This fall CE Reiki instructor Jennifer Capper looks forward to offering a new avenue of personal exploration for beginners and seasoned practitioners with her new course, Reiki and Nature. Capper believes her course will help participants forge a deeper connection with the natural world, while discovering a greater understanding of themselves.
Developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui the practice of Reiki stands as one of the more commonly used forms of energy healing or laying on of hands. 
Derived from the Japanese words Rei (meaning Spiritual Wisdom) and Ki (meaning Life Energy), Reiki is practiced the world over as a natural means of spiritual healing and self-improvement.
According to practitioners, Reiki is not so much taught as transferred from master to student. This transferal of understanding or “Attunement” allows the student to tap into the "life force energy" around us to improve one's health and enhance the quality of life. Capper looks forward to a successful sharing of said energy with new and returning students.
“Seasoned Reiki practitioners will discover their own potential to use Reiki to connect with, learn from, protect and restore natural environments,” says Capper. “Beginning Reiki students will receive a thorough introduction to Reiki healing and its history, practice and applications as well as an Attunement to level 1 which will allow them to experience firsthand the benefits of its use.”
For her own part, Capper says she discovered a substantial connection to greenery thanks to her study of Reiki. “I discovered an inner awareness and connection with plant life,” she says. “While practicing a meditation with individual elements I discovered how each plant is a unique energetic frequency and teacher. When I treat myself to time with nature in this way, I benefit by having a clearer mental focus, physical comfort and spiritual fulfillment.”
Capper says a key aspect of Reiki and Nature will be to guide students in refining their Inner Compass. “The Inner Compass project will create a framework to help students establish individually realized skills. In other words, how they intake information: which senses are strongest, seeing, knowing, hearing, etc. The knowledge gained will be examined for uses to improve human health.”
According to Capper, the Inner Compass is a practice of overlaying our understanding of multiple aspects of our reality. “The Inner Compass will combine the four cardinal directions, four elements of earth, four aspects of human natures and the four seasons,” she says. “The exercise will establish a framework used to explore a person’s connection with nature.”
Capper says students can look forward to exploring exercises combining Reiki, nature and their compass. “The Inner-Compass format will help them find real-world applications for using Reiki in natural settings,” she says. “This will benefit students by revealing reliable and practical solutions to enjoy, learn from, protect, restore and support natural spaces.”
Though spending class time out of doors will be incumbent on weather, Capper says she looks forward to guiding students to a better understanding of their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual aspects through the natural world. “I hope they discover Reiki and nature as limitless tools for exploring and supporting human health.”
Learn more about Reiki and Nature.
Photo credit #1: A Loving Presence_cc_2.0
Photo credit #2: Kirsten Denegaars_cc_2.0
Photo credit #3: Keith Chouinard_cc_2.0