Reiki healing energy has been around for thousands of years, but in its present form was founded by Dr Mikao Usui who was born in Japan in 1865. It is believed he entered a Tendai Buddhist school at the age of four and was an exceptional student.

 He studied Kiko, the Japanese version of qigong, which is a health and healing discipline based on the development and use of life energy. He was also a member of the Rei Jyutu Ka, a metaphysical group dedicated to developing psychic abilities. In 1914 he enrolled in Isyu Guo, a twenty-one day training course sponsored by the Tendai Buddhist Temple at Mt Kurama. During the Isyu Guo training the great Reiki energy entered his crown chakra. This greatly enhanced his own healing abilities and he realised he had been given a wonderful new gift - the ability to give healing to others without depleting his own energy.

 The rest of Dr Usui's life was dedicated to giving Reiki healing and to teaching Reiki to the many students who came to him. He taught over 2,000 students and initiated sixteen teachers. The Japanese government issued him with a Kun San To award for doing honourable work to help others. Mikao Usui died of a stroke on 9th March 1926.

What is Reiki?

 Reiki has been taught in the West since the 1970s, and it has been presented rather like an oriental version of spiritual healing, though in its original Japanese form the emphasis was very much on self-healing and spiritual development. Certainly the practice of Reiki is based on working with, and channeling energy, or a spiritual energy. This energy can be referred to as ‘chi’, which you may have heard of. When you visit an acupuncturist they use needles to encourage energy to flow through a series of meridians or energy channels that run the length of your body; that energy is called ‘chi’.

You may have heard of a Japanese massage technique called Shiatsu, which uses finger pressure on acupuncture points to achieve a similar effect; the Japanese adopted the Chinese view of the body's energy system. You will probably have heard of Tai Chi (or maybe Chi Kung/QiGong), a graceful system of exercises that are designed to build up, or cultivate, your personal reserves of this energy, and the graceful movements that you make serve to circulate this energy smoothly throughout your body, breaking down any blockages and bringing things into balance on all levels. The energy is seen as animating all living things.

When we move from China to India, the same energy is referred to as ‘prana’, and breathing exercises and yoga techniques have been developed to again bring your energy system into balance. In India they do not think in terms of meridians, but of chakras: energy centres running the length of your body from the crown of your head to the base of your spine, seven main ones and further subsidiary ones in other locations.

The intention with all these energy techniques is that if you can harmonize your energy system, you are putting your body in the best possible position to heal itself on all levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. In fact, the Chinese view is that chi not only flows through your body, but surrounds and engulfs you, too.

For example, Feng Shui has been developed as a way of arranging your living environment to allow for the smooth flow of chi around you, eliminating areas where stagnant chi might accumulate, for example.

Reiki seems to deal with this same energy, to an extent; you can focus the energy on yourself, and you can use the energy to treat others if you like.

Spiritual Energy?

 When you practice Reiki you are not just dealing with a ‘cold’ ‘clinical’ energy, the same energy that is manipulated by acupuncturists or controlled by practitioners of yoga or tai chi. There is more to Reiki than that. When you channel Reiki, it does not feel like a neutral energy that you are dealing with: it feels beautiful, and the more you practice Reiki, the more beautiful it becomes!

Reiki has important similarities to conventional spiritual healing, particularly in terms of the things that people feel when they are having a Reiki treatment. Many people see the Reiki energy as having divine origins, and interpret the energy as divine love or divine light. Reiki opens you up to the divine, however you wish to interpret that; Reiki reinforces your individual connection to your deity, and it feels beautiful. Because Reiki is not attached to any religion or belief system, though, it does not conflict with an individual's beliefs, or lack of beliefs, so Reiki is acceptable to atheists and believers alike, agnostics and Catholics, Moslems and Pagans.
 

The Reiki Symbols

The Japanese characters making up the word ‘Reiki’ are usually translated in the West as meaning 'Universal Life Energy' , but the characters can be translated as meaning ‘soul energy’, or ‘aura’ or ‘mysterious spirit’, or even 'spiritually guided life force energy'.

So when the name of the system was chosen, they weren't just thinking of a cold, clinical energy that you can move round the body by sticking needles into a person: they were thinking also of an energy that has a definite connection or resonance with a person's soul or spiritual  aspects too.

Interestingly, the latest interpretation of the word 'Reiki' is that it can mean 'a system that has been arrived at through a moment of enlightenment', and we will talk more about the history and development of Reiki shortly.

How Reiki Works

 When we are incarnate on a physical level it is because Life Force Energy 'Ki' is flowing through us. Anyone who has seen a dead body of a human or an animal, or dead trees and plants can easily identify that the Life Force Energy is no longer present.

Within our bodies there are energy pathways and where many of these pathways cross they form what are known as chakra. Chakra do not actually exist in the physical sense, however it is the free flow of energy through the chakra points in our bodies that allows us to experience good health. This refers not just to physical health, but also to mental, emotional and spiritual well being. The energy nourishes our cells and organs helping them to perform their functions optimally. It releases mental and emotional blockages and lifts the spirit. When the energy is not allowed to flow with ease or is blocked, we find that we can suffer with dis-ease or illness. Reiki is 'the secret art of inviting happiness'.

