Have you ever heard the term ‘Reiki’ and wondered what it means? In this blog post, I deep dive into Reiki Healing Energy, exploring what it means, the history of it as alternative medicine, ailments that it treats and what a Reiki Treatment entails. Enjoy!

What does Reiki mean?

Reiki is a Japanese form of alternative medicine called energy healing. "Reiki" is a Japanese word that translates into ‘Rei’ - Universal Life Force and ‘Ki’ - Energy. Together they mean ‘Universal Life Force Energy’.

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a subtle and effective form of energy work that uses guided life force energy. It is an alternative health approach that allows energy flow to calm your mind and heal and restore your body, for optimum health and wellbeing.

Where does Reiki come from? A brief history…

Reiki is a healing energy that was discovered by Dr Mikao Usui in Japan during the 1920s. Dr Usui was the promoter of a form of spiritual practice known as Reiki, used as an alternate therapy for the treatment of physical, emotional, and mental diseases.

During the early 1920s, Usui undertook a 21-day practice on Mount Kurama called 'Discipline of Prayer and Fasting'. Common belief dictates that it was during these 21 days that Usui developed Reiki.

In April of 1922, he settled in Harajuku, Aoyama, Tokyo and set up the Gakkai to teach Reiki Ryoho and give treatments. It was so popular that the outside of the building was full of the shoes of many visitors who had come from far and near.

In September of 1923, there was a great earthquake and fire and the air was filled with groans of pains from the wounded. Usui wanted to do something to help and went out every day, saving an innumerable number of people.

As an adult, it is believed that Usui travelled to several western countries, including the Americas, Europe, and China as a part of his continued study. His studies included history, medicine, Buddhism, Christianity, psychology, and Taoism.

Usui travelled widely in Japan during the last 4 years of his life, offering his teachings to more than 2,000 beginning students. Usui trained only 16 as Reiki Masters, one of which was Chujiro Hayashi a retired naval officer. Hayashi worked with Usui to understand and modify his larger body of healing practices and teachings, to make Reiki more appealing to the West.

With Usui’s blessing, Hayashi opened a Reiki clinic in Tokyo. Hawayo Takata, a first-generation Japanese-American, came to the clinic for relief from several medical conditions, one of this being asthma. After a committed few months of treatment, Takata’s health was restored and she then became a devoted student. With Hayashi’s active guidance and support, Takata brought Reiki to Hawaii in 1937 and then to the mainland. Takata practised and taught Reiki for 40 years before she began training Reiki masters, training 22 in total. Reiki is now practised around the world, although not usually in the traditional form Takata taught.

What is energy?

If you practice Yoga, Chi Gong, Meditation or have had therapies such as Acupuncture, TCM or Ayurvedic Medicine you will have heard of the terms 'chi', 'ki', 'prana' and 'life force'. Each culture has a different way of describing energy and how to rebalance and realign energy in the body.

Everything is energy. Energy is matter, our thoughts and our feelings. Your spiritual and emotional wellbeing is the essence of who you are and we need energy to support our physical wellness and all the functions, structures, muscles, organs and cells of our body. If our energy isn’t aligned our whole being is affected and we can get stuck in life, not being able to move forward.

You can sense energy, it’s a feeling and it’s always present. It's the water in the ocean, the clouds in the sky, the trees and the animals. You can sense energy when you are taking a walk along the beach and feel the energy and warmth from the sun on your face. When you are in a forest surrounded by nature. When you are dealing with an uncomfortable situation or you walk into a room of people who are arguing. This is all energy, we are one.

If we come under some form of stress we fall out of alignment and find it challenging to get back on track. Energy healing is re-tuning your body, mind and emotions. It's like reviving the engine with a full MOT and service, leaving it sparkling from the inside out, raring to go and discover the journey.

Can Reiki help with anxiety?

