What is Reiki
What is Reiki? Understanding Reiki Basics
By Dennis Bluthardt, Namaste Studios
Reiki is a specific form of energy work that originated in Japan. The practice involves the light touch of hands-on or above the client’s body to balance the body’s energy systems. The technique posits that stress and negative thought patterns can disrupt the body’s energy flow. By restoring the flow of life energy, practitioners believe that this therapeutic modality can bring relief from anxiety, depression, and even physical pain. Sessions generally are profoundly relaxing and may bring about a sense of peace and well-being.
What is Reiki?
Reiki, a form of energy healing that started in Japan in the early 20th Century, was founded by a Japanese man named Mikao Usui. As the name suggests, “Reiki” is derived from the Japanese words “Rei,” which means universal, and “Ki,” which means life force energy. The practice is steeped in Japanese spiritual traditions and the connection between mind, body, and spirit. A significant spiritual occurrence that happened to him set Usui off on the path to developing Reiki. He wanted to know more about energy and its healing properties. He was particularly interested in how energy worked to bring about balance, not just in one person but in whole groups of people.
At the heart of Reiki is the foundational belief that all living entities have a life force energy that pulses within them. When this energy becomes blocked or reduced, it can lead to physical, emotional, and spiritual maladies. A Reiki practitioner is trained to channel this universal life force energy and help direct the energy flow to the person they are working on. The process is often described as a non-invasive form of touch (or sometimes by not touching the person at all) that helps connect the person’s energy field for healing.
The people who practice Reiki suggest that you have good intentions in mind when doing a healing. They often focus on some of the core principles of compassion or mindfulness as a means of helping heal a person’s energy field. By focusing on these principles, you could even perform a Reiki healing on yourself. Because it’s so gentle and non-invasive, the only thing you must worry about during healing is that the person practicing on you has good intentions.
The Basics of Reiki
Relying on channeled energy to help someone relax or spark a self-healing process, Reiki is a holistic healing practice that uses many different techniques. Hand placements, for example, are one of the fundamental techniques. That’s when a Reiki practitioner might rest their hands lightly on someone’s body or hold their hands near someone’s body. A practitioner can guide energy through their hands to help another feel better, for example, or to help alleviate stress. Hand placements will vary and may focus on a different area of a client’s body, depending on that person’s ailment or imbalance.
A practitioner may ask a client to visualize colored light, another effective technique. Exactly where to channel this energy can be complex for a client to relate to, but a practitioner may encourage visualization. A practitioner can ask you what color your healing energy might be if it is a colored light. Such internal mechanics can help some people visualize and think about healing and can set up a variety of mental imagery to guide the channeled energy most drawn to it. This mental self-help is most necessary to find profound relaxation.
A Reiki practitioner can draw symbols, which is another technique many bring to the practice. Each symbol has a different representation or meaning. For example, Cho Ku Rei and Sei He Ki can help draw up more energy or help put more healing energy into someone’s body. These symbols can help a practitioner, a client, or anyone with the flow of energy. Either symbol can also help heal someone with an emotional problem and will trigger the mind to think about these areas before, during, or after a session. Moreover, the symbols can help another feel secure.
Benefits of Reiki
Reiki, the Japanese form of energy healing, is a great stressbuster. Using either a light touch or an utterly hands-off approach (the practitioner’s hands are near but do not touch the client’s body) channels unseen energy to balance the energy systems. If you have ever been fortunate enough to have a session with a Reiki practitioner, you will know the deep relaxation that occurs as this takes place. It would be remiss of me to omit that, during an actual session, your stress and whatever is causing it to go out of the nearest window. The whole process promotes feelings of peace, security, and well-being. What’s not to like?
Reiki also works with all other medical or therapeutic techniques. It also considers how well it sits within your treatment or class regimes for acupuncture, yoga, and aromatherapy practitioners. I hear a lot about evidence-based treatments I have looked at.
We know that acupuncture works on pressure points to help muscle relaxation in different body parts. That’s the physical evidence. Deep relaxation could be evident if your client/patient/student has a Reiki session after or directly before it. Your mind is then allowed to continue to assist with the process, as well as any emotional opening on your part that’s left as dormant potential.
Another “add” to that is that you may find a little more when you incorporate Reiki as a complementary therapy in the first instance. These can only be positive inclusions, and we’ll talk about adding them to your relaxation “box” as you explore therapies. As your body starts to relax and stress falls out of your busy lives, you may find your mindfulness and body awareness improving and, with it, a healthy lifestyle. You’ll feel so good; finding these healthier add-ons will make it much easier for you to do so on a day-to-day basis, both emotionally and, in many cases, physically.
