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Reiki's Healing Energy and Me

by Clarēssa Ellinger
Teaching Reiki Master and RMT
As published in "Mosaic Magazine", 2005

Reiki.

The first time I ever heard that word was in Portland, Oregon in the mid 1980's. I was in a bookstore looking for information on massage therapy when I overheard two people discussing a marvelous healing technique called Reiki (pronounced ray-key).

They told me that Reiki was a sacred hands-on healing technique from Japan. As they explained more what really spoke to something deep within me was the overwhelming love, peace and kindness that shone from them. At that moment I made up my mind that whatever this Reiki was, I wanted it!

It took me over 14 years to find my Usui Reiki Master, Gail Ellen Angel Ward, who taught at Grant MacEwan College. By then I had a diploma in business management, a certificate in microcomputers and had become a professional massage therapist. But through it all there was always the mystery of Reiki tugging on my heart strings.

And now, 25 years later, Reiki is a familiar word to many people. Yet I am still regularly asked: “What is Reiki? How can Reiki help me?”

Simply answered, Reiki is a healing energy technique that encourages stress reduction, relaxation and healing in the recipients.

Through their hands a Reiki practitioner channels “universal energy” into the recipient to open up and positively affect that person’s personal energy system.

The Japanese words "Rei" and "ki" can be translated to "Universal Life Energy". (Ki is the same thing as ‘chi’ in Chinese, ‘prana’ in Sanskrit and ‘ti’ or ‘ki’ in Hawaiian.)

Asian philosophies believe that ki energy flows within us and is all around us. When our internal ki energy is blocked and not flowing, stagnation occurs and this is when our bodies become vulnerable to illness. The goal of opening up energy in the body is common in many Oriental-healing techniques. In acupuncture needles are inserted at key points in the meridians to encourage energy flow. Reiki works with this exact same energy to balance the life force that runs through all living things.

As a massage therapist I have always been keenly aware of the energy that flows between my client and myself during a session. This energy is much more than what I am personally capable of producing. Since becoming a Reiki Master I realize that the energy I am sensing is ki being summoned and flowed into the client and myself during the massage.

Reiki can trace its roots to Dr. Mikao Usui (1865-1926), a Japanese Buddhist who was also called Usui Sensei by his students. The first story I heard about Reiki’s origins said that Dr. Usui was on a long quest to discover more about Jesus’ healing powers. This quest (that took years) ended with a 21 day fast and meditating on Mount Kurama when he saw the Reiki symbols in a bubble of light and was given the knowledge of how to use them.

However as more information becomes available about Usui, it reveals that Reiki has it’s roots in many of the existing Oriental traditions that were being practiced in Japan at that time.

“The system was rooted in Tendai Buddhism and Shintoism. Tendai Buddhism (a form of mystical Buddhism) provided spiritual teachings, and Shintoism contributed methods of controlling and working with the energies. Usui had a strong background in both kiko (energy cultivation) and a martial art with a strong Zen flavour (Yagyu Shinkage Ryu), and he also took Zen training, and these studies may have contributed in some way to the system that he developed. There also seems to be a strong connection between Usui’s system and Shugendo (mountain asceticism). Shugendo was a blend of pre-Buddhist folk traditions of Sangaku Shinko and Shinto, Tantric Buddhism, Chinese Yin-Yang magic and Taoism.” 4

It was actually Hawayo Takata, a Japanese-American, that introduced Reiki to the west in the 1930s and at the time of her death in 1980 she had initiated 22 Reiki Masters.

There are two schools of thought on Reiki. One says that Usui’s original teachings must be strictly adhered to. The other believes that all things, including Reiki, are constantly evolving. An example of this evolution is Karuna Reiki (Karuna is the Sanskirt word for “compassionate action”).

A Reiki session is conducted by the practitioner gently laying their hands on a client (in a session lasting from a few minutes up to 90 minutes) People have reported feeling extremely relaxed at the end of a Reiki session. It is in this state of relaxation that the body can heal itself.

