Reiki
Reiki is a Japanese form of spiritual healing that is believed to treat physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual diseases. It is performed by laying on of hands and is based on the believe that practitioners are guided by a universal spirit and act as a channel for energy that flows through their palms to heal others.
Reiki, pronounced ray-kee, is composed of the two syllables rei, meaning soul or spirit and ki (Chinese qi) meaning life energy.
What is Reiki
Reiki practitioners channel energy to harmonize and heal the body and to restore order to the body whose life energy has become unbalanced. Reiki energy brings about relaxation, it detoxifies the system, destroys energy blockages, and brings new vitality. Many people believe the Reiki energy to have divine origins and see the energy as divine love or divine light. Reiki opens us up to the divine, however we wish to interpret that. As Reiki is not attached to any religion or religious belief, it does not get into conflict with an individual’s belief or lack of belief, therefore Reiki can be accepted by atheists and believers alike.
Most Reiki treatments do not involve actual touching, although there are a few positions in which the practitioner is in contact with the patient. Generally, the hands are held a few inches away from the patient’s body and the energy field is manipulated from there.
History of Reiki
Reiki was developed by Mikao Usui in the late 1800s. He is said to have been a Buddhist monk who claimed to have received the ability of healing without energy depletion after three weeks of fasting and meditating on Mount Kurama. He wrote that it was by mystical revelation that he had gained the knowledge and spiritual power to apply Reiki and that he had the ability to enable others to enhance their access to the energy through certain initiations. He trained several disciples who themselves trained others, one of them being Hawayo Takata who brought Reiki to the USA.
While there are many forms of Reiki being practiced now, there are basically just two schools, the traditional school and the independent school. The traditional school teaches Reiki strictly as it was taught by Usui, and the independent school varies in its methods and practices.
Reiki Treatment
Receiving Reiki is a simple process, but it can produce quite profound effects. At the beginning of a session the patient lies down fully clothed on a treatment couch, eyes closed, listening to soothing music which helps him to deeply relax. The Reiki practitioner will then gently pass his hands a few inches from the patient’s body in a series of positions, starting from the crown of the head down to the feet. Each hand position is held for a few minutes while the healing energy is flowing into the patient, balancing his energy system, soothing pain, releasing stress, and promoting the body’s natural ability to heal itself. While the energy flows, the patients will feel warmth, heat, or tingling coming from the practitioner’s hands. Usually this is felt as a relaxing experience, some people even fall asleep. Other sensations may be a feeling of floating or seeing colored lights.
Reiki and Science
The majority of scientists consider Reiki to be a pseudoscience and that the possible health benefits experienced by individuals are merely due to the placebo effect. However, a study conducted by the Institute of Neurological Sciences, South Glasgow showed, that heart rate and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly in probands who received 30 minutes of Reiki compared to a control group.
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