 Reiki has its own intelligence and will flow to the place causing the block and clear the pathways so that the energy can, once again, run freely and with ease thus allowing the body to function properly and healthily again. Reiki also strengthens the immune system and assists the body's ability to heal itself.

Reiki is a hands-on or hands-off healing system that is very simple to use. It can cause no harm since its existence is only that of a healing energy. It can be used by anyone attuned to the Reiki Energy, and it can be used by the person attuned to Reiki on themselves as well as on others.

 Reiki is drawn by the person receiving it and not given by the Reiki practitioner.

 A Reiki Healing Session

 In our world today, there are many pressures put on us by lifestyles, the media and the changing social structure. Extended families are becoming a thing of the past, and many people now opt not to marry. Families consisting of only one parent are now common. There can be financial and emotional pressure which causes stress and stress related problems and Reiki is an excellent form of healing and helps to strengthen and support people in the running of their day to day lives.

 A typical Reiki healing session would last for about an hour with the client lying on a treatment couch or seated comfortably. The Practitioner and client remain fully clothed throughout the healing, although shoes, watches and any tight belts or jewellery should be removed.

The practitioner will then either lay hands on various parts of the body or can work in the aura or energy field of the client. Either way, Reiki energy is channelled through the Practitioner to the client to give healing wherever it is needed on a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level. This is a completely different experience for everyone, but is usually very relaxing and calming. The process of Reiki can result in a few days of clearing out when the client may need to pass water more frequently or may feel tearful as the body rids itself of that which no longer serves it well. There are no side effects or bad reactions to Reiki. Reiki cannot harm in any way. It is important to remember, however, that Reiki is a complementary therapy and is not intended to replace modern medicine or treatment, but to work alongside that treatment for the best results. If the client is on prescribed medication it is important that the correct dosage is adhered to.

Learning Reiki

 Reiki is not taught as such, but is passed on from Master/Teacher to student by way of an initiation or attunement. This is because an energy cannot be learned but has to be experienced and this experience is different for everyone.

There are four stages or degrees of Reiki to which a student can be attuned:

Reiki I
This is the first stage of Reiki training and may be the only stage the student feels necessary to attain. Some of the very best healers have attained only this degree. A Reiki I course, the student will be taught the history of Reiki, how it works, how it can be used and the traditional hand positions. The Master/teacher passes Reiki on to the student through attunement. Depending on the Master, there may be only one attunement or up to four attunements. In either case, once the student has attained the first degree they will be able to give healing to family, friends, plants, animals and to themselves. Giving healing to oneself is a very important part of Reiki. Once attuned to Reiki, the ability to heal is with the student for life, and will never leave even if not practiced for a very long time. However, as with everything else, the more you practice the better!

 Reiki II 

The second stage of Reiki involves learning various healing symbols which will strengthen the ability the Reiki I student has already acquired and will enable the student to send healing over great distances and forwards or backwards in time. More Reiki is passed from the Master/teacher to the student through attunement. It is a very empowering healing tool and again, this may be as far as many students feel they need to go.

 Reiki III 

Sometimes known as third degree Reiki, this is when the student will be attuned to the Master symbols, greatly enhancing the student's healing ability and focus. There is a great deal of work involved in taking the third degree which is actually the start, rather than the finish of an ongoing lifetime study of personal/spiritual development and growth. This is usually quite an expensive course, so is not to be undertaken lightly as there should be definite commitment. At the end of this course, the student becomes a Reiki Master.

 Reiki IV

The fourth degree of Reiki enables the Master to become a teacher. The Master learns how to teach and pass attunements. Again the cost of this course reflects the level of commitment needed to undertake such responsibility. The third and fourth degrees of Reiki can be taken together as one course.

 Hand Positions:

 http://www.compulink.co.uk/~stuv/roger/E10985.htm

Sometimes it's hard to remember that we are not just our physical bodies. When our bodies are nervous, sick, in pain, tired or hungry, we easily get lost in the sensations, and forget that we are so much more - we are energy. We have energy bodies as well as a physical body. The energy that is in and around our bodies is in everything. It supports life.

When we think about it, everything is energy. All energy has a frequency that vibrates at varying levels. The colours we enjoy are specific frequencies of energy. The sounds in the music we listen to are frequencies of energy. Solid matter is made up of energy that has a frequency or vibration that is much slower than that of light or sound, but it is still energy.

 We need life force energy to keep our physical and energy bodies balanced and healthy. Some people believe that pain and many illnesses are a result of blocked or imbalanced energy. When we restore energy and balance to a painful or diseased area, the pain and disease are often relieved. For this reason, energy is healing.

Our planet offers us a frequency of life force energy that is very healing and invigorating. We can feel it when we are with trees or allow our energy bodies to sink deep into the earth and bring the earth energy up into our bodies, like a tree's roots bring water and nutrients up to the branches. We also receive energy from the air, from food, and from our Source. Most cultures have a name for life force energy: chi in Chinese, ki in Japanese, prana in Sanskrit.