Many people consider that Reiki involves sharing your energy with other people so that they attain energetic balance. From here the wrong assumption is that when healing too many people or when sharing the Ki energy with them, the practitioner's energy is depleted and he/she is more prone to energetic imbalance, hence diseases or illnesses. This is the wrong way of addressing the problem of loosing energy to the patient as this does not happen.

The best way to explained that loss of energy occurs is explained below

When the energy is channeled by the practitioner towards the patient, both the practitioner and the patient are considered to be in need of energy. Thus, the Ki energy addresses both the practitioner and the patient. It is practically a double healing and while the practitioner is only the means through which the energy reaches the patient, the divine force considers that the practitioner should also be healed. This is why there is no possible way through which the energy of the practitioner could ever be depleted. When you are working only as a channel, a transmitter and none of your resources are involved in the procedure, there is no reason to be afraid of remaining without resources.

In addition to that, the practitioner's ego is not involved in any way in the process of healing. The energy is guided by the supreme force to the parts of the body which need care, so that the healing force is the divinity and not the practitioner, the latter being only the channel.

After undergoing a healing session, both the practitioner and the patient are surrounded by positive energy which gives them that sate of well being so much cherished by all those practicing Reiki. Thus, in addition to being a positive experience for the patient, the Reiki sessions are highly beneficial for the practitioner, too. They get to help people heal and at the same time they undergo a process of cleansing and purification.

Thus, if you have never wanted to share your power with others for fear of not depleting your energy, it is high time that you reconsider your attitude and start helping people cope with their problems. It will be beneficial for both of you! We all know that positive energy flows through us so there are always benefits to sharing it.

With the right information, you will be able to practice basic Reiki techniques in just a few days. At beginner Reiki level, you will learn how to apply self-treatments and take charge of your own healing potential. You will also be able to heal other individuals and also animals. At basic level, this will be done with the hands-on-body working style. At this level, you will not go into much detail of Reiki theory or how Reiki actually works; instead you will focus on the ability to receive Reiki energy and transferring it by placing your hands over the body. Although you don't require to know much about Reiki dynamics to use it effectively, the more you understand how it works, the better you will be able to use it.

With Reiki healing, it is important that the individual is willing to be healed. Apart from this, you only have to channel the energy and let it work for you. A particular technique used for treating mental and emotional issues is called Reiki Light. This technique facilitates mental and emotional healing, and assists in positive self-programming and the treatment of addictions and habits, such as smoking and excessive drinking.

Reiki teaching will make you acquainted with the chakras and you will learn how to clean and clear these of negative energy and blockages helping to restore harmony and unobstructed the flow of life force energy which is present in every living being. The main chakras are the root chakra, the sacral chakra, the solar plexus chakra, the heart chakra, the throat chakra, the third-eye chakra, and the crown chakras. There are many other minor chakras, more than 100 in total. When you heal using Reiki, you will be channelling the energy from the universe through your crown and heart chakras and out through your palm chakras to wherever you direct it.

Animals are also very receptive to Reiki. A Reiki practitioner will be able to 'hear' an animal and understand how it is feeling. Then, the practitioner will be able to channel Reiki to the animal, and most are very receptive to it. Animals have 7 primary chakras, 21 minor complementary chakras and 6 bud chakras. It is very common for animals to fall asleep during a Reiki session - this is perfectly normal!

When you have mastered the basics of Reiki, you may want to move on to a more advanced Reiki level. You will learn more healing and meditation techniques and you will be able to increase the power of the basic techniques many fold. In addition, once you familiarize yourself with the advanced Reiki principles, you will find that your personal Reiki energy will soar to a new level, and it will start to work within you almost automatically.

Part of advanced Reiki training involves getting to know the Reiki symbols which stand for energy patterns. Once these are studied and understood, they will have a profound effect on your life. Perhaps the most impressive achievement that you will be able to master is the ability to heal people from a distance; on the other hand beginner Reiki techniques are limited to a hands-on approach. In addition, advanced Reiki practitioners are able to carry out the basic techniques in much less time, enabling you to heal more people quicker. Usui Reiki Healing Master is a very good guide to learning Reiki from the very basic techniques to advanced ones including distance healing.

People learn Reiki for many reasons and come from an amazing variety of backgrounds, all attending for their own personal reasons. Reiki courses in the UK present a whole variety of approaches, some "traditional" Western-style, some more Japanese in content, some wildly different and almost unrecognisable, some free and intuitive, others dogmatic and based on rules about what you should always do and not do. Reiki is taught in so many ways, and students will tend to imagine that the way that they were taught is the way that Reiki is taught and practised by most other Reiki people.

What I have tried to do in this article is to present a simple guide to what in my view is the essence of Second Degree: what it's all about and what we should be doing and thinking about to get the most out of our experience of Reiki at this level. My words are addressed to anyone at Second Degree level, or anyone who would like to review the essence of Second Degree.

The first thing I want to say isH that there should usually be an interval of a couple of months or so between First and Second Degree if you want to get the most out of your Reiki experience, and that it is unwise to take both Degrees back-to-back over a weekend. We would not take an advanced driving test the day after passing our basic driving test, so why would we believe that moving on to a more 'advanced' level with Reiki would be an effective way to learn when we have had no opportunity to get the hang of the basics of First Degree? Can we get the most out of Second Degree when we have had no opportunity to get used to working with and sensing and experiencing energy, when we have had no opportunity to enhance our effectiveness as a channel and our sensitivity to Reiki through regular practice, when we have had no opportunity to become familiar with a standard treatment routine and have had no opportunity to feel comfortable and confident in treating other people? Reiki is not a race, and we need to be familiar with the basics before moving on.

