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Reiki
Reiki is an alternative therapy that can help the natural healing
processes of the body. The medical systems of more and more countries
accept Reiki as a viable complementary treatment to western medicine,
and sometimes Some the costs of Reiki treatments are even covered for
the patient because it has been shown to lower the overall costs of
medical coverage!
A
Reiki practitioner becomes a channel fo r
the universal energy so that it can be passed into himself or herself,
or
passed on to a patient in need. It is very much
like a "spiritual massage", where the energy is concentrated
in the hands of the practitioner and "bathes" the patient to help stimulate the natural healing processes that can occur in the
body. Reiki has been demonstrated to help just about every known medical
problem, but remember, it should not be seen as a stand-alone
alternative to western medicine: it is a powerful complement that can
make a profound difference in the patient's healing process.
A
Reiki session is extremely relaxing and is not in any way a religious
ceremony or ritual. The Reiki session does not intrude on the patient's personal "space",
neither physical nor spiritual or energetic. It involves the "laying-on
of hands" where appropriate, and the gentle caressing of the body's aura
when physical touch would be inappropriate.
There is one aspect of Reiki that is not widely known. As
 much
as we can use Reiki to help heal ourselves, we can use Reiki with
spectacular results on animals and plants. We can even use Reiki to
cleanse and purify the foods that we eat and the spaces within which we
live and work.
One thing is certain: whether you consider Reiki as a complementary
healing technique to help yourself, or whether you feel drawn to helping
others through learning how
to use Reiki - it is a wonderful healing experience.
Reiki means many thing to many people and you will find all sorts of
different "forms" of Reiki, each with a different name and
justification. The Reiki that I practice
is as close as I can tell to what was
practised by Mikao Usui who introduced this form of energy-based and
spiritual healing in the early part of the twentieth century. I heal
with Reiki
from the Heart center of my body and spirit. It is a spiritual pathway
and I am simp ly a conductor for the Universal Energies to pass through
and concentrate in order to help others only for the highest good.
If you browse the web searching
for Reiki you will find thousands of sites claiming all sorts of
nonsense: that Reiki was a gift given to us 10,000 years ago by a
powerful galactic civilisation that visited ancient Sumerians; that
Reiki was the energy-healing system that came from Atlantis; that
Reiki is Tibetan; that Reiki is a religion or a cult, even a sect; that
Reiki is, itself, utter nonsense. None of these claims are true.
The name "Reiki" is a combination of the
 Japanese symbols Rei and Ki, which are
usually translated together as "Universal Life Energy". In fact there are some
alternative
translations that include '"soul energy", or "aura" or "mysterious
spirit", or even "spiritually guided life force energy"' (cited from
Reiki Master/Teacher
Taggart King).
Clearly, Reiki is an energy which is complex and is full of Spirit.
The energy, Ki, can also be likened to the Chi often found in Chinese
culture (Feng Shui or Qi Gong). Although many would deny it,
the healing power of Reiki seems to be very similar to many of the
techniques of "hands-on" healing practiced by the world's indigenous
peoples: on the surface it looks very similar to the techniques used by
what French people call simply "healers", a practice known as
"magnetism" (but there are some profound differences).
Mikao Usui, who introduced Reiki in Japan at the beginning of the
 twentieth century, was a devout Tendai Buddhist who followed a
strictly spiritual life, always searching for ways to improve himself
and ways in which to help others. It is likely that he was a person with
a natural "healing" gift. In any event, he combined his incredible
knowledge and practice of Buddhist and Shintoist spirituality with
everything that he could learn about healing: he come up with
techniques, even, one could say, a spiritual way of life, that came to
be known as Reiki.
Mikao Usui taught his students to follow a spiritual path using five
precepts, or guidelines, essentially teaching them to live in the
present moment, free of anger and worry, and with total integrity.
"Inviting the blessings of the secret method,
Cure many illnesses with the miraculous spiritual medicine...
Today only,
Do not anger,
Do not worry,
Be humble
Be honest in your work,
Be compassionate towards yourself and others.
In the morning and
at night,
Hold your hands in prayer,
Think in your spirit,
Chant with your mouth, mind and body,
Change for the better with Reiki."
Mikao Usui, 1865-1926
The Reiki precepts are similar in context to those proposed by many
Tendai and Zen teachers who practiced at the same time as Usui, and it
seems that they are derived from the tenets of life of an ancient Tendai
sect known as the Shugendo. They probably date to around the ninth
century.
Please
contact me here if you wish to arrange a Reiki healing session.
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