Reiki: What It Is and How to Do It!

Reiki, that’s the massage with your clothes on, right? Well, sort of, but it’s much more complicated than that. Here you can read where this popular healing method comes from and how to treat yourself!

You’ve surely heard of this buzzy wellness practice, but what is Reiki? It is a form of energy healing done with your hands, originally from Japan. According to expert practitioners, anyone can learn to practice Reiki effectively, so it’s becoming more and more popular. But what is a Reiki massage and how do you get that power under control? This article will help you on your way!

Reiki Meaning

Reiki, what exactly is that? It is a compound word containing two Japanese characters, namely ‘rei’ and ‘ki’. Rei stands for ‘unlimited’ or ‘universal’ and Ki for ‘power’ or ‘life energy’,  meaning ‘Reiki Energy’ is a bit redundant. It would mean ‘Universal Life Energy Energy’! Of course, there is some debate about the best translation from Japanese, just like every practitioner experiences something unique in the practice itself. If you want to make a long story short, this treatment method revolves around passing on universal life energy.

How Does Reiki Work?

During a treatment, the coach or therapist allows universal energy from the cosmos to flow through their hands to someone else. You can also perform Reiki on yourself. Even animals could benefit from this energy and true fans even give their plants some power with Reiki. When you give Reiki, you are a channel or conduit for life force. Because you yourself are a person with your own qualities, a treatment looks different for everyone. Some experience the energy as color and still others hear an inner voice telling them where to put their hands.

What is a Reiki Massage?

Sessions look different for each practitioner, but there are some common features. During a treatment you usually lie on a massage table or sit on a chair. You can keep your clothes on if you like. The therapist starts at your crown and ends back at your head. Along the way, they pay attention to your important energy nodes, the chakras. Usually treatment occurs on both your front and back, but that is not always necessary. Don’t expect a massage where your limbs are kneaded, but rather one in which the hands are gently placed on different parts of the body or sometimes even hang above them.

Where Reiki Comes From

Reiki was developed in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century by Mikao Usui. Mikao is said to have acquired the ability to heal with energy after years of studying various spiritual traditions while meditating on Mount Kurama. To pass on this knowledge on, he eventually founded Usui Reiki Ryoho, a Japanese healing school. Hawayo Takata was the first female master and spread the teaching in Hawaii and later in Europe via the US. Her method is called the Usui System of Natural Healing, and is now the best-known Western form of Reiki.

Reiki Healing and Treatments

Reiki belongs to the alternative medicine movement. That means its effects have not been proven. People who give healings themselves experience that it works, but often see it as supplemental therapy. It does not replace medical treatments and therefore providing diagnoses is not a good idea according to most practitioners. According to them, Reiki does not eliminate complaints, but rather gives physical, emotional, or spiritual strength to accept yourself and your situation.

Results of Reiki

A session could have an effect on body and mind, even on your emotions. It is therefore impossible to predict what a treatment will do to you. The therapist doesn’t even really know ahead of time, because they are only there to help along the stimulation of energies, they don’t create any themselves. It is often said that Reiki is a gentle force and can relax deeply. Experience it for yourself and find out your personal benefits!

Giving a Reiki Healing Yourself

You can also learn to give Reiki. In fact, according to Usui and other masters, everyone can use universal energy, Reiki techniques just help to access it. Children would naturally have the power in their hands, but experiences and upbringing could clog the energy channels. Opening chakras with Reiki is therefore also compared to plumbing, in which the pipes are cleaned again. How exactly? There are special courses to learn that! Learn More About the Importance of Your Chakras Here.

Remote Reiki Treatment

You can perform Reiki treatment remotely because in other dimensions that the universal energy works within, time and space do not exist. Distance Reiki is also said to work according to the Hermetic Law of Similarity. According to this law, we are all connected and part of a greater whole. In remote Reiki, the practitioner could use an object to link themselves to the recipient’s energy field. Most use a photo of the recipient for this, along with a gemstone or Reiki stones. Reiki Symbols can be helpful, as they can help the practitioner to attune themselves to their patient’s energy in the right way. Others say that none of this is necessary, and you can send Reiki energy to anyone just by focusing our thoughts and energy in the right direction.

What Does Distance Reiki Feel Like?

Remote Reiki is not much different from a ‘normal’ Reiki massage. Sometimes you don’t feel anything at all at first, and you only start to experience the effects after a week or so. Or it’s possible to only notice a difference after a second, third, or even fourth treatment. Either way, you can rest assured that Reiki will always do something for you! Sometimes you immediately experience big effect:

• Experiencing activation of the digestive system would be quite normal after a treatment. This feeling comes from the Solar Plexus. According to experts, this chakra is the first to respond to a Reiki treatment.
• Cold sensations can indicate a blockage. For example, blockages resulting from emotional issues, traumas, anger, or sadness.
• You could see pain as something positive. According to some, this feeling reveals that an energy blockage is resolving. The energy you receive during a treatment enters your body and that can be pretty intense.
• Warmth is a common feeling during a Reiki treatment. You can experience a kind of sense of security and love. You may also have a feeling that something is ‘flowing’ through your body. This is the life energy that flows through your body. This feeling is sometimes called experiencing Reiki Zen.

