About Annabel
I spent the first half of my working life as a social worker in a variety of positions, then made a career shift to organisational development and training. Both of these areas of work provided many extremely enjoyable, fulfilling and growth-promoting experiences, and led eventually to a most ‘daring’ move, retiring from the public service – which had provided me with job security for all of my working life to that time – and embarking on a challenging and exciting career as a self-employed consultant specialising in personal, team and organisational development.
I enjoy writing, assist with the production of and write regularly for a community-based magazine in Cairns, and in 2001 co-authored Turning Points, Regaining joy after loss, with Lesley.
I enjoy writing, assist with the production of and write regularly for a community-based magazine in Cairns, and in 2001 co-authored Turning Points, Regaining joy after loss, with Lesley.
MY REIKI JOURNEY
In 1989 I was given a flier about a Reiki class that was to be held in Darwin, where I was living at that time. Reiki was little known in Australia then and I had no idea what was involved, but I liked the description of a combination of physical healing, personal development and spiritual growth. I enrolled for the class and by the end of it I was sold; I had decided that I wanted to follow this path as far as I could go. I discussed this with my teacher and with her commenced an ‘apprenticeship’, to be initiated as a master in 1991.
Different and complementary ways of practising Reiki include personal practice with ourselves, friends and family, a professional treatment or teaching practice, and time spent in voluntary contribution to the Reiki community. Each approach has its own particular lessons. My own focus has changed over the years, sometimes predominantly personal, sometimes more of a public practice, and currently a mixture of personal and community practice, as I spend quite a deal of time as a project team member and board member with Reiki Australia, a Reiki membership organisation.
Different and complementary ways of practising Reiki include personal practice with ourselves, friends and family, a professional treatment or teaching practice, and time spent in voluntary contribution to the Reiki community. Each approach has its own particular lessons. My own focus has changed over the years, sometimes predominantly personal, sometimes more of a public practice, and currently a mixture of personal and community practice, as I spend quite a deal of time as a project team member and board member with Reiki Australia, a Reiki membership organisation.
MY REIKI PRACTICE
My form of Reiki practice is Usui Shiki Ryoho, the original form brought to the western world by a Hawaiian-born Japanese woman, Hawayo Takata.
I was fortunate to be introduced to Reiki right from the beginning as an approach in which the physical, psychological and spiritual are all components of the healing, or ‘wholing’, that is inherent within the practice of Reiki. This has enabled me to view the concept of healing in a broad and comprehensive way.
While I have always provided some hands-on treatment to others, I see myself more as a teacher or facilitator than a practitioner. My concept of teaching has changed over time, as I have recognised that I am not giving the student something that I have and they need. What we primarily do through classes and also through Reiki treatment, is assist others to experience a place that was always within them – that place of stillness or ‘presence’ where healing occurs.
As I have grasped this, my own practice of Reiki has evolved to support and ultimately largely take the place of other personal practices such as meditation, which have consistently been part of my adult life. My teaching practice, alone and with my partner Mark Ruge, also incorporates these ideas – both with new students and with Reiki folks who are interested in enriching their practice, touching the deeper places to which regular practice of a system of Reiki can take us.
I was fortunate to be introduced to Reiki right from the beginning as an approach in which the physical, psychological and spiritual are all components of the healing, or ‘wholing’, that is inherent within the practice of Reiki. This has enabled me to view the concept of healing in a broad and comprehensive way.
While I have always provided some hands-on treatment to others, I see myself more as a teacher or facilitator than a practitioner. My concept of teaching has changed over time, as I have recognised that I am not giving the student something that I have and they need. What we primarily do through classes and also through Reiki treatment, is assist others to experience a place that was always within them – that place of stillness or ‘presence’ where healing occurs.
As I have grasped this, my own practice of Reiki has evolved to support and ultimately largely take the place of other personal practices such as meditation, which have consistently been part of my adult life. My teaching practice, alone and with my partner Mark Ruge, also incorporates these ideas – both with new students and with Reiki folks who are interested in enriching their practice, touching the deeper places to which regular practice of a system of Reiki can take us.
