What is Reiki?

Reiki is Japanese technique of using energy for healing to create relaxation and stress relief. Reiki is a holistic healing solution that has become increasingly accepted by conventional healthcare professionals, The name of Reiki (pronounced Ray-Key) derives from the Japanese words: rei, which means "spiritual wisdom or the higher force" and ki - "life force energy", a concept known throughout Asia both in healing and martial arts practices. So Reiki means something akin to "life force of the Higher Power or "Life Energy through Spiritual Wisdom". Reiki's full potential for therapy and healing is still being explored, but it has shown itself to be a safe and natural method of healing. It is an effective method of treatment for certain types of cases, and many healthcare providers and patients appreciate the one-on-one, focused connection between healer and client that comes with Reiki.

In fact, Reiki is becoming so commonly accepted and endorsed that it is being practiced in some North American hospitals!

What Happens During a Reiki Session?

When you come in for a session, you will lie, fully clothed, on the treatment table. My hands will remain in a stationary position, gently on or slightly above your body, in several locations ranging from head to toe. Sometimes practitioners do not use the prescribed hand positions, preferring to use a more intuitive approach. Private areas are worked on 4-6 inches above the body. There is no manipulation of the skin or tissue: Reiki is not massage!

During a session, many individuals report feeling a cold sensation, pulsating heat, or a tingling sensation. Most enter a calm, relaxed state. In some individuals, chronic or acute pain can diminish or completely vanish. Sometimes allergies and other infirmities completely disappear. The experience is different for each person.

However, it is also important to remember that, no matter what is troubling us, 'we didn't get this way overnight' and we won't 'recover overnight', either. Reiki is not magical, so you must approach it with the same sensible expectations that you would apply any other type of treatment or therapy.

Healing takes commitment and time... one moment at a time.

What Can You Expect After a Session?

Immediately after a Reiki session, allow yourself time to come fully back into your awareness. You may feel so relaxed that you feel "spaced-out". I often suggest to my clients that they sit and relax for 15 minutes and sip a cool glass of purified water. One technique that helps a great deal is becoming in touch with the soles of your feet and their placement on the floor.

Over the next few days, you may notice that you are detoxifying the waste that has built up in your system. You might want to allow more time in the bathroom in the mornings following your Reiki session. I recommend that you increase your water and/or herbal tea intake so that the toxins are flushed out more readily. You may want to rest more too, so allow for some extra "down time".

Most people feel an immediate improvement in their level of pain. Energy and alertness increase daily and a feeling of overall well being may be noticed.

How Many Sessions Will I Need?

For a start, three or four sessions over 10-14 days are recommended, to remove entrenched blocks in your energy system; after that, I recommend once a week or once every two weeks until the issue has resolved. You will begin to notice some improvement after the first session. Long-standing health issues are usually cleared up in five to six visits.

Illness generally begins in the energy field of the body; if we keep our subtle bodies healthy using Reiki, and keep our physical bodies healthy with good nutrition and exercise, we should be able to remain active and whole.

How is Reiki a Holistic Approach to my Well Being?

I strongly recommend that you do not discontinue any medications or treatment plans that your medical practitioner or other holistic healer has deemed necessary, unless you first speak with them in person.

Reiki energy works in concert with all other forms of therapy. Thus, it makes a wonderful complement to other treatments. We can all work together to get you feeling healthier, happier and whole. This is the holistic approach.

Reiki energy goes to exactly where it is needed, so a Reiki Practitioner never needs to diagnose nor prescribe - nor do ethics or law permit them to do so.

When is Reiki Appropriate?

Reiki can help with pain management, recovery from surgery, and medication side effects. It can also sometimes bring comfort to the dying.

Life force responds to thoughts and feelings. Negative thoughts and feelings disrupt our natural energy fields, and Reiki helps harmonize our personal energy and return it to its healthy flow. Whatever conditions that respond to the harmonization of energy are appropriate for Reiki work.

Of course, Reiki can help with much, much more, but these are a few of the reasons why some people use it as a complementary therapy in their healthcare routine.

The following list of the benefits of Reiki has been assembled through anecdotal research. Clients treated with Reiki have reported feeling:

- More creativity

- More balance

- More vitality

- More relaxation

- Increased awareness

- Improved pain management (or absence of pain)

- Improved mobility

- Improved ability to sleep

- Emotional balance

These reported benefits generally lasted at least three to ten days, the original problem often disappearing permanently.

Tell Me a Little About the Usui System of Natural Healing?

Reiki is a Japanese holistic, light-touch, energy-based modality. Working as a support mechanism to the body, Reiki re-establishes a normal energy flow of ki (life force energy) throughout the system, which can in turn enhance and accelerate the body's innate healing ability.

Through a series of hand positions, either directly on or just above the body, the energy worker allows for the flow of energy through their body. The client's body then draws off the amount of energy that is required. The simplicity of a Reiki session may raise some skepticism; however, Reiki attunement does not need you to believe in it, for it to be effective. After experiencing it, many clients keep coming back to re-experience these relaxing sensations.

Reiki is simple and produces measurable results. It is power, light and love. Reiki transcends the man-made divisions of religion, economics, location, gender, and race.

What Is the History of Usui Reiki?

Dr. Usui discovered Reiki during a mysticial experience on Mt. Kurama, a sacred mountain north of Kyoto, Japan. Over the years, he worked with the energy he had discovered, eventually opening a Reiki practice outside of Tokyo, in 1922. He also started a Reiki organization to pass on the heritage of Reiki, whose practices have developed over time.

In Japan, Reiki is a generic to describe many types of healing and spiritual work. However, in the West, it is used to describe the system of healing based on Dr. Usui's method.

It has only been in the last 10-15 years that members of the Reiki community in Japan have opened their hearts to us in the West and supplied us with actual information on the history and lineage of Reiki. Prior to this time, the facts were misunderstood or generally not known.

For information about Mikaomi Usui, the founder of Usui Reiki, please visit: http://www.asunam.com/life_of_mikao_usui.htm

What are the five principles or precepts of Reiki?

Reiki's Five Principles offer a simple guideline for daily conduct with others and self. They are:

- Just for today, I will not anger

- Just for today, I will not worry

- Just for today, I will be grateful

- Just for today, I will work hard on myself

- Just for today, I will be kind to others