COUNCIL & STAFF
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Kate Jones Council member
OOOOOOOOOOOO Following my initiation as a master I was invited to join the Board of the Association and in 1992 I became the Association’s Administrator. I was therefore involved in much of the early development and attended all the meetings and gatherings that took place. I began to see the patterns and energy pulses of the living being that is the Association.
Alongside my part time (!) work for the Association I continued to teach Reiki and give occasional treatments. With a particular passion for the aspect of public practice I also participated in conferences about this question (including one I organised in the UK). I was also fortunate enough to be invited to speak at a conference in Australia about the work of the Association.
In 2004 I decided it was time to leave the job and concentrate more on my personal Reiki work. It has been a real joy to deepen my Reiki practice and do more of what I enjoy most: enabling people to learn more about Reiki! I was also able to develop my interest in working with animals, training as an ACT2 Animal Communication practitioner with James French. However my connection with the Association continued as a member of the PSP/DPN team, allowing further exploration of my interest in public practice.
I live in the beautiful county of Shropshire, close to Ludlow, with my wonderful husband Alec and lovely dog Kai. I love singing with my community choir and occasionally solo, taking photos and painting with a Chinese brush. The community of The Reiki Association has been an important part of my life for almost 18 years and continues to be so.
Feona Gray Council member Paul Prakash Dennis Council member Gwen RobinsonWith a background in languages and teaching, Kristin’s reiki life started as a result of establishing a centre for complementary therapies on the Welsh borders. There she was able to follow up on a lifelong interest in natural health and spiritual philosophies. A visit from reiki master Marta Getty in 1985 led to several years of organising classes and practising before being initiated as a reiki master in early ’89.
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Kristin was closely involved in the founding of The Reiki Association, holding the vision of both a network of practitioners and of supporting students desiring to enter public practice. The Reiki Alliance, the international body of masters founded after Mrs. Takata’s death, has also been an important part of her reiki life. She was also invited to participate in the Master Education Programme and spent several weeks over three years with Phyllis Furumoto, Paul Mitchell and a dedicated group of masters, finding ways to deepen the practice of reiki and learn more about the elements that make up the System, Usui Shiki Ryoho.
An accident five years ago put a stop to extensive teaching and treatments, and since then Kristin’s focus has been more on networking, committee work and holding small retreats with those already initiated into reiki. The deepening connection with reiki, with the Usui System and with the community of dedicated students has been very rewarding.
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My background in life and business could not have been further away from the gentle art of Reik, which first came into my life in 1996 simply as a form of stress-busting. I was initiated in 2002 (Reiki I and II) and I’ve been a member of TRA for the last eight years. When Kristin Bonney and Paul Dennis invited me to serve on Council this year (2010), initially I didn’t feel I was in the right space in my life to be able to make the commitment.Yet, when the moment came at the AGM for those who wanted to be considered for Council to put themselves forward, I found myself to be the first to stand up (albeit gingerly!). As my Reiki Master said, when the time is right things happen organically but something else kicked in at that moment – I trusted - trusted that Reiki would guide and support me through the process and that I should therefore acknowledge the overwhelming feeling that it was my time to give back something more and serve the Reiki community.
My extraordinary Reiki journey has been full of the unexpected, and one day I will tell the story in a way that I hope will do it justice. For now it seems important just to say that I am so grateful for the time I have been able to spend listening and learning at TRA events – workshops, gatherings and retreats – over the years. It has been such a privilege to spend time with so many of Mrs Takata’s Masters – Phyllis Furumoto, Paul Mitchell, Wanja Twan and Rick Bockner. If it were not for TRA events and all the opportunities that the Association and the Reiki community bring to us, my journey wouldn’t have been so exciting or inspiring.
In recent years I have tried to be an ambassador for Reiki in my work as a travel writer and publisher. With the help of Winthrop Wiltshire, I have sought out Reiki groups through the islands of the Caribbean and written about them in articles and guides. It would be wonderful to be able to extend this work and bring together Reiki communities from different cultures at gatherings and events here and abroad. I have worked with Rick Bockner, organising retreats in Spain and Scotland and I’m looking forward to having more such opportunities in the future.
Over the next three years I hope to bring to Council some of the experience I have gained through 44 years of setting up and running businesses and companies. In particular perhaps something of my knowledge of PR/marketing, travel, publishing, internet publishing and online marketing, exhibition and event organisation might be helpful to the Association. My first ‘role’ as a member of Council is to be the contact on Council for Touch Magazine so I am thrilled that I will be working with Lucinda and Debs and the beautiful new look publication. Of course I am also looking forward to contributing in the Reiki energy to the work of Council with Kristin, Kate, Paul, Gwen and Ivan. I feel greatly honoured and put myself forward with humility.
My journey with the Reiki Association also began with a love affair; this time one that endures to this day.
At the very first TRA Board Meeting that I witnessed on January 14th 1992, I met a certain Margaret Pauffley for the third time and the strong Reiki must have pushed us over the edge! We are still together; both very much the children of this community almost from the very start.
Kristin Bonney and Kate Jones were also at that meeting. Kristin invited Margaret and I to go to Spain to meet Phyllis and the Reiki Alliance. I will always bless Kristin for this, for I was from a very different Lineage and System of Reiki and I found my true home. Phyllis eventually “adopted” me as a Master /Student in 1994.
Ah those wonderful early days when we were all young with Reiki and such eager community beavers! There was very little structure, terrific enthusiasm and so much grass roots energy that people competed with each other to be the Area Co-Ordinators!
I served on all sorts of TRA entities over the years, returning to TRAC in 2003 to try and get Grass Roots activities happening again but with limited success because fewer eager beavers and volunteers could be found.
The new call to refresh and decentralise TRA appeals to me. I never ever liked the top heavy mock professional Nanny State structure we have struggled under for so long since 1995
This time I really feel the doors to renewal are ready to open. I want to put my energy into harnessing all the new techie tools; emails and our website to help recreate our community and help it and us to fulfil its huge potential..
I am especially happy to serve with Kristin, Kate Feona, Gwen and Ivan .
We live in exciting skrunchy TRA times! 
Council Member
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| 'The Path has a Thousand Gates' - ZEN o My journey to Reiki began with “Spiritual Healing”. I trained at my local Christian Spiritualist Church and joined The Essex Healers Association. Part of my training involved sitting in a spiritual development circle, and as I did so my mediumship opened up; and then I was also trained to work as a Platform Medium. | Ivan Middleton OOOOOOOOOOOOOO |  |
Part of my training was at the Arthur Finlay College at Stansted Essex. During a training session I was paired with a lady, Diane Clark, and during a coffee break I complained to her about my bad neck and that Spiritual - Healing had not helped me. Had I tried Reiki she asked? Never heard the word before! She was an Essex Healer herself but also a Reiki Master, and at lunch time we went out into the beautiful college grounds found a quiet spot, and she gave me a short Reiki treatment. I saw the Light! Felt the Power ! And then had to learn more and more. I took Reiki 1&2, and then over a period of time became a master. The first Masters gathering I attended was at Buckland Hall October 2001 facilitated by Phyllis Lei Furumoto, The Lineage Bearer, marvellous! Some years ago I retired from mediumship and concentrate all my energies on healing which is the right Path for me, and I have found that Reiki is my Gateway to The Path. |
 | John Nye Subscriptions Secretary |
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