WHAT IS REIKI?
WHAT IS REIKI? Seeing the postings on the Aromatherapy thread, where Reiki was mentioned, I thought it might be a good idea to bring this up again, for the benefit of any newcomers. I found regular Reiki sessions from colleagues helped me a great deal mentally and emotionally during my surgery and treatment
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO ADD YOU TO THE LIST OF PEOPLE I REGULARLY SEND REIKI TO. I JUST NEED TO KNOW YOUR NAME AND TOWN WHERE YOU LIVE TO HELP ME FOCUS.
With love
Judy xxx
Reiki Master/Teacher/Practitioner
REIKI, pronounced “Ray-Key, is a Japanese word derived from REI – universal or spiritual wisdom and KI – the life force energy that flows through every living thing, also known as CHI in China and PRANA in India. Reiki can therefore be defined as UNIVERSAL LIFE FORCE ENERGY.
.WHAT ARE ITS ORIGINS?
Reiki originated in Ancient Tibet 2500 years ago and was rediscovered by Dr. Mikao Usui, following a quest for the source of the healing power of Jesus and Buddha. After discovering Sanscrit texts of ancient Buddhist teachings he received empowerment and found he was able to heal others without depleting himself. He taught and passed the gift of Reiki to others; this healing tradition, teaching and empowerment continues to be passed from Master to student and is the basis of Reiki to this day.
Reiki does not depend on belief but complements any existing faith a person may have.
HOW DOES REIKI WORK?
Reiki works by the healing energy from the universal source being channelled through the practitioner’s hands into the recipient. The practitioner does not direct the energy, but the recipient draws it to where it is most needed to balance and boost the body’s natural healing system, re-energising cells which may have been functioning at a low vibratory level. It can, perhaps, be likened to the use of ‘jump leads’ from a charged battery to a flat one to start it working again. Research in the USA measured the flow of energy in the bodies of Reiki practitioners and found that Reiki energy enters through their heads and exits through the palms of their hands.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING A TREATMENT?
The recipient remains fully clothed, usually lying on a treatment couch, covered with a blanket while the practitioner lays his/her hands on specific energy centres of the body from head to toe, holding each position for a few minutes. A full treatment lasts for about an hour and the recipient may experience a gentle tingling or be aware of heat or cold in certain areas, or of energy surging through the body. It can be a catalyst for emotional release or personal problem-solving, but the effects are very individual for each person; people usually become very relaxed and are aware of feelings of calm and well-being.
It is truly holistic, very gentle but powerful and very safe; the whole body is often treated so that the energy goes to the source of the imbalance and not just to the manifesting symptoms.
WHAT CAN REIKI HELP?
Reiki is helpful for many conditions, including both acute and chronic disorders, and is for all ages including children. It is particularly beneficial in stress-related disorders, and is becoming increasingly accepted in hospitals and hospices as an adjunct to orthodox and alternative medical practices. Hospital staff are realising the advantages to their patients and to themselves, of becoming Reiki trained, for Reiki energises the healer as well as the recipient by raising his/her own vibrational level.
Reiki is a great tonic – if you are well it will help you stay that way!!
Reiki has been found to be beneficial, not just to animals, birds and fish, but also to plants.
DISTANT HEALING
Reiki can also be sent from a distance, transcending time and space. All I need is the name and town of the person asking for healing to be sent. The recipient may or may not be aware of anything happening - just trust the healing will be directed to where it’s most needed first, on a mental, emotional, spiritual or physical level.
—Distant Healing Hi Janet
Edited your surname out in line BCC procedure
Regards BCC Host
Hi Judy
Hope you can focus on me from a distance would be very welcome as we need all the help we can get through this bad time
My name is Janet I live in Warrington Cheshire.
Thanks JanetS
Hello Janet Yes, of course I’ll add your name to the list and send you some regular healing. In the meantime, could I suggest a little simple meditation. Just closet yourself away for a few minutes, light a candle perhaps and put on some quiet music, shut eyes, focus on your breathing and imagine you’re breathing in white light through your crown which is filling your body with healing energy. Do this for a few deep slow breaths, then just be. Five or ten minutes a day of this will do marvels to calm you down.
Love and healing vibes
Judy xxx
In support of reiki Just wanted to let you know that I have a chum who is a recovering alcoholic who has found reiki extremely beneficial in aiding recovery.
It’s hardly the same as cancer of course but I firmly believe that my friend has done more than beaten an addiction - he has begun to regain a life.
Having revealed the information I hesitiate to put contact details on this forum in case I inadvertently make my pal identifiable and without permission. I’ll have to find another way of letting you know that I wish to be added to your list.
Keep up the good work
xx
GOOD MORNING MORGAINE I’ve picked up your message on the other site so will reply through that. I’m always thrilled when I hear Reiki has helped people. I firmly believe in it but often the results are happening on a much deeper
more subtle level than the physical and it’s not as easy to say “Oh yes, that crick in the neck has gone instantly, look at this miracle cure!”.
Will switch sites and talk more.
