Reiki is a safe, gentle, non-intrusive hands-on healing technique for
use on yourself, or with others, which uses spiritual energy to treat physical ailments without using pressure, manipulation or massage. However, it is much more than a physical therapy. It is a holistic system for balancing, healing and harmonising all aspects of the person-body, mind, emotions and spirit. It can also be used to encourage personal growth and spiritual awareness.
The Japanese word Reiki (illustrated left) is usually translated as Universal life-.force Energy" or "Spiritual Energy"
"Rei" is translated as the "wisdom and knowledge of all the Universe" which understands the need for and the cause of all problems and diffIculties. and how to heal them.
Ki" is the life-force energy which flows through every living thing -plants, animals, people and which is present in some form in everything around us, even in rocks and inanimate objects.
Reiki is a healing system that has been used and taught in the West since the 1930s. And until the early 1990s, the story of how Reiki was discovered was an oral history, handed down from teacher to students in a very traditional way. This story was about a Dr Mikao Usui, a learned scholar who taught in a Christian seminary. One day he was challenged by one of his students, who asked him if he believed in the Bible stories of Jesus 'healing, and, if so, when were they going to be taught how to heal?
As an honourable Japanese gentleman, who, realising that he could not teach his students any healing techniques. he dedicated the rest his life to finding out how Jesus and the Buddha had been able to heal. He travelled widely and learned other languages in order to research. He eventually ended up in a Zen Buddhist monastery, where the Abbot advised him to meditate to find the answers he was seeking.
At the end of a 21 day fasting retreat, Dr Usui was apparently struck by a great light. He saw the sacred symbols he had earlier found during his research and he acquired a deep understanding of them, receiving a spiritual empowerment and enlightenment. When it was over, despite feeling very weak from his fasting, he was able to rush down the mountain. He cut his foot in his rush to get down and it was bleeding badly, but when he held it the bleeding stopped and he was healed. Later he healed a young girl's toothache and the Abbot's arthriitis and he came to realise he had finally discovered the healing power for which he had been searching.
The story then went that he spent many years healing people in Japan before passing his knowledge and teaching on to Dr Chujiro Hayashi (1879-1940). After Dr Usui's death Hayashi opened a Reiki clinic. One day a young woman from Hawaii called Hawayo Takata who was visiting Japan, came to the clinic for treatment of a serious tumour. She was so impressed with the success of her treatment that she begged to be able to learn Reiki and Hayashi eventually agreed.
Mrs Takata established a system of teaching Reiki that survives to this day.
Taken from Reiki For Life by Penelope Quest.
The ability to give Reiki is learned simply through an oral tradition and a series of initiations from a Master to the student.
Reiki is a non-invasive therapy. There is no need to undress. Reiki works just as effèctively through clothes, blankets and in the case of accidents, through plaster casts. Reiki can be used in conjunction with many other therapies. Reiki is not affiliated with any religious dogma or practice, enabling people from any religious background to learn it.
There are five spiritual principles of Reiki, which were put in place by Dr Usui. These guidelines are still given today by Reiki masters around the world as a reminder to us of what is of real value:
Just for today do not worry ,
Just for today do not anger
Honour your parents, teachers and elders
Earn your living honestly
Show gratitude to everything
