using a surrogate and other methods.
• The power of invocation in conjunction with Reiki.
• How to use Reiki energy to assist with mental and emotional healing.
• The importance of intention.
• Practitioner skills for the client interview.
• Practitioner skills for facilitating emotional release.
• How to integrate Reiki into your everyday life.

Participants receive certification in Reiki I/II on completion of this training. This class is appropriate also for those having completed Reiki I with another teacher, as we will be incorporating the Reiki II symbols from the start.

 

I paid a total of $450 for my Reiki I&II training from “the oldest living Reiki Master in the US.” That training is currently priced at $900. I’ve aged, too, and have much experience under my belt since I learned Reiki over 17 years ago. I have not doubled my fees. Instead I have made them evermore accessible in time, energy and money. You won’t find a more complete Reiki training at any price.

The energy exchange rate for this integrated Reiki I/II training is $250; includes a Heart Light Reiki Integrated I/II manual, certification in Reiki I/II and CEU documentation. This training has a minimum requirement of nine students and is hosted at Light Heart Retreat.  Registration required 30 days in advance.

Usui Reiki Master & Maha Karuna Master. I take the respect and responsibility conferred by the title of Master seriously and do not dole out certification in exchange for a fat check and a few hours class time. I require an application process which includes a body of Reiki practice that must be documented and completed two months before class. Serious students who wish to teach Reiki or who are in healing professions are invited to contact me for more information.

What a former Reiki student has to say about Joanna:

You are one of the most amazing spiritual teachers I have ever encountered, and I've studied with quite a range.Your teachings on the intellectual, emotional and spiritual levels, left me profoundly changed for the better and I'll always be grateful for it." -Chirstopher Penczak, author of  The Magick of Reiki and many other books on metaphysical subjects

Your Hosts for Heart Light Reiki Training. David Buell & Joanna Pinney Buell welcome you to their home at Light Heart Retreat in Sullivan, Maine!

Joanna is your Reiki Master for Heart Light trainings. David (also a Reiki Master) supports and holds space and fills in when there’s an odd number of students. Joanna has been practicing and sharing holistic techniques for empowerment since 1993.  As a Reiki Master, she’s trained over 50 Reiki Masters and hundreds of students in Reiki I/II and Reiki for Self Health.  In addition to being a registered Reiki Master, Joanna is an ordained minister, also a licensed massage therapist, a certified lymphedema therapist, and a craniosacral therapist (Milne Institute). Joanna is a talented dowser. Look for her new services as The Dowsing Deva, coming in Spring 2010. Her hands-on experience with clients through her previous practice "Light Heart Healing" and many hours of pro bono work bring a wealth of down-to-earth wisdom to her teachings.  See below further credentials. Joanna may be available to go on-site for organizations such as hospice, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. to present Heart Light Reiki for Self Care training. You may contact Joanna using the form below.

About Registration,  a Personal Note from Joanna Pinney Buell. There are fewer teaching Reiki Masters every year and not many with the years of teaching and hands-on experience than I have. Reiki is a blessing and an honor to learn. I expect all due respect for the gift of Reiki and for my commitment to sharing it. Much time and effort goes  into setting up and preparing for a Reiki class, as much or more time than the actual class room time. In regards to Reiki I/II, the Quarry House at Light Heart Retreat has been reserved in advance for the training, making it unavailable for other rental possibilities.  There are minimum enrollments for classes. To see that these are met and the class will run, registrations are due 30 days in advance. I expect that anyone who is ready and deserving of the tremendous shift in energy and empowerment that Reiki brings will meet this requirement before or on the registration due date. Thank you.

Please email me,  info@lightheartretreat.com to register for September 11, 2010 training at LIght Heart Retreat. Registrations are due by August 11, 2010. Thank you.

More about Reiki

Reiki: The Gift of Loving Empowerment

by Joanna Pinney Buell

Reiki is the most empowering, easiest to learn, method of hands-on-healing available to a world in desperate need of healing. We don’t have to be special to channel Reiki. Reiki doesn’t require meditation, vegetarianism or any particular spiritual practice. A child can learn how to do Reiki and do it as effectively as an adult. Reiki is accessible for the elderly and to physically challenged individuals.

