Where Did Reiki Come From?
Reiki is an ancient Tibetan system of energy healing that was re-discovered in the late 1800s by a Japanese man, Dr. Mikao Usui, whose life quest was to find out how Jesus Christ was able to heal others with his hands, sometimes even without touching them or even healing them from a distance. There are many passages from the bible’s New Testament that show Jesus healing people. This is known as healing by laying on hands.
Dr. Usui searched all the religions of the world, researching in their holy books and questioning the learned among them. He eventually learned Sanskrit to be able to read the sutras, which are ancient books of esoteric Hindu religious teaching, where he found the techniques. Having acquired the knowledge, he then meditated for 21 days and was given the understanding of how to apply this gift of healing. He then opened a treatment and training center in Tokyo in 1922, healing the poor and sick in Tokyo for 7 years more before bringing this healing technique to the world.
Dr. Usui taught Reiki for the rest of his life. He brought it to the people by teaching and passing on the knowledge. It may be passed along from Reiki masters to initiates so that they may reach master level and teach others and pass it on. It is a religion-less form of healing, open to anyone who wants to learn. You can be a follower of any religion (or none at all) and can still practice reiki. By teaching it this way there are no requirements that would stop anyone from knowing how to heal. It is a form of channeling life force energy through the practitioner to the recipient. In the process the practitioner receives healing energy as well as the recipient.
Reiki is made up of two words, Rei, meaning God or Higher Intelligence, and Ki (Chi in Chinese), meaning life force energy. So reiki means intelligent life force energy. It is a system of channeling that energy and nothing more. One doesn’t need to know any more than that as the intelligent energy will do any healing that is. There is no need to know or diagnose what is wrong with a person’s health. It makes the healer a vessel and anyone who is taught how can do this. It is said that the practitioner will be changed for the better as the healing energy flows through them.
The Healing Power of Reiki
Reiki is a healing energy that flows through the practitioner to the recipient. Both get healed from the energy as it flows through them and around them during a healing session. The practitioner is actually channeling the energy from another source, the non-physical life source energy that is in everything and everyone. As a conduit for this energy, the practitioner does not diagnose the illness or determine the need for healing.
They may question the recipient where they need the healing, if it is physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental healing that is needed. If a physical healing, they may ask where on the body healing is needed. They may ask permission to touch the body of the recipient during the healing session. A practitioner can also just keep their hands above the body while healing, too.
They may linger at the location of the physical body that was indicated by the recipient that needed healing, but they can also just scan the whole body and not know where the healing is needed, the energy will just flow to where it is needed. The recipient needs only to accept the energy to be healed.
The energy has intelligence, it is the Ki or higher intelligence, God to some, and can go wherever it is needed. It is the energy the goes through and around living things. Some people see it as an aura. The practitioner does not guide the energy with their mind nor does the practitioner need any special skills or knowledge other than the channeling knowledge an initiate receives from a reiki master.
Long distance healing is also within the realm of the reiki practitioner. By having a photo of the person to look at or by talking with the person over the phone, a reiki master can send healing energy anywhere in the world.
Most sessions last from one to four sessions, and after that the recipient need only return for attunements as needed. The sessions last about an hour and the healings can continue daily over four days in a row or as needed.
Healing can also be channeled for animals and plants. Since this is universal life energy, any living thing can be healed. Another thing to note is that reiki cannot be misused because it always effects by healing alone.
The way reiki heals is by flowing through and around the body. When this flow of energy is disrupted, the person becomes sick, physically or mentally. You may have heard about chakras and realigning the chakras, it is exactly like that. A practitioner channels the Ki and it heals or re-establishes the correct flow of energy throughout the recipient’s body.
What is a Typical Reiki Session Like?
A typical reiki session begins with the recipient entering the healing room, which most likely is in the home of the practitioner. They will have a room to treat their clients, set apart from the rest of the house.
The session will begin with small talk, perhaps a cup of soothing tea will be served. There may be incense or essential oils diffusing or soft music playing. There may be a water fountain. The whole effect is to relax and open you to the healing.
The reiki practitioner will ask you why you requested the session today and if you need healing or just an attunement. You will tell why you are here and what you need. If you request physical healing, you can show where on your body or keep it private and to yourself. If you have mental anguish, you can tell how that came to be, or not. The practitioner can heal without knowing, but it helps beak down any resistance and may help the recipient feel more open.
The practitioner may ask if it is ok is they touch your body during the healing session. Don’t be alarmed, it is only so you are not frightened if they do while you are in the session. If you don’t want to be touched, that is ok, and good for the practitioner to know beforehand. You do not have to undress in any way for treatment. You will most times lie down on a massage table or you can be seated in a chair. Each practitioner runs their session their own way.
