reiki

 Reiki Information And Attunements

Reiki is a natural healing system designed to assist in healing and help achieve balance.

Reiki originated in Japan.

Reiki is administered by a practitioner, who serves as a conduit through whom the Universal Life Energy can be transmitted to the recipient, by either hands-on or distance healing techniques. Practitioners may also practice Reiki self-treatments.

How does Reiki energy flow?

Reiki flows through our palms at different rates of speed, depending on various factors such as the extent of the recipient’s illness, degree of blockage, his or her readiness to accept change, and so on.

Is Reiki a form of faith healing?

No, Reiki is not a religion, nor is it based on the acceptance of any religious doctrine. Having a belief system is not a requirement for Reiki to work. Reiki does not infringe on anyone’s right to believe what he or she wishes. However, Reiki's principles are spiritual in nature and do encourage spiritual empowerment and growth.

Who can benefit from a Reiki treatment?

Reiki's gift of increased energy and vitality can be extended to anyone. It doesn't matter what a person's gender, race, intelligence, or financial status is. Reiki is not a healing energy reserved only for the elite, wealthy, educated, or spiritually evolved.

What does Reiki feel like?

Common Reiki sensations are heat or coolness, "pins and needles" tingling, vibrational buzzing, electrical sparks, numbness, throbbing, itchiness, and drowsiness.

What is a Reiki attunement?

A Reiki attunement is a ritual performed by a Reiki Master. A Reiki master is a master of energy healing (both hands on and at a less powerfully at a distance). The ritual involves energetic placement of Reiki symbols through a specific set of sequenced actions into the student's crown and palms.

Will Reiki ever run out?

When you are giving a Reiki treatment to someone, you are giving of your time and your intent to assist, but you are not giving away any of your own energy. Reiki is in infinite supply. It never runs out.

What is the purpose of the Reiki hand placements?

Emphasis is placed on devoting five minutes on each hand placement so that no part of the body is neglected and to ensure that each body part is given equal consideration.

Do I need to direct the flow of Reiki?

Reiki will automatically go to wherever it needs to go with no mental involvement of either the practitioner or the recipient. However, when mental intention is used, a linear pathway is opened. This cleared route allows Reiki to flow more effectively to that part of the body where attention is most desired.

What purpose do Reiki symbols serve?

Independently, each Reiki symbol has its own unique purposes. The combined function of these symbols is to provide Reiki practitioners with focal points for their healing intentions.

Why is Reiki called "smart energy"?

Reiki is an intelligent energy because it knows which areas of the body most need healing and will automatically flow to specific areas where suffering or imbalance are prevalent.

What does the word Reiki mean?

In brief, the word Rei means spirit, mystery, holy, sacred. Ki means energy, feeling or talent. So it is spiritual, sacred or holy energy. When we use the word spiritual, it means the spiritual discipline, the way, road or path (‘do’ in Japanese).
A translation for Reiki is: Spiritual Energy or Universal Energy.

Where does Reiki come from, how old is it, where do its roots lie?

Although the teachings of Reiki are new to the West, Reiki’s origins stretch back in an unbroken spiritual lineage to the founder Shaka Nyorai (Sakyamuni Tathagata). 563BCE – 483BCE.

Is Reiki the same as spiritual healing? If not, what are the differences?

A Reiki Practitioner is not a healer. The Reiki Practitioner, while passively touching the client radiates the Reiki energy from the hands which sets up the right conditions within the body of the client for the body’s own healing mechanisms to be activated.

Reiki is a unique form of energy in that it is not the practitioner’s own physical energy. It is very different to the physical (or Qi – pronounced chi) energy used in acupuncture, polarity therapy, therapeutic touch or spiritual healing. These are all highly effective therapies, but they are using physical energy which means that when using such therapies to treat someone, one is in danger of being drained oneself and experiencing resultant imbalance within one’s own body. When using Qi or physical energy one also really needs to have a good understanding of energy manipulation or one can create imbalance in the person being treated.

Reiki, in contrast, is not physical energy. Physical energy is measured as a wave length (i.e. polarized) whereas Reiki energy is of a far higher frequency not usually active within the human body and does not have a wave length as do grosser, less subtle, energies. That is, it is unpolarized. When the Reiki Practitioner’s hands come into contact with something living, Reiki radiating from them becomes a wave length. This wavelength simply goes to the area of most predominant disease or disharmony, be it physical, mental or emotional, and sufficient treatment has the potential to set up the right conditions for healing to take place.

