Reiki

Reiki is a Japanese energy healing system originating in Japan, which was discovered and developed by Mikao Usui, a Samurai and spiritual teacher born in 1865. A qualified practitioner of Reiki channels naturally occurring external energy into a client in order to work directly on physical or emotional issues. Some practitioners of Reiki use Reiki passively. Features of passive Reiki include:

• Avoiding the use of any focus, intention or visualisation.
• Claiming to be merely a conduit for the Reiki energy and playing no part in the healing process.
• Using a set series of hand positions or a single hand position rather than working directly on the presenting injury, illness or emotional issue with Reiki.
• Claiming that the energy is intelligent and therefore no direction or concentration is required.
• Claiming that the Reiki energy will take its own course within the body and not necessarily work on the presenting condition(s).
• Claiming that Reiki is merely for relaxation and allowing the body to heal itself.

This is to be differentiated from Active Reiki where practitioners work directly on the presenting condition(s), using focus, intention and visualisation to enhance the effects of the Reiki healing and using the Reiki symbols in the appropriate colour to narrow down the frequency range of the healing to work on a physical or emotional level. Those using Active Reiki tend to follow Mikao Usui's traditional teachings, using Reiki to have a more direct impact on physical illnesses and emotional trauma.

There are many types of Reiki now in existence because the original system has been adapted or in some cases completely altered by various Reiki teachers. These types of Reiki can be broadly divided into Japanese Reiki and Western Reiki. Those practicing Western Reiki tend to practice a more passive form of Reiki and add additional elements to their teachings that bear no relation to the traditional system of Reiki. These include chakras, auras, communicating with spirits, among other things. Traditional Japanese Reiki encompasses Reiki teachings that place more focus on the traditional Japanese (particularly Shinto) culture, with an emphasis on disciplined practices that honour the original system developed by Mikao Usui, although not all Japanese forms of Reiki strictly adhere to all the teachings of Mikao Usui.

The word Reiki is made up of two Japanese Kanji:

Rei (lit. Japanese - spiritual or sacred) - Mikao Usui described this energy as "light coming from the hand" and it is used to treat the individual on a spiritual or soul level. Students taking a level 1 Reiki training course learn how to use this energy. It is essentially a high frequency energy.

Ki (lit. Japanese - energy) - Ki is usually used in the context of life force energy, which exists within all living things and surrounds all living things. This energy is the other component of Reiki, with 'Ki' having a lower frequency range and being used to work on a physical and emotional level, as these energies are denser. Students taking a level 2 Reiki course learn how to use these lower frequency energies.

In many Eastern traditions Ki needs to flow freely through the body in order for us to maintain a state of balance or homeostasis. When we develop an illness or injury, or when we experience any kind of stress of emotional trauma, the flow of Ki is disrupted. If we develop an energetic blockage the flow of our Ki is disrupted and this can actually cause illness. The healthier we are the more Ki we have flowing through our body. Reiki helps to correct energetic imbalances and blockages within the body. It can be used directly on injuries, illnesses and areas storing emotional trauma.

Reiki is also a spiritual path for those who seek to explore this aspect of Reiki. Mikao Usui believed that Reiki was a path to enlightenment, that anyone could achieve by self-healing with Reiki on a daily basis. Many individuals choose to take a Reiki course because it is effective, so simple to learn and in a two-day course you can become a Reiki practitioner and use Reiki for yourself daily without relying on someone else to treat you. The ability to channel energy is achieved through Denju (lit. initiation), also referred to as attunements, passed on to the student by a trained Reiki teacher. Attunements offer a direct connection to external universal energy, awaken the individual's intuition and any latent spiritual gifts and proffer the ability to heal using Reiki.

Reiki History

The history of Reiki is unfortunately not complete, so much of the information propagated is incorrect or theoretical at best. The primary source of documentation about Mikao Usui - the founder of Reiki, can be found carved on his memorial stone at his grave site in Tokyo, which was placed there by his students in 1927, one year following his death. Much of the information and documentation handed down over the years has been confined within the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Lit. Usui Spiritual Healing Method Society), which was established by Mikao Usui in 1922. Hopefully this knowledge will eventually be shared with the rest of the world.

Mikao Usui was born in 1865 on the 15th August in Taniai village in the Yamagata district of the Gifu Prefecture in Japan. He was born and raised as a Tendai Buddhist and also followed the Japanese religion of Shintoism. Mikao Usui's family were Hatamoto Samurai, the highest level within the Samurai ranks. After sweeping social change initiated by the Meiji emperor the Samurai class lost their powerful and privileged military status. Mikao Usui continued the family tradition of learning martial arts and was also known to be very studious. His memorial stone reads

He surpassed his peers in hard work and endeavour. When he grew up he visited Europe and America, and studied in China. Despite his will to succeed in life, he was stalemated and fell into great difficulties. However, in the face of adversity he strove to train himself even more with the courage never to yield.

Mikao Usui loved to read about Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, medicine, psychology, mysticism, and the psychic and spiritual arts. He also practiced a Japanese form of Qigong, a healing discipline that trains the practitioner to develop their own Ki (life force energy) for self-development and healing purposes. Although this can be used to heal others, the practitioner depletes their internal Ki when giving healing to others.