The simple answer is yes it can and many other stressful conditions that we are faced with, such as…

Asthma and breathing difficulties
Tension headaches and migraine
Back pain
Feelings of overwhelm, stress and being consumed by fear
Low self-confidence and self-esteem
Exhaustion from lack of sleep
Depression
Lack of motivation
Loneliness and feeling disengaged
Dealing with chronic fatigue
Suffering from dis-ease in the body

What will Reiki do for me?

Gain a new sense of calm, clarity and stillness, restoring mental wellness.
You will stop feeling stuck in a negative state of physical pain and discomfort, restoring physical and emotional wellbeing.
Gain balance and healing to the body, mind and emotions, connecting to yourself and your inner confidence.
Restore the ability to feel inner harmony through realigning your energy, physically and mentally.
Give you a new outlook on life, and a sense of lightness as if a weight has been lifted.

What happens in a Reiki session?

During a Reiki session, the practitioner either places their hands directly on you or above you to bring about healing. Reiki can also be practised from a distance and can be offered online. This is just as beneficial carried out with intention, as reiki’s sole function is to heal.

Whether the session is face to face or online, you may experience, seeing colours and hot or cold temperature changes in different parts of your body. You might also feel pins or needles or twitches in the body. You will certainly feel relaxed, and might even drop off to sleep, which usually happens.

Each session will start with a 5-10 minute consultation to make sure I am personalising your treatment, depending on your needs.

A session can range between 20 to 60 minutes.

Reiki is a very gentle, natural therapy and has no side effects at all. A lot of my clients undergoing cancer treatment or recovering from an illness have hugely benefited.

What to expect after a Reiki treatment

Drink plenty of water after your session. Some of my clients experience feelings of being lighter, deeply relaxed yet energised. Some feel calm, peaceful and you may also feel tired.

How to find a Reiki Practitioner

I would suggest you have a look online in your local area or go with a recommendation from a friend. It’s important that you connect and feel comfortable with your practitioner as you will gain so much more out of your treatment.

Have a call with your potential Reiki practitioner first, to get a feeling and understanding of what you want to gain from your reiki session.

I offer Reiki treatments within my practice in Brighton and distant reiki healing online around the world.

Are there risks or side effects?

Reiki is a non-invasive treatment and has no side effects.

What are the health benefits of Reiki?

This research has been collected by Trusted Source, according to trials that have been carried out in 2015 and 2019.

In 2015 they found that people being treated for cancer who received Distant Reiki in addition to regular medical care, experienced lower levels of pain, anxiety and fatigue, and improved their quality of life. https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs

Women also found an improvement in sleep patterns, self-confidence and depression levels, with a noted sense of calm, peace and relaxation.

In 2015 researchers also looked at the effects of Reiki on women following cesarean delivery. They experienced significantly reduced pain, anxiety and the breathing rate 1-2 days after having surgery. The need for analgesic pain killers was also reduced.

In 2010 Reiki Treatments were used as part of a treatment plan to help relieve depression. In a small study, researchers looked at the effects of reiki on older adults experiencing pain, depression and anxiety. They reported an improvement of their physical symptoms, mood and wellbeing. Feeling more relaxed, curious and enhanced levels of self-care. Read more here: https://www.healio.com/nursing/journals/rgn/

In 2011 Reiki was compared with physiotherapy for effectiveness in relieving lower back pain in people with herniated disks. Both treatments were found to be equally effective at relieving pain, but Reiki was more cost-effective and, in some cases, resulted in faster treatment.

Do you want to learn Reiki?

If you would like to learn how to bring reiki into your daily life, I’m a master reiki teacher and teach all Levels of reiki in Brighton.

Reiki 1 - Bringing Reiki into your life to treat yourself, family and friends - 2 days

Reiki 2 - Allows you to become a Reiki Practitioner to treat others - 2 days

Reiki 3 - Becoming a Master Reiki Practitioner - 2 days (this takes place after a minimum of 2 years practice with Level 2)

If you would like to find out more about Reiki, treatments or learning Reiki, please feel free me to contact me at katie@thelighttechnique.com, and I will be delighted to talk through any questions you may have.

What is Reiki? Everything You Need to Know about Reiki Energy Healing