Second Degree is all about reinforcing or enhancing your connection to the energy, learning some symbols which you can use routinely when working on yourself or treating others, it is about enhancing your self-healing, learning how to effect a strong distant connection (distant healing), and ideally it is also about opening yourself up to your intuitive side so that you throw away the basic Reiki 'rule book' and go freestyle, gearing any treatments towards the individual needs of the recipient. There are many approaches to doing these things, and I wanted below to touch on each one and to dispel some myths that may have been passed on.

Enhancing your Connection to the energy

On your Second Degree course you will have received some attunements or some empowerments. Attunements are not standard rituals within the world of Reiki and take many forms, some simpler and some more complex. They have evolved and changed greatly during their journey from teacher to teacher in the West. There is no "right way" to carry out an attunement and the individual details of a ritual do not matter a great deal. They all work. Equally, there is no "correct" number of attunements that have to be carried out at Second Degree level. Whether you receive one, two, or three attunements on your course, that is fine.

On your course you may have received some "empowerments" rather than attunements, though these are less common. The word "empowerment", or "Reiju empowerment", refers to a connection ritual that has come to us from some Japanese sources, and is closer in essence to the empowerment that Mikao Usui conveyed to his students. If you are receiving empowerments rather than attunements then you really need to have received three of them at least.

What we experience when receiving an attunement or an empowerment will vary a lot. Some people have fireworks and bells and whistles and that's nice for them; other people notice a lot less, very little, or even nothing, and that's fine too. What we feel when we have an attunement is not a guide to how well it has worked for us. Attunements work, and sometimes we will have a strong experience, but it's not compulsory! Whether we have noticed a lot, or very little, the attunement will have given us what we need.

Since in Mikao Usui's system you would have received empowerments from him again and again, it would be nice if you could echo this practice by receiving further empowerments (or attunements) and perhaps these might be available at your teacher's Reiki shares or get-togethers, if they hold them. But it is possible to receive distant Reiju empowerments and various teachers make them freely available as a regular 'broadcast'. This is not essential, and your connection to Reiki once given does not fizzle out, but it would be a beneficial practice if you could receive regular empowerments from someone.

Being "attuned" to a symbol

"Sacred Symbols"

In some lineages students are not allowed to keep copies of the symbols and have to reproduce them from memory, based on what they learned on their Second Degree course. There is the suggestion that the symbols are sacred and not only sacred but secret, and should not be shown to people who are not involved in Reiki, or people who are at First Degree level. Where this idea came from in the Western Reiki system is not clear, since certainly Dr Hayashi had his students copy out his notes by way of preparing their own manuals, including copying down the symbols.

For me, the Reiki symbols are simply graphical representations of different aspects of the energy, useful tools to assist us in experiencing or becoming consciously aware of different aspects of what we already have, and what is special or sacred is our connection to the source, not the squiggles we might put on a piece of paper.

Because of the 'Chinese whispers' that have resulted from students not being allowed to take home hard copies of the Reiki symbols, there are many different versions of the symbols in existence, but they are mainly variations on a theme and they all seem to work in practice. Do remember, though, that the original CKR had an anticlockwise spiral, and to use a version of CKR with a clockwise spiral is to use a symbol that is not part of the Usui/Hayashi/Takata system.

Using Symbols in practice

Some students are taught there is one 'correct' way that symbols have to be used. Reiki is not so finicky. The important thing when using a Reiki symbol is to focus your attention on the symbol in some way, so whether you are drawing the symbol with your fingers hovering over the back of your hand as you treat someone, whether you are drawing out the symbol using eye movements, or nose movements, or in your mind's eye, all approaches will work. You do not need to visualise the symbols in a particular colour and if you can see the symbol in your mind's eye in its entirety - this takes practice - you can 'flash' the whole symbol rather than drawing it out stroke by stroke.

Just because we have been taught some symbols does not mean that we are now obliged to use them all the time when we treat or when we work on ourselves. They can be used to emphasise different aspects of the energy, but this is optional. Use of symbols does seem to boost the flow of energy, so we can use them when it feels appropriate. This is the key: to bring a symbol into a particular part of a treatment when we have a strong feeling that we ought to, to work intuitively rather than following a set method.

I have written in other articles about the issue of simplicity within Reiki practice, and the complicated way that people have ended up using the Reiki symbols, for example mixing symbols together or using complicated symbol sandwiches. Remember that the simple approach is usually the most effective, and that there is no hard and fast way that you 'have' to work with the symbols you have been shown.

By the way, if you have been taught that you have to draw the three Second Degree symbols over your palm each day or else they will stop working for you, you can safely ignore these instructions. The symbols will work for you no matter what you do or don't do with your palms!

Why the symbols are there

At Second Degree, the prime focus of Reiki is still your self-healing, and the first two symbols are there to help you get to grips with two important energies that will further or deepen your self-healing. Putting the 'distant healing' symbol to one side, the other two symbols represent the energies of earth ki and heavenly ki, and we need to fully assimilate these two energies to enhance our self-healing and self-development. If we are going to use these energies occasionally when we treat other people, it makes sense to be thoroughly familiar with these energies, to have spent time 'becoming' these energies. We can do this by carrying out regular symbol meditations.

Making 'distant' connections

The third Reiki symbol that you are introduced to on a Second Degree course is commonly called the 'distant healing symbol'. We should remember that distant healing is perfectly possible at First Degree level and that we do not need to use a symbol in order to send Reiki to another person: intent is enough. But using this symbol can help us to learn to better 'click' into a nice strong merged state.