As it becomes more accepted and respected, Reiki has become a popular alternative health care therapy with hospitals and other health care settings. “Nurses often practice Reiki as an adjunct to conventional western medical treatment. As of 2001, 47% of US state nursing boards recognized providing alternative therapies including Reiki as being within the scope of nursing practice (if the nurse is qualified in that therapy).”1

The Ontario Reiki Program Centre states that in their research that Reiki is commonly used to facilitate relaxation, aid in recovery and decrease anxiety and pain (even chronic pain). “It can be a helpful addition to conventional therapy for HIV/AIDS and cancer patients.”2 In Mosaic’s Spring 2005 issue there was a story written by Judy Mott in which she attributed Reiki as a major contributor in the healing of her cancer.

“One double-blind study found that ‘Reiki is an effective modality for reducing pain, depression and anxiety’; Hartford hospital reports that Reiki provides significant pain relief for surgery patients; Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute concluded that Reiki showed a highly significant reduction in pain in a pain management study including cancer.”3

Reiki, however, like other alternative health care options is not a medical diagnostic tool nor does it replace the care of a doctor. It is a therapy that compliments conventional medical treatment.

Although Reiki is spiritually guided it is not a religion. The Reiki practitioner will use breath-work, mediation, activation of the Reiki symbols and intention to summon and flow the healing energy of ki to a client.

Many believe that Reiki’s unlimited supply of “life force energy” is really the divine light or divine love that exists in the universe. I certainly believe that is true.

When I do a session I feel the Reiki energy swirling and flowing around my client and myself. To me Reiki is a sensation of pure unconditional love. Talking is discouraged during a Reiki session as it can distract from achieving the deep calming meditative state that is the most conductive for deep relaxation. Clients are also coached in their breathing and encouraged to relax.

The three usual sensations that people notice when they receive Reiki are deep relaxation, heat from the practitioner’s hands and seeing colors.

When the Reiki energy is flowing my hands will usually heat up and flow warmth. Sometimes they become very cold and flow ‘ice that feels like fire’. Depending on what my client is wanting from their Reiki treatment I will make use of the appropriate symbol before, during and after our session. This can be done by signing the symbol with my fingers or chanting the symbol’s sacred name out loud or silently.

Many people can feel the Reiki energy coming through them and “shifting” things inside. One of my clients told me that they were keenly aware of the sensation of energy going through their body during the session. However it isn’t necessary for the recipient to be able to feel this energy for it to work for them.

What will surprise many Reiki clients is the strong contracting and stretching of muscles with the sensation of fire or ice flowing through their body that can take place during a session. At times their arms, legs and torso will undulate as if being pulled by the strings of a puppeteer.

One of the most memorable experience I had with a client came at the end of the session. I was gently rocking and stretching her to bring her back from a very relaxed state. I had just placed my right hand on her left hip and my left hand on her right shoulder when her body leaped as if she had been jolted by a heart defibrillator. She said that at that instance all of the stress that she had been under for several months left her. The stress was causing digestive problems and for the first time in months there was no burning sensation in her stomach.

Becoming a Reiki practitioner involves receiving an attunement (where a Reiki Master brings a student into harmony with the Reiki energy). Reiki training usually takes place in a weekend workshop. There is Level I, Level II, Advanced and Masters. In Level I a student is taught the basic hand positions and ways to establish a safe healing environment. In Level II a student will be attuned to three symbols and taught how to use them in a healing session. In advanced training a student will be attuned to the very powerful master symbol and shown ways to increase their effectiveness as practitioners. At the Masters workshop a practitioner will be given all that is necessary to become a Teaching Master in the ways of Usui Reiki Ryoho.

I often think back to that day in Oregon so many years ago when I first heard about Reiki. While I knew it would be an important part of my life someday, I never anticipated what a huge impact it would have on me. Reiki has given me the language to speak my spiritual truth.

1,2,3 Ontario Reiki Programme Centre, (2005), Reiki Background and Reiki and Pain, Retrieved April 17, 2005, from http://www.magma.ca/~peterz/pain.htm
4 Reiki Evolution, (2002), About Reiki, Retrieved April 18, 2005, from http://www.reiki-evolution.co.uk/aarwhere.htm