Reiki, the New Age Healing system, has been gaining a lot of popularity recently, especially now as the world is affected by the epidemic of stress. Stress is the silent killer that is responsible for more than 85% of health problems. Reiki (pronounced ray-key) is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.
Rediscovered by Dr. Mikao Usui in the early 1900’s, Reiki is a very simple yet powerful technique that can be easily learned by anyone. Reiki is administered by “laying on hands” and techniques such as this have been practiced for thousands of years.
Reiki = Rei and Ki
The word Reiki comes from two Japanese words – Rei and Ki. “Rei” means universal or spiritual consciousness. “Ki” means the same as Chi in Chinese, Prana in Sanskrit and Ti or Ki in Hawaiian.
Ki is life energy. As long as something is alive, it has life energy circulating through it and surrounding it; when it dies, the life energy departs. If your life energy is low, or if there is a restriction in its flow, you are more vulnerable to illness. When it is high and flowing freely, you are less likely to get sick.
Life energy plays an important role in everything we do. It animates the body and has higher levels of expression. Ki is also the primary energy of our emotions, thoughts and spiritual life.
New Age Healing System
Reiki, the energy healing system, is based on the belief that thoughts have the power to heal. This healing system works by raising the vibrations, of the being or object to be healed. Reiki is a multidimensional energy healing system, which can heal the cause of a problem at whatever level it may exist—body, mind, or spirit.
Reiki is transferred to students by Reiki Masters through a series of attunements. During an attunement process, the Reiki Master selects a series of symbols, which represent important points located along a person’s energy field, and guides them through higher vibrations of energy. This attunement process enables recipients to access the healing energy on their own—and in turn, help others to access it too.
Benefits of Reiki
There is no area of life that Reiki will not change and effect. It brings healing as a result of raising the vibrations of a being or object closer to that of the original design. Reiki assists in:
- Healing the physical body – aches, pains, stress, insomnia, high and low blood pressure, arthritis and much more
- Bringing goals and desires into manifested form
- Healing relationships, between people or objects
- Wherever there is disparity and imbalance, the energy will reinstate order and stability.
- Heal and balance anything in the past or the present
- Can be sent to any situation that will occur in the future, to insure the best results possible (to be balanced and harmonious)
Reiki will bring healing to situations that you may not yet be aware of. When an area of life is healed, the altered energy will bring changes in all other areas of your life.
The Principles of Reiki
Reiki was not meant to be just a healing system. Its real intent and purpose is to be a spiritual lifestyle promoting happiness and harmony. Therefore, Mikao Usui incorporated these principles in Reiki.
Just for today, I will not be angry
Just for today, I will not worry
Just for today, I will give thanks for my many blessings
Just for today, I will do my work honestly
Just for today, I will be kind to my neighbour and every living thing
How Reiki is done
In a typical whole-body Reiki treatment, hands are held a short distance away from the body above the 7 major chakras and the areas of the body which need treatment. Most Reiki practitioners start the treatment with a “scan” of the recipient to find trouble areas.
The person often reports the feeling of warmth or tingling in the area being treated, even when the non-touching approach is being used. A state of deep relaxation, combined with a general feeling of well-being, is usually the most noticeable immediate effect of the treatment. As with deep tissue massage, emotional releases are commonplace.
As the Reiki treatment is said to be stimulating natural healing processes, instantaneous ‘cures’ of specific health problems are not usually observed. A series of treatments is usually recommended if a chronic condition is being addressed.
Distance or absentee healing techniques
Because time and space do not exist for energy (they are a concept for the 3D mind), distance healing is also a very successful way of giving and receiving Reiki healing. Energy can be directed with the power of thought and intention.
Hence, while healing, distances don’t matter at all. We are spiritual beings having a human experience, and as such are beings of light and energy. Long distance Reiki contacts that energy and works with it directly.
The Levels of Reiki
Reiki level I
Reiki level I is a basic attunement that aids the person in self healing. It introduces Reiki, its history, the hand positions, the basic mechanics, Chakras, how to use them, the ethics of Reiki and to begin healing others. The first degree Reiki course teaches the basic theories and procedures and gives the first Attunement. Having completed the first degree course, the participant can treat himself and others with Reiki.
Reiki level II
Reiki level II is a more detailed attunement that includes learning to use the symbols and signs, more details of treating others and distance healing. This is the point where one becomes a Practitioner. In the second degree Reiki course, the student learns the use of three symbols which enhance the strength and distance over which the effect of healing can be exerted.
Reiki level III
Reiki level III or the Master level is the point where you are not only a healer, but also a teacher and are able to give attunements and training to others. Through the “master training”, the student becomes a Reiki Master. The student learns the master-level symbol and is given another attunement. The new Reiki Master can now attune other people to Reiki and teach the degrees of Reiki.
The time frame between all these stages depends entirely on the individual and how motivated they are to learn, and use Reiki.
Reiki is not a “cure all”, it’s not a miracle, it’s a means whereby the body can help heal itself, given extra power to do so and that is all it is. This is often enough to avoid worse problems later down the road, and can do some major healing over all to current conditions. However it is not a case of a wave the hands and voila! all is well.
Lack of immediate “visible” signs of healing, does not mean, the healer is a fraud or incompetent. Just like a medical doctor, healing takes time, commitment, the right amounts and number of treatments etc.
You didn’t become ill in a day, it’s unlikely you will become well in one either.
Any healing work is an exchange
There must be an exchange of energy to keep the harmony of the universe. We must receive to be able to give.
The Reiki itself is free, as it should be. What you should be paying for however, is Reiki Practitioner’s time, supplies, etc. Would you not pay a medical doctor for healing? You are paying for the many years it took for them to learn how to be a doctor, why then would you not give an exchange for Reiki?
Always remember, the exchange must complete itself. If everything comes in and doesn’t go out, you become like the Dead Sea and die. If everything goes out, you dry up and become like a mud bed. If there is a balanced in-and-out flow, you are like a beautiful Lake – everything in and around it grows and blossoms.
