There is a system of energy-work and natural healing that swept across the Pacific to Hawaii and continued into the mainland United States called ReiKi in the second half of the 20th century. Thanks to “New Age” and spiritual movements throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, ReiKi has gained both popularity and accessibility with many holistic healing practitioners and spiritual teachers. From the Japanese, ReiKi loosely translates to “life force channel”, and is the practice of doing just that to promote healing, health and wellness by utilizing the natural homeostatic and immune responses of the body.
Much like other healing and exercise practices from the Asian continent, such as Qi Gong, acupuncture, and various martial arts traditions, ReiKi is a technique to move Ki – also known as Qi, Chi, Prana, and Life-Force – through the body. Unlike some of these practices, however, the key to ReiKi is the “channel” part. The ReiKi practitioner becomes a channel, or funnel, of Universal Life-Force and transmits this energy cleanly and efficiently to the body of the receiver through various ways – such as laying-on of hands or simple directed intention. This varies from other traditional techniques which generally use the properly cultivated Ki of the practitioner to influence the receiver’s Ki to move and be directed.
However, what many do not realize - unless they are attuned ReiKi practitioners - is that ReiKi can be done constantly without adverse reaction to the practitioner. In fact, the more it is done by the practitioner the clearer the channel the practitioner makes and the stronger the flow of Ki through the channel. Therefore, ReiKi can change anyone’s life if you are willing to find the right Master and put in the learning and attunement time. Why would you do it? How could it help?
Most Level I students of ReiKi are given the attunements to use hands-on positions to channel Ki to the self and others. This is excellent for self-care, learning meditation, massage therapists, nurses, and those who care for animals. It does elicit immune responses and healing responses in the body which can be extremely powerful, especially the more it is practiced. It can also calm the mind and emotions to relieve fear, stress, anxiety, and grief. There are many ways this can be helpful, from calming down your pets, to holding grandma’s hand in the hospital, to offering a new level of relaxation and health in your massage therapy, to alleviating your child’s cold symptoms. At its most basic level, anything we do for health or comfort in daily life for ourselves or anyone else can be done with hands-on ReiKi.
More advanced levels of ReiKi attunement (from II through Mastery) depending on the school or teacher, may be used for all the preceding as well as Distance ReiKi, hands-off ReiKi, and other fun things we’ll look into next. With intention and direction, a ReiKi practitioner may direct and channel Ki to a recipient who is not in the vicinity of the Practitioner, much the same way prayer groups send or offer healing prayers and energy to those in need across distances.
Life-force is universal and ever-present everywhere, therefore with intention and attention, advanced ReiKi practitioners can send it, or channel it where the recipient is. Similarly, if the ReiKi practitioner is in the room with the recipient(s), the channel may then be open and intention can direct the channel to the recipient without the practitioner having to lay hands on them. The energy may still be funneled through the practitioner and exude from the palm/hand chakras, as in hands-on ReiKi, but the practitioner needn’t place the hands directly on the body – rather hovering them over an area or merely extending them towards the recipient. Again, there are various techniques and attunements which boost the direction and strengthen the connection of the intention.
With these advanced techniques and attunements for ReiKi practice, come techniques for boosting the energy and harmony of many things around us, balancing energies throughout our experiences and spreading a blessed well-being in various ways. So, how can ReiKi change daily life? Imagine cooking fresh food, or preparing any food for yourself or your family. You could ReiKi it! Is it going to make fast-food healthy and completely cleanse pesticide-ridden GMO’s? Not completely. ReiKi directed to food will bolster the beneficial elements already existent. For example, some canned veggies can lose vitamins in the canning process, just as if they’d been overcooked. ReiKi will bolster what is left of the nutritional content, revitalizing it by restoring some of the life-force lost in the harvesting, preservation, and/or preparation processes. It won’t make your GMO veggie suddenly “organic”, necessarily. We all know to wash our fruits and veggies to clear away pesticides and fertilizers, dirt and bugs, etc. ReiKi won’t substitute washing or cleanse away poisons; however, ReiKi will put life-force into the food which may naturally displace less healthy elements and restore some level of balance within the food that could potentially mitigate anything harmful that could have been done.
What else is ReiKi good for in daily life? While cleaning a space physically, you can use ReiKi to clear a space energetically. It can be good during stressful times in the home or at the office for this purpose. It can help to set certain spaces with intention for specific purposes, like a sickroom with healing, a bedroom with rest and restorative peace, a kitchen with comfort and wellness, an office or study-room with clarity and focus, a living room with joy and sharing. A teacher could use ReiKi to set an intentional space for learning, focus, attention, calmness, kindness. A business person can set a conference room for openness, clarity, creativity, enthusiasm, communication, etc. ReiKi in the garden is also a phenomenal venture. Not only can you increase the health or even yield of your crop or landscaping or flowers, but the vitality of the entire ecosystem of your yard will improve. Flowers cut for the table may last longer. Food will require fewer pesticides and will get the most out of fertilizers you use. And that’s all just going to help everything like soil health, rain and ground-water cleanliness, pollinator health, etc. If you’re wrapping gifts for someone, sewing something, or crafting something, ReiKi while you work will charge it infusing whatever it is with your intentions of care, respect, and well-being. It can make things last a bit longer and can radiate that energy for a long time to come. It’s not just craftsmanship and architectural techniques that make ancient buildings remain standing as places of power – they’re infused with energy and attention and intention over hundreds or even thousands of years of being used or ogled and thus radiate that life-force and vitality with which they were infused. ReiKi offers a simpler and more direct version of that with the power of an attuned individual. Possibilities are endless when we marry ReiKi to whatever spiritual, motivational, practical, or cognitive-behavioral techniques we already use. And, it is not a mere self-hypnotic exercise that, while extremely valuable, only trains the mental-emotional response so that we can break-through thought patterns. ReiKi actually moves universal energy, life-force, to affect an immediate response and a measureable physical effect. From waking up and starting the coffee pot to getting the kids to settle in for bed at night, ReiKi can make an experiential difference in all aspects of your life.
