Frequently Asked Questions about Reiki

Reiki is a universal healing energy.  It’s not a religion and has no affiliation with any religion, sect or cult. Reiki is based on the universal laws of love and light for all living things.  The term ‘reiki’ is a Japanese word for two syllables which mean:

• REI (pronounced ‘ray’) = Universal Spirit or essence
• KI (pronounced ‘key’) = Life energry, light or Chi

Everything that is alive contains Ki (or Chi), but people who have completed Reiki courses are an open channel to the Universe’s limitless source of Ki.   This gives Reiki Therapists, Practitioners, Masters & Teachers unlimited access to the life force energy for their own healing, and they can transmit this energy to others.

A reiki practitioner is like a straw/pipe, they are able to tap into universal energy and transmit it to the receiver.  It is not their own energy that they pass on. It is also considered a type of hands on healing as many practitioners will place their hands gently on or near a person to transmit the energy to the client.

One of the traditions of Reiki is the telling of the story of its rediscovery by Dr Mikao Usui.  We say “rediscovery” as it’s a universal healing energy that was understood by many of the great spiritual masters.

As Dr Usui’s story was an oral tradition in the early days, there are a few variations of it so the exact details don’t really matter but below is a snap shot:

• Born in 1865, Mikao Usui was raised as a Samurai as befitting his family tradition.
• Dr Usui lived in the city of Kyoto, Japan in the second half of the 19^th Century.  It was a time of great change in the country and Dr Usui fully embraced Christianity and become a minister and teacher at a Christian college for boys in Kyoto.
• After some time, he resigned his position at the college and set off to find out how one can connect to the universal life force. He travelled and studied extensively, learning to read Sanskrit and studying the teachings of Buddha and his form of healing, but nothing held the answers he was looking for. It’s believed he travelled extensively across America and Europe, studying history, medicine, Christianity, Buddhism, psychology and Taoism.
• In 1922, he ended up in a zen monastery and undertook a 21day retreat of fasting & meditation.  On the last day he received the insight from a bright light that struck him in the centre of his forehead.
• He spent his remaining years learning to put into practice what he had received.  He healed many beggars allowing them to embark on a positive life.  They got married and had jobs, but much to his surprise many returned to life as a beggar as they struggled with being responsible for their own lives.  Although discouraged it made him realise that Reiki is first about healing the self and being able to take responsibility for our own life.
• He also started teaching others prior to his death in late 1920s.  One of his students, Chujiro Hayashi, was a physician and would go onto be Usui’s most prominent student.
• Thanks to Chujiro,  Reiki slowly spread outside of Japan. In the late 1930s, Reiki found it’s way to Hawaii.  After WW2 it was carried to America and Europe.

When your Reiki practitioner or therapist channels this healing energy to you, it activates your body’s natural ability to heal itself.  It’s not the practitioner doing the healing, it’s actually the recipient healing themselves. Reiki helps your body to stabilise and heal itself. The energy goes to where illnesses have their origin and works wherever it is most needed.  It works by releasing blocked energies, cleansing the body of toxins and working to create a state of balance in your whole being (mental, physical, emotional & spiritual).

I personally describe it as acupuncture but without the needles!  Both Reiki and acupuncture work by releasing blockages in our body to restore the flow of Chi.  This promotes a healthier and calmer state of being giving the body an opportunity to restore balance.

When the energy (or Chi) in our body flows easily, then we are happy and healthy.  (It’s the same principle that acupuncture is built on.) But stress, lifestyle and other people can create  blockages in our Chi which prevents the energy moving through us. As a result we start to become unwell or feel a sense of dis-ease.  Left long enough our dis-ease manifests into disease. Reiki helps to remove those blocks and other low or negative energy.  Long term Reiki recipients use it as a preventative – to help clear the dis-ease in the early energetic stages before it takes hold in the physical body.

Reiki helps your body on all levels – physical, mental, emotional & spiritual.  Ultimately your own life path and openness to receive will determine what healing you receive.  Often a client comes to Reiki seeking a solution to a particular problem. But during the healing it becomes apparent that the issue is a surface level symptom of something else, and the healing will go to where it is most needed instead.   You will ALWAYS get the healing that is right for you in that moment.  