As part of his spiritual journey and quest for self-development, Mikao Usui embarked upon a twenty-one day retreat on Mount Kurama (Japanese - Kurama Yama) - a mountain to the north-west of the city of Kyoto. During this retreat called Kushu-Shinren (Lit. Painful discipline or difficult training) Mikao Usui experienced a satori (Lit. Enlightenment) and the knowledge of the spiritual healing method that later came to be known as Reiki. His memorial stone states that

One day, he climbed kurama yama and after 21 days of a severe discipline without eating, he suddenly felt One Great Reiki over his head and attained enlightenment and he obtained Reiki Ryoho. Then, he tried it on himself and experimented on his family members. The efficacy was immediate.

Over subsequent years Mikao Usui used Reiki to help his friends and family, treated the poor of Kyoto, opened a Reiki society and built a larger dojo in Nakano, Tokyo. His reputation spread throughout Japan and people travelled from all over the country to receive his healing and teachings. Mikao Usui taught more than 2000 students, who continued to spread Mikao Usui's teachings after his death in 1926. Following Mikao Usui's death the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai adopted a secretive approach and only allowed those who had been specifically invited to join the society. Some teachers left the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and developed their own Reiki schools and systems of healing. The first form of Usui Reiki Ryoho was brought over to the West from the lineage of Dr Chujiro Hayashi, one of the 16 students who had reached the top of of Mikao Usui's teachings in order to become a master teacher.

How did Reiki come to the West?

The founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui, taught 2000 students and 16 of these reached the top of his teachings. One of these Reiki masters was Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a retired officer of the Japanese navy and a medical doctor and surgeon. Dr. Hayashi was born on 15th September 1880. He studied with Mikao Usui for around 10 months before Mikao Usui's death in 1926. Dr. Hayashi remained with the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (the society founded by Mikao Usui) until 1931, when he departed to establish his own clinic and school in Tokyo called the Hayashi Reiki Kenkyu Kai (Lit. Hayashi Spiritual Energy Research Society).

Mikao Usui had tasked Dr. Hayashi with developing Reiki in a more clinical manner and initially they did this together, developing the Reiki Ryoho Hikkei (Lit. Spiritual Energy Healing Method Handbook). This guide demonstrates hand positions for various illnesses and injuries enabling students who are beginners and lack intuitive ability to work in the correct areas with Reiki. Dr. Hayashi also kept treatment records and constructed class manuals for Reiki.

Dr. Hayashi died on 10th May 1940. Prior to his death he had taught Reiki master level to a total of 13 students, one of them being a lady called Hawayo Takata. Mrs Takata brought Reiki to the West in the 1930s.

Mrs Hawayo Takata

Mrs Takata was a Japanese immigrant living in Hawaii. She was born on 24th December 1900. Her father worked on a sugar cane plantation as a cutter. Hawayo Takata worked as part of the sugar cane plantation owner's household and eventually became the head housekeeper. It was at this household that she met her future husband, Saichi Takata, the plantation bookkeeper. They married and had two daughters.

In October 1930 her husband died leaving Hawayo Takata to support two children. Life became very strenuous and after five years Mrs Takata grew very ill and suffered a nervous breakdown. Shortly after she travelled to Japan to receive treatment for her ill health. Whilst in hospital in Japan Hawayo Takata was diagnosed with asthma, appendicitis, gallstones and a tumour. She was due to undergo surgery but sensed that she did not need surgery. As a result, Hawayo Takata asked the hospital if there was another treatment she could have. The hospital dietician referred her to Dr. Chujiro Hayashi's clinic where over a period of four months she received healing daily from two Reiki practitioners. Hawayo Takata made a full recovery and impressed by this feat asked to learn Reiki. Although Dr. Hayashi initially refused, Hawayo Takata demonstrated her commitment to Reiki and Dr. Hayashi taught her the first level.

Over the next few years Mrs Takata graduated to master level, returning to Hawaii to establish her own clinic in Honolulu. Hawayo Takata travelled around Hawaii giving healing treatments and in the 1970s moved to the USA, where she taught Reiki level 1 and 2 courses. It was only in 1976 that she began offering Reiki master training. Hawayo Takata adapted Mikao Usui's teachings to suit the political situation created by World War II, removing some of the spirituality and practical nature of Reiki.

Mrs Takata initiated 22 Reiki masters before her death in 1980. Because Hawayo Takata had introduced some changes to Reiki, such as disallowing students from taking notes or keeping copies of the Reiki symbols, after her death Reiki became very fragmented. The Reiki masters she had trained had different recollections of what they had been taught. Some maintained the more traditional Usui style of teaching Reiki, while others developed and adapted the original teachings into new systems of Reiki. Still, were it not for Hawayo Takata Reiki may have never made it to the Western world.

Reiki: The benefits

This question has many answers and some of the most pertinent ones are listed here.

