Shannon Schumann, CTHP, RMT

Two hours down, 78 to go! I played for two hours at the Reiki Harmony Centers’s Reiki Share last night. What’s a Reiki Share? It’s when Reiki practitioners and students get together to practice on each other and on anyone who can use a session. At the Center I am playing at, sessions are free for Reiki students, and only $5 for anyone else, so it’s a great way to experience this for yourself. The excitement over having a harpist would have been easy to feel even if it wasn’t a Reiki Center (tee hee!)

There is nothing like first hand experience to help you really, really, really learn what it is you thought you already knew. I thought I knew a lot, and now after putting theory to practice, I’m proud to say I now know even less. Here’s what I learned:

Pay attention to the space that you are playing to, not the space you are in. This was a group session, so the only space available was just outside the doorway. I learned too late that the resonance in the room where the work was being done was not the same as the hallway I was playing in. Fortunately, they were only a fifth apart, and I was playing in consonance with the room, but it would have been better if I had spent a little time in the space first. And watching the events unfold in the room helped to know when to wind each of the 20 minute improvisations down.

Don’t think about what you are doing. Just play.  Isaac Asimov said “Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.” Every time my brain tried to take charge things got complicated – muddy. The music comes on its own, it really does. And it’s not repetitive or boring.

Keep it simple. Where have I heard that one? No matter how simple I made it, it could still have been simpler and more effective.

There are no coincidences. ‘Nuff said.

Overall, it was a good session, and I’m looking forward to the next 78 hours. But I’m really glad that this first one is done.