In these days of fast food, fast travel and get rich quick schemes it is perhaps not surprising that some people and organisations offer fast track attunements promising to instantly boost your spiritual development. Here I discuss the possible pitfalls of trying to rush your personal growth.

There are so many tempting and virtually instant attunements now advertised to the spiritual seeker. You can pay to have your DNA activated, or be linked into any number of healing energy streams, the most established of which is Reiki. Some of these activations may be excellent and soul nourishing, if you happen to be at the right point in your own development to receive them, but others are just bogus or potentially harmful. Even Reiki attunements can be dangerous if delivered through inexperienced hands, or to someone who is not stable enough to have them.

Please be careful and choose your path wisely. Whereas a get rich quick scheme may only do damage to your physical wealth, a 'get enlightened quick scheme' can do you much more lasting harm on a soul level and it can take a great deal of skill and patience to heal the damage.

Look into any course or attunement you are considering with at least the same level of care and caution you would use exercise in purchasing a new house or car, much more preferably, as you are considering having permanent changes made to your energy body. Remember with most of the varied attunements on offer, whether they be 'DNA Activations' or 'Reiki Attunements' or something other, you can't easily undo them and go back to how you were if you find they don't suit you after all.

Check that both the attunements being offered and the teacher is authentic and have an inherent integrity. Don't be too swayed by such statements as "I channelled this from Archangel Metatron," or, "I healed my tumour in my own lunch hour." Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Anyone can say these things and who is to say whether their claims are true? I'm not trying to make you all into cynics, I do believe in channelling and have witnessed plenty of amazing energies first hand, but that doesn't mean that all people who make claims are genuine. A little healthy scepticism goes a long way! The best proof of the pudding is to meet not only the teacher, but to meet some recipients of their attunements. Are they glowing with health and enthusiasm? Do they seem genuine?

Check your own motivation out. Why do you want to do your path so rapidly? What is the rush? I know we are on the edge of the much anticipated changes heralded by the New Age and 2012, but that is no excuse for trying to get instant spiritual development without building on solid foundations. Don't be panicked into thinking that it's 'now or never'. Your soul has been through many incarnations over thousands of years, learning all the time. If this really is the key lifetime you have chosen to Awaken, as many have, know that you will do so at the right time. Let Spirit guide you on your path to the right teacher for you and don't be tempted by shiny adverts promising effortless spiritual gratification.

There are ego traps inherent in all of these fast track attunements. Whilst not everyone who chooses the fast track does so out of ego, many do. Of course it is very uncomfortable to admit such a thing to yourself, but you need to be honest.

So was it the title that attracted you? I've long felt that if Reiki didn't offer a 'Master' attunement and the chance to call yourself 'Reiki Master' it would be much less popular! If you are a Reiki Master please understand my purpose here is not to offend you. Reiki, used with integrity, is a good healing energy. One of my best friends is a Reiki Master, however if you meet new people and the first thing you tell them after your name is, "I'm a Reiki Master," then I promise you that it is your Ego, not your Higher Self, sitting in the driving seat. True spiritual Masters don't purchase their titles over a short few months, a long weekend, or (horror of horrors) over the internet, they work many years for them and make their spirituality part of their life purpose.

A fast track set of Reiki attunements or DNA activations can land you with a lot of problems. Remember we are all pure spirit in essence, but we are spirits with physical, emotional and mental bodies that don't vibrate nearly as fast as our spirit and these aspects need much more healing and time to develop and mature. I've met many people who have rushed things and been plunged into serious and lasting bouts of ill health, mental distress, or emotional turmoil that are lightly spoken of as a 'healing crisis' but could have been avoided by taking things steadily and at a sensible pace.

Many have damaged auras where the influx of energy has been too great for the recipient at their point of development. Negative entities and astral parasites can be quick to take advantage of breaches in auric defences and find the extra light those freshly attuned emit very attractive. It is imperative that the aura is kept properly protected. Some clients have had muddled energies coming into them all tangled up where they have taken too many conflicting attunements or done their activations too fast, or where the practitioner that delivered them wasn't as skilled as they should have been. It takes much patience and skill to unravel the strands and clean up the energies. Dancing with the Devil: As You Channel in the Light! - Survival for Healers & Therapists is one of the best books I've come across detailing the dangers inherent in fast tracking attunements.

Please treat your spiritual development with care and respect. You wouldn't expect your physical body to perform at its best on fast food. Why would fast attunements be any more nourishing for your soul?