Reiki has many applications for our everyday lives. Reiki can be used on oneself; it can be shared with others, both individually and in groups. Reiki can be applied to food, plants, machinery and pets. Machinery? Every Reiki practitioner has at least one Reiki story about using Reiki to jump start a car, or something equally outrageous! Reiki can also be sent to a person or a situation, using techniques for distant healing. The practice of Reiki is limited only by the bounds of ones imagination.
The word, “Reiki”, is Japanese and is pronounced, Ray-Key. It represents Universal Love Energy. Reiki refers to the energy itself, and also to the system of channeling the Reiki energy. Although the word for this energy is Japanese, this Love Energy and system of hands-on-healing doesn’t belong to any one culture. Natural healing systems have been present in various cultures, through out time. It is believed that the roots of our modern-day system of Reiki originated in Tibet, 2000 years ago.

Reiki differs from other hands-on systems in the following ways. Reiki has an attunement process. This initiation is conducted by the Reiki Master to attune the student to the Reiki energy. The attunement clears and opens the student’s chakras (energy system) and connects the initiate to Reiki. This process can be compared to ordering the Disney channel from the cable company. The lines are cleared and a connection is made to the Reiki channel. The Reiki Master is the “cable guy” who assists with the connection.

Reiki differs dramatically from energetic healing methods, such as Therapeutic Touch or Barbara Brennan style healing, because of the ease in which it can be learned and applied. Reiki can be learned in a day. A Reiki treatment doesn’t require diagnosing by the Reiki practitioner, nor does it require psychic abilities. A Reiki treatment can be as simple as placing ones hands on the shoulders of the receiver and having the intention for the Reiki to flow. Although clairvoyance isn’t necessary or the goal of Reiki, many do find that they become much more intuitive after the Reiki initiation.

How can anything so profound, be so simple? Reiki is a gift from the Divine, by whatever name you choose to call Divinity, i.e., God, Goddess, Great Spirit, Divine Mind… This energy does not come from our ego self or from our personal energy reserve. It flows from the Divine Source of Love within every single one of us. We are able to channel it without elaborate training and without risk of doing harm, because it is over-seen by the Divine. This guided energy, Reiki, creates balance and affects a healing response. Our responsibility as a channel for Reiki is that we have loving intention and let go of the need to judge the results. The receiver of Reiki is willing to accept responsibility for healing and trusts that it will be for the highest good.

Although Reiki is mostly associated with hands-on-healing, there is another aspect to Reiki that is often overlooked. Reiki strongly opens us up to Divine guidance and supports the intention to become enlightened– it raises our vibration. Through the practice of Reiki on ourselves, we become centered in the peaceful eye of the storm, rather than be caught up in the storm of fear around us. As Reiki heals our deepest fears, we become more compassionate. We develop the powerful tool of discernment. We see beyond the doom and gloom and cultivate a deep, abiding trust in the process of life. We are never at a loss to “do something” because we can always send Reiki to troubled situations.

When we learn to incorporate Reiki into our everyday lives, we become beacons for healing, by our very presence. The practice of Reiki heals and transmutes our share of the pain and suffering; we have more room for Light to flow through us. We begin to see shifts in our families, friends and our work place. We know we are having a healing effect.
Reiki doesn’t require that we preach to and recruit, or perform laying-on-of-hands on everyone within our reach. It is certainly not required that we achieve perfection! Wild flowers open and bloom in the sun without any action on our part. Love blooms in the presence of those who have accepted the responsibility for their self-healing.

This is God’s gift of loving empowerment through Reiki: the ability to heal our fears and the opportunity to have a healing affect, in every situation. Reiki empowers our choice to send love, rather than emit fear. It is a wonderful gift to ourselves and others when we share Reiki hands-on or through a distant treatment, but truly, the greatest contribution to the world, is the gift of the healed self.

