Reiki is a Japanese word. The word Reiki means universal life energy. It is that power which acts and lives in all created matter. The word has two parts—Rei describes the universal, boundless aspect of this energy and ki is the vital life force energy which flows through all living beings.
We in India know it as Prana and in China it called Chi. In Islamic countries it is known as Barraka. Russian researchers called it Bioplasmic energy.
Since ancient times healing methods based on the transfer of this universal, all pervading life energy, have existed. This energy which brings forth all life in the universe and nourished it has been used for healing for centuries. Thousands of years ago the Tibetans already possessed knowledge about the nature of spirit, energy and matter and used this knowledge to heal their bodies and harmonize their souls. This knowledge was there in India and also in Japan and China. We are all familiar with healings done by Gautama Bhuddha and Jesus Christ and many other spiritual masters who healed others by their touch.
This knowledge was kept secret and was available only to very few people, usually priests who passed it on to their disciples by word of mouth.
All of us may have experienced this energy in some ways. Every time we got hurt and automatically kept our hand on that part of the body and felt some relief or when our mother kept her hand on our forehead when we were ill and we felt better because of her soothing touch.
Dr. Mikao Usui, a Japanese missionary, rediscovered this knowledge and the thousand year old tradition of healing in 2,500-year old Sanskrit sutras at the end of the 19th century. He is the one responsible for making it available to all of us again.
Let us find out what is this universal life energy. It is an invisible energy that infuses and permeates all living and non living things. It is pure infinite and limitless. It is odourless and tasteless and we are sustained by it. With every breath we absorb it and yet we are not aware of it.
Modern day scientists are aware of the ‘vitality’ which pervades all existence. The latest developments in quantum physics and supergravitation theory describe the existence of a standardized, perfectly balanced field of pure intelligence which forms the basis of all creation. This is what wise and enlightened men have said throughout the centuries. They talk about a state of being which contains all creation and from which all life arose. This energy is all around us and it affects our body, mind and our emotions. This energy lives in all things, and this universal energy flows through our hands when we treat someone with Reiki.
Researchers in the U.S.A. using various methods including Kirlian photography found that Reiki energy enters the healer through the top of the head (crown chakra) and goes out from the hands. When the hands are placed on the part requiring healing the energy is drawn to that part and this amplifies the body’s self healing mechanism. This energy increases when treatment is being given.
The Usui system of Reiki is a simple and natural healing method and it is also the most effective way of transferring this universal life energy for healing. Once a person’s energy channels are opened up and cleared of obstructions during the Reiki attunement he or she becomes a ‘channel’ for Reiki, life energy will flow though his/her hands of its own accord and he/she will have this ability for life. Reiki attunement connects the channel to this limitless source of energy. Thus the healer not only receives and increase in this energy for his own healing but is able to canalize this to others by his/her touch and heal them. Reiki healing is all holistic in nature. It brings healing to all levels of our existence physical, emotional and spiritual.
The healer is only a channel for this energy, it is not his own. This energy passes through him when he lays his hands on a person and leaves him strengthened and harmonized afterwards. Reiki also makes its way to the area of the body which requires treatment. Reiki knows where and how and how much a patient needs it without our being able to add to or subtract from the effect it produces.
Reiki is experienced as love. A loving warmth like one feels with his mother. Love is a uniting power which leads to a state of oneness with the whole of creation.
Reiki can lead us back to this state of health or wholeness (holiness). It is truly a holistic healing method. Reiki healing dissolves our limiting thoughts and moves us towards acceptance of all aspects of ourself. This is a transformational state in which we live in balance and harmony with our environment and our own self. In this transformed state we stop complaining, we experience more vitality, self acceptance, creativity, intuition and clarity.
Reiki has nothing to do with spiritualism or the occult. It has nothing to do with the calling up of ghosts or demons, and it is not hypnosis or any other kind of psychological technique. In Reiki treatment use is made of a neutral, concentrated form of cosmic energy.
A Reiki practitioner requires no special kind of faith or belief. It is used by people of many faiths and religions.
There are two ways in which an individual can benefit from Reiki.
By going to a Reiki healer for healing
A Reiki healer can be anyone who is a Reiki channel and has completed either the first or both first and second degree of Reiki. In a Reiki healing session the patient will be asked to lie down comfortably with eyes closed in a quiet healing room. There may be soft soothing music being played. The healer will then gently place his/her hands on the patient at different places in the front and back. The session may take half an hour to one and a half hours depending upon the number of points to be covered. During this session the patient will feel a wonderful deep relaxation and patient may even fall asleep. He /she will feel a gentle soothing warm sensation coming from the healer’s hands. Sometimes the hands will become very warm. At the end of the session the heal will feel very calm and relaxed and experience a lot of relief. He may take as many sessions as he wants but a full course of healing take 21 days. In some conditions more sessions may be required.
