Perhaps you’ve heard about Reiki or energy healing from your friends who are always on their toes when it comes to spirituality or any ‘New Age’ stuff.
Growing up around progressive adults back in my teenage years, I first heard of the word Reiki from a teacher who was talking to a friend. Being so inquisitive, I blurted, “Reiki! What is that?” Imagine how I got even more intrigued when they immediately fell quiet and acted as if they hadn’t heard anything.
Years passed. After giving birth in 2009, I suffered a long-term bout of post-partum depression. During those tedious years, my coping led me to spirituality. And as life would have it, I reconnected with Yoko Matsuda, a longtime friend who had become a Reiki Master from the lineage of Gendai Reiki Healing Association in Japan.
Reiki, I learned, is the Universal life force. Across cultures, it comes in many different names including Prana, Chi, or Pono. Reiki was granted to Usui Mikao in March 1922 when a strong universal Reiki entered through his head, awakening him to the Universe within him following a 21-day meditation and fasting in Mt. Kurama in Kyoto. The energy modality that employs Reiki is sometimes called Reiki Energy Healing or Reiki.
Reiki is the highest and purest form of energy and it already exists within us. It is an energy that is not at all alien to us. However, as we grew up, we believed the many things that others told us. We believed that healing is not within our reach, that our wounds should remain concealed to look good, or that life is a battle and many other lies. We somehow got disconnected from our own Reiki, and we gave up our own power.
Reiki believes that our essence is Love, and consciously using Reiki Healing as a tool can help you return to our pristine essence. A word of caution: a Reiki healer does not heal you, instead s/he awakens you to the healer in you. The meditations and techniques taught in Reiki will not only help you cope, it can also help you manifest the life that you desire. You can make peace with your past and bless your future, while reveling in the present.
Deepening awareness of the Self, a harmonious flow in your daily grind, good health, manifesting miracles, and a loving relationship with yourself and with others are only a few outstanding benefits of Reiki. But of course, healing is a process. It is not a one-time, big time event that removes all the pain and the wounds pronto. Nor is Reiki a pill that you can pop and the pain is gone, only to find later that an organ in your system is damaged.
Many times, Reiki Healing will help your body by giving it a good sleep (even when you don’t wish to). It can also surface the negative feelings and thoughts that you may have been suppressing or brushing off.
Remember: go through rather than avoid. Reiki can help you go through with better perspective and insights.
The process of becoming a Reiki practitioner will require you to be prepared internally so you will be given attunement. In Gendai Reiki Ho (Ho meaning technique), there are four levels of practitioners: Shoden (Level 1), Okuden (Level 2), Shinpiden (Level 3), and the fourth is for the Shihan (Reiki Master). While it is understood that there are many online courses that offer Reiki courses, Gendai Reiki only promotes face-to-face. My personal experience with Reiki started in 2013.It was only after seven years of Reiki practice that I became a Shihan, and was allowed to teach Reiki Energy Healing to a student.
Are Reiki healers perfect?
You sure know the answer. NO. Reiki healers also want to smack an a-hole at times! The better word is striving. Reiki healers strive to heal themselves so that they become more compassionate of their own journey and of others. Being more loving and more compassionate requires inner work that is bound to last a lifetime – and it is where Reiki healing helps.
If you’re looking for a Reiki Master to attune you to this modality, the old adage, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” holds true. If you have found one, ask yourself first if you resonate with the modality. You will feel it because your intuition will tell you. Trust it because that is your inner compass, and that is also one way Reiki communicates with you.