“The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage…when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, ‘Daddy, I need to ask you something,’ he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan.”

 

~ Garrison Keillor

 

I wasn’t going to go there today, Father’s Day. The web and social media are already filled with many moving tributes to fathers of all kinds and reflections on relationships past, present, and future with the men in and out of our lives.

 

But this morning, I awoke thinking of one of my favorite Reiki sharing experiences of all time. It was with my father.

 

A few years after I had begun to practice Reiki, I finally shared with my parents (Dr. Mom and Dr. Dad) about this healing spiritual practice that had made such a difference in my life. My dad surprised me by his openness.

 

One day my Papi came to my home to spend the day with me while my husband and mom were at a gardening class together. I asked him if he wanted to try a Reiki healing session, and he said, without hesitation, of course, absolutely, why not?

 

I will never forget the moment during the session when I took my father’s head in my hands, cradling it there. He had this look of supreme peace and trust on his face. My breath caught for a moment as soft tears welled in my eyes.

 

I would be hard-pressed to name one single favorite thing about Reiki practice, but one of my top 10 favorites has to be the way we can connect with one another when we share the practice in any way.

 

When practiced correctly, with no sense of giving or receiving or expectation, just being together in the Reiki space, Reiki sharing is profoundly intimate but utterly safe and non-invasive.

 

We don’t have to talk to connect. We can choose to touch or choose not to touch. But being together in this open, universally connected way allows a bond between two people that can be light but invulnerable. The heart-knowing can be vast. And the mutual healing holds limitless possibility.

 

I wish this kind of connection for all fathers and daughters. All mothers and sons. Teachers and students. Neighbors with neighbors. All beings together.

 

It’s primal, it’s deep, it’s playful, joyful, and supportive.

 

Reiki helps us “just be together” on a whole other level.

 

Thank you, Papi, for being there with me in this way and all ways.