By Learning Reiki
For this an individual will have to go to a Reiki master and attend a Reiki course.
Reiki I is the basic course for beginners. This course is conducted over one day or two days depending on the group size. There are no special qualifications for attending this course. Anyone above the age of 10 years can attend.
In this course the student receives the Ist degree attunement and is also taught the positions where Reiki is to be given. Some meditations and visualization exercises are also done during the course. From this point the student is able to canalize this energy and is a Reiki practitioner.
Reiki I sessions are primarily for self healing and a Reiki I healer can also heal someone else if that person is physically present. This healing is done by placing the hands on oneself or another person. Self treatment is very effective for deep relaxation and relief from stress. It creates a balance in our physical, emotional and spiritual self.
If also helps to release suppressed emotions and blocks.
In Reiki II, which is an advanced course, another attunement is done and this substantially multiplies the power to channel this energy. This course should be done after a minimum of 21 days after the first degree course.
This attunement causes emotional and karmic healing in the person receiving it.Reiki II allows the healer to heal those who are not physically present and send this energy over a distance. Reiki symbols are taught which make this possible. This program also teaches other powerful techniques for using Reiki.
Reiki IIIa is the master healers course in which another attunement is done which further multiplies the power. further.
Reiki IIIb is the course that qualifies you to be a teacher. Reiki III is recommended only for those who wish to take up healing seriously and want to make Reiki a major part of their lives.
Reiki heals on all levels
Physical, emotional and spiritual. People (and animals) are not just physical entities. We have a dense or gross physical bodies that we can normally perceive by sight and touch. We also have a bioplasmic body or energy body which is invisible and this directs the state of the physical body and our emotional self. Medicine treats only our physical body—Reiki heals us completely, our physical body, our bioplasmic body and our emotional self. Thus Reiki heals the whole person. For example, when a person has a headache and comes to a Reiki healer, the healer will place his hands on the head points and give relief. The headache may have its source in the digestive area and if this is so then the energy goes to this area as well as the head and heals the problem at the source. If the pain is caused by stress then it removes the source of stress. If this person has some other disease or problem that he himself is not aware of and has therefore not told the healer, Reiki will act here also.
In case of serious diseases the source is usually more than physical and these normally have their roots in emotional trauma. ln spiritual despair or negative mental patterns or because of deep resistance to someone or something, Reiki is very helpful in healing all these from the roots.
Reiki raises the level of awareness, makes people more present to life, frees from delusion, stress and disease.
When Reiki energy is channeled it harmonizes the energy body and when the source of the problem is removed, this creates a situation where the body’s own capacity to itself is regenerated and then the body heals itself. So clearly, the healer is only a channel and the recipient heals himself with the aid of the Reiki energy that he draws through the healer. Each patient draws in just the right amount of life force energy that he/she needs to release/transform and activate the physical /bioplasmic body so that healing can take place.
Reiki energy heals whatever needs healing, the result can never be predicted. A healer cannot promise a specific result and can only say that the recipient will benefit in some way. Reiki relieves pain, speeds the healing process, stops bleeding, relaxes the receiver and balances the person. The blood pressure drops, respiration slows down and the person becomes peaceful and calm and more energetic. At the end of session a recipient feels as he would feel after a session of deep meditation.
Reiki is helpful in healing almost all conditions. For a person who has no physical or emotional problems, it prevents stress and disease. For those who tire easily as used to happen with my wife, Reiki gives them a capacity to work more without getting tired. Some aches and pains are relieved immediately and chronic problems may take longer to heal. People who get very angry find that their anger has subsided. Sad people be come cheerful and in cases of shock and trauma due to grief we find that people come out of it much faster. People with insomnia get almost immediate relief.
Reiki is a very positive energy and can never cause any harm to anyone. It can be given to anyone, infant, adult or elderly person. It can even be given to animals. Even when someone is dying it eases the process. In cases of congenital defects or a permanent disability, Reiki may not heal but it will make it easier for the person to live with it. If a body part is lost Reiki cannot replace it but will help the person to adjust to the loss.
Reiki is not being accepted as a part of a trend emerging in western medicine where there is a new paradigm that included mind/body awareness and prevention techniques. Many health care professionals are encouraged to attend Reiki classes to augment their medical skills by leading hospitals in the U.S.A.
Learning Reiki is a major event in a persons life and once a person is attuned his/her life is changed forever. Lots of positive things start to happen after the Reiki attunement. Thus it is an invaluable tool for a personal growth.