There is no set form of ritual that 'has' to be used in distant healing, there is not set form of words that has to be recited, no established sequence which needs to be reproduced in order for distant healing to be effective, so we can find our own comfortable approach, different from other people's but equally valid. The details of the ritual that we use are not important. All we need to do is to focus our attention on the recipient and maybe use the symbol in some way, merge with the energy, merge with the recipient, and allow the energy to flow.

Intuitive working

Ideally, Second Degree should be the stage where you start to leave the basic 'rulebook' behind and go 'freestyle', gearing your treatment towards the recipient's individual energy needs, so that each treatment will be different, as the recipient's energy needs change from one treatment session to another. Some students will already be modifying the basic treatment routine by the time that they arrive on their Second Degree course.

Set hand positions and a prescribed scheme to follow are useful things to have at First Degree, and allow the student to feel confident in treating others, but sequences of hand positions can be left behind when we open to intuition. Intuitive treatments seem to do something special for the recipient; when you direct the energy into just the right combination of positions for that person on that occasion, you allow the energy to penetrate deeply and this seems to lead to a more profound experience for the recipient. Treatments using intuitively guided hand positions may involve much fewer hand positions being held, and each combination being held for much longer, than in a 'standard' treatment.

We recommend that the Japanese "Reiji ho" approach is used to help Second Degree students to open to their intuitive side, since the approach is so simple and seems to work for most people even within a few minutes of practice. The resulting strong belief that the student is "intuitive" is a hugely empowering state and opens many doors.

Finally

Reiki has the potential to make an amazing, positive difference to you and the people around you. Remember that Reiki is simplicity itself, and by taking some steps to work on yourself regularly, and share Reiki with the people close to you, you are embarking on a very special journey. How far you travel on that journey is governed by how many steps you take. Carry on with your Hatsurei and self-treatments, get to grips with the energies of CKR and SHK through regular meditation, find your own comfortable approach to carrying out distant healing, and open yourself to intuitive working. And have fun!

People end up on First Degree courses for many reasons and come from an amazing variety of backgrounds, all attending for their own personal reasons. Reiki courses in the UK present a whole variety of approaches, some "traditional" Western-style, some more Japanese in content, some wildly different and almost unrecognisable, some free and intuitive, others dogmatic and based on rules about what you should always do and not do. Reiki is taught in so many ways, and students will tend to imagine that the way that they were taught is the way that Reiki is taught and practised by most other Reiki people.

What I have tried to do in this article is to present a simple guide to the essence of First Degree: what it's all about and what we should be doing and thinking about to get the most out of our experience of Reiki at this level. My words are addressed to anyone at First Degree level, or anyone who would like to review the essence of First Degree.

First Degree is all about connecting to the energy, learning to develop your sensitivity to the flow of energy, working on yourself to develop your ability as a channel and to enhance self-healing, and working on other people. There are many approaches to doing these things, and I wanted below to touch on each area and to dispel some myths that may have been passed on.

Connecting to the energy

On your Reiki course you will have received some attunements or some empowerments. Attunements are not standard rituals within the world of Reiki and take many forms, some simpler and some more complex. They have evolved and changed greatly during their journey from teacher to teacher in the West. There is no "right way" to carry out an attunement and the individual details of a ritual do not matter a great deal. They all work. Equally, there is no "correct" number of attunements that have to be carried out at First Degree level. The number four is quoted often as being the "correct" number but this has no basis in Reiki's original form, and whether you receive one, two, three or four rituals on your course, that is fine.

On your course you may have received some "empowerments" rather than attunements, though these are less common. The word "empowerment", or "Reiju empowerment", refers to a connection ritual that has come to us from some Japanese sources, and is closer in essence to the empowerment that Mikao Usui conveyed to his students. Again, there is no correct number of empowerments that has to be carried out. One is enough but it is nice to do more.

What we experience when receiving an attunement or an empowerment will vary a lot. Some people have fireworks and bells and whistles and that's nice for them; other people notice a lot less, very little, or even nothing, and that's fine too. What we feel when we have an attunement is not a guide to how well it has worked for us. Attunements work, and sometimes we will have a strong experience, but it's not compulsory! Whether we have noticed a lot, or very little, the attunement will have given us what we need.

Since in Mikao Usui's system you would have received empowerments from him again and again, it would be nice if you could echo this practice by receiving further empowerments (or attunements) and perhaps these might be available at your teacher's Reiki shares or get-togethers, if they hold them. But it is possible to receive distant Reiju empowerments and various teachers make them freely available as a regular 'broadcast'. This is not essential, and your connection to Reiki once given does not fizzle out, but it would be a beneficial practice if you could receive regular empowerments from someone.

Developing your Sensitivity to the energy

People's experience of energy when they first start working with Reiki can vary. Some people notice more than others, particularly in the early stages, and if we perhaps notice less going on in our hands when compared with another student on the course we can become disillusioned to an extent: that little voice in your head says "I know Reiki works for everyone, but it's not going to work for me. I knew it wasn't going to work for me". Well if this describes your situation then I can say to you that Reiki will work for you, and is working for you, and the vast majority of Reiki people can feel the flow of energy through them in some way, though your particular 'style' of sensing the energy may not involve the more usual heat, fizzing, tingling, pulsing etc. that many people experience. There are a few Reiki Master/Teachers out there who feel absolutely nothing in their hands, but this is not common, and Reiki is still working for them.

Sensitivity to the flow of energy develops over time, with practice. Some people are lucky enough to be able to feel quite a lot in their hands and in their bodies to begin with, but others have to be patient, trust that Reiki is working for them, and perhaps focus more on the feedback that they receive from the people that they treat, rather than what they feel - or don't feel - in their hands.