• Reiki can be used to directly help physical conditions such as injuries and illnesses and psychological or emotional problems such as stress, depression, anxiety, bereavement, panic attacks and specific emotional traumas.
• Reiki offers a spiritual path, if you choose to pursue this direction and reconnects you to your true spiritual nature, enabling you to self-heal whenever you require healing. Reiki awakens your intuition and creates spiritual awareness at a rapid rate when used for self-healing on a daily basis.
• It is recognised that stress plays a huge part in all of our daily lives and many people experience stress as a result of their lifestyle, working environment and life experiences. Reiki has a calming, relaxing effect and helps you to put your life in perspective, helping you to understand the bigger picture.
• Reiki heightens any natural gifts you already have, particularly creative and artistic abilities.
• Reiki helps you establish direction and purpose in life, fostering a greater comprehension of the universe and your place in the universe.
• Many individuals, particularly in the West, lead toxic lifestyles. Reiki helps you in a very natural and organic way to make positive changes in your life, without them feeling troublesome or challenging. You will naturally be drawn and attracted to a lifestyle that is healthy and nourishing for you on every level.
• Reiki boosts your immune system, helping your body to be stronger and in a state of balance and harmony.
• Reiki gives you more clarity and focus, so decision-making becomes an easier and more instinctive process.
• Interpersonal skills are enhanced, as Reiki helps you understand other people on a deeper level and this enables you to interact with them in the most appropriate and beneficial manner.

What are the benefits of a Reiki course?

Reiki courses and training can dramatically change your life for the better. Learning Reiki and daily self-healing helps many students to achieve a wonderful sense of wellbeing and clarity. Our Reiki courses are simple and straightforward, as the founder of Reiki Mikao Usui intended, and give individuals the tools to foster a happy and healthier life for themselves. Years of meditation and self-reflection are not required, because on a two-day Reiki course you experience an initiation that re-connects you to your intuition and enables you to channel energy for healing purposes. You can not only help yourselves but change the lives of those around you with Reiki healing.

Reiki training offers a myriad of benefits but I have listed below some reasons to undertake Reiki classes.

• Reiki training enables you to self-heal on a daily basis, making you your very own holistic therapist! This is extremely empowering because you don't have to rely on others for your own health and wellbeing.
• By using Reiki on yourself you can create a sense of balance and harmony on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. Clarity and focus are brought into your life and making decisions and choices becomes an easier, more intuitive process.
• People often feel lost in life, lacking a sense of direction and purpose, and not really understanding where to focus their attention. Reiki helps you nourish your inner-self, your soul and by doing this the rest of you life starts to fall into place and flow in a more productive and guided manner.
• A Reiki self-treatment is a fantastic way of reducing stress and gaining a sense of peace and inner calm.
• Reiki can be used to work directly on physical conditions, ranging from mild back pain to conditions such as: cancer, fractures, torn ligaments, arthritis, addictions, sports injuries, broken bones, ankylosing spondylitis and more.
• On a Reiki course you experience a series of attunements, these connect you to external universal energy and foster a deeper and stronger connection with your intuition, helping you to understand who you really are.
• Learning Reiki enables you to give back to society by helping others, whether on a personal level helping family and friends, or on a professional level treating clients with Reiki.
• Emotional traumas hold us back in life and give us a warped sense of self and of the world around us. Reiki training clears away the negative energy associated with emotional trauma, so we have the memory of the event but no associated emotional pain or anguish. This frees us to make choices for the right reasons and breaks negative self-destructive patterns of behaviour.
• The founder of Reiki referred to his system as 'the art of inviting happiness.' People often mistake fleeting moments of pleasure for contentment. Reiki brings a sense of happiness from understanding your spiritual self.

For more information about Reiki see my other Reiki websites at www.reikiinthecity.co.uk, www.thehealingco.com, www.activ-energy.com, www.activereikicourses.co.uk and www.urbanzen.co.uk.

What should a Reiki treatment entail?

There are over 140 different types of Reiki in existence, some of which bear no relation to the Reiki taught by the founder, Mikao Usui. Therefore, different Reiki practitioners use Reiki in different ways and there are no set treatment protocols. A good Reiki practitioner will tailor the Reiki treatment to each client, looking at the client's presenting condition(s) and working on these directly with the Reiki energy, using the correct Reiki symbol (depending on whether the Reiki practitioner is giving a physical or emotional healing), at the appropriate frequency.

A Reiki practitioner should always empower the client and aim to treat the presenting condition(s) in as few treatments as possible. If you have been paying for Reiki treatments for a year and you are not feeling any better, you have been ripped off! Bar those with critical illnesses such as cancer and severe psychological illnesses such as schizophrenia, which require long-term treatment, a client shouldn't generally need more than 5-6 Reiki treatments.

To begin a Reiki treatment the Reiki practitioner should have a chat with the client about what Reiki is and what they can expect from the Reiki treatment. It's best to avoid Reiki practitioners who cannot give an explanation of how Reiki works.

Following this, the Reiki practitioner should preferably fill in an interview form to establish what condition(s) the client is suffering from and how best to help them. At the least, a practitioner should take the client's name, address, date of birth, doctor's diagnosis and any prescribed medication that the client is taking. Under the data protection act a Reiki practitioner must keep this information confidential.

