Reiki: What it is and how it works

Reiki is a complementary treatment modality that can improve healing. Reiki is the life force that flows through all living things.

Stresses of everyday living create blockages and imbalances in the body. Since Reiki reaches all levels of existence, it provides the environment for unification & balance to take place on all levels of the person. Reiki provides support for restoring physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance in a way that optimizes health and healing.

A Reiki treatment or practice is a simple technique that allows your body to attune through connection with the palms of the practitioner’s hands. Reiki is totally safe and can be felt as an increased sense of oneness and harmony. Reiki practitioners assist people in moving to a more integrated level of health.

Reiki supports consciousness and conscious health. It is a complementary healing modality and a cooperative process between client, practitioner and the universe.

How does it work?

Reiki is multi-dimensional. It provides the environment for healing the source of a problem at the level of its origin, be it body, mind, emotion or spirit. Reiki attunes the person to his or her own natural state of balance. Balance provides the environment for health and healing to occur.

The Reiki practitioner is not doing anything to the person; rather a practitioner allows Reiki to be present so realignment and re-balancing can occur. All healing is self-healing. When the environment is optimized the person’s own healing mechanisms engage. Reiki is completely non-invasive. For this reason, Reiki is perfectly safe and has no negative side effects.

Reiki is not a religion, and there is nothing you must believe in order to learn and use it. In fact, it is not dependent on belief at all and will work whether you believe in it or not. Nor does it have to be directed by the practitioner.

Reiki is not a substitute for medical and other health care treatments; rather it can compliment, support and enhance other treatment modalities.

What are the benefits?

Reiki is being used at many hospitals throughout the world. It is used during surgery, in the emergency room and in departments of oncology, pediatrics, neonatology, labor & delivery, and rehabilitation. Benefits include:

* Decreases pain
* Reduces stress & promotes relaxation
* Assists the body in eliminating toxins
* Balances energy flow throughout the body
* Brings comfort and peace to those who are terminally ill
* Promotes health & well being
* Enhances and accelerates the normal healing processes of the body

How is Reiki learned?

Reiki is taught and attunements are passed directly to students by a qualified Reiki Master (Teacher). It is taught in three consecutive levels called degrees, consisting of workshops of varying lengths and times. First Degree Reiki is used for self-healing and providing Reiki to another person who is physically present with the practitioner. Second Degree Reiki is used to provide Reiki when the other person is at a distance. Third Degree Reiki is the Master Level, which is reserved for those who want to dedicate themselves to teaching Reiki.

How to find a Reiki Practitioner

While many healthcare professionals can be Reiki practitioners, a person does not need to have any special background or credentials to learn Reiki. Often, Reiki practitioners are also trained in other complementary methods, as acupuncture, massage therapy, herbal remedies, and yoga. You can inquire through people who practice these modalities, wellness or holistic health centers or a local health food store. You can also search online or network through word of mouth.
You will want a practitioner who uses Reiki regularly for their own self-healing and has been attuned by a Reiki Master to at least First Degree Reiki.

What Reiki is NOT

* Reiki is not a religion.
* Reiki is not a substitute for seeking or receiving medical treatment
* Reiki is not a substitute for taking effective necessary and prescribed medication

Reiki is a safe complementary treatment that can support your health and healing along with other traditional and non-traditional healing approaches. It is used in many hospitals and has no unwanted side effects.