It would be worthwhile if all First Degree students spent some time regularly practising feeling energy: between your hands, around your cat or dog or your pot plant or a tree, around someone else's head and shoulders, over someone's supine body, noticing any differences in the sensation in your hands as you move your hands from one place to another. Don't expect to experience a particular thing or a particular intensity of feeling. Be neutral and simply notice what experience you have and how that experience might change from one area to another.

On some First Degree courses this process will be taught as "scanning", where you hover your hands over the recipient's body, drift your hands from one place to another, and notice any areas which are drawing more energy. This can provide some useful information in terms of suggesting additional or alternative hand-positions to use when you treat, and can suggest areas where you are going to spend longer when you treat.

Working on yourself

It is vital that after going on a First Degree course you establish a regular routine of working on yourself in order to develop your fledgling ability as a channel and to obtain the benefits that Reiki can provide in terms of balancing your life and self-healing. Most people decide to learn Reiki because they are looking for some personal benefits as well as looking to help other people, and the way to get the most out of the Reiki system is to work on yourself regularly.

On your First Degree course you will have been taught a self-treatment method, perhaps a Japanese-style meditation but more likely the Western "hands-on" self-treatment method. You will most likely have been given a set of hand-positions to use, but please remember that these positions are not set in stone and, particularly if some of the hand positions are quite uncomfortable to use in practice, you will develop your own style. It is fine to change the hand positions based on what feels right from one self-treatment to another, and you should do what feels appropriate. There is no "correct" set of positions that you have to use, and each hand-position does not have to be held for a particular period of time. Treat for however long you have time for, and however long feels right for each hand-position you decide to use.

Many people are taught that they have to do a "21 day self-treat", and some people have the impression that they then do not need to self-treat any more. The "21 day" period has no real basis, and I can say that you ought to be thinking in terms of working on yourself long-term. To gain the greatest benefits from this wonderful system you need to persevere and make working with energy a permanent feature of your life with Reiki, a basic background practice, the effects of which will build up cumulatively as you continue to work with the energy.

You may have been taught a series of energy exercises and meditations called "Hatsurei ho" which comes from Japanese Reiki, and I can commend this practice to you. It is a wonderful way of grounding, balancing, and enhancing you ability as a channel, and should be a regular part of your Reiki routine.

Treating other people

First Degree is also about starting to work on other people, a process which also benefits the giver, so plus points all round really! A few students may have been taught not to treat others at First Degree, or for a particular prescribed period, but this is an unnecessary restriction and Reiki can be shared with other people straight away.

There are many different approaches to treating others, and we should not get bogged down with too many rules and regulations about how we 'must' proceed. Reiki can be approached in quite a regimented way in some lineages, and students may worry that if they are not remembering all the stages that they 'have' to carry out they will not be carrying out the treatment properly. This is an unnecessary worry because treating other people is simple.

So here is a simple approach that you can use: close your eyes, maybe put your hands in the prayer position, and take a few long deep breaths to calm you and still your mind. You should have in mind that the energy you will channel should be for the highest good of the recipient, but there is no particular form of words that you need to use when commencing your treatment. Now we are going to focus your attention on connecting to the energy. Imagine that energy is flooding down to you from above, flooding through your crown, through the centre of your body, down to your Dantien (an energy centre two fingerbreadths below your tummy button and 1/3rd of the way into your body). Imagine the energy building up and intensifying there. You are filling with energy. Now direct your attention towards the recipient and imagine that you are merging with them, becoming one with them. Feel compassion and enjoy the moment.

You may now begin your treatment, and maybe it would be nice to rest your hands on their shoulders for a while, to connect to them and to get the energy flowing. What hand positions you use will vary depending on what you were taught - there are many variations - and they are all variations on a theme, a way of firing the energy from lots of different directions to give it the best chance of getting to where it needs to go. Hand-positions for treating others are not set in stone and do not have to be followed slavishly. They are just there as a set of guidelines to follow to build your confidence when treating others, and with time and practice you will start to leave behind these basic instructions and gear any treatment towards the needs of the recipient on that occasion, perhaps based on what you picked up when you were 'scanning' and perhaps based on intuitive impressions, where you feel drawn to a particular area of the body. Don't try and work out 'why' you have felt drawn to a particular area of the body: just accept your impression and go with it.

As you treat, you should aim to feel yourself merging with the energy, becoming one with the energy, to imagine yourself disappearing into the energy, and this can give you a quite blissful experience. Your mind may wander, particularly in the early stages of your Reiki practice, but you do not need to worry about this. If you notice thoughts intruding, pay them no attention; let them drift on like clouds. If you make the effort to try and get rid of your thoughts then you have the original thoughts and then all the new thoughts about getting rid of the other ones. Just bring your attention gently back to the recipient, to the energy, and your treatment can become a wonderful meditation. It is not acceptable to chat to other people while giving a Reiki treatment. If you want to be an effective channel for the energy then you need to direct your attention to the work at hand and make sure you are not unduly distracted. For this reason, conversation between yourself and the recipient should also be restricted. Reiki works best of you are still and focused, merging with the energy, in a gentle meditative state. Developing this state takes practice.

You do not need to stay for a particular set amount of time for each hand position. Though it would be probably be best to stay for a few minutes in each position, if in a particular hand position you feel a lot of energy coming through your hands then you can stay in that position for longer - sometimes a lot longer - until the sensation subsides and you can then move onto the next area. Your hands can guide you. Work from the head and shoulders, down the length of the body, and it is nice to finish with the ankles. Many people are taught to smooth down the energy field at the end of a session, but remember that you do not have to follow any rituals slavishly, particularly in terms of any sort of 'closing' ritual.