A proficient Reiki practitioner should then ask the client additional questions about their condition(s), symptom(s), sleeping habits, diet, emotional wellbeing and past or present emotional traumas and stresses which may have contributed to the presenting condition(s). This enables the Reiki practitioner to build up a picture of what might be causing the client's condition(s) and how to treat the client in the most effective way. It also begins the healing process, giving the client a chance to air their feelings to a non-judgemental listener.

The client should then read the interview form to confirm that everything is accurate and sign the form to give consent for the Reiki treatment and acknowledge that everything the Reiki practitioner has detailed is accurate.

Some Reiki practitioners may also fill in a treatment form with the client, with a method to quantify the severity of the symptom before and after each Reiki treatment, enabling both the Reiki practitioner and client to see how much the client is improving with each session.

With the interview and possibly treatment forms completed, the Reiki treatment should take place. The client should lay fully clothed on the treatment couch with their eyes closed. The Reiki practitioner will then connect to the Reiki energy and place their hands in various positions above the client's body (depending on where the condition(s) are located) and channel energy to work on the presenting condition(s). Active Reiki practitioners use intention and visualisation to maximise the effects of the healing. Passive Reiki practitioners simply place their hands on the client without using any focus or intention.

The Reiki practitioner should explain to the client before the treatment that their hands will be above the body for all hand positions between the neck and pelvis. If a client is uncomfortable with having their head touched a Reiki practitioner should hold their hands above the head also. A Reiki practitioner may put their hands on, for instance, a client's back or knee if treatment is required in these areas and the client is happy with this, purely to protect the practitioner from hurting their back by hovering their arms, but under no circumstances should a Reiki practitioner put their hands anywhere sexual or sensitive. It is inappropriate, unnecessary (because the treatment works just as well with the hands elevated slightly above the body) and unprofessional.

Following the treatment the Reiki practitioner should allow the client to discuss their experiences and anything else they would like to talk about. The client should be given time to rest and talk to the Reiki practitioner, without feeling like they are being rushed out of the door. In subsequent treatments the Reiki practitioner may continue to work on the condition(s), or once that has been dealt with address any underlying issues.

There are some Reiki practitioners who use Reiki purely for relaxation purposes, which we refer to as passive Reiki (along with those who do not work on physical or emotional conditions), but it is much more effective to work directly on the presenting condition(s).

Why we wrote a book about Reiki?

There are a plethora of Reiki books available for purchase, so why bother putting another one out there in the marketplace? My partner and I are often asked to recommend Reiki books on our Reiki courses and we feel sad that our answer is always, "no, because there is so much misinformation out there and none of the Reiki books that have been published so far encapsulate the true spirit of Reiki, or describe the correct way of using Reiki." This is not something we delight over. We dearly wish that everyone taught and practiced Reiki in the correct way. We would love to be able to say to our students, "There is a wealth of good material on Reiki available," but sadly this is just not the case, and so we felt we had to write a Reiki book of our own, one that explained the true nature of Reiki, or the essence of Reiki, hence the title.

One of our biggest frustrations with the Reiki community is the widely held notion that there is no right or wrong way of using Reiki, because all that matters is the healer's intention. Reiki is a Japanese healing therapy and this attitude is so contrary to Japanese culture, where every action has a purpose. Even the Japanese tea ceremony is elaborately enacted. Martial arts moves must be carried out in a particular way, because an arm positioned in the wrong place could result in a failed block. Japanese Kanji must be drawn in a specific way and this is not without purpose. The concept that anything goes is a very Western attitude. It's like saying, "it doesn't matter how you drive a car, it's your intention that counts." Of course it matters! If you drive a car badly you will almost certainly crash, injuring yourself and other road users.

With regards to Reiki, the Reiki symbols have a very specific purpose, enabling the healer to channel specific frequencies of energy to treat the presenting conditions, whether they are physical or emotional. No symbols means that the healer is giving a passive healing, much like spiritual healing, where high frequency energy is channelled into the body without addressing the cause(s) of the illness, simply imparting a sense of relaxation.

The physical and emotional healing symbols should be used separately, never together in the same healing, and should be used in the appropriate colour. In the Shinto tradition shapes have power, words carry spirit and sounds invoke universal vibrations. The shapes of the Reiki symbols are very important and it is essential that practitioners draw the symbols correctly, because the shape dictates the frequency. If the symbols are drawn incorrectly the healer will channel the incorrect frequency. It is vital that the healer uses koto dama to invoke the energy from the symbol and to stay connected throughout the healing.

Some commonly held misconceptions about Reiki, which we highlight in our book include:

"Reiki does not heal anything...it only allows the body to heal itself."

"Reiki does not heal the body...it is purely a means of relaxation."

"The practitioner is only a channel for the energy...the less input the practitioner has in the treatment the better."

"It does not matter what you do, it is your intention that counts."

The founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui, explained in an interview, "If brain disease occurs I treat a head. If it's a stomach ache I treat a stomach..." Mikao Usui used Reiki to treat conditions directly. It expressly states on his memorial stone, erected by the members of the society he founded (the Usui Reiki-Ryoho Gakkai) that he cured many people during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Most natural healers aim to treat conditions. What is point of paying your hard earned money to go and see a practitioner who is not going to work on your conditions? You wouldn't pay a physiotherapist who said, "I am not going to do anything. I'll just put my hands on you and see what happens."

My partner and I have taught hundreds of students, some of these were originally taught by other Reiki teachers but felt so disempowered and frustrated at the lack of information taught on their Reiki course, that they came to us. It shouldn't have to be this way. All Reiki teachers should be offering comprehensive courses that leave the student feeling empowered and able to use Reiki effectively.

We are practical and down-to-earth and we teach Reiki as a practical healing modality. As it stands, most practitioners use Reiki in a 'flaky' manner which is not very appealing to the medical profession. We would love to see Reiki offered in all hospitals and medical practices. It frustrates us when a practitioner says they do not know how Reiki works, because their Reiki teacher should have taught them how Reiki works.

In order to be taken seriously we must look to the science behind energy healing. My partner wrote a chapter about this subject in the book. As a past particle physicist, he has always strived to understand the science behind Reiki. Of course, Reiki is also a spiritual path, but spirituality is not about being 'flaky,' as Mikao Usui said it is about right living and right thinking and being guided by your intuition.

So, in an endeavour to educate current Reiki practitioners and teachers and help those just stepping onto their Reiki path, we have attempted in the book to explain what Reiki is, how it works, how it can be used to work directly on conditions and we have addressed many of the myths promulgated about Reiki.

Rescued by Reiki

In 2002 I was in my second year at university. I was decidedly discontent, studying for a degree I had no real passion for, directionless and devoting far too much time to the excesses of a student lifestyle. I could not help but feel that I was somehow missing something vital from my blurry existence. However, what that something was, for the time being became buried in my chaotic lifestyle.

Ironically mixed up in this hedonistic lifestyle I was simultaneously a fitness fanatic, obsessed with everyone's appearance, particularly my own. Dieting was my training companion. When training was too easy I weighted a rucksack down and sprinted with it mounted upon my tiny frame, launching myself up seemingly impossible hills and running mile after mile. I could see injuries building up and my body begging for mercy but I ignored its desperate pleas blinded by my own decadence and vanity. I desperately clung to the philosophy, ‘you only live once' as a proverbial comfort blanket.

I left university in 2003 miraculously with a degree but still utterly directionless and deliberately oblivious to the deep internal damage I was fostering. Undertaking a temp job just fuelled my indecision about where my life was really going. The weekend was my new best friend. Lacklustre, I plodded through my work and wondered why no one else around me seemed to be discontent with their lot. After causing so much damage to my body I could no longer exercise and pain beset my body and spirit. Doctors and other therapists alike were baffled by my condition and administered diagnosis after diagnosis with no correlation between any of them. Sometimes just turning the door handle of the office filing room would bring me to tears because of the excruciating pain in my wrists, muscles and joints. I knew it was time to try something different.

A work colleague mentioned that she had studied Reiki and suggested that it could offer me some solace for my situation. Reiki sounded fascinating and I felt increasingly drawn to it.A couple of Reiki treatments later and my bad back had much improved and I felt a little more serene. The treatments were quite unusual. I lay on a massage table whilst the Reiki practitioner channelled energy into various parts of my body, suspending her hands above me. This caused a range of sensations from bright colours floating in the line of my vision to my back cracking to involuntary spasms in my legs. All in all the Reiki treatments were wonderful. I was keen to find out more about this astonishing Reiki therapy.

My research led me to a Reiki teacher who was a member of a recognised Reiki association called The Reiki Healers and Teacher's Society. The Reiki course was magnificent and the Reiki teacher's house seemed to possess a breathtaking and uplifting energy that convinced me that this Reiki course was about to dramatically alter my life forever although I was not sure how.

The Reiki teacher seemed to understand me completely and my soul was laid bare to him without me uttering a single word. I felt he could see my life past, present and future, and I knew I had found something beyond my wildest dreams. There seemed to be something so much more than what I had experienced in my life and for the first time I felt a sense of immovable hope.

Through a series of what are known as ‘attunements' the Reiki teacher raises your vibrational frequency enabling you to channel energy to heal yourself and others. The attunement also develops your spiritual side and enables you to attain enlightenment provided you devote enough time to regularly healing yourself.

The weight of the world I had bore upon my shoulders and all the self- obsession, guilt and lack of direction dissipated. I spent hours a day self-healing. It wasn't easy, I had to confront myself completely and some days I would spend hours in tears, but I knew that what lay beyond this was worth the temporary pain. This left me realising I had the potential to help those around me with this gift as well as healing all the events from my past that had so dramatically halted my self-development. My awareness grew rapidly. I felt enlivened and positively peaceful. Finally I felt more myself.

This incredible experience set me on the road to recovery. I stopped doing all the things that were damaging my mind, body and soul. Drink, alcohol and constant partying became a thing of the past and achieving optimum health and conscious living became my new regime. Reiki had taught me the real value of taking responsibility for myself and boosted my self-esteem and self-respect.

