REIKI  --- A Complementary Therapy.

I had been trying for a long time to get to the bottom of what exactly Reiki truly is all about, there is a great wave of publicity surrounding this seemingly popular therapy, and I was curious. [I bring it forward now because I have been asked about this subject in relation to Chinese Medicine. ]

I asked all my friends who have been on many different kinds of courses for this, and they couldn't tell me - they said it was all about symbols and healing, but no more information could they give, not because they didn't want to, but on their own admission they did not know.

So at last after I had decided that perhaps it was rather a waste of time if the students themselves couldn't remember what they had been taught, I found the answer through the article below, [from the Paul Sayer 'Dying to Talk' website] and I  concluded that the current teaching in this country - as far as I can find out - is at only the basic symbols stage, which makes it a very expensive hobby, or treatment, that one can get virtually free from any Spiritualist Church.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

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Universal energy is the life force or energy inside humans – the pure light that we are.

He also taught that Reiki was a method based on intuitive power among the universe and this is carried on today in traditional Japanese Reiki where it is taught that the first spiritual awakening is an intellectual awakening with one’s consciousness.

In this stage ‘it is understood in the head and not a true awakening.’ A true awakening is an intuitive understanding by Shinga (Soul/Higher Self) and to complete the unity with truth.

We can understand from the above the true origin of Reiki is about finding the light, the universal energy, within us all.

It is about the ‘inner journey’ and developing the intuitive side of us so we can better communicate with this light or universal energy which Usui called Reiki. [We call spirit.]

Additionally, we can see that the original Reiki developed by Usui-sensei stayed in Japan and a different form of Reiki was exported into the Western world.

Usui-sensei did not use symbols, nor was he ‘given’ symbols in some divine encounter. He developed what have become known as symbols later on, only as a tool to help. Today in traditional Japanese Reiki teachings, symbols are still taught as a focusing aid.

When a person has grown enough spiritually and can rely on their inner light they should stop using the symbols, they should be used as a tool in the early stages of training, and one should not misunderstand their function.

Searching for additional symbols or regarding symbols as a holy thing is meaningless.

In Gendai Reiki-ho, students learn the symbols and are taught to aim at ‘NO SYMBOL USE’ status. It further teaches that you can replace the 3rd symbol with the image of the Sun and the 4th symbol with the image of White Light.

Additionally, it is taught: ‘You must not mislead yourself into believing that the symbols themselves have any power and rely upon them. Otherwise you are worshipping only the images and not the reality… you have to overcome this limitation eventually, because it is like a hurdle.’

Students are encouraged to become a light symbol or a symbol of the light.

It is also taught that it is important in ‘healing’ to apply one’s hands without any control of the mind and that if you try to make useless effort to concentrate, other kinds of power may be mixed in. If we are to receive the higher dimension of universal energy we need to relax and open our minds and trust the universe…[spirit.]

Here we have confirmation in traditional Japanese Reiki of the importance of ‘Allowing’ in healing, taking the mind out of the equation, and that if we use the mind [ego] then other lower energies may come into the healing equation.

It is a fallacy that people involved in Reiki [or any other form of healing] cannot attract negative energies. When the intellect comes in, in any way shape or form, so too do negative energies.

In original Usui Reiki Ryoho, after a student receives the ‘first level’, the student has to practice for many years and must show increased spiritual ability to their sensei before the second level is even considered and offered them.

Compare this with the ‘get-rich-and-become-enlightened-overnight-with-Me-guru’ approach of many Western Reiki Masters who offer ‘Mastership over Spirituality’ in a weekend!

I am sure that you, like me, know of so called masters and teachers who glibly go around dishing out certificates to all who are willing to pay the price.