What is Reiki?
 

What does Reiki do?
Reiki is not a substitute for appropriate medical or emotional treatment. Reiki is a complementary treatment, and should be used only as an adjunct when other forms of treatment are necessary. Reiki is a very gentle and safe method of bringing in healing energy from the Universal Supply. Reiki uses ancient healing energy techniques to help build more personal energy, more vitality, more resilience, and better health. Its most profound effect is an almost immediate feeling of deep relaxation, resulting in a reduction in stress. Reiki can help you change your mind and body for the better learning more of your inner self and giving more to yourself. You can learn to share Reiki healing energy with others as well as anything else that you can imagine including pets and plants! There are many cases on record of miraculous cures where Reiki has helped with all kinds of physical and mental ailments. Reiki practitioners can even send Reiki over a distance, sometimes thousands of miles, and still achieve beneficial effects. Reiki is being used more and more as an adjunct to help with traditional medical practices.

What is a Reiki treatment?
A Reiki treatment is a "laying on of hands" which is an ancient technique common to many spiritual traditions. To ensure the safety of the client as well as the practitioner, Reiki treatments should be administered only by a person fully trained and certified in Reiki techniques. In a typical Reiki treatment, the client lies down (fully clothed) on a padded treatment table. Energy is transferred to the client through the hands of the practitioner. The practitioner moves through a sequence of standard hand positions. Treatment starts with the practitioner's hands lightly resting on or above the client's head for 3-5 minutes, then slowly repeats this process systematically moving down to the feet. A full treatment usually takes about an hour. A Reiki treatment is a spiritual practice because it works directly with energy, or "spirit." A Reiki treatment does not involve any pressure or manipulation of tissues such as with a massage.

What is a "distance" treatment?
Only a Reiki Level 2 or a Reiki Master can give a distance treatment. Reiki distance treatments are learned advanced techniques for transferring Reiki energy to a distant time or location. Although we do not understand either the energy or how it works, there is considerable evidence that Reiki is able to travel independent of time or distance to deliver healing. Most Reiki practitioners use this technique similar to a telephone. They know it works and do not necessarily have a clue as to the underlying mechanisms.

What is Reiki energy?
Reiki is simply the "life force." It is called by various names in different parts of the world. It is called "prana" in India, "qi" or "chi" in China, "spirit" in Western traditions, etc. It is the subtle energy we unconsciously feel when we sense that someone is "intense", "laid back", or that someone is watching us. Each person's pattern of energy is as unique to them as their fingerprints. These patterns are often described as personal vibrations. People have a general energy pattern that is different from the patterns of other species. This energy can be concentrated as taught in the martial arts of T'ai Chi or Qi Gong. When used properly this energy can produce many beneficial effects.

What does Reiki energy feel like?
People feel Reiki in different ways. Most often during a treatment the energy is experienced as warmth. Others feel a mild tingle, as when an arm or leg has "fallen asleep." Still others feel a throbbing or pulsing sensation. Some people don't feel any physical sensation but describe mental or emotional changes, such as a sense of calmness or peacefulness. Nearly everyone experiences a Reiki treatment as deeply relaxing.

How does a Reiki treatment work?
This question is best answered by drawing an analogy. As mentioned before, our natural energy level is affected by our state of health or disease. We can all relate to the feelings of low energy or depletion that occur when we are trying to heal, whether from physical distress (illness or injury) or from mental difficulties (such as grief or anxiety). A Reiki treatment under these circumstances can be compared to jump starting a car. When the car's battery can't quite provide enough energy to start the car, we attach jumper cables from another battery to add more energy. Reiki is a means of adding more energy to our "life force" battery to help "jump start" the healing process. This process does not exhaust the practitioner, because the practitioner is trained to channel energy from the outside environment, not from his or her own personal "battery." Practiced in this manner, the energy available is virtually limitless. The amount of energy transferred depends on the client's ability to use it and willingness to receive it. When no more energy can be used, the transfer ceases to occur. A skillful practitioner can usually sense when this happens.

Why Reiki?
As with the battery analogy, Eastern and Oriental philosophies say there are two major "life force" energies. One kind of energy is that personal individual life energy. When it is used up, that living thing dies. There are ways to tap into this individual energy, but in doing so even the most vital healers rapidly tire and become depleted. Tapping this type of energy is unhealthy. Reiki energy provides a far better alternative. Reiki energy is "Universal Life Force Energy". It is inexhaustible plus is intelligent. It always goes to where it will do the most good and never comes in stronger than can be handled. Reiki provides a simple, easy to learn way to tap into this universal energy to help others and us.

What is the definition of Reiki?
Reiki is a compound Japanese word that has the general case meaning of "healing". Rei means "Universal" or "Spiritual", and Ki is "Life Force Energy". Most westerners take Reiki to mean "Universal Life Force Energy". This universal energy, and not personal energy, is what is used during Reiki Healing. The Usui Natural Healing System (sometimes written as Usui Shiki Ryoho), named for its founder, Mikao Usui, is the basic system used to invoke and use this energy known as Reiki energy.

How is Reiki done?
In a Reiki Healing session, the practitioner places his or her hands onto or just above the patient's body at a number of strategic points. The patient almost always feels the energy begin to flow into them, either as a heat, a coldness, or a strange "flow" through their body, often in places remote from the point at which the practitioner has their hands.

When is a Reiki treatment appropriate?
Reiki is particularly effective if applied as soon as possible after a trauma happens, whether due to physical injury or mental shock. At these times the body is mobilizing all available energy to stabilize the immediate problem so that long-term healing can occur. Any extra energy available will only enhance the process. Later, when the healing process slows and energy is shared between healing and other bodily functions and activities, Reiki can still be a useful adjunct.

It is important to remember that because Reiki works on an energy level, it can aid physical, emotional, mental, and even spiritual healing. Many people also use Reiki as a preventive practice. Practitioners learn to do self-treatment before they learn how to treat others.

Many of us are increasingly aware of the unique energy patterns that develop between individuals and among people in groups. Psychology includes this in the term "group dynamics." Advanced Reiki practitioners are trained to treat group situations as well, using special distance techniques.

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