What is Reiki?
Universal life force, the fundamental principle of health, which an invisible but palpable, infuses and permeates all living forms. It is the primary activating energy of life and the underlying creative intelligence of the universe that organizes our world and everything in it.
Reiki is a precise method for connecting this universal energy with the body’s innate powers of healing. Rediscovered in the mid-1800s by Dr. Mikao Usui, a Japanese monk educator, Reiki’s origins are found in the Tibetan sutras, ancient records of cosmology and philosophy. This hands-on healing art, a powerful adjunct to conventional therapeutic modalities, fuels the body’s homeostatic mechanisms and thereby assists in the restoration of balance on the physical, mental, and emotional levels. Because this life-force energy supports optimal development and fulfillment, Reiki promotes the highest healing well for all living things.
How it applies?
The essential vehicle of Reiki is touch applied wherever and whenever appropriate. Because the practice of Reiki does not require complicated technique, it can be incorporated easily with other treatments.
In the near absence of scientific data to prove its effectiveness, theory and philosophy can help create a context for the mind to grasp the concept of Reiki. The best way to know that Reiki works, however, is to experience it. During Reiki treatment, some people feel deep relaxation whereas others feel subtle sensation. Some people feel nothing at all. Regardless of the immediate impression, however, Reiki always acts upon the recipient even when its effects are not immediately perceptible. Results are not always evident during a Reiki session; for some people the healing shifts occur over time, while for others the changes are immediate and lasting.
How it works?
Through inducing the relaxation response, Reiki encourages enhanced integrated functioning of the body’s healing systems. Studies showed that a deep state of relaxation acts through the autonomic nervous system to lower blood pressure and heart rate and to relieve tension and anxiety. This state of relaxation also augments the abilities of the immune system to defend against bacteria and viruses, and it stimulates the brain’s production of endorphins, natural opiates that act to decrease the perception of pain and create a state of well-being. The stimulation of this response through Reiki treatment, coupled with the increased and unimpeded flow of life-force energy through the body, encourages healing at all levels.
Who controls this process?
Reiki supports the recipient in taking charge of his process, acknowledging that the one receiving the treatment holds the power to heal. By its very nature Reiki gives the power and control for healing to the receiver, where it rightly belongs. The inherent intelligence of the receiver’s body knows what is needed and directs the life force to the highest priority. Whether by the mobilization of red blood cells to correct anemia, the knitting of bone to heal a fracture, the energy to complete a painstaking project, the clarity to resolve a conflict, or the inspiration to contact a friend long out of touch, the universal energy acts upon the recipient in a way that is most consonant with that person’s highest healing good at given moment in time.
Is it safe?
With Reiki there is no body manipulation, only physical touch inspired by universal life energy. Appropriate, safe touch in and of itself is very soothing and relaxing. Reiki combines the healing power of touch with life-force energy.
What happens during the Reiki treatment?
Not only does the recipient determine healing in a Reiki session, it happens on a priority basis; thus, the result may differ from what the client wants or expects. Healing always happens during a Reiki session, although the effects of the healing may not be immediately perceptible to the client or the practitioner. Frequently it is unyielding pain that brings people to try Reiki as a last resort. Often, they are rewarded not only with relief from the pain but also with some other shifts as well.
The Reiki process highlights the truth about healing: that the power and the responsibility for healing lie within the individual. The Reiki practitioner brings intention and commitment to the process, acting as a compassionate conduct for the universal life energy, but the practitioner does not do the healing for the client. The healing happens as a result of the relationship between the receiver’s energy field and the universal energy field, mediated through the cellular consciousness of the receiver. Reiki empowers the receiver to do the healing that needs to be done on all levels of being.
Reiki is not a panacea. It works to enhance and accelerate the normal healing processes of the body and the mind. Reiki is not constrained by lack of knowledge, imagination, or understanding. It is offered unconditionally and is received regardless of circumstance.
Your body has the capacity to heal itself. However, the ability to consistently tap into the source of this healing has been largely unknown in our society. Reiki is a way for you to connect with your healing ability, restoring balance and harmony to the physical, mental, and emotional levels of your well-being.