“We are all physical embodiments of Spirit. We are all creations of God. Most of us are born perfectly healthy and whole into an imperfect world. We are exposed to bacteria, viruses, pollution and noise, as well as the stresses of work and family. Sometimes we have genes that give us tendencies to develop certain diseases. Given all these factors, we would like to know how to stay as healthy as possible and how to recover from symptoms and illnesses, diseases, as we encounter them.” — Elizabeth K. Stratton, M.S., Seeds of Light

“Enlightened people don’t have anything we don’t have. They have perfect love inside and so do we. The difference is that they don’t have anything else . . . “ –Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

“We are all here to transcend our early limitations, whatever they were. We’re here to recognize our own magnificence and divinity no matter what they told us. You have your negative beliefs to overcome, and I have my negative beliefs to overcome.” –Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Live

“Some of you will have miracles! This is where magic and miracles reside . . . it is with self-healing.” –Kryon, channeled by Lee Carroll, Don’t Think Like a Human

My Favorite Reiki Story

Looking Back on My time with Tricia, 12/4/01, A Reiki Story

by Joanna Pinney Buell

I returned from seeing the Harry Potter movie with my 16 year-old friend Tricia, tonight, late. We enjoyed it–the suspense, the magic, the bravado of Harry and his friends. I cannot help but remember what Tricia and I were doing this time last year.

Last year at this time, Tricia was in a coma; home from a hospital stay that had begun October 26 when she suffered a brain aneurysm and resulting stroke.  Her mother and aunt, both CNA’s had insisted that Tricia be cared for at home. This time last year, I was visiting Tricia almost daily in the role as her Reiki and massage therapist and I was praying for a Christmas miracle.

I met Tricia through her step-dad, who was plumbing our new house.  He was absent from the job for a month and when he returned he told me about Tricia.  Tricia had stayed home from school with a cold and her mother had found her in full blown seizure on the floor of her bedroom.  Tricia had been air lifted to EMMC from Ellsworth and had emergency surgery to stop the bleeding and then another surgery to reduce the swelling.  She had not regained consciousness. He did not reveal Tricia’s prognosis to me.  I offered to visit Tricia at Eastern Maine Medical Center to do massage and Reiki with her, if her mother would agree to it.  I didn’t make any promises, except to say that the touch and stimulus could prove helpful.

The next day, November 13th, I found my way to Tricia on the eighth floor of EMMC, pediatrics. Tricia was sitting upright in a wheel chair, eyes closed, lips parted, breathing loudly–she was recovering from pneumonia. She was dressed in a gray polo shirt, decorated with angel pins.  Her long dark hair was pulled back in a little bun; a long scar showed staple marks over her left frontal bone and it was flat underneath the scar, where bone had been removed.  There was swelling at her temple. Her head was positioned to one side and her ear was surrounded by a crude foam device meant to keep the pressure off a sore that had developed. Her painted fingernails rested upon two stuffed, fleece frogs.

Except for Tricia’s extreme thinness I could have been looking at my niece Darcy–  the heavy eyebrows, the perfectly bowed lips, roundish face, so unexpected on a long lean torso. I remember asking myself, “what if this was Darcy?”  I believe that the answer to that question set my intention for my relationship to Tricia.  If this young woman were my sister’s daughter, I would do anything and everything I could to help her.

Tricia’s Mom, Patty, and her mother’s sister, Shirley and a close friend of Patty’s were present, along with Tim, the step-dad.  It was a room full, but I was hardly aware of anyone, save Tricia.  The room emptied out as family members went to get something to eat.  Tim stayed and I told him a little bit about Reiki as I scanned and began to place my hands on Tricia.

I was encouraged by the energy scan; it gave me goose bumps.  Her chakras all felt strong; she was in there, for sure.  I laid my hands gently upon Tricia channeling Reiki energy to her and also did some light compression and stroking on her arms and legs and some foot massage.

When the women came back into the room from supper, Tricia moaned a little.  It seemed that she responded to hearing their voices. I noticed that Tricia’s right shoulder was held forward.  I told Tricia about a massage technique that I was going to do. I told her I was going to put her shoulder into various positions and told her that I didn’t want her to help me.  I held her shoulder in it’s forward position and then eased it back a little and held.  Then I brought it down and held.  When I released, Tricia pulled her shoulder up towards her ear.  She had anticipated my next move!  This is typical and why I tell client’s “don’t help me; let me move it for you.”  Next I massaged her shoulders and neck.  When I stopped, she moaned and it sounded like, “don’t stop!”  So I massaged some more.