Love and healing
Judy xxx
P.S. FOR PRIVATE CONTACT WITH KATHELINOR…
Plaese add me… … thank you for the kind offer Kathelinor
My real name is Dawn Julie xxxxx and i live in
Much appreciated
Tigerlily
HI TIGERLILY Do excuse me for doing the same reply as to Janet above. It’s just easier to copy and paste and I’m lazy!!
Yes, of course I’ll add your name to the list and send you some regular healing. In the meantime, could I suggest a little simple meditation. Just closet yourself away for a few minutes, light a candle perhaps and put on some quiet music, shut eyes, focus on your breathing and imagine you’re breathing in white light through your crown which is filling your body with healing energy. Do this for a few deep slow breaths, then just be. Five or ten minutes a day of this will do marvels to calm you down.
Love and healing vibes
Judy xxx
What is reiki? Any chance of anyone providing any scientific evidence for the existence of healing energy, etc.? How is it detected? How does it relate to other forms of energy? Does it turn into other forms of energy? Can you measure it in joules? How do you tell whether someone is using reiki or just pretending to use reiki? How do you ensure that any perceived difference isn’t merely psychosomatic? How do people who provide reiki regulate themselves? What training is provided? What long term studies have been done into its benefits?
In short, convince me that it isn’t just a way of manipulating vulnerable people and getting them to pay money.
(I’m not being personal here, Judy. It may well be that you do not charge for ‘treatment’)
I’m listening.
Regards and best of luck,
Sue
proof There is no way that I know of “measuring” this energy. But then there is no way of measuring how meditation affects the brain and its functions either, and yet there are many thousands who find meditation a satisfactory and positive means of focusing and re-adjusting emotions. After all, the way in which aspirin works is still not fully understood, but we go on taking it.
At the very least reiki is a relaxation technique that can in itself be beneficial, particularly with those people who are permanently tense. I have now had treatment from two reiki practiioners, and the results have been interesting. In both cases there had been a great deal of training and personal commitment; both practitioners had other careers as well.
For physical problems, I have also had treatment from two practitioners of the Bowen Technique, a form of physiotherapy which is highly effective, and so far no-one can explain precisely how it works. But it undoubtedly is most effective for a range of conditions.
While there may be charlatans, I would be hesitant to tar reiki practitioners with this particular brush, mainly because so far as I can tell their actions are non-invasive and do not require paying for expensive preparations. I doubt whether it would be worth anyone’s while to pretend to do reiki. I pay for sessions because the practitioner is working within a reputable therapy clinic and the room has to be paid for. When treated in her own home, no charge was made.
Healthy scepticism is a good thing, but a willingness to try out something of this kind might prove surprisingly rewarding. Prime advice given is always to check out that a practitioner has some form of identifiable training and qualification from a professional body.
Annd what’s wrong with a positive psychosomatic response?
Thank you Phoebe I couldn’t have put it better myself!
My heart always sinks when someone asks for evidence of healing energy and its effectiveness and what research is being done. I’m not intellectual or scientific-minded or academic enough to be able to research the subject myself, nor to debate or argue convincingly in its favour. I just have to go with my intuition and know that Reiki works on some level for a lot of people. I don’t need proof, I just do what I feel I have to do.
And no Sue, I don’t charge. I ask if clients would like to give a donation, which I then send off to charity. With that money I have just bought a fish farm, a carpenters kit and training, a loo for a school, educational equipment and vocational training for orphans, all through World Vision. I am fortunate in that I am supported financially by my husband. If I needed to earn the money I think I would have to learn other therapies such as reflexology and aromatherapy but Reiki would still have to be given free. Most Reiki therapists who do charge would tell you that is not for the energy but for their time, expertise and overheads such as rent for a room and insurance.
I just feel so sad that you feel you have to have proof for everything. Sometimes we have to develop and use that area of the brain or psyche which deals with instinct and trust. Why don’t you try a session sometime? You might be surprised!
Judy
Thanks for the replies Hi Phoebe and Judy,
Thanks for the replies.
Let’s be clear. I’m asking for evidence rather than proof. It is impossible to prove anything unless you’re dealing with maths; philosophically speaking, even science can only disprove things.
I’m happy for people to say that reiki seems to be helpful for some people but that we don’t know why. All the bit about energy and vibrations is pretty dodgy unless we can show they exist. If we can’t show that they exist then, although I am okay with them to be presented as a theory, I am extremely unhappy for them to be presented as fact.
Instinct? Trust? Intuition? All these things have their places in what we do (although, to be honest, I don’t think that intuition exists - I think tht it is probably simply the remarkable ability of humans to learn from previous experiences). However, it isn’t enough to rely on these things alone. Otherwise we would all be drinking swampwater. Just look at the internet at all these sites with so-called cures for cancer. Shouldn’t we all be slightly sceptical about all these things, even about science itself? Shouldn’t we all ask for evidence? By relying entirely on instinct, trust and intuition - even if reiki is helpful - we open a Pandora’s box and allow charlatans to exploit us because we have no way of telling who or what is genuine and who or what isn’t.
Best wishes,
Sue
P.S. Interesting choice of donations, Judy. What fun!
