Reiki: what is it?

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction, relaxation and healing. When done in the traditional manner, Reiki is a hands-on process that allows the energy from the Universe, God, your Higher Power, or whatever image you have of that something that is greater than yourself, to be channeled through the practitioner to the person who is receiving it. And it works on all four levels - mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.

Loosely translated, Reiki means 'spiritually guided life energy.' This means that whenever you receive a Reiki session, it is not the practitioner's energy that is doing the work, but energy that is channeled from that higher source, through the practitioner, to you. And if you believe that God (your Higher Power, the Universal Energy, etc.) knows what you need, then you will receive exactly what you need at the time of the session. Of course, what you think you need, and what God thinks you need, may be two entirely different things!

Reiki was rediscovered in 1914 in Japan by Dr. Mikao Usui, who eventually opened a clinic in Tokyo where he used the technique on people from the community, as well as family and friends, to help them heal from a variety of maladies. He also taught the technique to others. Eventually, Reiki came to the United States, and today there are over 2,000,000 Reiki practitioners and over 300,000 Reiki masters (a Reiki master is someone who has learned the necessary skills to teach Reiki to others.).

Reiki is becoming more and more accepted as an adjunct treatment to traditional Western medical and psychotherapeutic techniques. Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh has a group of Reiki volunteers that offer Reiki treatments to patients after surgery to help their bodies process out the effects of anesthesia and to help the healing process. The Cleveland Clinic was recently awarded a $250,000 federal grant to study the effect of Reiki on prostate cancer patients. More and more we are seeing Reiki being used as an integrative component to help in many areas of healing. And the wonderful thing about Reiki is that anyone can learn it, even a child - and once you learn it, you can use the energy on yourself, as well as on others.

How does it work?

In Eastern thought the belief is that we have seven main energy centers in our bodies, located parallel to the spine, called chakras. (Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning 'spinning wheel' or 'disc.') Each of these chakras vibrates at a different speed and resonates to a different color. This picture shows the positions and colors of the chakras as they appear in the human energy system. This picture was taken using a special camera and computer program. It's actually a picture of my chakras overlaid on a male figure of the human body. The green color around the body is my aura.

The chakras, or energy centers, generate the life force energy, the energy that keeps us up and running, (the Chinese call it Chi, the Japanese call it Ki) that is within our bodies. If these centers are open and balanced, our energy is high and our bodies have the ability to heal themselves in many ways. At the very least, if the energy within us is working at peak performance, we are healthier in mind, body and spirit. However, if these energy centers are closed or blocked, our life energy is low, and then we tend to be more moody, or get sick more often. I'm sure we all know someone who seems to get sick all the time, and someone else who is amazingly resistant to all germs, no matter what comes along. Which one do you think has stronger life force energy?

Reiki works on these energy centers to help keep them open and balanced. It dissolves or removes the blocks in the energy system and allows us to stay healthier and keeps our moods much more stable. And because the life force energy is within anything that is living, Reiki works on plants and animals as well as on people!

My two cats, Maggie and Bandit, love Reiki. I can't get out the door in the morning without giving each of them their daily fix! When they don't feel well, they will follow me all over the house until I sit down and do Reiki on them. And the year that I decided to Reiki my tomato plants, I had the healthiest and most productive plants I've ever had - the plants grew to be 8 feet tall and I had dozens of ripe tomatoes by the Fourth of July! And yes, my neighbors did look at me a bit strangely when they saw me out in the yard doing Reiki on those plants! But they sure enjoyed the tomatoes that Reiki helped produce!

Where do the blocks come from?

The blockages occur when negative emotions and feelings get pushed down or denied rather than expressed in a positive and beneficial manner. A simple example of this would be when adults say to little boys "Boys don't cry." So if boys don't cry, and crying is a beneficial way to release a variety of emotions, what happens to the emotions if they can't be released through tears? They get shoved down or stifled, and in order for our bodies to hold them down, our muscles and bones react and tense up in a way that keeps us from allowing the tears to fall. After years and years of holding back the feelings, the parts of the body that are affected by this tension begin to respond in a variety of ways - through physical pain or illness, including heart problems, diabetes, cancer, etc., or mental and emotional discomfort which can eventually lead to symptoms of depression, panic attacks, anxiety, isolation, etc.

But nature is wonderful, and has given us a protective cocoon of energy that can deflect the effects of many of these negative emotions if our chakras are open and our life force energy is high. This 'cocoon' is called the aura, and each of us has one!

This is a picture of my aura. I had this taken when I was in Laguna Beach, California, visiting my brother a couple of years ago. (This was taken by the same camera and computer program that I mentioned above.) The color and size of your aura are determined by how well your chakras are generating your life force energy and how you are currently coping with your life situation. As things change in your life, the size and color of your aura may also change.

The aura helps to keep negative emotions and experiences from penetrating the body and impacting us physically and emotionally. As an example, think about two men who each have a fender bender on the way to work. One man does what he needs to do to take care of things and then goes about his day without anyone at work ever being aware that he had an accident on the way to work. He took care of it; it's behind him; he doesn't let it get to him. The second gentleman allows the accident to fuel his whole day, and everyone he meets at work that day, knows he had an accident on the way in. The first man was able to keep the effects of the incident from penetrating his aura because it was strong and his energy was high. The second gentleman's aura was not as strong, and the effects of the incident permeated his whole being, all day long.