However, what many do not realize - unless they are attuned ReiKi practitioners - is that ReiKi can be done constantly without adverse reaction to the practitioner. In fact, the more it is done by the practitioner the clearer the channel the practitioner makes and the stronger the flow of Ki through the channel. Therefore, ReiKi can change anyone’s life if you are willing to find the right Master and put in the learning and attunement time. Why would you do it? How could it help?
Most Level I students of ReiKi are given the attunements to use hands-on positions to channel Ki to the self and others. This is excellent for self-care, learning meditation, massage therapists, nurses, and those who care for animals. It does elicit immune responses and healing responses in the body which can be extremely powerful, especially the more it is practiced. It can also calm the mind and emotions to relieve fear, stress, anxiety, and grief. There are many ways this can be helpful, from calming down your pets, to holding grandma’s hand in the hospital, to offering a new level of relaxation and health in your massage therapy, to alleviating your child’s cold symptoms. At its most basic level, anything we do for health or comfort in daily life for ourselves or anyone else can be done with hands-on ReiKi.
More advanced levels of ReiKi attunement (from II through Mastery) depending on the school or teacher, may be used for all the preceding as well as Distance ReiKi, hands-off ReiKi, and other fun things we’ll look into next. With intention and direction, a ReiKi practitioner may direct and channel Ki to a recipient who is not in the vicinity of the Practitioner, much the same way prayer groups send or offer healing prayers and energy to those in need across distances.
Life-force is universal and ever-present everywhere, therefore with intention and attention, advanced ReiKi practitioners can send it, or channel it where the recipient is. Similarly, if the ReiKi practitioner is in the room with the recipient(s), the channel may then be open and intention can direct the channel to the recipient without the practitioner having to lay hands on them. The energy may still be funneled through the practitioner and exude from the palm/hand chakras, as in hands-on ReiKi, but the practitioner needn’t place the hands directly on the body – rather hovering them over an area or merely extending them towards the recipient. Again, there are various techniques and attunements which boost the direction and strengthen the connection of the intention.
With these advanced techniques and attunements for ReiKi practice, come techniques for boosting the energy and harmony of many things around us, balancing energies throughout our experiences and spreading a blessed well-being in various ways. So, how can ReiKi change daily life? Imagine cooking fresh food, or preparing any food for yourself or your family. You could ReiKi it! Is it going to make fast-food healthy and completely cleanse pesticide-ridden GMO’s? Not completely. ReiKi directed to food will bolster the beneficial elements already existent. For example, some canned veggies can lose vitamins in the canning process, just as if they’d been overcooked. ReiKi will bolster what is left of the nutritional content, revitalizing it by restoring some of the life-force lost in the harvesting, preservation, and/or preparation processes. It won’t make your GMO veggie suddenly “organic”, necessarily. We all know to wash our fruits and veggies to clear away pesticides and fertilizers, dirt and bugs, etc. ReiKi won’t substitute washing or cleanse away poisons; however, ReiKi will put life-force into the food which may naturally displace less healthy elements and restore some level of balance within the food that could potentially mitigate anything harmful that could have been done.
What else is ReiKi good for in daily life? While cleaning a space physically, you can use ReiKi to clear a space energetically. It can be good during stressful times in the home or at the office for this purpose. It can help to set certain spaces with intention for specific purposes, like a sickroom with healing, a bedroom with rest and restorative peace, a kitchen with comfort and wellness, an office or study-room with clarity and focus, a living room with joy and sharing. A teacher could use ReiKi to set an intentional space for learning, focus, attention, calmness, kindness. A business person can set a conference room for openness, clarity, creativity, enthusiasm, communication, etc. ReiKi in the garden is also a phenomenal venture. Not only can you increase the health or even yield of your crop or landscaping or flowers, but the vitality of the entire ecosystem of your yard will improve. Flowers cut for the table may last longer. Food will require fewer pesticides and will get the most out of fertilizers you use. And that’s all just going to help everything like soil health, rain and ground-water cleanliness, pollinator health, etc. If you’re wrapping gifts for someone, sewing something, or crafting something, ReiKi while you work will charge it infusing whatever it is with your intentions of care, respect, and well-being. It can make things last a bit longer and can radiate that energy for a long time to come. It’s not just craftsmanship and architectural techniques that make ancient buildings remain standing as places of power – they’re infused with energy and attention and intention over hundreds or even thousands of years of being used or ogled and thus radiate that life-force and vitality with which they were infused. ReiKi offers a simpler and more direct version of that with the power of an attuned individual. Possibilities are endless when we marry ReiKi to whatever spiritual, motivational, practical, or cognitive-behavioral techniques we already use. And, it is not a mere self-hypnotic exercise that, while extremely valuable, only trains the mental-emotional response so that we can break-through thought patterns. ReiKi actually moves universal energy, life-force, to affect an immediate response and a measureable physical effect. From waking up and starting the coffee pot to getting the kids to settle in for bed at night, ReiKi can make an experiential difference in all aspects of your life.
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