The Reiki Precepts

Finally

Reiki has the potential to make an amazing, positive difference to you and the people around you. Remember that Reiki is simplicity itself, and by taking some steps to work on yourself regularly, and share Reiki with the people close to you, you are embarking on a very special journey. How far you travel on that journey is governed by how many steps you take.

In the West we like to make things complicated, and you can read about the complicated way that we have ended up using the Reiki symbols in my article 'Simplicity and Sandwiches' which was published in our February 2002 Newsletter and which can be found on our web site. The way that most of us now use symbols is a world away from the simple approach that Usui used. So how can we work with symbols in a way that echoes more the way that Usui taught his students?

Well firstly, Usui taught symbols to a very small number of people, just in the last few years of his life. The vast majority of his students were taught in a very different way. Most of his students were given meditations to use so that they could, over a long period of time, become more and more familiar with the three energies taught at second-degree level, for example. Once they were thoroughly familiar with the energies, once they had *become* the energies again and again, then they were given a shortcut - a trigger - to connect them to those energies. The triggers that they used were ancient Shinto mantras called kotodama, or jumon, not symbols.

In the West we do it backwards by comparison: we are given a trigger (a symbol) to connect us to an energy that we are not familiar with, and with which we may never become familiar, depending on how we have been taught to use the symbols. Usui had his students become the three energies again and again and again, and when they were ingrained, when they were innate, only then would you be given a way of connecting to the energies that were already within you.

The energies were also viewed somewhat differently. The first energy was not seen as some sort of 'Power' energy, in the way that the first symbol is seen as the 'Power' symbol in the West. The first energy was simply earth energy, energy of the physical body, a physical healing energy. The second energy was seen as heavenly energy and the third energy was said to produce 'oneness'. Usui's students learned to get to grips with these energies through meditation, so how can we learn to experience earth energy and celestial energy? Well we can do this by using the symbols.

Try this solitary exercise: sit comfortably in a chair with your eyes closed and your hands resting in your lap palms uppermost. In your mind's eye, visualise the first symbol up in the air above you, and say its name silently to yourself three times. Now imagine that cascades of energy are flooding down onto you from that symbol, cascading into your head, your torso, your hands; endless cascades of energy or light keep on flooding into your body. Do this for several minutes. How does that feel? What impressions do you get of the energy? Where was your attention focused? What were your thoughts?

Now repeat this exercise using the second symbol, again visualising it up in the air above you, saying its name three times, and drawing down endless cascades of energy into your body. How does this feel by comparison? What impressions do you get of the second energy? Where is your attention focused? What is going on in your head?

If you have a Reiki friend to hand, you can do this exercise together: one person sits comfortably in a chair and the other stands behind. The person standing up is going to send energy from the first or second symbol in quite an intense way. What they do is this: 'charge' your hands with the energy of the first symbol, say, by drawing the symbol over your palm, saying the name three times, and press your hands together to 'transfer the effect across' to he other hand. Now in your mind's eye draw out the first symbol up in the air above you and say the name three times. Move your hands so that they are hovering alongside the recipient's temples, and imagine that you are drawing down cascades of energy from the symbol above you, which flood into your crown, through your arms and out of your hands into the recipient. Keep on visualising. How does the energy feel as it comes through your hands? What impressions do you get in your body? How does it feel for the recipient? What adjectives can they use to describe the essence of the energy that they have received?

Now repeat this exercise using the second symbol.

How does this differ from the first energy?

Having carried out this exercise countless times and with many, many students, I can generalise about the sort of impression that most people tend to get from the two symbols, the two energies. Maybe you will notice some, though not all, of these experiences.

The first energy seems thick, dark, heavy, dense, solid, maybe oppressive or claustrophobic sometimes, hot, fierce, coarse, penetrating, with pressure and slow pulsation, your focus is on your physical body. The second energy seems soft, light, gentle, ethereal, like soft fluffy clouds or marshmallows, cool, blue, expansive, exhilarating, and uplifting.

What you have experienced is the essence of earth energy and the essence of heavenly energy, and these are two energies that you have available to you when treating others. These energies are the essence of Usui's system at second-degree level. The first energy focuses on the physical body, and the second focuses on thoughts and emotions. They are so different, so distinctive. Try using them on their own, just one energy, just one focus, without mixing symbols together. Keep things simple and uncluttered by focusing like a laser beam on one thing at a time, and see what happens. And with time, and with familiarity with the two energies, try producing those energies directly, using intent, and see what happens.

In the previous article I've talked about how to read anyone by reading their body language. So regarding that I've only talked about the body language of legs and feet. So if you didn't read it yet, you can read that article by the following link.

• How to read anyone, instantly - part one - Legs and Feet

So today in this article, I'm going to write about another part of the body that we can read the body language.

Torso

The next part of your body what we are focus on is your torso. Torso contains many of the body's vital organs. So your brain will do whatever is necessary to protect this area. and this leads to a ton of very apparent body language signs that you can look out.

Front of Torso

Shielding of your torso

Leaning

Puffed chest

Shoulder Shrugs

Rounding of Shoulders

This is when your shoulders comes up a little bit and closer to your ears. The purpose of this response is to protect your neck from what your body considers to be a danger. This is a clear indication of lack of confidence and a feeling of discomfort.

So I'll end this article from here. And I'll talk about this topic again from the next article. If you have any problems feel free to comment them down below and don't forget to share with your friends.

