"The words used by Hiroshi Doi and Hyakuten Inamoto to define Anshin Ritsumei could as easily be used to describe two practices found in the Niyama branch of Yoga.

Niyamas are internal practices, the ways in which we live our interior lives, the life that others can't see. In particular, anshin ritsumei reminds me of ishvara pranidhana, the practice of surrender, and samtosha, the cultivation of contentment.

When we practice surrender, we take our hands off. We look at what is, and stop resisting it. Resistance keeps us in constant contact with that which is causing our suffering. Dropping our resistance - surrender - is perhaps the most critical step in "leaving all to the universe no matter what happens." In the practice of Reiki, whether sitting for meditation or sharing a treatment with someone, this practice of surrender, of feeling sustained by the universe, enriches our practice.

When we can practice from this surrendered place, contentment is cultivated. We can realize a radical acceptance of what the practice brings to us in that moment. We are "calm and peaceful without any attachment or expectation". We rest in 'absolute inner peace'.

As a Reiki teacher and a yoga teacher, I've often wondered why I'm so drawn to two practices that seem at first glance to have little overlap. But look a little deeper into the philosophy and wisdom of each path, and they become fingers living side by side on the same hand, all pointing to the same moon."