Because Reiki is not a physical energy it has a great advantage over other energy systems in that it enables the practitioner of Reiki to treat themselves. This is not possible with Qi/physical energy.

For the Reiki energy to be activated within your hands it is necessary to be attuned/initiated to it. The client will not have Reiki activated within their system simply by receiving a treatment from a practitioner. It is necessary to be attuned/initiated by someone who has been trained to the appropriate level i.e. Reiki Master/Teacher.

Note that spiritual healing was added into Reiki by Iris Ishikuro. Please refer to her master manual entitled ‘Ishikuro on Calligraphy Symbols and Spirit Communication’

What is the difference between reiju and attunement?

Attunements

A Reiki lineage is the direct line of information that the teacher has been invested with, it is exact, it denotes the specific rituals and practices relevant to that lineage that have been given in person.

A Reiki attunement/initiation is a very exact process. It is a direct transmission from teacher to pupil; the pupil is finely tuned to allow Reiki energy to flow freely.
Contained within that attunement/initiation is not only the spiritual essence and information of that teacher but all the teachers before him/her within that directly transmitted lineage.

Reiju

Traditionally in Japan reiju did not ‘make’ one into a practitioner of any level. Reiju is simply a Buddhist blessing. Reiki has its origins in Esoteric Buddhism and Reiju is for those students who have already received Reiki attunements/empowerments, it is a blessing and a support for the student’s personal growth.

Reiki has a number of practices that when brought together teach one how to use Reiki for spiritual development and healing. Several mainstream Reiki styles are currently using Reiju to attune.

Any master, teacher or student who has received any level of Reiki by reiju ‘attunement’ has not received Reiki. They have received something other than Reiki. Be aware reiju does not empower/attune anybody to any level of Reiki. Whatever the lineage, reiju cannot attune/initiate people to Reiki.

Hiroshi Doe’s Reiju

The reiju that Hiroshi Doi described is not what was used or taught by Usui Sensei or the Usui Reiki Gakkai. This reiju method was developed by Doi with the help of his students, emulating the reiju given by Koyama to Doi. Doi was not allowed to see the reiju process when he received it so Doi’s method was developed solely on the sensations he felt in receiving Gakkai reiju.

Doi has also explained that the Gakkai reiju process has been changed several times over the years.

Does it matter if someone is attuned at a distance?

Yes it does. This process has always been done face-to-face. From the point of view of Reiki’s history from Buddhism, it is a hands-on process. Being physically present is also about the student and master preparing themselves. A Reiki attunement/empowerment is a very exact process. It is a direct transmission from teacher to pupil.

Is it possible to attune oneself to Reiki? If not, why not

No. It is not possible to attune oneself to Reiki. It is a very specific process involving an inner connection and an inter-connection and can only be effectively done by a master who is fully attuned themselves. Because it is about an inner and an inter-connection at the same time with someone you trust.

An attunement/initiation involves processes that are done in a specific order and specific way in order to open the student to the Reiki energy. You cannot guarantee this happening over a distance. It also involves some physical contact.

What is the purpose of meditation?

Meditation usually refers to a state of extreme relaxation, in which the body is generally at rest and the mind quieted of all surface thoughts. Several major religions include ritual meditation; however, meditation itself need not be a religious or spiritual activity. It is widely thought to be of Eastern origin.

when you practice meditation every day then you grow in your ability to be conscious of your thinking and emotions. This is a very great benefit, because when you can observe the reaction of “your personality”, then you have leverage to make changes in your conditioned behaviors.

Meditation reduces stress.

Meditation is good for peace of mind.

Mental stress and tension gives rise to so many physical disorders meditation helps one to come out of it.

Meditation helps in concentration of the mind.

Meditation is very important. It has a lofty Purpose - to take us from this world full of suffering and misery into the world of the never – ending happiness, joy and bliss.

Meditation is also a method of pure discipline, that we must follow discreetly and if we follow it in a proper way we will find what we are looking for in ourselves.

The true purpose of meditation is to achieve something which is truly permanent, everything in this universe is temporary.

Meditation is not a crutch to run away from problems.

Meditation is closely akin to prayer and worship, wherein the practitioner turns spiritual thoughts over in the mind and engages the brain in higher thinking processes. The goal in this case is the receipt of spiritual insights and new understanding.