 

In this article I'm going to tell you one of the most important skills that you can add to your arsenal. The ability to read anyone in any situation by looking at their body language, because although we humans have been using verbal communication for thousands of years our most transparent form of communication is still body language.

People can hide their true intentions easily with words. But it's extremely difficult for them to do so with their body. A study conducted by MIT found that it was possible to predict the outcomes of negotiations sales meetings and business plan pitches with 87% accuracy by only observing the participants body language, without having to listen to a single word of content by improving your ability to read body language you will understand how anyone feels at any point in time. This is an extremely powerful skill as it allows you to make more friends, make more sales, figure out who likes you, figure out who doesn't and even use these skills on yourself to display more confidence and authority. It's almost as good as having the superpower to read minds.

In this article I'm going to tell you some signs that you can detect in Legs and Feet. And I'll cover the other part of the body in an another article.

Legs and Feet

We'll start with the easiest part of the body. To read your legs and feet. They are considered to be the most honest part of the body and this is because the feet are usually the first part of the body to react to a change in your environment. On top of that people who are lying or trying to conceal their real emotions tend to focus on their face and hands. Put little to no effort into changing the way their feet are situated.

Happy Feet

This is when you bounce or wiggle your feet and this often indicates excitement or satisfaction. However this behavior can also communicate in patience. There are many body language signs like this that can mean different things depending on the context around them. I'll discuss in this concept in detail in the second half of this video.

Lifted Feet 

This is when the toes on your feet are pointing upwards while standing or when one of  your heels are lifted while standing and this usually indicates happiness excitement and interest.

Feet shifting direction 

We turn our feet away from the things that we don't want or like. People can manually control the direction of their head and torso. But most of the time their feet will point away if they don't want to be there. If you are already talking to someone and their feet suddenly turns away it might indicate that they dislike something you have just said. But don't take this sign too personally as there is many cases in which they simply have somewhere to be, such as an appointment or lunch date.

The Knee Clasp 

This is when someone who is sitting places with both their hands on their knees and shifts their body forward. This is an indicator that they are ready to leave. How wide of a stance you have while standing is a good indicator of confidence.

Standing Width 

Someone who are standing with their feet , shoulder-width apart feels and looks more confident than looks more confident that someone who stands with your feet close together. A general rule of thumb to note when reading language is that the more space someone takes up, the more confident they are. This concept also applies while sitting. Sitting with your legs apart is a good indicator of  confidence and comfort.

The Standing Leg Cross 

This is when you are standing with your legs crossed. And this indicates that you are extremely comfortable and this is because by crossing your feet you'll have a much harder time running away from a threat. This body language sign is a great way to help people around you relax. you'll also find that people will usually cross their legs , so they tilt in the direction of the person that they like the most or whoever makes them feel the most comfortable.

Shoe Play

For many of us waking up early is a huge pain in the ass. Some of us like to address this problem by setting alarm clocks. But then we often find ourselves feeling tired and sluggish. So how exactly does one wake up early and not feel tired. There are three things you need to do when you wake up early every single day filled with energy.

1. Control your lighting

The first is to control your lighting. Sleep is regulated by the hormone melatonin which is affected by the light that hits your skin. A long time ago, before the invention of electric lighting. Our bodies use this method to allow us to stay awake when the sun was out and, allow us to feel tired and rest when the sun went down. However nowadays there is artificial lighting everywhere in our rooms and on our screens and on our phones. We are constantly bombarding our body with white light which prevent the production of melatonin. This is why we have such a hard time falling sleep. Because at ours way past sunset, we still have these screens and indoor lights blasting us with a ton of white light. The best way to combat this is by installing an app called F.LUX app on your computer, also called Twilight on your phone. This app changes the lighting on your phone throughout the day. So when the sun start to set it changes the light on your screen from white light to yellow light which simulate the sun setting and allows melatonin to be produced naturally. lighting is also very important when it comes to feeling energized and awake in the morning. You want to keep your blinds open so that when the sun rises the natural white light can hit your body and prevent additional production of melatonin, this will prevent you from feeling sleepy in the morning.

2. Use your bed for sleep

The second tip is to only use your bed for one thing and one thing only, which is to sleep. A lot of us like to browse our phone in bed or watch tv and even eat. And this is bad because our brains look for cues for habits. What this mean is that when you do any of these activities in your bed, your brain starts to associate your bed with eating or watching shows and this causes you to feel cravings such as hunger. So when you use your bed for only sleep, your brain starts to associate it with only sleep. So the moment when you lay in bed instead of feeling hungry or excited due to constantly watching shows or eating in bed, you feel tired if you find yourself having a hard time to fall sleep it's perfectly okay to read a book. Reading isn't nearly as stimulating as browsing thought your phone or watching TV so you find yourself feeling sleepy in no time.




3. Get enough sleep

The last tip is hands down the most important and it is going to sound rather obvious. It's getting enough sleep. The truth of the matter is if you are not getting enough sleep it doesn't matter what trich you poke you will wake up feeling tired your body needs a certain amount of sleep to function properly. It's just a biological fact so what you need to do is you need to count back nine ours from when you need to wake up and set that as your bed time so lets say that you have to leave for work or school at 8 am. then you need to go to sleep at 10 pm. So you can wake up at 7 am and you have one hour to get ready. It's like common sense, but the trick is to always head to bed around the same time every single day. If you do that then you naturally start feeling tired at around 9pm or 10pm which makes it very easy to go to bed and fall sleep on time.

If you follow these three concepts you'll find yourself waking up earlier and feeling better in no time. If you find this article useful feel free to share this with you friends. And please share like and comment!

