REIKI - SENSE AND NONSENSE (part 4)

Not the most beautiful village in the world, but definitely enchanting.

The holy Khora that circumbulates around the Dalai Lama Temple and Residence

Drive slowly: on horse or mule back yah!

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Here is my fourth and previous to last post on Reiki. I was just thinking that all my writings about the PAST in India makes me feel homesick. So I need to either move back to India or start writing about the PRESENT in Thailand, or work on my book! Hmmm.

One day I decided to have a pizza at Pema Tang Guesthouse in McLeod with some friends. Pema Tang and Choner House are two of the most enchanting places (only a yak spit away from the Dalai Lama Temple and Residence) and these guesthouses tends to accommodate many celebrity fans of the Dalai Lama, such as Joanna Lumley, Goldie Hawn, Richard Gere, Pierce Brosnan and many others. It sometimes happened that I would sit next to such celebrity and waiters would tell them: Look, that’s Pantau. Would you like to have an autograph of her? (Just kidding!)
However, the day of the pizza-eating adventure I was sitting next to a woman with great fame who suffered from breast cancer. Traditional treatment failed and the woman had travelled to McLeod to get help from the Tibetan Medical and Astrology Centre Mentsekhang.
Tibetan pills may not be the best tasting, and Tibetan doctors may just feel your pulse or smell your breath and have a look at your urine to tell you what’s wrong with you, but they are great to a certain extend. The Dalai Lama has his private Tibetan physician but if he gets really ill he goes to a hospital in Mumbay (Bombay) or abroad.
This famous lady was put on Tibetan pills. She was also interested in Reiki.
“Can Reiki cure cancer, Pantau?” she asked me.
I was dumbstruck. “O please, no, really, don’t think I can help you. If American doctors say that they can no longer help you, then I am definitely not able to.”
“I have read about Reiki. Some practitioners say that they can feel in their hands if there is a tumor in certain body parts. Is that true?”
“Ma’am, it sometimes happens that my hands get very hot when there is something wrong with a particular body part. It tells me that a lot of energy is flowing through me in order to, kind of, help that sick area, but curing…. I don’t think so. If I sense that people have some sort of problem, I tell them carefully that they need to see a doctor and have a check up.”
“Have you had such experiences?”
“Yes. One time a young man came to me. He thought he was healthy but I had the feeling he had a problem with one of his testicles. I didn’t tell him but sent him to a doctor for a check up. He later wrote to me that he was diagnosed with early stage testicular cancer and was being treated for that.”
“Well, I know I am full of cancer and tumors, but now that I am here on Tibetan medication I would like to try everything. Would you treat me?”
“I cannot cure you, Ma’am.”
“I want the experience.”
“Okay.”
“How much do you charge and how long does a treatment last?”
“Between an hour and two hours. And I don’t charge money, but I would accept a donation for my Foundation to help Tibetan children.”
“Okay. Should I come to your house or do you prefer to come to my hotel room?”
“Well, I have my Reiki-cd’s at home and I always say a prayer in front of my Buddha altar before I start a treatment. So I feel most comfortable in my own room. So will you. Because it’s a home, not a hotel. It’s not a house, though. I live in a box, really, but it feels like a home. Hotel rooms don’t feel like home. Do you have bodyguards or an entourage, because I won’t be able to accommodate them. My room is 2/5, by 3/5 metres. I have a toilet and running water. It’s in a building above the bazaar so it’s a bit of a climb to get there, but there is a road on the other side that comes close to the house but it’s only possible to get up that steep road with a powerful four wheel drive jeep.”
“Are you available tomorrow? If you give me your address I will show up.”
The woman showed up on time. She had a jeep drive her up the mountain and she climbed the spiral staircase to my room. She loved my little room with bright yellow walls, Tibetan thanka paintings, my Buddha altar. She didn’t see a bed, so I told her I didn’t have a bed but that I slept on a futon. I had an extra comfortable futon for patients. I would use a thick Tibetan shawl to cover them up so they wouldn’t get cold.

I treated the lady for about 2 hours. My hands felt as if I’d been holding them above a stove. The woman was very sick.
After two hours she said. “I know you didn’t get rid of my cancer, but for two hours I didn’t think of my illness. Not one moment. I just enjoyed the experience, I felt very happy and relaxed. This is a wonderful experience. I’ll be here for two weeks before I travel back to the States. Can I come and see you every day until I leave? Your room is lovely and actually has a better view than the view I have from my room at Pema Tang Guesthouse. I wouldn't mind coming to you room. Is that alright with you?”
“Absolutely.”

I must say, Reiki has always made me feel very happy. It’s almost a selfish thing. Of all things I do to people, whether I entertain them with my books, my stories, my paintings, or my singing voice, I feel most grateful if I can help people by means of Reiki.

Soon I will post the last installment on Reiki. I will take you to my hut in Varkala in South India. For the next few days I will be too busy to get online.

Thank you everybody in the world who read my stories and keep returning to my weblog, all you people from the States, Canada, Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Have a nice weekend.