— Hi Everybody — I havn’t posted for a while due to ill health, endless days at hospital, and other problems at home, but I just had to post on this thread. It really upset me.
I can’t speak scientifically, I can’t claim to be the Brain of Britain, but what I do know is that whether it be Psychosematic (sorry if spelt incorrectly) or not, Kathelinor has been one of the people who has helped me through a very difficult time with my cancer, where every stage and every treatment has been traumatic (often through medical errors) - she has sent me strength - whether it be Reiki or not I cannot comment - but she has seen me through, (including the last few weeks). She has never asked me for money - in fact she has actually sent me a large donation from her Reiki ‘earnings’ toward my own cancer charity funding for GENESIS BREAST CANCER PREVENTION at Manchester (to benefit the whole of the UK).
If something is psychosematic, it works, it costs me nothing and does nothing to make me dependent upon it, - then so what - I don’t need proof other than I feel better for it and I can cope with human errors more easily…
I may not be intelligent, but neither am I psychologically disturbed and during one of BCCs healthy living days I went for a session of Reiki of which I knew very little. When we entered the room and sat down, I kept rubbing my eyes and said to the lady next to me, I wish they would draw the curtains. Isn’t that blue light annoying you. - She couldn’t see it. I asked everyone else int he room could they see where the blue light around the Reiki practitioner was coming from as it was dazzling me and affecting my concentration… no-one else could see it. The practitioner explained it was her ‘energy’. So evidence or not, me going loopy - I don’t know. I do know that at the end of the session every single person felt more relaxed and able to leave the Healthy Living Day with a new strength to help us cope whatever was being thrown at us. It cost us NOTHING. The practitioner told us that if people could not afford to pay for any of ther sessions, then that was ok. They were still welcome to attend. She just wanted to give help, strength and encouragement to those who asked for it.
Judy as far as I am concerned is one of the friends I am sure - that if angels exist on earth - she is one. I can’t go into why as it would embarrass her but manyof the people I am honoured to call ‘friend’ came from this site.
Joy xxxx
Let’s keep the debate friendly Hello all
This is obviously an area which provokes strong feelings on both sides and different people have different views here. I would ask you to keep in mind the Code of Conduct for using this site so we can maintain a debate which is friendly and supportive.
Thanks
BCC Moderator
Geronimo That’s a lovely post - thank you. I don’t think the Moderator needs to worry about this post remaining friendly. Of course it will with all the love and understanding and compassion on this site.
Interesting about the blue light. Not many people can see energy - I know I can’t, although I have had one or two very interesting ‘psychic’ experiences I’ll expound on some time.
Love and light to all
Judy xxx
—I would just like to add I’m a qualified complementary therapist in reflexology, Indian head massage and reiki. I have a full-time job at the moment (office work)and since dx last year I haven’t practiced as much as I would like to.
It is what i would like to eventually do as my main job and as a result I would have to charge for giving reiki sessions. It must be understood though, that the charge is not for the reiki energy, but the therapists time and overheads - even if they practice at home they have to often pay a fee to the local council for a licence to practice at home, also the couch and other accessories, training, insurance and affiliation to a professional body. I would recommend that to ensure a practitioner is not a “charlatan”, always choose one who has insurance and professional membership - ask to see it if you’re not sure - a professional therapist won’t mind.
As Sue mentioned the numerous websites offering “cures” for all kinds of things - healing is NOT the same as “curing”. I think some people’s idea of healing is coloured by the pictures we see on tv of so called “faith” healers telling people they are “cured” Nothing could be further from they way reiki is carried out. No reputable therapist would state that they can “cure” anything, our professional bodies are very strict on that. Many, many people can find a benefit from reiki and many other therapies but one size doesn’t fit all, so you may find that it doesn’t appeal to you, but you may be surprised if you give it a try.
Message to moderator This seems to me to be a pretty respectful debate so not sure why you have intervened.
I think its find for strong views to be expressed…
personally I think Reiki, healing, religion etc etc are a load of rubbish but I know, respect and like lots of people who take either or all seriously.
best wishes
Jane
Thankyou Kathelinor for your kind offer. I can attest to the beneficial effects of meditation, and there is a lot of research going on into these ‘strange’ practices. Dr Donald Sharp of Hull University has measured an increase in immune cells in the blood stream after regular reflexology sessions, visualisation, meditation, acupuncture, and similar techniques. Surely this is scientific proof that something is going on, and that the mind is affecting the body.
There is a whole new science of psychoneuroimmunology going on, which explores the mind/body connection, and the effect of the mind on health and disease. There is positive evidence that it works.
And if an increase in immune cells could not be measured? So what? If it makes you feel better, then it must be good for you, and at the very least, might make a difficult time of life a little more bearable. Even to know that someone cares can boost the spirit - not to be sniffed at!
Warning about apricot kernels from Food Standards Agency Hi everyone,
There is a Food Standards Agency warning about eating apricot kernels on the BBC newsite this morning. Apricot kernels are often sold on web sites as cancer treatment. They certainly do kill cancer cells in a test tube but this is because the kernels contain cyanide!
The web site address is: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4901132.stm
Best wishes and take care,
Sue