Warren Buffett once said, "The more you learn, the more you earn". That is so true. Look at successful people, like Bill Gates, Steve Job, Elon Musk, Oprah, Mark Cuban and any other highly successful human. They are successful because they use their time right. They are successful because they are lifetime learners. They commit to learn new things every single day.

Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest humans on the planet, is famous for reading more than 5 hours every day. Bill Gates read one book per week. Mark Cuban 3 hours a day. Oprah, well, she is just obsessed with books.Notice a common theme here? successful people never stop learning.

Think about this, you have $86, 400 to spend every single day but when the day is over, the money disappears. You can't get it back. Wouldn't you try to spend all of the money before it disappears? Wouldn't you try to use it wisely? Use it as best you could?

The sad part is we only have 86, 400 seconds in a day. And most people take this time for granted. Most people let this time disappear without a second thought. We never get this time back. We must use it wisely. We must be productive, We must use our time to do things we enjoy, or use it to set up our life. So we can spend our future doing more things we want to do. Instead of wasting your time on meaningless things. Use it to learn new things.




Most people give up on their dreams because it gets too hard. A lot of students stop chasing their dreams because of one failed test. Matter of fact, Most students don't even try their best when they take the test. They stop believing in themselves and once the belief is killed the dream is killed.

Whatever dream you have, use all your energy to make it into reality. Push yourself to become the person you are destined to become. If you want to get results you have never got, before you are going to have to do things you have never done before!

The richest man in the world Gill Gates was once asked which superpower he would like to have? The riches man in the world says that he would want the ability to read books faster. Success is not about the money, the fame, or the big house. It's about becoming the best version of yourself.

You will fall down many times on the road to success. But the most important thing is that, you get back up. Get back up stronger and wiser than before. Create a mindset that does not allow you to quit or stop believing. If you quit on your dreams and give up, you will never know how great you can be. Never doubt yourself. Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.

Work on yourself. Every single day. This is your life we are talking about. Nothing is more important.

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This article is about negative energy and how this negative energy effect to your body and what we can do to protect ourselves from this negative energy.

What is Negative Energy?

According to the Wikipedia, negative energy is a concept used in physics to explain the nature of certain fields, including the gravitational fields and a number of quantum field effects. In more speculative theories, negative energy is involved in wormholes which allow time travel and warp drives for faster than light space travel

How This Negative Energy Affect Your Life?

This will happen due to the negative thinking of you. Negative thinking will attract negative energy from the atmosphere into your body. How negative energy come into your body? Buy your thinking process. Negative thinking makes your Aura negative black and negative black energy in your aura will attract black cosmic energy, will pass onto your physical body and to your subtle body. Thereby increasing more negative desires in you. If you are positive, thinks about God, always take care of people for their betterment and peace. Then your aura radiate blue color.

How Aura Are Created? 

Aura are created by your thoughts. Negative thinking creates black aura. Positive thinking and creativity makes aura of blue color. Anger creates red color aura. Blue color aura attract blue cosmic power from the atmosphere into your body and you will be able to do good work. what ever good work you are thinking will be accomplished and you become a better person. That's why load krishna says that negative thinking makes one confused.

If we talk or here negativity of somebody, then negative energy will create confusion in your mind. So he can't differentiate between the truth and the illusion. Then his own mind will destroy him. God said that. We also generally say "Sang ka rang". Negative soul thinks negative aspect of everything. and do negative karma. If you remember such people and their negative energy will transfer to your body. That's why we should not even think of anybody.

What to speak of associating with, otherwise that will make your aura colored like the other person whom you are thinking or talking about. Negative people has black cosmic hence black aura. When you talk with them your positive aura becomes negative. Your thinking will change color of association or sang ka rang will begin.

Never associate with negative people not even take their shadow. Whole day people watch film stars or actors of television series and think about their role, story etc. Not aware of the energy creating.

How Negative energy increased in the world?

If you'd like to memorize 10 times faster, this article will tell you how easily you can improve. You remember information in two main ways, as words, using your verbal memory, or as pictures, using your visual memory. They are different mental processes and they achieve dramatically different results. People never believe how absolutely crazy the difference is, so here is a video that will show you exactly how your memory works in two ways.

Verbal Memory 

According to www.memorylossonline.com website, Verbal memory is a catchall phrase used to refer to memory for words and verbal items (as opposed to spatial memory, for example). It can be assessed by using a neuropsychological test which measures memory for a list of words or for a short story.

Visual Memory  

There are a number of reasons why you want to hide apps on your android smartphone. For instant, if there is a dating app that you don't want the world to see, because the world can be judgemental of your work. So this article is about how you can hide apps on your android device, in non rooted devices.

Source: Android Tricks

This process can be done using a app (a launcher) called Apex Launcher. So first download Apex launcher from Google Play. Then Go to settings > Home and set Apex Launcher as your default launcher.

Then Go to Apex Launcher settings > Drawer Settings > Hidden Apps and then simply select the apps that you want to hide. And then tap Save.

That's it now the app will be hidden from the app drawer. But if you have that app's shortcut on your home screen you can still see it. So to get rid of that you can simply remove it by touch drag and remove the app.

So to access the app you can simply do a google search and you can access the app.

If you find this article useful please share with your friends.

If you had been using PCs for a long time, you would know that keyboard shortcuts are best way to use the computer. Windows 10 now supports cool gestures and the track pads have got better. But nothing is as fast as using a simple keyboard shortcut to get the job done. So if you want to be a keyboard ninja in windows 10, this article will help you.

