WHAT IS REIKI?
Reiki is a Tibetan – Buddhist healing method which was long forgotten before a Japanese Buddhist dr Mikao Usui rediscovered it at the end of the 19th century. It is an energy healing technique which is administered with hands (with or without touch). The practice is based on the belief that all living beings have an unseen “life force energy” flowing through them and that this energy subsides when they die.
A Reiki practitioner gently places his/her hands right above or on certain places on the body and lets the energy flow. The beautiful thing about this practice is that the practitioner is an energy channel which opens when activated and lets the energy move on to the client who is being treated. Both are fueled with energy at the same time and there is no energy loss. The reiki energy has a healing effect on the mental, physical and emotional level of the treated person.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
It is simple. We are all energy channels, but throughout our life we manage to clutter our channels with unhealthy food habits, stressful life, negative thinking patterns etc. Once becoming a Reiki practitioner our main energy channels are cleaned, and we become enabled to help ourselves and others to heal certain conditions and diseases.
When treating someone with reiki we are administering energy to someone and this process relaxes the client and gives the body a break from the stresses of daily life. Once in a state of relaxation, the body is able to heal any damage brought on by stress, injury, or disease. Reiki enhances and accelerates the body’s natural healing process, because by relaxing it the body can focus on healing itself.
WHAT DOES REIKI MEAN?
Reiki comes from two Japanese words: REI and KI. Rei stands for universal (and it can also be interpreted as divine, unpolarized, universal, spiritual consciousness or wisdom). Ki stands for energy. So we can say that REIKI stands for universal, life force energy.
Reiki is not a religion and it has nothing to do with any religious practice.
THE BENEFITS OF REIKI
- Relaxation and stress reduction
- Improved mood and emotional well-being
- Better sleep and less insomnia problems
- Lower blood pressure and pain rates.
Reiki is a complementary practice with other healing processes, and it is advised to be administered together with other conventional therapies and not as a sole healing process. Reiki can help enhance these traditional therapies as well. In other words, Reiki can do no harm.
REIKI PRACTITIONERS
Reiki is taught at four levels: first-level practitioners can practice on themselves or others through light touch or hand placement in certain positions above the body; second-degree practitioners enhance their transfer of energy even further and can practice distance healing as well; third-degree or master level practitioners boost their reiki practice further on a more spiritual level and the fourth degree is the teacher’s level and is meant for those who want to initiate others into Reiki and teach others to become Reiki teachers.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT DURING A REIKI SESSION?
A Reiki session lasts usually up to 60-90 minutes depending on the reason one would like to be treated. The client and the reiki practitioner usually have an introductory interview before the first session and agree on the treatment. Whether the client is getting Reiki live or on distance, the client is going to experience a feeling of deep relaxation. The more relaxed the body the more other sensations are going to be intense (feeling of warmth in the body, or chills, or flow etc.)