Reiki helped me to choose a fulfilling path, to truly live rather than just existing and to find true inner peace, something everyone secretly craves for whether they realise it or not. The road to serenity is not always easy, understanding the truth about yourself and others is hard, but it is the most worthwhile journey anyone can ever take. I am more confident, focused, healthy and able to have a more positive healthy attitude to life. Helping others to develop in the same way is truly rewarding.

It became apparent that being a Reiki teacher was my beckoning in life and I thoroughly enjoy helping other people overcome their illnesses and emotional traumas. With Reiki people can be freed from the constraints of other people's expectations and past events enabling them too to find true contentment.

I practise and teach Reiki with my partner (who incidentally is the guy who taught me Reiki!) and I can honestly say that I couldn't have wished for a better life. We aren't rich and don't lead a lavish lifestyle because we prefer not to. We have ups and downs as anyone would but the most consequential thing is that our happiness is derived from so much more than satisfying our physical needs, it comes from satisfying our souls, the real source of inner peace and tranquillity.

Why take a Reiki course?

Taking Reiki courses can dramatically change your life in so many ways. Some people spend years meditating every single day and will be unable to achieve in that time, what Reiki courses can help to achieve over a much shorter period. By taking a Reiki course and self-healing every day many of my students have achieved things that they previously would never have thought possible. If someone had told me that by learning Reiki I would find complete happiness and fulfilment 10 years ago I would have laughed, but now I know better!

It isn't rocket science, Reiki courses are simple to learn and by self-healing every day you can connect with your intuition and heal yourself on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. You don't need to spend years meditating, in a two day Reiki course you can obtain the ability to heal yourself and others on all levels for a wide range of problems and conditions. You can change your life and the lives of others. Reiki is simple and natural to learn and absolutely anyone can learn Reiki if they are taught properly.There are so many benefits that Reiki courses can offer that it is difficult to narrow it down to one article but I have listed below some reasons to take Reiki courses and what you won't get from learning Reiki courses.

Reasons to take Reiki courses

• Reiki courses teach you how to self-heal, so that on a daily basis you can balance your body, mind and soul and heal any physical problems/conditions or emotional traumas that need addressing. A Reiki course will empower you to take control of your own health and well-being.

• Many people are looking for direction and guidance in life but do not know where to find it. If you feel like something is missing from your life, then you can benefit from learning a Reiki course. We all need spiritual fulfilment and a spiritual connection to be truly happy and if we are lacking in that, then we really have nothing. Learning a Reiki course will allow you to connect to your intuition or higher self. By doing this you will be able to make the choices that are right for you in life and follow your higher path on earth. By understanding the Universe and your place in the Universe you can achieve the true happiness that comes from satisfying your soul instead of your desires.

• Stress is a major contributing factor in a whole range of illnesses and millions of work days are lost per year due to stressed employees. A Reiki course can help you to find inner peace and clarity and by self-healing every day your worries will not seem so significant, as you start to see the ‘bigger picture' and more purpose to life.

• Reiki courses don't just relieve stress and help you to relax as is commonly believed. Reiki can actually be used to directly work on physical and emotional conditions. Reiki works by channelling the appropriate frequency into the body to bring the damaged area(s) back to a harmonious state of being. By taking level 1 and 2 Reiki courses you can learn how to use Reiki for yourself and others for conditions such as: stress, cancer, depression, torn ligaments, sports injuries, nerve damage, fractures, chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, addictions and more. Reiki can help with any illness.

• A process called ‘attunements' are used on Reiki courses. These connect you to your higher self and help you to know yourself better. Many people like to think they are being true to their self but do not really understand their own true nature. Reiki shows you who you really are and opens up your mind to the things that you need in life rather than what you thought you wanted from life. Truth eludes many but a Reiki course and constant self-healing will open your mind to the truth and when you find it you will be amazed. As your awareness increases you will steadily begin to follow your higher path and will be astonished by what you can achieve.

• Do you ever feel like you are taking from life and not giving anything back? If you take the level 1 and 2 Reiki courses you will be able to offer Reiki treatments to others as well as yourself. Helping others with Reiki is a very soul satisfying endeavour and there is nothing quite like being able to offer a healing gift to someone in need. Treating others with Reiki and seeing them walk away happy, healthy and contented will show you the true meaning of unconditional love.

• Learning a Reiki course and self-healing will help you to see people as they really are. Often in life we give people the benefit of the doubt even if deep down we do not really trust them. We can often be blind to dishonesty and to people who are just out to use us. Learning Reiki can make you feel like you had lived in darkness your entire life and suddenly the light has been switched on. You can see people as they really are. You can distinguish your real friends from those who have a hidden agenda. This will help you to only give your time and energy to those who really deserve it.

• Everyone accumulates emotional traumas in life, whether they are consciously aware of this or otherwise. Many people think that by burying a trauma or even by talking through a trauma that they have dealt with it. This is not true. Emotional traumas leave a negative energy in our bodies and if this energy is left to fester and not removed our emotional traumas continually hold us back in life and prevent us from achieving our full potential. Reiki courses teach you how to heal these emotional traumas by healing the negative energy associated with them. This will ensure that you no longer feel any pain linked with the past and you will finally be free to be your true self, without anything to hold you back.