1. Capture Snippets 

If you are guy that takes a lot of screenshots, you will probably use the snipping tool or use the print screen and then cropping the required part. That is too much work to be done. Alternatively you can use Windows Key + shift + S keys and then select the area of the screen that you would like to capture. It is that simple. Your cropped area will automatically saved to the clipboard and you just have to paste and save it manually.

But you should remember that this will only work if your computer runs on the latest Windows 10 creators edition.

2. Snap Windows Easily 

If you like to multi task, then you'll find this shortcut useful. Sure, you can use the mouse to drag and snap the window. But this shortcut will be the coolest, fastest and easier way. All you have to do is to press the Windows Key + Left Arrow Key or Right Arrow Key key to snap the window to the left or right. And if you press Windows Key + Down Arrow Key once, the window will snap to a quarter of the window. and if you press Windows Key + Down Arrow Key twice, the window will minimize. If you press Windows Key + Up Arrow Key once, the window will nap to the upper quarter of the window. And if you press the Windows Key + Up Arrow Key twice, then the window will maximize.

3. Rename a Folder

Renaming a folder is only require two clicks on the folders name. But you can rename a folder by selecting the folder and pressing the F2 key. You won't even need to left the keyboard.

4. Switch Between Virtual Desktops 

If you have used a mac or if you are a mac user previously, you'll probably know about the virtual desktop feature. Microsoft introduced this feature with the new Windows 10. And if you love the windows virtual desktop feature then this shortcut will probably easier your work. If you press the Windows Key + CTRL + D then a new virtual window will appear at your disposal. If you have already opened up multiple virtual desktops you can switch between them by pressing the Windows Key + CTRL + Left or Right Arrow keys.

5. Paste Without Formatting 

Think that if you wanted to copy and paste some text from a website. Normally what you do is select the part that you want to copy and paste them where you want them to be paste. But usually the text will pasted with some formatting of the web page. But you can get rid of them using this shortcut. Copy the required text as usual, and when pasting use CTRL + SHIFT + V instead of just CTRL + V. With this method you can paste the text without any formatting. This trick will definitely save you a lot of time.

6. Game Bar 

If you are into PC gaming this shortcut will be very handy for you. Press Windows Key + G then Game Bar will open up. From this Game Bar you can go to XBox Live or You can record game play or you can record screen or you can take screenshots also. Using this Game Bar you can broadcast  gameplay live to Xbox Live. This is a one keyboard shortcut that open up lot of features.

7. Lock Screen 

If you have some important softwares running so you don't want them to be closed but you want to shut  down windows. But it'll take a lot of time to shutdown. So you can simply press the Windows Key + L. It will lock your PC.

8. Minimize All Windows 

Lets say you are doing something personal and suddenly someone came. So you can just press Windows Key + D and every window on your desktop will minimize immediately.

9. Zoom Shortcuts 

You can press CTRL + (+) to zoom in and CTRL + (-) to zoom out. But you can come to default level from any zoom level by pressing CTRL + 0.

10. Open Taskbar App 

You can press Windows Key + 1 to open the first app in the Taskbar. So if you want to open up the 3rd app from the taskbar you can press Windows Key + 3.

11. Creating Keyboard Shortcuts 

This an important one. Yes you can create your own keyboard shortcuts. To do that right click on the desktop shortcut which you want to create a shortcut key for it. And then select properties and then press on the shortcut key option and press any key that you wanted to make the shortcut. That's it you can now use that shortcut to easily launch that app you want.

So this is the end of this article. If you think this article is useful please share with others.

With the growth of the computing industry, the needs are becoming more specific, because of that the higher studies & degrees are becoming more specific. It has also created better job opportunities & more chance for the students to study whatever they like. because of that choosing the right program to follow it becoming more harder.

What are the difference & similarities of computer science & computer engineering.

While the names of computing courses have become more standard and you can get a pretty good idea of  what you are going to learn, people don't know the clear difference between the basic terms like computer science and computer engineering. So this article is about that differences and similarities.

Computer science is not limited to programing

The biggest misconception attached to computer science is that it's all about programming. But it's a lot more than that. Computer science is that umbrella term that covers 4 major areas of computing. These areas are:

• Theory 
• Programming languages 
• Algorithms 
• Architecture 

In computer science, you get to study about data and instruction processing, and how they are communicated and stored by computing devices. By studying this, one gets to learn computer processing algorithms, symbolic representations, techniques for writing software, communication protocols, organization of data in databases, etc.

In simpler language, you learn what problems can be solved by computers. You write algorithms and create computer systems for people by writing apps, databases, security systems, etc.

In computer science undergraduate collage programs, the degrees cover a broad range of topics and allow students to work and learn across multiple areas. On the other hand, in graduate studies, the focus is on one specific area. So, you need to research the right graduate programs and the collages.

Computer engineering is more applied in nature.   

Image: UpWork

Creating a responsive website using bootstrap is not  a very complex thing. For that you just need bootstrap installed in your computer. You can download bootstrap from getbootstrap.com. After you have installed bootstrap you can start to create the website layout. Here are the steps to creating the website layout.

1. Create the project folder and name is as BootStrap_Project. But you can give any name if you like.

2. Inside that folder create 2 new folders and name them as css, js.

3. Copy and paste bootstrap.css file into the css folder

4. Copy and paste bootstrap.js file into the js folder

5. Then Download the Jquery file from here and add it to the js file.

6. And create another document and name it as index.html.

7. copy and paste this code inside that index.html document



8. Then create another document inside the css folder and name it as main.css

9. Copy this code and paste it inside that document



10. save them all and run the index.html file from your browser. you'll get an output like this.



you can watch this website in mobile view too. it is a complete responsive website layout.