Reiki-Infused Yoga
Reap the benefits of becoming a Reiki-Infused Yogi: a marriage of ancient traditions that together offer super-charged healing for teacher and student. By Michelle Maslin-Taylor
The world of yoga studios is back up and running — and health and wellness is big business, with more people than ever realising how important their physical and mental wellbeing is after it being front and centre for the past two years. How can we, as yoga teachers, really up our game when it comes to facilitating deep emotional healing and support our clients beyond making some pretty shapes on a mat?
The burnt-out yoga teacher epidemic
As yoga teachers, we are in the business of teaching balance, relaxation, and deep inner peace. But the reality is that so many teachers are finding themselves on the verge of burnout. If you’re exhausted running from studio to studio, holding space, and sharing the magic of yoga whilst simultaneously struggling to find the time for your own practice then know that you are not alone.
Reiki is an energy healing technique that is first and foremost a system for self-healing. Integrating this energy work with your own sadhana and yoga practice is deeply magical. It can help you to feel reconnected to your intuition, sense where you’re out of balance energetically, and gently offer yourself healing without controlling the outcome. It is the perfect restorative companion to your own spiritual practices to allow you to bring the best of yourself to your clients too.
Facilitate deep energetic healing for your clients
We have all been through a collective trauma over the past couple of years. We have all experienced it differently but we all have healing to do. Yoga is incredible at bridging the mind-body connection to release physical tension through poses and work with the energy body, even when it’s not the direct intention. But how do we harness and increase the energetic healing value of the practice?
Reiki is a universal energy healing that is available to all and can super-charge the healing experienced by clients when combined with yoga asana and other practices.
Precepts to guide your life and yoga business
Just like in yoga, reiki has a philosophy attached complete with the reiki precepts. The interpretations vary slightly depending on the version that has been passed to your reiki master but the values remain the same, with guidelines that read like a cheat sheet of how to create a happy and balanced life…and business.
The precepts read:
Just for today, do not anger
Just for today, do not worry
Just for today, be grateful
Just for today, earn your living honestly
Just for today, be kind to every living thing
We are encouraged to remain in this present moment, just for today. The essence of mindfulness is woven into both yoga and reiki.
Reiki teaches us kindness, compassion, and deep love and respect for everyone and everything around us along with its gentle reminder to be true to ourselves. It teaches us how to handle uncertainty (hello, the last two years!) and the difficulties of managing all areas of your yoga business with a side of positive psychology, being grateful for all you already have — key to manifesting more of what you want.
These principles when applied to your life and business will see you both flourish as you align energetically and with your actions to your soul purpose.
Walk your talk & live your purpose
Reiki has many positive benefits from improved sleep, decreased anxiety, and increased relaxation, mirroring what clients come to yoga classes for. Imagine the combination of two powerful healing practices, doubling down on healing for clients for exactly the things most people come to yoga for. Pretty awesome, right? But hold on, it’s so important to think not only of your client but yourself too. Yogi
heal thyself!
We spend so much time and energy nurturing others and that is so beautiful but one of the greatest blessings of reiki is that it asks you to put your own healing first and helps clear the way for you to truly tune in to your intuition to let it guide you and your business.
There was once a study on mindfulness. It demonstrated how a school teacher who practices mindfulness, but doesn’t teach it,
actually had a greater impact in terms of the mindfulness of their students than a teacher who studied and taught mindfulness to their students but didn't practice it themselves. Let that sink in for a second. The teacher who didn’t even teach their students mindfulness but simply modelled it taught them more about it.
By leading by example you are going to have a far greater impact than if you simply teach and let your own practices fall into low priority. The energy that you take to the mat and into your teaching will lead the way for your students too.
Abundance as a side-effect to alignment
We have all heard that money is simply energy, everything is, so how can we harness our own energy to create successful yoga businesses? Reiki has an important reminder to us that the goal is making a living honestly, in alignment with your soul purpose.
Yoga teachers can, and should, be financially abundant but in the words of Old Dominion, “Chase after the dream, Don’t chase after the money”. When you can master tuning in to intuition and get more confident in taking action on the nudges from your soul, your life
will feel ‘flowy’ and wonderful (how very yogi!) but also attract in what you need, without the pressure of the purely financial focus.
When your energy aligns and you find and follow your dharma, the rest will fall into place. Let abundance be the side effect of living your purpose, not the mission.
Michelle Maslin-Taylor is an experienced yoga teacher and founder of The Reiki- Infused Yogi, CPD accredited training and mentoring for yoga teachers and dedicated students in energy systems and healing. Visit: reiki-infused.yoga
Om Magazine
First published in November 2009, OM Yoga magazine has become the most popular yoga title in the UK. Available from all major supermarkets, independents and newsstands across the UK. Also available on all digital platforms.