I placed my hands on either side of Tricia’s head and whispered in low tones about her eagle wings, how she how she could fly above the river of pain and let it flow away from her, how the sun beat down own her eagle back and how the wind ruffled her feathers.  When the meditation was over, Tricia began to cry.  It was as if it was too painful to come back  from her eagle self into this imprisoned body.  The nurse came and Tricia was put back in bed.

I left the hospital still in the trance I’d been in throughout our time together.  I felt grateful, totally, thoroughly grateful.  I remembered a little conversation I had with God regarding my doing advertisement for my holistic practice. I had been advertising moderately heavy with no response. The conversation went something like this, “Okay God, if this is what I’m supposed to be doing, than you do the advertising for me.  Put the people who need my help right on my front doorstep.”  When Tim told me about Tricia we were standing at the front door of my new house.

I was back at the hospital the next day, my canvas bag stuffed with my boom box, native American music (Tricia is 75% MicMac), aromatherapy oils and massage oil for her feet.  I had Tricia to myself for awhile before family arrived.  I did much as I had the day before with a reflexology treatment to her feet.  At some point, I believe when I was doing Reiki over her heart I began to tone, “MMMMMM–AAAAAAH”.  It came out in a song.  Nurses passing by gave me some interesting looks, some angry looking ones, some encouraging ones, too.  I asked Tricia to try to make the “aaaah” sound with me.  Very softly, very quietly, she did.  I had never, up until that time, heard such a beautiful note!

The next day I was massaging Tricia’s feet and I heard her softly with effort, tone “aaaah”. She remembered!  Not only did she remember, but she had the intelligence to do it on her own to show me that she remembered! She did it when her family arrived, too.

This toning of “aaah” was the most visible response from Tricia. She could not and did not move, except for moving her shoulder on the first visit.  She didn’t open her eyes.  She cried sometimes and made moaning sounds.  That simple vowel sound was our thread of connection and her link to consciousness.

Tricia came home to Steuben, just before Thanksgiving.  One eye was beginning to be a little open at times.  She still had no voluntary movement. The insurance company would not acknowledge that Tricia was coming out of her coma and Tricia received  no therapy services at home.  I did ROM and muscle energy technique with Tricia, I played classical music and waved her arms around as if conducting an orchestra. I drummed over her.  I used different aromatherapy oils on her forehead and under her nose.  I talked through out the two hour session with her, ending with a guided visualization.  Often she cried.  Sometimes she toned.  Sometimes she gave me a little resistance in her feet and arms when I exercised them.  I was visiting with Tricia Monday through Friday at this stage.

On my last visit with Tricia before Christmas,  I had my hands cupping her occiput as she sat in the living room in a recliner.  Her head and neck went into a spontaneous unwind, moving from side to side with pauses.  I felt an energetic rush, knowing that Tricia was back!

When I returned from being away a few days at Christmas, her mother and aunt were very excited to report to me that Tricia had moved her fingers a little bit over the presents they put on her lap.  She could also move her head side-to-side on her own.

At this stage Tricia began to give more and consistent resistance during her exercises.  We arm wrestled.  She wiggled her toes to get my attention.  Every visit held some wonderful new thing Tricia could do.  I encouraged Tricia to talk and I toned vowel sounds to her.  Now mostly conscious, she was self-conscious and not so willing to tone.  I said, “It doesn’t matter how it sounds…just say it”.  Starting from scratch, Tricia was able to mouth “Mama” and “Nana”.

As I was driving to Tricia’s, I saw her mother pass me going in the other direction.  As I pulled in the driveway, Patty, pulled in behind me. She said, “Tricia is talking!  Tricia said, “I want a lollipop!”  Patty recounted how the family had grilled Tricia on birthdays, names, past events, math, relationships and how she had answered the questions correctly, though in the mode of someone recovering from a stroke.

When I walked into Tricia room, she said to me, “Hello, Joanna.”  This was towards the end of January.  By mid February Tricia was speaking well enough and had enough stamina to be interviewed by a local tv station.  Two milestones followed shortly after:  Tricia’s first food by mouth in months and her first steps.