• Many people get trapped in a vicious circle follow the same unhealthy lifestyle patterns and habits over their lifetime. Despite attempts to change this behaviour many people are too bogged down by their life and unmotivated to make the huge changes they need in their life. Reiki courses can change the way you look at life and deal with situations. Suddenly it doesn't become so difficult to make those essential changes. They just naturally occur as and when they need to. A newfound perspective will help you to love yourself more and love others more but in such a way that they will not take you for granted.

• I briefly mentioned it earlier but it deserves a point to itself, happiness is something that everyone longs for and very few people actually achieve. The founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui, said that Reiki was the ‘art of inviting happiness.' People very often misconceive what it means to be truly happy and wrongly associate fulfilment with, for example: their status in society, the pursuit of physical desires such as material possessions, having a family, being intellectual and high achieving, recreational drinking and drugs, having many sexual partners. All of these things can only lead to short term fulfilment and then the person is left wondering where their next high is going to come from. True happiness comes from being inextricably connected to your intuition or higher self and following your true path on earth, from understanding the Universe and your place in the Universe. Without that bond the soul suffers.

Reiki courses can set you on the path to enlightenment. Whether you choose to self-heal everyday is up to you and how far and fast you take it is up to you but Reiki shows you your path. Once you set foot upon the path and begin the journey you know that you are on the way to discovering happiness. Who could ask for more? Reiki is much more than just a therapy. Reiki is the way of the Universe.What Reiki courses won't do!

• Taking Reiki courses will not miraculously make your life perfect. You have to put in the hard work and effort of self-healing everyday and as your intuition guides you, you in turn must follow it. Some people come to a Reiki course thinking that this is the culmination of their journey. Taking a Reiki course is the beginning of your journey. We provide the connection to your intuition and the tools to self-heal and pursue enlightenment and the rest of the hard work is up to you. The rewards for your spiritual and self-development are infinite and invaluable though, when you put in the effort.

• There are no gurus! When you learn a Reiki course you are given a foundation for self-healing and self-development and perhaps some general guidance. A Reiki course is not an opportunity to find a guru who will tell you what to do in every aspect of your life. The choices are yours to make and yours only. We are Reiki teachers, we are not gurus and in reality there are no gurus, just intuition. Trust your own intuition and everything will fall into place.

• Taking Reiki courses to practitioner level will not make you an overnight millionaire. Reiki is about helping the people that need your help and following your higher path. If you choose to use Reiki to exploit people you will damage your own happiness and higher path.

For more information about Reiki see www.thehealingco.com and www.activ-energy.com.

The Essence of Reiki: Out Now!

My partner and I decided to write a book about Reiki, after growing frustrated with all the misinformation about Reiki out there in the the ether. Some information about the book is below. If you'd like to buy it the book is available from bookstores in the UK and US and from Amazon.

The Essence of Reiki, like the art of Reiki itself, is a journey of discovery. Written with love and a deep understanding of Reiki, every detail is as precise and as accurate as possible.The journey starts with the origins of Reiki, with the founder, Mikao Usui or Usui-sensei as he was known to his students. By understanding Usui-sensei and his life and culture you will gain greater insight into his healing system. From the origins you move onto the development and evolution of Usui Reiki, to the system Usui-sensei bestowed to the world to “make individuals better to make society better” Usui, Mikao .

This insightful book will guide you through the methods taught by Usui-sensei in step-by-step detail so you too can practise the original system. From Usui-sensei's original teachings we have developed Active Reiki Healing to bring Reiki back to its original purpose. What Reiki has lost over the years, we have given back. Reiki once again is a healing system that can be used to treat any condition, any illness, any injury, any emotional problem, just as Usui-sensei intended.

You will learn how to use the Reiki symbols and their mantras with the added use of intention and visualization to treat illnesses and injuries directly using Active Reiki Healing.The spiritual nature of Reiki is explored and discussed in great detail to help you on your own path to enlightenment. You will learn how Reiki can be used to connect to your true spiritual nature and create the ‘oneness' that will lead you to fulfillment and ultimately enlightenment.

The Essence of Reiki gives you everything you need to not only truly understand Usui Reiki but to live Reiki. Out on 31st May 2008, published by O Books.

Endorsements

"Dawn and Andy are the first Reiki Masters in recent times to put forth the effort of restoring Reiki, a spiritual healing system promoting health and well being, towards the original goals and ideals of its founder Sensei Mikao Usui. This body of work inspires a new sense of spirituality that is currently deficient in the modern day worldwide Reiki community. Virtues of honour, integrity, hard work and sincerity of practice are found within these pages. Read this book to gain a deeper understanding of your Reiki practice, or let it inspire you to begin a new journey towards an incredible path of healing and self discovery for lifetimes to come."

Stephen Buck, Certified Massage Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher, California

"Reiki is more than just a complementary therapy to be learnt and applied to clients, it is about a way of life, but yet a way of life that does not require any stipulated religious belief system. This book clearly helps to get that message across and works towards a greater understanding of how Reiki and science are finding a common ground in today's society. This is truly a valuable book for anyone new to Reiki or already experienced in this field."