Meditation generally involves avoiding wandering thoughts and fantasies, and calming and focusing the mind. Meditation does not necessarily require effort and can be experienced as "just happening". Physical postures include sitting cross-legged, standing, lying down, and walking (sometimes along designated floor patterns). Quiet is often desirable, and some people use repetitive activities such as deep breathing, humming or chanting to help induce a meditative state.

Purpose of mantras?

A mantra is a device to aid your concentration. Instead of scattered thoughts it helps to focus them by removing unwanted second thoughts which serve to block as they compete with each other. Mantras therefore help with focus and removes unwanted thoughts emotions and feelings. It is also connected with breathing techniques that help us physically and mentally. Mantras are also a means of communication with Spirit and of connection to Divine.

Health Applications of Meditation

Meditation has entered the mainstream of health care as a method of stress and pain reduction. For example, in an early study in 1972, transcendental meditation was shown to effect the human metabolism by lowering the biochemical byproducts of stress, such as lactate (lactic acid), and by decreasing heart rate and blood pressure and inducing favorable brain waves. (Scientific American 226: 84-90 (1972) )

As a method of stress reduction, meditation is often used in hospitals in cases of chronic or terminal illness to reduce complications associated with increased stress including a depressed immune system. There is a growing consensus in the medical community that mental factors such as stress significantly contribute to a lack of physical health, and there is a growing movement in mainstream science to fund and do research in this area (e.g. the establishment by the NIH in the U.S. of 5 research centers to research the mind-body aspects of disease.)

Dr. James Austin, a neurophysiologist at the University of Colorado, reported that Zazen or Zen meditation rewires the circuitry of the brain in his landmark book “Zen and the Brain”. This has been confirmed using sophisticated imaging techniques which examine the electrical activity of the brain.

Dr. Herbert Benson of the Mind-Body Medical Institute, which is affiliated with Harvard and several Boston hospitals, reports that meditation induces a host of biochemical and physical changes in the body collectively referred to as the "relaxation response." The relaxation response includes changes in metabolism, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, and brain chemistry.

Specific Traditions

Specific classifications include:

Observation (e.g., exploring the mind and all its thoughts)

• Focus (e.g., exploring one thought to the exclusion of all else)

• Trance (experiencing emptiness)

• Theravada Buddhist practice involves both Samadhi and Vipassana, as well as the developing of "loving kindness" (Metta).

• Zen Buddhism practices Zazen, similar to Vipassana.

• Abrahamic Traditions practice forms of meditation that use God, Saints and/or Prophets as concentration focus

• Some people, including the controversial Guru Rajneesh (also known as "Osho"), taught forms of "Dynamic Meditation" that involve violent exercise and hyperventilation, akin to aerobic exercise or those like the Sufi whirling. A more modern version would be “dance meditation”.

• Meditation based on questioning "Who am I" draws from various traditions, especially Vipassana, Insight Meditation, Zazen, and with the express purpose of getting to know one's true nature, and/or experiencing Kensho, Satori, Enlightenment. This method teaches to be wary of trance-like states of relaxation, and advocates intense inquiry into the nature of thought, mind, ego, self, and desire.

• Jesus-style, dynamic-mind, spiritualized meditation engages the spiritized creative consciousness and full awareness. The mind and thinking processes are expanded rather than shut down, by-passed, distracted, or dulled. The only requirements are sincerity, persistence, and God-consciousness.

• Other styles of meditation incorporate physical fatigue, fasting, psychic dissociation, profound aesthetic experiences, vivid impulses, fear, anxiety, wild dancing, or psychotropic drugs to initiate "mystic communion". Often these trance-like states of visionary consciousness are considered as a religious experience or spiritually enlightening.

On every mountaintop of intellectual thought are to be found relaxation for the mind, strength for the soul, and communion for the spirit. From such vantage points of high living, man is able to transcend the material irritations of the lower levels of thinking -- ego, worry, jealousy, envy, revenge, and the pride of immature personality. These high-climbing souls deliver themselves from a multitude of the crosscurrent conflicts of the trifles of society, thus becoming free to attain consciousness of the higher currents of spirit concept and celestial communication through the art of meditation.

A lofty quotation seemingly escapist in Nature. Perhaps wrongly worded. Meditation is also about humility and acceptance of the universe as it is not how we want it to be.

This article draws from a number of sources including a friend and Reiki Master and author of the Reiki Manual 2006 – Stephane Chabot. Any errors or opinions are our own :)

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