Category:Reiki

From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers

Reiki energy can be transmitted through the hands, without contact; photo by AndreyPopov

Reiki, roughly translated as "Universal Energy," refers to a system of energetic healing that originated in Japan in the late 1800s. The word Reiki can refer to the therapy itself, more formally known as Reiki Ryoho ("Unversal Energy healing method"), and to the universal energy it employs for healing.

Administering a reiki treatment to a client; photo by Rukiah Shamon

A practitioner giving a reiki tratment to a client; photo by NewAfrica

Reiki does not make use of the practitioner’s own ki ("energy") in administering treatment, rather it follows in the style of yin Qigong ("passive ki circulation"), in which the practitioner allows energy to flow through their energetic and physical bodies. In this case, that energy is Reiki. As a form of energy healing, Reiki is allied with other curative energetic practices that need not include physical contact, such as psychism, mental influence, and hypnosis.

The founder of Reiki was Mikaomi Usui (1865-1926), who created a system of seven hand positions focused on the head and shoulders which are used by a practitioner to transmit Reiki into a person being treated. These same hand positions can also be used by a practitioner to administer a self-treatment. Usui also created a set of symbols for his Reiki curriculum to help his students connect more easily with the universal energy and direct its effects more consciously. These symbols are still used by practitioners today, albeit with some variation between diffeent lineages. The most commonly seen symbol is Choku Rei ("Power") which is frequently engraved on stone pendulums used for diagnostic dowsing in preparation for a Reiki Treatment.

Becoming a Reiki practitioner requires an initiation, or attunement to the Reiki energy, along with subsequent practice to expand one’s energetic sensitivity and capacity to become a better channel for Reiki Ryoho. A Reiki Master is one who has both learned the entire Reiki system as well as the method for passing Reiki attunements to others, and is thus able to teach the system and initiate students.

Usui did not consider Reiki to be a religious or magical practice, and he presented it as a simple healing technique that anyone could use. Because of this, Reiki is religiously neutral but deeply spiritual, for the sounce or Reiki energy is the one or Universal God. The Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai ("Usui Spiritual Energy Healing Method Academy") still carries on Usui's teachings in Japan, sharing Reiki treatments and initiating students, but the organization has declined to spread their practices outside of Japan.

In the 1920s, a student of Usui, Dr. Chujiro Hayashi (1880-1940), further expanded the system of hand positions to extend over the entire body and incorporated Reiki into his medical clinic. In his clinic, a team of Reiki practitioners would systematically administer Reiki to patients, with multiple practitioners working on a single patient at a time. Dr. Hayashi’s system of whole body Reiki treatment is still in use today, although it is rarer to find practitioners practicing Reiki in teams.

In 1938, Dr. Hayashi conferred Reiki mastership on his student Hawayo Takata (1900-1980), an American of Japanese descent. Through Mrs. Takata, Reiki spread throughout the United States and internationally over the succeeding decades, generating branches and variations over time. These include the Reiki Alliance, founded by Phyllis Lei Furumoto (1948–2019), Karuna Reiki, founded by William Lee Rand (b. 1946), and the Radiance Technique, founded by Barbara Ray (b. 1941). In the West, Reiki has become especially popular with bodyworkers and massage therapists, and has been incorporated into the curriculum of some massage training programs.

Reiki has no known negative side effects and is a noninvasive complementary therapy that doesn't replace medical advice or treatment.

Reiki can be used

• to convey physical and emotional health benefits
• to bring about better sleep,and improved mood
• to relieve anxiety, depression, and fatigue
• to provide pain relief and pain management

Credits

This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:

• Author: Lukianos
• Contributors: catherine yronwode, Papa Newt, Nagasiva Yronwode
• Images: Rukiah Shamon, Wavebreakmedia, AndreyPopov, NewAfrica

See Also