Barbados Reiki Association

Thousands are feared dead in the devastating 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti. Please send Reiki.

The Grenada Reiki Association will be hosting an International Reiki Gathering in Grenada from Thursday, 23 September to Sunday 26 September 2010 at the Grenada Grand Beach Resort. More details will follow.

Contributed by Rosemarie Layne

Be assured that when you have finished this routine, your abdominal region will feel tighter, and this will help control the muscles throughout the day – even when you are not actively engaging them. But, first we need to identify the muscles involved.

Lie on your back and place your hands resting on the middle of your stomach. Feel the rise and fall of your breath. Slow down your breath and observe the rhythm of your upper abs, just below your chest.

1. Abdominal Pull-in

Contract with small, even pulses (moderate pace). Then, pull in even further, with a pause, creating a strong, throbbing sensation in the navel area. Increase speed.

2. Stomach lift

Similar to above, but with a vertical pull – extremely effective for tightening a sagging belly.

3. Pelvic tuck

Tilt the pelvis forward in a series of pulses, while pulling in the abs (navel to spine), exhaling on the forward movement. Do not hold your breath. To effectively target the lower abdominals, movement should be small and subtle, and not like a thrust.

4. Kalabati breath (a yoga form with rapid nostril breathing)

• Pull in as before, exhaling with a series of short puffs through the nostrils, keeping a moderately fast rhythm, pausing for a second between puffs as you release the muscles outward. You can start with 8 reps, and, gradually work up to 24.
• Then, increase the speed of breath to the fastest possible (about the speed of a pant, but maintaining the nostril breath). Do 4 reps and rest and work up to 12. Make sure you are strongly pulling in the abs.
• Repeat (2), using the stomach lift technique, first at the slower, and then faster speed.
• Repeat (1), but this time, inhaling through the nose (like a sniff).
• Increase speed as in (2), but do not go over 6 reps, as you will get winded. If you experience a momentary light headed feeling, don’t be alarmed. Your heart will also beat faster. Both of these are normal due to the sudden release of fresh oxygen in the blood. This will increase your circulation and invigorate you.
• In time, work up to inhaling WITH the stomach lift technique – at a moderate, and then a rapid rate.

N.B.. These movements, especially the Kalabati breath technique, are very subtle, but quite challenging. When performing them, focus on contracting your abdominals only. Avoid lifting the shoulders or chest, or moving the pelvis backward.

We have just added three new albums to the Barbados Reiki Association’s Facebook page. The photo shown here is one of the most inspiring from the opening evening ceremony.

See the rest of the albums here.

If you have photos to share, upload them to our Facebook page or contact us for details on how to submit them to the site.

This is the text of the welcome speech delivered by Barbados Reiki Association President, Kathleen Hurley, for the 2009 Reiki Gathering in Barbados:

Ms Michelle Hustler, Project Officer, Trade in Services, Barbados Coalition of Service Industries

Featured Speaker, Dr Winthrop Wiltshire, Specially Invited Guests, Gathering Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Barbados Reiki Association it is my pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to this, the Opening Ceremony of the very first Reiki Gathering ever to be held in Barbados and indeed, I believe, in the Caribbean.

You know that the modern trend is to check everything out on the internet, so when I knew I had to give this talk, I thought ‘Let me look up welcome speeches on the web and see what I find – see if I can learn something new about welcomes’. And what I learned is that a welcome speech should be between three and five minutes long. Well, that suited me (and I’m sure it suits you too)! And while I cannot guarantee you just three minutes, I can promise that my talk will be relatively short.

We at the Barbados Reiki Association are particularly pleased to be hosting this Gathering because it represents a dream that has taken many years to come to fruition. but you will hear more about that later in the programme. This idea started when a few of us, way back in 1995, attended the North-East Reiki Gathering held in the Catskill mountains in upstate New York. That experience was so enriching that we all felt that one day a similar event must be held in Barbados. For many years it remained a dream, a thought, and finally in 2007 we began to make plans. Eventually we started to see what it would look like and what was needed to make that happen.

The journey from then to today, though extremely rewarding, has not been without its challenges, but with the help of the Reiki energy and support from many people, some of them not even Reiki initiates, we have been able to overcome those challenges and still keep our sanity – and remain friends. And so here we are today – the dream is about to become a reality.

We are honoured to have here today a representative from the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries (BCSI) – Ms Michelle Hustler. The BCSI has been working with our Association and has given its full support to helping us develop into a recognised organisation with a set of internationally-recognised standards. We very much appreciate that you have been able to make time in your busy schedule to be with us on this occasion. We welcome you and thank you for coming.

Next I would like to acknowledge our overseas participants – from the Caribbean region and even further afield. In particular I would like to welcome Dr. Winthrop Wiltshire from Trinidad and Tobago and Rev. Lynn Armor from Vancouver, Canada. Both Dr. Wiltshire and Rev. Armor have played major roles, together with our own Verity Dawson, in the introduction of Reiki to Barbados and Rev. Armor has been the initiating Reiki Master of many of our participants. Read more