What Is Reiki?

Reiki means universal life force in Japanese. It describes an energy that some cultures also refer to as ki or chi or prana. Because this energy is universal, it is found in everything around us and within ourselves. It is an energy that connects us, and no one person or tradition has an exclusive right to it because it belongs to all of us. 

Due to lifestyle choices and habits, individuals may find themselves in a state of imbalance, or separated from the universal life energy. Such situations can arise when we focus too much on the material conditions and problems that we perceive around us, rather than going within to immerse ourselves in the spiritual. Reiki treatments and attunements can help you restore this balance and reconnect with your higher self, clearing the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual blockages created by everyday life. There can be many benefits of this. Some benefits include healing on all levels, greater sense of self awareness and increased intuition. Many people report experiencing one or all of these beneficial effects.

Reiki appears in your life when you need it, and flows to where it is needed. The practitioner acts as a conduit and while he or she may request that Reiki flow to a certain area of the body, or to a specific plane, ultimately the wisdom of Reiki will allow it to flow where it can be most helpful to you. For this reason, during a treatment, you need only to let the energy flow.

How Does Reiki Work?

We and everything around us vibrates. This vibration is what forms our bio-magnetic field, the magnetic field produced by living organisms. In recent years, scientists have begun researching this biomagnetic field more and more. When a Reiki Master or practitioner performs a session, their energy vibrates at a higher level than non-practitioners. An average body vibrates at 4-6 hertz when sitting, and 7.5 hertz when standing. When performing a treatment, the practitioner’s hands vibrate at a rate of about 7-10 hertz.

As a result of this increased energy flow, you may experience feelings of wellness, decreased anxiety, feelings of peace. In addition, you may even note improvements in physical conditions.

During the session, the practitioner will place their hands on or above your body. Direct contact is not necessary for an effective treatment, and you will remain fully clothed. This is because the energy can permeate everything, and can be sent over a distance. In fact, distance treatments and attunements are just as effective as in-person treatments. The Reiki energy will flow through the practitioner’s hands and through your being to wherever it is needed. Reiki is unique in that the energy flows from the universe and is not produced by the practitioner. For this reason, the practitioner also receives a treatment every time they perform a session! This is also the reason why the practitioner does not feel drained after performing a treatment.

In order for a practitioner to be able to act as a channel for Reiki, they must be attuned to it by a Reiki master. The attunements last for life and never go away. Once the energy begins flowing, it continues flowing for the rest of your life. The practitioner placing their hands on or above the recipient, or having the intention to, is all that is needed to begin the flow of energy.

How Did Reiki Begin?

Although the energy of Reiki has existed since the beginning of time, Dr. Mikao Usui is generally considered the founder of the system of Reiki that is most commonly practiced in West. In other words, Dr. Mikao Usui was the first Reiki master of most of the Reiki lineages that we see in the West. Reiki lineages refer to the line of Reiki masters who have passed along Reiki teachings and attunements. During the latter part of the 19th century, Dr. Mikao Usui was a practicing Buddhist monk in Japan. He attended a Buddhist school near Mount Kurama in Japan, traveling widely and studying health and healing.

As a result of problems Dr. Usui was experiencing at the time, he decided to embark on a retreat involving meditation, prayer and fasting. He did this atop Mount Kurama. During a 21 day fasting and meditation period, Dr. Usui experienced a bright light that came towards him. This brilliant light hit Dr. Usui on his forehead. During this experience, he became unconscious and saw visions of the Reiki energy and symbols. It was then that Dr.Usui became aware of Reiki. He discovered that he could heal himself and others at the physical level.

Upon further meditation, Dr. Usui discovered the 5 principles of Reiki, which form the foundation of Reiki today, and recognize the need to heal at the mental, emotional and spiritual levels in addition to the physical level. He conceived these principles in such a way as to keep Reiki free of religious dogma.

Dr. Usui would go on to open a clinic where he provided people with Reiki treatments and attunements. During this time he refined his methodology and developed a system for passing on the attunements.

Over his lifetime, he trained about 20, trained 2000 practitioners, and treated countless others.

How Did Reiki Spread?

After Dr. Usui passed in 1926, the tradition was continued by Mr. Chujiro Hiyashi, one of the masters Dr. Usui initiated. Mr. Hiyashi also operated a clinic and expanded on the teachings of Dr Usui, eventually developing more formal guidelines for treatments and attunements. He also was the first to begin treating patients on a table, rather than in a chair, and the first to use group sessions, with several practitioners working on a person at once, rather than just a single practitioner. Mr. Hiyashi trained 13 Reiki masters.

After Mr. Hayashi’s death in 1940, it was Mrs. Hawayo Takata who brought Reiki from Japan to the west.

Mrs. Takata

Mrs. Takata was a student of Mr. Hayashi, and taught Reiki and provided treatments to people in the United States until her death in 1980. She was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Hawaii. After her husband’s death in 1930, Takata experienced a number of difficulties in her life, such as the death of her sister. In addition, she suffered from several physical illnesses, such as a tumor, a nervous condition and asthma. By the time of her husband’s death, Mrs. Takata’s parents had moved back to Japan, and she traveled there to inform them of her sister’s death. She also sought medical treatment for her conditions.

However, instead of agreeing to surgery as her doctors had recommended, she instead visited Mr. Hiyashi’s Reiki clinic. Mr. Hiayshi and his staff began to treat Mrs. Takata. In addition, Mr. Hiyashi provided Mrs. Takata with Reiki training and hired her to work at the clinic. Eventually, Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii and opened a number of clinics there. People came to know her as a healer and she traveled the world training practitioners and masters and proving treatments. Many people attribute Mrs. Takata’s success as a healer to the fact that she did Reiki treatments that often lasted for hours. She also treated her patients as often as possible.

Mrs. Takata taught somewhat differently than she had been taught. For example, she did not allow students to take notes, or to draw the Reiki symbols on papers. She believed that treatments and attunements should never be free and charged $10,000 for training as a master.

Mrs. Takata died in December of 1980, after having initiated 22 masters. These 22 masters continued to provide treatments and attunements. This ensured that Reiki has continued to spread around the world. 

Conclusion

When you receive a Reiki treatment or attunement, you are receiving energy directly from the universe. This powerful, universal energy is shared by all of us, and can help you clear blockages at all levels of your being. Reiki can help put you back in contact with your inner voice, lead to greater mental clarity, a reduction of stress, and may help improve physical blockages. Working with this powerful energy means more balance, greater self awareness, a greater sense of peace, and a foundation to promote healing.

Start your Reiki journey today and change your life for the better!