What can you use Reiki for?

As I stated previously, Reiki heals on all four levels - mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. So it can be used to help in any way that you need it. Before I learned Reiki, I'd had headaches since I was about 13 years old. They ran all kinds of tests and finally said my headaches were stress headaches. Until I learned Reiki, I probably consumed at least a bottle of aspirin or Tylenol a month to ease the pain. But once I learned Reiki, I would put my hands on my head, start my energy (Simply saying the word Reiki is enough to get it started.) and soon the headache would be gone. Eventually I noticed that I didn't get headaches any more at all!

Reiki helps with all kinds of aches and pains - all you have to do once you learn how to do Reiki, is to simply put your hands on the area of the body that hurts and say the word Reiki to start your energy. Frequently you will notice that the pain diminishes or disappears completely. Clients have had relief from such physical concerns as migraine headaches, allergies, chronic neck and back pain, arthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome, just to name a few.

Reiki also helps to heal old traumas and hurts - emotional wounds. I've seen clients experience the disappearance of long term depression, anxiety and panic attacks, grief and loss issues, post-traumatic stress disorder and much more, after receiving Reiki sessions. Because Reiki energy is directed by God, it never causes harm. You can't overdose on it and even a little is better than none. It's also a very respectful energy, and will only take you where you are ready to go. If you have old wounds in your past that you have buried, the Reiki energy will only bring to the surface what you are ready to have healed.

Perhaps the greatest benefit I have received from using Reiki is a much stronger sense of that Divine power that guides and directs my life. Reiki connected me to my Higher Power in a way that religion and church never seemed to be able to do. Truly, it is only through the grace of God through Reiki that I have been able to come to this point on my spiritual path.

Because the energy is guided by a Higher Power, a practitioner can never guarantee what the Reiki energy will do. It will do what the client most needs, at the time that the energy is received, as determined by what his/her Higher Power believes is needed. Just another reminder: your Higher Power's belief of what you need may be quite different from what you believe you need!

How do you learn Reiki?

Reiki is very easy to learn. A Reiki Master - a person who has taken all the levels of Reiki and has learned all the information and knowledge to be able to teach Reiki to others - passes on the ability to do Reiki to his/her students by giving then an attunement. The attunement is a process by which the Reiki Master uses the Reiki energy to change the energy system of the student in a way that allows the student to channel the Reiki energy.

There are several different classes, or levels of Reiki, that a student may take: (For a complete schedule of classes currently being offered at The Place for Reiki, please click here.) Each time you take a new level, you receive an additional attunement that increases your abilities as a Reiki practitioner and facilitates and enhances your own healing process and spiritual journey. So even if you have no desire to teach, there is great benefit in taking all the levels so that your abilities and your own healing are maximized.

Level I

This is the beginning class for anyone interested in learning Reiki. In this class you will learn about the history of Reiki, different ways to use Reiki on people, animals and plants, and receive a Level I attunement. This class teaches you the basics of how to do Reiki hands-on, where you place your hands directly on the person you are working on, or hold them slightly above the body as you give a Reiki treatment. There is plenty of time for hands-on experience, and you will have the opportunity to both give and receive Reiki before the class ends. It's a very interesting, informative and powerful class (and yes, we have fun too!). The class is taught in one day, and by the end of the day, you will be certified as a Reiki I practitioner and will receive a certificate suitable for framing.

Level II

This class is taught over two days - generally a Friday evening session and then all day Saturday. In this class participants learn how to send Reiki over a distance, target mental and emotional issues (including addictive behavior patterns such as drinking, smoking, overeating, etc.), and how to direct all the Reiki energy to a specific point on the body for maximum effectiveness. As with Reiki I, there is plenty of time for practice, and by the end of the class, you will be certified as a Level II Reiki practitioner. You'll also receive another certificate. The prerequisite for this course is Reiki I.

Advanced Reiki Training (ART)

This one-day class teaches students how to send continuous Reiki over a distance using crystals and a healing grid. You will also learn Psychic Surgery, a powerful technique to release energy blockages. This class is a pre-requisite for the Master level training, and many masters teach this class as the first day of the three-day Master level training. However, I generally teach this class by itself, with the two-day Master level training scheduled for a week or two later. This allows the students time to assimilate the information from the class before they go on to take the Master training, and also allows them to take both classes without having to take a day off work to do so.

Master Class

Taking this class enables students to pass the gift of Reiki on to others. You will learn the necessary symbols to be a Reiki master, how to do a healing attunement (another powerful technique for releasing blockages from the energy system), and how to do the attunements that pass the gift of Reiki on to others. It's an awesome experience that includes personal healing, spiritual growth and knowledge. The prerequisite is Advanced Reiki Training (ART).

How long should I wait between levels?

Different masters teach differently. Some Reiki masters set specific requirements for how much time must pass between the different classes. I encourage my students to listen to their intuition to determine what is best in each individual case. If you have concerns, questions or doubts about what's right for you, we can discuss it and help you figure it out.