The healing starts as the practitioner scans your body with their hands. They start at your head and go down one side of your body and up the other side. The head is the main focus to start and end your healing session. In between they will go through a series of hand movements over your body, touching at different chakras or at the location of your injury. The practitioner may ask you to turn over on your back and they will scan again down one side and up the other. Your arms and legs will also get their own scanning with the practitioner’s hands.
Your session may end with some more small talk, maybe you will schedule another appointment if you are in a treatment series, or you will just pay for your session and leave.
When the session is over, you should feel refreshed and relaxed. You may also feel a little tired and it is not unusual to go home and go to sleep. This is a good sign that the healing is taking effect. Your body is healing and needs sleep to replenish.
Reiki Massage Therapy
Reiki is not a massage therapy but it is incorporated by some therapists into their massages and they call it Reiki Massage, a hybrid therapy. That is how many people first come to know about reiki.
Reiki and massage are both systems for healing the body and both promote a relaxed and calm feeling. While reiki can heal the body physically, as well as the emotional and spiritual mind, massage is often used just for healing the physical body.
Reiki is an energy healing that does not involve manipulating tissues and bone. Reiki practitioners use a very light touch or even just glide their hands palm sides towards and above the recipient’s body to focus the energy they channel through the body to open energy blockages.
Reiki is not a massage but a healing by energy channeling mainly through the hands. But you can see how it would fit in with massage therapy as an adjunct to increase the effect of the massage, especially if the massage was for healing as well. Reiki can take the massage benefits and add additional healing at a deeper level and address the mental and spiritual ills as well.
Massage is the older practice of the two, being used for thousands of years as a medical treatment tracing back to China. Massage uses vigorous manipulation of tissues and bones and increases blood flow throughout the body which relaxes and invigorates the body. It helps with the flow of Ki, unblocking where it had become hung-up. Reiki also helps Ki flow when the body and mind become unbalanced and the Ki is stagnate. In this manner, reiki and massage are a good combination.
Another point that aids in the popularity of reiki massage is the fact that massage therapists are strictly licensed and as yet there is no licensing body for reiki practitioners. Having a trusted massage therapist that practices reiki helps to introduce the client who might not have sought out reiki, have it included in their massage because they know the masseuse or they are comfortable in that setting already. Many more people are learning about reiki and seeking out practitioners for a more personalized session or two.
At the conclusion of a reiki massage session, the patient feels calm and relaxed as well as energized and invigorated. Word of mouth travels fast and reiki massage is growing everyday as the massage of choice.
Why Reiki is Beneficial for Treating Stress
One of the greatest side benefits of Reiki healing is a reduction of stress in your life. Reiki develops deep relaxation and aids the body in reducing and releasing stress and tension. This triggers the body’s natural healing abilities, which in turn, improves and maintains the health of the body.
Reiki helps you get better sleep and that will energize your days. It can reduce your blood pressure and help relieve pain and the afflictions that cause you pain. By unblocking your Ki, the energy flow opens the endocrine system, which consists of the glands that produce the hormones that regulate the body’s systems, which brings the body back into balance. This helps increase vitality and is anti-aging. That is a great way to reduce stress in your life.
Scientists are investigating the changes a reiki healing makes on the recipient. They have tested normal reiki sessions, reiki distance healings, as well as using a fake reiki healer, to take out any possible research interference and are proving that reiki does do what its practitioners claim and their clients rave about.
A common find in the research is that reiki does relax and relieve the everyday stress that is rampant among most of the population. This is caused by many things that make the body accumulate stress such as chronic pain, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety. The stress builds and builds and causes physical changes in the body and spirit and also wears a person down. Reiki relieves all that on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. That is the first effect people feel after their session.
In the first session a client usually discusses what is ailing them with the reiki practitioner. Over twenty percent report that they are stressed and they used the exact word-stress. Studies show that after six weeks, and up to one year later, patients, who were treated for mild depression and stress over a course of 4 sessions, still showed vast improvements in feelings of depression, stress, and hopelessness. Research also showed reiki is an effective treatment for pain, anxiety, and depression relief. And that reduces overall stress as well.
Energy healing such as reiki is even recognized in the medical community. Hospitals have recognized the healing and relaxing effect of energy healing in cancer treatment, using reiki during chemo treatment because it relieves nausea and reduces pain while undergoing these treatments and well as the reduced anxiety levels. Reiki is becoming a go-to treatment for stress and an effective one as well.
