What is Reiki and how does it work?

These are two questions that I’ve been asked many times by clients and students alike. For years I’ve given the esoteric answer of, “Reiki is the practice if healing the mind, body and spirit by channeling the Universal Life Energy.” While this is an accurate answer, more times than not it leaves the asker wanting, seeking a deeper understanding. This has prompted me to take a deeper and more intellectual look at what I do and how it works.

To understand how Reiki works, we first need to understand at a basic level how the body works. Our bodies are naturally programmed to heal themselves and they do it constantly. Every time your nose runs, your eyes water, you sneeze or cough, this is your body taking action heal or protect itself from something that is trying to harm it. These are simple examples that we often pay very little attention to as we go through the day. Now think about when you get a cold or the flu. The fever that you experience is the result of your body’s immune system fighting off the invading virus or bacteria. The swelling around a sprain or fracture is the protecting the injured area just as a scab forms on a cut to protect the skin below as it heals itself.

While the body has its own natural healing abilities, often times we need the assistance of external remedies to assist in getting our bodies back to their normal healthy state. These remedies can be natural and holistic or synthetic, a debate which I won’t get into here, but either way, they give the body the extra boost that it needs to get the job done. We will get a cast put on a fracture because the body’s natural swelling reaction alone doesn’t stabilize a broken bone enough for it to stay in the proper position while healing. Antibiotics give our bodies “extra troops” to battle against invading antibodies. And millions of lives have been made better and/or saved by taking supplements to give the body the tools it needs to function properly when different glands and organs don’t function properly.

Now that we understand a little more about how the body works, the next thing we need to understand is how Reiki works. Earlier I mentioned Universal Life Energy, what is Universal Life Energy? Universal Life Energy is the energy that runs through every living thing. It is the energy that runs through our bodies carrying signals and messages to and from the brain, keeping us functioning without us even thinking about it. It’s the energy that flows between people and causes the hair to stand up on the back of your neck when some people walk into a room or a feeling of warmth and peace to pass over you when others enter a room. But it’s not just in people and things, it’s all around us. It’s the relaxed feeling you get when you take the time to take a slow, long deep breath when you’re stressed or upset. Reiki uses this energy to give the body that extra boost that it sometimes needs.

As part of the Reiki attunement process the Crown, Third Eye and Heart chakras, 3 of the 7 main energy centers in the body, are opened to help the Reiki practitioner be more open to receiving the energy around them. In addition, the charkas at the palms of the hands are opened so as to allow the energy received to flow out of them and to the person being worked on. This added energy merges with the person’s existing energy and gives their system a boost. While a Reiki practitioner may and often does work on a specific part of the body, depending on the condition presented to them, it is not absolutely necessary. As I said earlier, the body is naturally programmed to heal itself and knows where the extra energy is needed and directs it there. This is how distance healing is so effective. The practitioner sends energy to the recipient and their bodies direct it where it is needed.

While Reiki is becoming more and more accepted and practiced by medical professionals and in hospitals, the facts remains that the majority of Reiki practitioners are not medical professionals. Reiki servers as complementary treatment along with standard/traditional healthcare practices and should never be sought out or used as an alternative to professional medical care. What Reiki will do for you is help reduce your healing/recovery time for injuries and procedures and with chronic conditions may reduce your dependency on supplements.

In addition to the physical benefits of Reiki, there are also psychological and emotional benefits to be gained from Reiki. Stress, anxiety and depression are some of the most common emotional problems faced by people today. Since Reiki is working with the same energies that already exist in our bodies and helps to balance those energies, it is only natural that Reiki helps to calm our emotional state. With our minds in a calmer state, we are able to think more clearly and deal with the challenges that life presents us without the stress and anxiety that we may normally experience. In addition to allowing us to address our daily lives in a calmer manner, often times this newfound calmness allows us to address and release old “baggage” and behaviors that have only served to cloud our mental state.

As you can see, there are many potential benefits to adding Reiki to your physical and mental health maintenance program. All you have to do is open up and let the Universal Life Energy do what it does best. And the best part is, you can do it yourself! Anybody can learn and be attuned to do Reiki. There is no previous knowledge or training required, just the desire to improve the state of being of yourself and possibly those around you.

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