about reiki

As defined by the International Center for Reiki Training:

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by the “laying on of hands” and is based on the idea that an unseen “life force energy” flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one’s “life force energy” is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.

The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words – Rei which means “God’s Wisdom or the Higher Power” and Ki which is “life force energy.” So Reiki is actually “spiritually guided life force energy.”

While often utilized by body workers and other types of ‘healers,’ Reiki can be of benefit to absolutely everyone. It is a unique in that it can be used for self-healing exclusively or in the treatment of others. Today it is widely being used in hospitals and hospice care. It has been widely shown to be effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady. It works in harmony with traditional medicine and can help to promote recovery, relieve side-effects and expedite healing.

A reiki class will include:

A complete and detailed training manual

Lectures and Q and A’s on the theory and healing potentials of Reiki according to the level being studied

Guided meditations

The Reiki attunement for the appropriate level of the class (Reiki I, II etc)

Discussion on the ethics of healing

Guided and demonstrated hands-on Reiki work on a massage or Reiki Table

Student will learn to give and receive a full treatment under teacher’s supervision

A certificate of completion

While Reiki does have a spiritual element, it not attached to any religion or theological dogma. Reiki works regardless of whether one believes in it or not. However, because of its divine source, many practioners often feel a strengthened and more experiential connection in their spiritual lives.

Reiki can be learned by anyone regardless of intellect capacity or spiritual development. It is not taught in the traditional sense. In a Reiki class, one receives a Reiki ‘attunement’ — the Reiki Master facilitates a transference of universal life force energy to the student. The student is then able to work with Reiki energy at will.

Reiki is traditionally taught in three levels: Reiki I, Reiki II, and Advanced Reiki Training/Reiki Master.