Giles Cartmel , Reiki Practitioner/Master Teacher

For more information about Reiki see www.thehealingco.com and www.activ-energy.com.

Reiki, An Active Healing Method

There are many theories about how Reiki works. Most Reiki practitioners view Reiki as a passive form of healing, much like spiritual healing. What this means is that they channel energy into the client without consideration for the clients condition(s) as their intent is purely to allow the energy to take it’s own course through the body. Most Reiki healers say that the energy is ‘intelligent’ and will know where the individual needs healing and the body will take as much energy as it needs. They do not believe they are in a position to decide what needs treating or otherwise.

Many of those practising passive Reiki will put as little input into the healing as possible and often follow a set series of hand positions, remaining for roughly the same time in each position, regardless of where the injury or illness is.

The claim made by many of the Reiki healers who practise in this way is that Reiki simply allows the body to heal it self, the energy does not actually heal directly.

The Truth About Reiki

The founder of Reiki Mikao Usui, treated conditions directly. He never claimed that Reiki allowed the body to heal itself and he would treat the body wherever the pain occurred saying in the Usui Reiki Hikkei (Usui Reiki handbook) “If brain disease occurs I treat the head. If it’s a stomach ache I treat the stomach. If it’s an eye disease I treat the eyes.” Usui treated whatever the condition was the healee presented him with, he never claimed that the energy would find it’s own route around the body. If someone has a tumour and you treat their head with Reiki, the energy will work on healing their head. There will probably innumerable blockages between the head and tumour preventing the energy from reaching it.

Reiki is as Usui Sensei said, unlike any other treatment in the world and original to Mikao Usui. He did not re-discover Reiki, he discovered Reiki and we owe it to him to teach and practise Reiki in the most effective way possible. This is what Active Reiki healers are doing, healing their clients to the best of their ability, offering the best service they can to their clients and this is what all Reiki practitioners should be doing.

Why Active Reiki Works Best

With Active Reiki, variable frequency energy is being used to heal conditions directly. As well as this intention and visualisation are used to maximise the healing benefits. If someone comes for a Reiki treatment to help their bad back, that is exactly what an Active Reiki healer will treat.
By using Reiki in an active way energy is being channelled into whatever condition is being treated at the correct frequency needed by that condition. It has been shown that every part of the body vibrates at a certain frequency. If someone has a broken bone channelling energy into the bone at 7 cycles per second or hertz, stimulates bone growth.

Passive Reiki healers channel the complete energy healing spectrum into every condition that they treat where as Active Reiki healers channel energy at specific frequencies. This means that all the energy an Active healer uses is working on the condition being treated as opposed to passive healing where only a small part of the energy being used works on the condition. The rest of the energy being used is wasted on that condition.

The frequency is varied not by mathematical frequencies but the use of symbols (given to Mikao Usui on his 21 day retreat on Mount Kurama), which narrow down the frequency range, and colour, which further narrows down the frequency range.

This does not mean that an Active Reiki healer will work only on the physical condition being presented and not any emotional issues, just that different energies will be used to treat the different conditions or symptoms a person has. The predominant, most serious problem will be dealt with first and then underlying causes and other issues will be dealt with later.

Where a presenting pain has no actual physical cause but is purely the result of an emotional trauma, an emotional healing will of course be given and once that has been dealt with the pain should go.

The Healing Success of Intention and Visualisation

While an Active Reiki healer is treating either themselves or a client they will always use intention and visualisation, which have been proven to speed up the healing process dramatically.

Dr Glen Rein PH.d. (Quantam Biology Research Labs) has carried out research into healing tumour cells using intention and visualisation. The most effective intention used was that the cells return to their natural order and harmony of the cell’s normal rate of growth (i.e. before they were transformed to tumour cells). This intention combined with a visualisation technique provided 39% inhibition of growth of the tumour cells. Treating the cells with the intention of letting God’s will take place only offered 21% inhibition and unconditional love offered no effect. This just goes to show that healing an illness with unconditional love will not work. By doing this the tumour cells are being told that it’s fine to stay just the way they are.

There were two visualisations used in the study. The visualisation used that involved a decreased number of cells in the dish gave 18% inhibition of growth of tumour cells. Where a visualisation was used of an increased number of tumour cells, the cells increased by 15%.
This study demonstrates that the most effective method for healing is to combine visualisation and intention and with the Reiki healing added on to this, the results are very often phenomenal.

Reiki practitioners owe it to the clients that come to them for help to treat them using all the methods and tools they have at their disposal. This is not playing God as some Passive Reiki healers claim, it is doing everything within your power to help that person. We were given the abilities we have for a reason and it is a terrible shame not to use them. A surgeon would not half finish an operation so why should a Reiki practitioner offer anything less than the best treatment they can give.

Mikao Usui the founder of Reiki, used everything within his power to treat those that came to him for healing and we owe it to him, to God or the Universe, to ourselves and to those that we treat with Reiki to do the same.