Reiki and the Wisdom of the Wizard of Oz

Scarecrow believed he was brainless. Maybe somebody told him that. Maybe not.

What exactly was the transformative power that the wizard conferred upon the Scarecrow or the Lion? Some may see his gesture of handing over a diploma and a medal as making light of formal education or of social ranking. Here's how I see it:  Human beings are social creatures, and as part of that every one of us not only wants, but needs, acknowledgment of who we are in the context of a community. We need to be seen and heard. Darshan. No, the wizard was not just patronizing his subjects, he was acknowledging the truth of who they are. 

The thing is, even though we each have our own inner authority, we are also interdependent, inter-beings (thanks, Thich Nhat Hahn).  No matter how self-confident a person it is, it generally still feels pretty darned good when someone else sees us, 'gets' us, and we know they've really seen us. Namasté is a word that tries to sum up what the wizard was doing when he doled out the goods. That same goodness in you, it's in me, too. And, Peek-a-boo, I see you!  That feeling of connectedness, it's what a meditative practice cultivates, a reminder of our true nature.

In the Reiki tradition, students are offered attunements. Attunements are much like the gifts the wizard offered. They are simply a way for a teacher to acknowledge a student for the healer that she or he truly is, her or his true nature. That simple gesture packs a powerful punch. Attunements can be likened to the journey Dorothy had to take in order to recognize the she had the power to go home all along. She just needed a reminder. The power was not really in the shoes, it was in the wearer.

Yoga, too, is a path of remembering our true nature, our innate power that does not come from sweating through a 90 minute workout, but from acknowledging the preciousness of our own life force (Reiki, Prana). And recognizing that same life force in all beings, past, present and future!