Reiki helps to bring all parts of yourself back into alignment.  It clears the body of stress allowing the body to put its energy towards other things – such as healing itself.  Sometimes there may not be anything wrong as such – but just a feeling of unease or you just don’t feel your normal self and can’t put your finger onto the issue.

As a therapist, I have personally witnessed my clients experience the following as a result of Reiki:

• clearer skin and whiter eyes
• better sleep
• improved ability to cope with work and life stress
• greater sense of joy in life
• improved self confidence & resilience
• increased synchronicities and good luck
• less fear, anxiety and depression
• conceiving a child after infertility problems
• reduction in physical pain
• ending a repeating pattern of behaviour, health issue, etc.
• weight loss (especially stubborn weight that doesn’t seem to respond to diet or exercise)

You can read more about my clients experiences on the blog under the Client Journeys category.

Many people find Reiki healing sessions help with a variety of ailments including anxiety, pain, fertility & depression.  As mentioned earlier, Reiki activates your body’s ability to heal itself, and in my experience I have found that Reiki does help with all of these issues and many more. But it takes time and commitment to regular on going sessions (eg monthly).  The issue you may be experiencing is most likely a surface level symptom of a deeper issue at play.  A couple of reiki sessions typically provides relief in a matter of days, but with regular ongoing sessions you can start to tackle the root of the issue.

Reiki helps with many issues and is a perfect compliment to any other treatment you may be having.  The greatest shifts and healings come when a person commits to monthly reiki sessions.  Just like going to the gym or dieting, you get better results with long term consistency, so too with reiki.  This has been my own personal experience and what I have witnessed as a therapist over 15 years.   Intermittent sessions are great for putting out spot fires, but a more profound change & healing comes with regular sessions.  Ultimately it’s your choice – You can choose to put out the spot fires that pop up every so often, or you can find the arsonist that keeps lighting the fires with good steady detective work.  

Although miracles relating to Reiki have been reported, it is not the norm.  World wide reiki is used:

• in hospitals to support post surgery recovery and to help cancer patients rebuild their immune systems (reiki can increase the number of white bloods cells in the body)
• by some defence forces to help service men & women recover from PTSD (reiki can release stored trauma in the body).

Please note:

• Part of the healing journey will be your willingness to be open to receive, to be open to change, take accountability for your role in co-creating your reality and get to the bottom of the issue that caused the problem in the first place. 
• Healing isn’t necessarily all rainbows and unicorns. Yes you can have wonderful experiences, but when faced with an overwhelming high loving energy, your shadows and unresolved traumas can resurface because your body FINALLY feels safe to work on the issue.  We are so good as pushing away and ignoring parts of our life,  but the body remembers and crystalises the energy resulting in a blockage.  Reiki’s beautiful healing energy melts the blockage, releasing the energy stored…so its normal that the body sheds tears or old feelings arise to be seen and acknowledged.

It really depends on what you hope to achieve!

As a basic rule, 4 sessions in 4 weeks is a great place to start.  This helps the body to shift into gear and works a bit like a detox.  After those 4 sessions, you should have an idea of how Reiki is working with you and have a ‘basecamp’ level from which to gauge your wellbeing going forward.   

After those first 4 sessions, the frequency of healing is up to you.  This is because lifestyle, work & other people all impact us in different ways.  Some can go many months feeling great, while others still need weekly or monthly sessions.  And just like a detox,  it’s good to do the 4 weekly sessions once a year as a reset.  When I was working in IT full time, I found a Reiki session every 3 to 4 weeks was perfect.  It offered the reset I needed – as if I’d had a mini holiday!

Most people seek Reiki out only when things are ‘bad’ or incredibly stressful.  In that situation, Reiki can soothe the soul and bring clarity in the days after a session. But for deeper levels of change, as a tool for self development and stress prevention,  regular sessions are recommended.

NOTE: If you are experiencing a life or health crisis, I suggest weekly or fortnightly sessions to support you alongside traditional forms of medicine and therapy.