Treatments Reiki
Reiki
What is Reiki?
A Japanese man called Mikao Usui was responsible for developing Reiki, he was a Tendai Buddhist born in 1865 and who died in 1926.
Reiki is a energy healing system based on channelling, and working with energy.
The energy is quite often referred to as chi, and is the energy that underlies all oriental medicine. When an acupuncturist practises acupuncture he/she uses needles to encourage energy to flow through a person's meridians, he/she are working with the same energy (chi) that a Reiki practitioner channels.
If we think of Tai Chi the energy cultivation technique, where the various graceful movements that are made, serve to build up the body's personal reserves of energy, you are again referring to chi.
The energy is also known as Prana, it is the energy that you work with when you practice yoga.
From the Oriental point of view, chi doesn't just flow through us, but it surrounds and engulfs us too, so in Feng Shui you arrange your living environment to allow the better flow of chi through your household.
When we work with Reiki we are connecting to, and channelling the same external source, a chi that flows through the practitioner into the person being treating.
Reiki is not attached to or allied to any particular religious belief, therefore it is acceptable to all people whether they have no religious beliefs or very strongly held beliefs.
Where does Reiki come from?
A Japanese-American lady called Hawayo Takata introduced Reiki to America and the West in the 1930s. When she started teaching it, it was probably the worst time in human history to be teaching a Japanese healing technique in America, with thoughts of Pearl Harbour still fresh in everyone's minds, and the population generally hating and despising anything to do with Japan. Along comes Mrs Takata to teach Reiki, and so she felt prompted to put together a story about the history of Reiki to make it acceptable to a potentially hostile American public. So out goes Mikao Usui the Japanese Tendai Buddhist, and in comes Dr Mikao Usui, Christian theologian, and we were told a story about him travelling the world, studying theology at various universities, to try and find out about the healing powers that Jesus displayed. This was said to culminate with a 21-day period of fasting and meditating on the top of Mount Kurama, near Kyoto, when Usui saw symbols in bubbles of light, and Reiki was born!
Unfortunately most of this story is complete fabrication, put together for good reasons no doubt, but we can move on from this story now. The real history of Reiki is a lot more interesting and makes a lot more sense. Usui's Reiki is rooted in lots of existing Oriental traditions that were developing in Japan in Usui's time. Reiki draws on the Martial arts and energy cultivation techniques, and Usui Sensei was well versed in both these disciplines.
Reiki draws on an ancient tradition of Japanese Palm Healing, called teate. It uses empowerments (connection rituals) coming from Tendai Buddhism - a mystical form of Buddhism that's still practiced in Japan, and involves ways of controlling the energy that come from Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan.
So though the energy wasn’t new, Usui Sensei does seem to have put together different existing traditions in a new way. His various studies and experiences culminated in the development of Reiki, but it was however rooted in the existing traditions of energy cultivation .
Usui's Reiki was a path to enlightenment, with healing others as a part of what you did along that path, however here in the West we have now been presented with Reiki basically as a treatment technique. This is because of a historical quirk, one of Mikao Usui's students was a man called Dr Hayashi, a retired surgeon commander from the Imperial navy, and a Christian. Dr Hayashi wasn't so interested in the 'spiritual path' side of Reiki, and he concentrated on Reiki as a treatment technique. Dr Hayashi went on to teach his way to Mrs Takata, and Mrs Takata then went on to bring Reiki to America and the Western world.
It is only in the last few years that people practising Western Reiki have had a chance to find out what Usui's original system was all about, and for the first time we now have a chance to follow more closely the system that Usui set down, rather than the distorted version that came through Dr Hayashi and Mrs Takata.
What is it like to receive Reiki?
When we talk about being on the receiving end of a Reiki treatment, while it can vary a great deal from one person to another in terms of what is felt when receiving a treatment, you can generalise about the sort of things that most people will experience.
The 'big three' sensations when receiving Reiki are:
(1) Deep relaxation
(2) Heat from the practitioner's hands
(3) Seeing colours
Reiki treatments make you feel relaxed,
sometimes deeply, deeply relaxed.
Most people while receiving Reiki end up drifting in and out of a very relaxed state, a state that is often referred to as an Alpha state, in such a relaxed state it is not uncommon for a client to lose track of time and sometimes an hour on the treatment couch can feel like only 15 minutes.
Some people seem to fall asleep, and for others it's very common to feel a lot of heat from the practitioner's hands, sometimes really intense heat, heat so intense that it's simply not possible for hands to get that hot. An explanation for this is that it appears that the body can't feel the energy in a distinctive way, and the best approximation it can come up with is to feel the energy as heat.
Another common experience during a treatment is seeing colours against your closed eyelids; it is quite common to see blue, lilac, violet,
and purple.
What Can Reiki Do for You?
One thing that Reiki seems to do for most people, is that it helps them to feel calmer, content, and serene.
It helps one to feel more positive, better able to cope, and not so affected by stressful people and stressful situations.
Clients may come for a treatment with everything from depression to a pain in their big toe, and they go away feeling more content, more positive, better able to cope, less stressed.
Following a treatment you may experience some emotional ups and downs. You may feel dissatisfied with things; you may have some physical symptoms that come to the surface like a cold or a headache. This is simply the energy is starting to bring things into balance, and part of the process of bringing things into balance involves releasing thoughts, emotions, and physical symptoms.
It is normal for this re-balancing to last about 3 days, and during this time it is advised that you ‘go with the flow’ listen to your body.
It is also advisable that you aid this re- balancing by drinking plenty of water, eating healthily, and taking plenty of rest.
Reiki works on all levels, it not only deals with physical problems but it works on the mental and emotional levels too.
What a wonderful gift we have in Reiki.
Reiki must be experienced to be appreciated!