How to Experience Reiki
Finding a qualified practitioner is an essential step to a positive experience. Start with recommendations; ask friends who are into this sort of thing or ask in different online communities you’re a part of. Also, looking for certifications from reputable Reiki education organizations could be beneficial. The practitioner should have a strong understanding of energy work and be able to articulate their take on energy work clearly. But, most importantly, you’ll want to consider how much it feels “right” to settle down into a multiplicity of vulnerability with this person. So, go with your gut feeling; like most things in life, that will be the most important thing.
In a Reiki session, you will sit on a soft surface in a calm, quiet room, and the practitioner will guide you through some relaxation techniques. Most women lie down for the session, which lasts 1 to 1.5 hours. The practitioner will lightly touch different points on your body in a way that flows around your body. You’ll be fully clothed and probably be asked to close your eyes. Some people talk about feeling different and random sounds during the session (the one I will tell you about includes hearing some angry birds). Along with other people “appearing” to them, they often feel a series of different zaps or currents of energy, like warmth or a little tingly sensation.
As with the above, don’t hesitate to speak up if you’re uncomfortable and clarify any questions.
Self: even basic self-care things for the things you’ll eventually learn about yourself, such as how to manage your energy and improve your well-being! All you need to do is find a quiet space, set an intention for your time, decide what hand positions you want to use, meditate, talk to yourself, inquire, or give yourself some time quietly lying down. Plus, when you feel certain parts of your body tense in a particular way, touch that part with your other available hands. Then, practice consistently and make a comfy routine to lead into this. We find that spring and different scenarios that are “spring”-like can efficiently serve as beneficial scenarios for an opportunity to adopt a beneficial GTA routine; so why shouldn’t this element, for that reason, be held in that same place?
A written GTA, including all this advice + all these resources together. Rather than simply following this journey, why not lead and facilitate your journey?
Common Misconceptions About Reiki
Reiki’s effectiveness and nature as a healing practice have been questioned, sometimes quite harshly. Indeed, it sometimes seems that people don’t find it legitimate. Practical, and whether it is “real” or backed by science (i.e., calling it pseudoscience). These criticisms are based on limited scientific evidence and ignore the fact that the benefits of some practices can’t (or can’t yet) be measured. Many of these critics have likely never received a Reiki treatment, so it’s unfair for them to discount its benefits completely. Some people may hear about the supposed benefits of Reiki and reluctantly agree to judge it on its own merits rather than based solely on their own preconceived beliefs. Others may take the skeptic’s (scientific) perspective: If the claims about Reiki aren’t scientifically supported, then Reiki must be disregarded entirely as an ineffective practice.
Most discussions of Reiki don’t consider how it sits amongst other forms of energy healing. Some people think that all forms of energy healing are the same. This is far from true. There isn’t a “one size fits all” version of energy healing; some people might even call energy healing bad for you. For instance, acupuncture, therapeutic touch, and Reiki are all energy healing techniques, but they are distinct. These techniques all draw from different cultures, traditions, and systems. Acupuncture, for instance, comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which has its style and constructs (e.g., the ling shu and the five elements). Acupuncture treats either meridians or singular points on the body through physical touch with inserted needles.
Therapeutic touch is unique, involving a concept of the human energy field (HEF), and extensively uses our evolved nature as primates to “groom” the HEF with our hands. Treatments must occur in person and necessitate a quiet and calm environment. This makes therapeutic touch a discrete modality in the biomedical paradigm. Conversely, a Reiki practitioner with enough experience and appropriate training can perform treatments using only touch without a bunch of needles. For some people, this is a preferred experience.
Reiki is a modality of holistic healing. It uses life force energy to promote relaxation and a healing environment within the body. There is a belief in Reiki that energy flows through all living things, like what is called qi or chi in Chinese culture. When that energy becomes blocked or unbalanced, we can feel ill, stressed, and generally out of sorts. It’s up to the practitioner to use gentle touch or hand placements of the body again or at least to prime the pumps and restore proper energy flow.
Reiki can be explored in two ways. The first is to make it a personal practice, which can be an all-but-astounding experience that lets you access your healing power. But the second approach is a better bet if you’re unsure about Reiki or just plain uncertain about energy work in general. This is where you consult a practitioner for a better, more hands-on understanding of the practice.
The jury’s still out on this, but Reiki’s bonuses likely go beyond relaxation. Many people seek out Reiki because it helps with anxiety, can improve sleep, and helps create an intimate, heartfelt sense of peace. We can all use a little R&R from the constant hustle of modern life.
Reiki sounds appealing to you at this point. It may seem like you’re ready to dive in following, or you’re still unsure whether it’s right for you. Whatever the case, keep reading! We have only just begun to crack the surface of how profound this ancient practice is. To know that it’s at least one of the few things you need to relax in life might supercharge that proverbial ninth chakra lying dormant within you.
To learn more, visit Reiki at Namaste Studios to book a Reiki session. Additionally, you can find more of our Reiki Blogs here.
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