Reiki is a Japanese healing technique for stress reduction that promotes healing
Reiki is a Japanese word, or kanji that combines the symbol for Universal Life Force and Energy. Together, the kanji roughly translates to mean “universal life force energy”. But that only begins to answer the question of what Reiki is. The word really stands for an energy healing method created in Japan. Reiki practitioners are trained to move universal life force energy through their bodies, and to direct it to exit at the palms of their hands at will. When this energy is moved through and directed from the palms, whatever person, object, animal, idea the energy is directed towards receives the energy, which is intelligent, benevolent and knows how to interact. It often produces a healing effect. In the United States, the first school or method of Reiki healing was brought by Hawayo Takata, who learned it from her teacher Dr. Chujiro Hayashi. He in turn learned it from Mikao Usui who created his method nearly 100 years ago.
The Reiki practitioner works with the body as a whole and the energetic body, and with chakras and energy channels in the body. Reiki practitioners use very light touch or even no touch at all to work with their clients. It is completely safe, non-invasive and is considered a complimentary or alternative health approach. We do not seek to cure disease but instead seek to help the receiver find inner balance, calm and help stimulate the healing response.
Energetic healing practices are hard to quantify, but there has been enough research to show that Reiki has the following benefits:
- Pain, anxiety and fatigue: a couple of 2015 studies found reductions in all three categories (although more study is needed to further validate the findings) found that cancer patients’ pain and anxiety was significantly reduced by adding Reiki to care, and pain and anxiety among post-Ceasarean section patients was reduced so much so that the amount of pain medications was reduced also. A 2018 study comparing Reiki to physiotherapy for people with herniated discs found no difference in pain reduction between the two, and that Reiki was more cost-effective.
- Improves mood and helps depression: A study conducted in 2011 found that participants’ mood improved over no treatment. A 2017 study found that Reiki was somewhat effective for helping elderly subjects with depression symptoms.
- Reiki affects the Autonomic Nervous System and it may help with improving sleep quality, headaches and nausea, and has been found to be more effective than placebo in a number of settings for both chronic and acute conditions.
What is different (to me) about Reiki
I once listened to a wonderful podcast about more recent Japanese history where the host described the Japanese as “just like everyone else, only more so”. When I thought about my visit to Japan, I totally got what he meant. Japan is an island, and off and on for its entire history, it has been fairly isolated apart from military conquests and campaigns against China and Korea. The culture is rich with tradition, ritual and refinement, and Japanese people are deliberate and mindful. Every aspect of daily life, every movement, every expression can take on a greater significance. And so too, Reiki is a practice that is intended to be very mindful and deliberate, with daily practice and devotion. So for me, Reiki is deeply Japanese.
Since coming to the United States, the practice of Reiki has grown, evolved and proliferated. I don’t think that this is a bad thing. In fact, because of WWII, if Reiki had not come to this country, it could well have died out. Post war reconstruction laws prohibited the open practice of religion and spirituality and Reiki went underground in Japan, and has never really reemerged.
Because Reiki comes out of a culture rich in tradition, ritual and belief in the power of ritual, I believe that Reiki is effective in part because of the weight of all of that intergenerational energy of which each practitioner represents the tip of the iceberg.
I was skeptical at first that there would be any difference. And then my first attunement was bonkers.
No matter where Reiki found its roots, it is different from other hands on healing modalities, in that a practitioner must be “attuned” or must go through a ceremony and have symbols placed in their energetic system, in order to practice Reiki. While my personal experience is not equivalent to a scientific review, here is what I can say as an energy work practitioner for years before becoming a Reiki practitioner: I was skeptical at first that there would be any difference. And then my first attunement was bonkers.
By “bonkers” I mean that it was qualitatively different than the other two forms of energy work I learned first. I had visions (that was new) during my attunement – specific and clear ones at that – of symbols and benevolent spirits around me. I am an atheist, so the latter challenged my belief systems. I had prescient dreams throughout the process and for months after my attunement transformation. I began seeing energy with my naked eyes, in the form of sprays of light, foggy masses, splashes of color around a chakra, or even more shocking, sometimes forms. None of this was scary, negative or supernatural to me. It all seemed to emanate from me joining with my client’s central nervous system, being present with intent, and just being still and “listening”.
My clients noticed the difference immediately
Most importantly, my clients noticed the difference immediately. My clients ranged from the late teens to well into the golden years, with varying degrees of belief in anything you can’t see or touch, and nearly every one noticed a different, and profound quality that just wasn’t there before. With colleagues, or clients with whom I shared a deep bond, I found that I would sometimes enter a semi-trance and offer insights that my conscious self wasn’t aware of. Again, none of these “interesting” occurences happened before Reiki attunement, but certainly did afterwards. Perhaps it was the regular meditation and intentional Reiki self healing. I can’t offer a clear explanation.
When I began teaching, my students reported intense experiences while I attuned them, similar to what I experienced. I didn’t coach them to expect a certain experience – as a new teacher, I was much more focused on covering the necessary material. Any “experience” my students had was purely the combination of my student’s unique abilities and the earnestness of the ceremony.
As a practitioner, I noticed personal benefits beyond my “bonkers” experience: my mood improved, I experienced deeper more satisfying sleep and as I did self-healing on a regular basis, I also experienced a reduction in musculoskeletal pain. My children and husband greatly benefited from ad hoc Reiki for stress relief, and they also experienced improved sleep and a reduction in anxiety as we prepared to move states.
To return to the original question, what is Reiki, I’ll leave it at this: Reiki is a powerful complimentary practice that can be very helpful to help you reduce anxiety, calm your entire body’s reaction to stress, activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) and your natural healing response. Receiving Reiki is safe and non-invasive. Learning Reiki gives you a powerful self-care practice centered around healing and wellness that dovetails beautifully with yoga and a healthy lifestyle. It gives you the ability to help your friends and family cope with stress, pain and anxiety. Most of all, it reminds you that human beings are connected to each other in a profound way, that we are all connected to Universal Life Force Energy.