In March I went with Tricia and her mother and aunt to do Reiki with Tricia before surgery to repair her frontal bone. We were all hoping beyond hope that when the swelling was relieved, that she would see again.  Yes, Tricia was blind as a result of her stroke.

While we waited for Tricia to come out of surgery, Patty and Shirley talked to me about what it was like at the time of Tricia’s aneurysm and for the month before I became involved.  I had never asked for or known any details, as I didn’t want to develop any prejudice regarding Tricia’s recovery. They told me how they’d been told that Tricia’s chance of survival was very slim.  They were told if she survived she would be a vegetable, that her brain was irreversibly damaged.  I was grateful not to have known this when I started working with Tricia.

Tricia’s surgery went smoothly.  I was able to see her in recovery and do some more Reiki with her.

Tricia’s vision had not returned and the swelling at her temple had not abated.  The surgeon decided on a shunt near her sacrum.  When I did Reiki at the site of the shunt, it felt energetically very hot and I had a strong feeling of “not right”.

The next day I left for a craniosacral class in Toronto, worried about Tricia, especially the shunt.  When I called to check on Tricia, I found she had undergone another surgery to remove the shunt from her spine and a new one had been placed opposite her recent head surgery.  She was doing okay after this third round of surgery.

A couple weeks after surgery,Tricia began an intense rehab program at EMMC that lasted until May.  For the first time, she had consistent speech, physical and occupational therapy.  Audrey from Catholic Charities was teaching her Braille.  I was unable to visit for a 3 week period while I had an upper respiratory infection.

Tricia’s family went away on vacation.  Tricia was depressed and lonely. I visited Tricia 10 days in a row at EMMC to do Reiki and mostly to be company to her.  I read to her from the first Harry Potter book.  When she came home in May, I visited her frequently, filling in the gap left between the therapy she received at EMMC and when the local therapists would get it together to start their programs with Tricia.

Tricia came back, mentally and emotionally.  In July she and her family came swimming at the quarry I live on.  It was quite an event!  Tricia had been a good swimmer before her incident.  She showed no fear as she ducked her head under water.  It was great to hear her laughing aloud!

At a visit to Tricia’s home in August, Patty told me of an upcoming meeting with the school district to decide how to address Tricia’s educational needs.  She invited me to attend.  I did.  At the end of the meeting when the Director of Special Services and the Principal of the local high school concurred that neither of them had any idea of who they could call upon to tutor Tricia, I volunteered myself.  And so I became Tricia’s home tutor, adapting a high school, sophomore level curriculum to fit Tricia’s needs.   She was still blind and had weakness on her dominant right side.

The experience of being Tricia’s tutor is  a whole other story…

My time with Tricia deepened my listening, my compassion, my patience, my faith, my ability to work hands-on and distantly ( I sent Tricia a Reiki treatment every day), my ability to focus and stay focused, more than any experience ever had before.  I will always be grateful for the great gift of knowing and working so closely with her.

As I finish writing this account on February 27, 2003, Tricia is a Junior at Sumner High School.  She enjoys the socialization that was missing from her life for a whole year. Her sight has not returned. She is stronger in her right side.  Her speech is easily understandable. She is challenged to grasp what she knows and hold on to it, long enough to communicate it.  This creates some frustration on her part.  She attended a summer program at the Perkins School, but does not desire to go there full time.  Her services through the school district remain inconsistent and do not address her needs relative to being blind (especially in regards to using a computer).  Still, Tricia is alive with great potential to further her recovery.

My therapeutic work with Tricia continued over a year and seven months time. Why did it take me so long to finish this account?  I was so close to the story, it was so near to my heart that I could never get through the telling of it, until now, when there’s been some time and distance since I worked closely with Tricia.

Update. Tricia went on to attend the same school for blind and deaf that Helen Keller attended, the Perkins School in Boston, Mass. While there she won a national prize to for her artwork.  The piece that won was a beautifully sculpted elephant, life-like beyond belief. The last time we spoke, Tricia was doing wall climbing. She makes and sells some lovely handcrafted items. I cherish the stool and rocking chair whose seats are so miraculously woven by those precious hands.