The Reiki Touch: Healing by Hand is part of our Human Heritage

The Reiki Touch:
Healing by hand is part of our human heritage
by Steven McFadden

Every person has the ability to channel healing energy through his or her hands. It is part of our human heritage. In fact, laying-on of hands may be the oldest healing modality we have, dating back many thousands of years, and it appears near universally in cultures around the globe.

Rather than seeming unusual or phenomenal, healing by laying-on of hands should seem profoundly familiar for it has been with the human community for millennia.

Reiki is a part of this extensive history, a particular approach that disciplines and refines a basic human ability, both a gift and an art — a simple, natural and disciplined form for healing by the laying-on of hands.

Thanks to the sacrifice and the research of Dr. Mikao Usui in recovering Reiki, there are some elements and advantages that distinguish it from other systems for healing by the laying-on of hands. These advantages make Reiki an ideal modality for everyone who is interested in healing the sick and comforting the afflicted.

Reiki harmonizes and normalizes body cells and processes. It is an actual force — an energy wave that is characterized by a gentle yet effective power which can revitalize and restore harmony to ill people.

A person offering a Reiki treatment serves, in a sense, as a semiconductor, transferring energy from a source to a subject. In the case of healing, the source is the infinite supply of universal life energy (Reiki), and the subject is the client. The process is biological rather than mechanical, and is characterized by a bioelectric and biomagnetic energy flow.

In a manner of speaking, a Reiki practitioner cannot be said to heal, as much as to deliver energy to the client, who then uses the extra energy to heal him or herself. The body is the healer. Reiki gives the body, the strength to do what nature intends the body to do — normalizing the functions.

Reiki is known for its effectiveness in inducing the relaxation response through physical touch without body manipulation. Reiki helps patients slip into a deep state of relaxation, relieving tension and anxiety; it enhances the abilities of the immune system to fight bacteria and viruses; and it stimulates the brain's production of endorphins, a hormone that decreases the perception of pain.

Over the years Reiki has gradually proved itself in mainstream medical settings, and dozens of hospitals and clinics across the United States have instituted complementary therapeutic programs so patients can receive Reiki treatments.
Many nursing and therapeutic massage associations have also approved Reiki for continuing education credits. This trend of bringing Reiki to the mainstream healing centers of our culture is likely to continue, for it is an effective complement to the scientific treatments of allopathic medicine.
Taking a Reiki class could be one of the very best gifts you ever give yourself — not only for the promotion and maintenance of your own health, but also for the gift of being able to help and comfort the people you love.