History
Reiki’s origin is tracked back to Tibet thousands of year ago. The ancient cultures in southern India also indicate the origin of Reiki. In ancient times, this science was handed over for initiation after a long preparation. As such, the spread was extremely limited. In the mid 19th century Doctor Mikao Usui who worked in a Christian school was questioned by students as to how healing takes place by simple touching or laying on of hands. Dr. Usui unable to explain or demonstrate, set to find out the truth himself. In the course of investigation he studied the Lotus Sutra (the last sermon of Buddha). He found a formula of mystic symbols in the Lotus Sutra and also found that through the process of initiation, the symbols are empowered to tap the cosmic pool of energy (Reiki) which accelerates the healing process in living organisms. Dr. Usui personally experienced the peak of consciousness, an in depth understanding and the dynamics of its working, when he undertook a fast for 21 days and meditated. Thereafter he traveled extensively to spread the use of Reiki and initiate others into the path of Reiki, the cosmic pool of energy.
In 1920, Dr. Hayashi joined the tradition and a clinic was set up in Tokyo. In 1933 , a young woman named Hawayo Takata practiced Reiki for nearly 30 years in Honolulu and also initiated people into Reiki in America. However, from just after 1970 till her death in 1980 realising the need to continue the tradition, she finally taught the initiation process, so that the tradition could continue. Some of those initiated by Hawayo Takata have subsequently been responsible for the initiation of other masters who in turn spread Reiki around the world.
Scientific Point of View
Reiki is energy without any polarities. The energy appears to create harmony and root out disharmony during its physical manifestation i.e. when it assumes the limitations of time and space. In the body, it becomes a form of healing energy.
During the Reiki treatment, a sensation of warmth, the tingling of a needle prick and electrical sensations are felt by the healer. There is another important observation—that Reiki turns on automatically without any effort on the part of the healer. The flow of Reiki does not depend on any belief and there is no method of giving Reiki. Once initiated all that you have to do is to place the hands close to the body. There has to be a mere intention of helping by way of treatment. The flow of Reiki is according to the needs of the bodily condition. Therefore, it can either be weak or strong. There is no switching on or switching off of Reiki.
Reiki is not related to any specific religious faith, though the origin appears to be Vajrayana Buddhism (The great Tibetan Master Milerepa was knew to produce psychic heat). The great Yogis in India were also able to even bring the dead to life.
There is no human manipulation of the Reiki energy, which flows according to the body’s requirement and works on the levels of both body and mind. Though, the working of Reiki is at best described as mysterious, yet the ancient Masters knew it inner working.
Feeling of Reiki
In this awareness the shallow ‘you’ disappear. One has to completely disappear for Reiki to be. The mind ceases, Reiki takes over. Just the attunement does the trick. In other words, the presence of Reiki and its descent on you is happening through His grace but only when all the efforts and seekings are dropped, the search has stopped, all the desires have then gone at the receptive stage of the mighty power Reiki. At the time of initiation, it totally inundates you. In that depth, you are not even aware of your existence.
Your own emptiness and the ignition of initiation makes Reiki descend on you. The dancing Reiki symbols enter your crown. Every cell receives it . There is a diving melody. No words. No sound. It is a totally oneness of the two energies. You are the life force and the great life force Reiki. This is real silence. You remain in the attitude of letting go, utterly relaxed. Reiki has penetrated your being. You find your desires evaporated. The mind is noiseless. Silence dawns. Attachment takes leave of you. You are overwhelmed. You cannot say who You are. That’s all. When Reiki has totally penetrated you, you cannot feel the touch of your body. Your heart is now universal. You have now disappeared and become whole. Just wonder remains. Life is a delight. A gift from Reiki. You don’t change but the environment changes favourably for you. Everything becomes extraordinarily beautiful. All the seeds of discard are burnt. You have thrown out all that were inside. This is the result of Reiki penetration and this is the transformation. Let Reiki move to you constantly. Allow it. Surrender to it until Reiki takes possession of you and your heart is no more moved by outer things, only then does the inner most core of your being attract Reiki. The body and mind just become an instrument, a tool for Reiki, the universal life principle. When Reiki moves your heart, every thing is fine, everything is beautiful. As I have just started surrender to Reiki. Let it possess you. Let things happen on their own accord. You are living Reiki. You have no private life. You live only because Reiki wants to live through you. It will play its role. You just perform it. No anxiety, no tension, no failure, no frustration, no expectation, no purpose, except to be flooded by Reiki. You are the light of Reiki. Reiki is the begining, Reiki is the end, Reiki is the goal, the only purpose is to bring the realisation of the void in every heart, give the same to every nook and corner of the world. However, much you hold on, you know you are not a reality. You are filled by the elixir. No more death. You have become Eternal.
THE PEAK
The supreme possibility is the upward movement of the energy. It is creative. You take a new birth in Reiki. You reach the highest peak of your being. Your consciousness is lifted to the Crown Chakra. This is possible only when the power of Reiki strikes you through initiation by the Master. Then it is a constant upward flow through the great energy—Reiki. This is the real transformation and actual meditation. It is not possible through books, the only answer is—seek a Master.