How to Learn to Treat with Reiki

There are different levels or forms of Reiki, namely level 1, 2, and 3. You can do all three courses, but you don’t have to. You always start with part 1. During these three courses you will learn a different aspect of the energy treatment and different Reiki techniques. You will also receive one or more initiations from your teacher with each level, through which the power you that you need as a practitioner begins to manifest. Someone who has done parts I, II and III becomes a Reiki Master.

Differences Between Level I, II and III

The first Reiki course consists of several initiations, in which the teacher opens your (probably dusty) energy channels. After this part you could then give a treatment on a physical level. During the second workshop you will receive one initiation and special Reiki symbols, such as the first symbol Cho Ku Rei, will be introduced. With this you could give Reiki at a distance and learn to heal emotional and mental energy. The third course deals with the spiritual aspect of the treatment and in most western courses has two steps, A and B. Do you want to initiate people yourself? Then you do both these parts. Otherwise, part A is sufficient to obtain the third degree.

Reiki Symbols Stones

With each Reiki course you will learn a number of Reiki symbols. You can use these Reiki symbols, in combination with the strong universal energy that you pass on, as a strengthening tool. The Symbols represent the essence of Reiki. They are the key to the use of Reiki and the application of healing. Reiki and gems are a good match, because they can enhance each others effects. Many Gems come with Reiki Symbol engravings specifically for use during treatment.

Check Out Our Assortment of Reiki Stones

Reiki Symbols Meaning

When the symbols are deployed during a healing, this is done through visualization, drawing them in the air with the finger, on the body of the recipient, or with the tongue on the roof of the mouth. These are the five main Reiki symbols:

• Cho Ku Reis
• Sei He Ki
• Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen
• Dai Ko Myo
• Raku

Cho Ku Reis

Many practitioners find Cho Ku Reito to be easy to learn and use it in almost every Reiki session. It is the first symbol and is known as the power symbol. With the help of this symbol, the power of the energy would be amplified and it can also help to direct the universal energy. Depending on how you draw it, you can send the energy to Earth (by finishing at the bottom) or connecting someone more with the spiritual (by finishing at the top).

Sei He Ki

Sei He Ki is the emotion symbol. It is the second symbol and could bring out repressed emotions. By experiencing them, you can finally let go of them. It would, as it were, enhance the emotional healing process. This symbol can also cleanse a space, person, food, or thought. Use it together with Cho Ku Rei at the beginning of a session, for example, to cleanse the energy of the room. Also to cleanse energy during the session, draw this symbol on a specific place on the body where energy blockages occur.

Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen

Known as the distance symbol, Hon Sha Ze Sho Ne allows for the practice of remote Reiki. By using this symbol, you could more easily align with the recipient. With the Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen you can come into a deeper connection with a client at a distance, but also with a blockage, the inner child, the past, or the future. It transcends time and space.

Dai Ko Myo

You learn this symbol at the third Reiki degree, when you become a Reiki Master at the A level. It is the fourth symbol and the master symbol. This symbol strengthens the connection with the universe, because it opens your crown chakra (even further) and you can receive even more powerful energy for healing, intuition and connection. After the initiation, you as a Reiki Master can pass on this powerful energy. Given the power of this symbol, it is not necessary during every Reiki treatment.

Raku

The fifth and final symbol is Raku. Also known as fire snake. If you have this symbol, you can call yourself a full Reiki Master. This symbol would give access to the aura, in order to then draw or blow symbols into it, for example. This symbol is mainly used to successfully conclude a treatment. It is important that if you open the Raku, you also close it again. Otherwise, the receiver will remain energetically open after the treatment! The symbol can also be used to separate the energies of the giver and the receiver.

Kundalini Reiki

The difference between ‘regular’ Reiki and Kundalini Reiki is that in Kundalini Reiki you don’t need any symbols or hand positions. It is another form of healing, as it works primarily with intention. Sometimes people who practice this type of Reiki place their hands against each other or on specific places where the energy has to do its work. Kundalini Reiki directs the energy through your spine to and through your chakras. The energy channels open and balance, so that the energy can flow freely through the body. Everyone has Kundalini energy, but not everyone knows how to activate it. Once this energy awakens, you will find that you have more energy.

Working with Energy?

There are, of course, many more ways to work with life force. According to specialists, crystals could be very suitable for this. They therefore use Chakra Stones or swear by Making Gemstone Water. Or how about Yoni Egg Exercises? You’ll surely find something to fit your energy!

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