Healing Technique: Reiki

Reiki is an energy based healing technique that originated in Japan. The idea is that energy naturally flows in the human body entering in through the head and exiting through the feet. Energy blockages occur when we stop the energy flow within ourselves typically as a result of avoiding, repressing, or ignoring difficult emotions. Reiki seeks to unblock these self-imposed energy blockages which allows for improved emotional (and sometimes physical) functioning once again.

Before I even believed in Reiki, energy based healing, or anything of a spiritual nature, I had some strange chance experiences of people doing Reiki on me. I never expected anything to come of any of the experiences, yet I always got more than I bargained for. In fact, the single most influential healing experience of my life was a Reiki session and I've dedicated my career to finding the most rapid and effective healing techniques so that's saying something. After I experienced a life changing and dramatic emotional shift in a 30 minute session, there was no turning back for me. There was something to energy healing and I wanted to know what it was. Learning Reiki was weird because I felt a lot of sensations I'd never felt before, sensations I continue to feel only as I do Reiki on others.

The ability to do Reiki is something anyone can learn and is acquired through a series of similar mediations which I'm pretty positive you can do on your own (I believe so, but I'm not certain). It's intention that matters in spirituality. There are four stages of Reiki development, three stages of Usui Holy Fire Reiki and one of Karuna Reiki. Holy Fire Reiki is a more masculine energy characterized by powerful, direct energy while Karuna Reiki is a more feminine energy characterized by a calm, flowy energy. Reiki trainees learn Holy Fire Reiki first and then learn Karuna Reiki. Reiki is an energy that can only be used for healing purposes. It is also an intelligent energy, meaning that it will flow where it needs to, how it needs to, kind of like water flowing down a gradient. This makes it a very safe and simple method of healing. The energy from Reiki is said to come from "the source", as in the source of all energy, which some people refer to as God or whatever other name you want to call it.

You can do Reiki on yourself to self-heal. You will follow the same practices as doing it on others which will be explained in the following paragraphs.

A Reiki practitioner draws energy from the source and channels it through the body which exits through the practitioners hands. The client is typically laying down on a massage table, face up, while the practitioner places their hands over the client's body to direct energy flow. The practitioner uses a combination of intuition and feeling energy to know where energy is needed. Practitioners who prefer to use touch to transfer energy should always obtain permission from the client to do so before engaging. Typically practitioners keep their hands over a spot in which they feel an energy disturbance until they no longer feel it anymore, which is how they know it's time to move to a different area. An energy disturbance is characterized by any feeling of energy. Ways that I've felt energy include: pleasurable pins and needles in different areas of my hands, pulsing energy, pushing or pulling energy, hot or cold, feelings in my wrists, and others. You may feel different sensations but the idea remains the same, if you feel energy over a particular body part, keep your hands there until the energy dissipates. A Reiki session is done when the practitioner senses no more remaining energy disturbances in the client. I always check in with the client at the end of the session by asking how they are feeling to see if I missed anything. If you feel depleted after doing a Reiki session that means that you are drawing from your own energy, not the source of energy outside of your being.

When starting out new practitioners are recommended to do full body scans with their clients. This is done by placing the hands over a client's head and slowly moving the hands towards the client's feet, stopping whenever an energy disturbance is felt, and continuing once it feels released until the whole body is covered. It's a simple technique to do a Reiki session.

Intuition is king in Reiki, meaning that you should appropriately do what your intuition tells you to do. Different practitioners do Reiki differently, some moving energy with their hands, others jumping to different parts of the body seemingly without reason, others doing what speaks to them. Follow you intuition and experiment with what you feel comfortable with and what works.

Keep in mind that what I am going over is not comprehensive nor describing all there is to know about Reiki. There are things I will not be covering and it's advisable to seek out someone to help you learn. Additionally, in order to buy the Reiki books (on Reiki.org) you must have proof of having learned it from a Reiki master.

***Be forewarned: Learning Reiki is not always a calm and relaxing process. Many people go through large emotional shifts as they learn Reiki because the energy within themselves shifts and releases. The more repressed emotions you have, the higher the possibility of potential emotional difficulty.

Holy Fire Reiki Placements and Ignitions

Holy Fire 1 Placement

"This is the Reiki 1 placement. It's a beautiful day, warm and sunny. You're walking down a path in a beautiful forest. As you breathe into yourself, you breathe in the life energy of the forest and with each step you take, you feel the energy of the earth flowing up through the bottoms of your feet. As you walk along you notice another path going off to the right, you feel compelled to follow this path. As you follow this path, you come to a clearing in the forest and in the middle of the clearing is a small hill covered with tall grass. As you climb up the hill, feel the grass rubbing against your legs. When you get to the top of the hill, lie down in the tall grass. Feel the grass and the earth beneath your body and gaze up into the sky. Gaze up into the sky and see the beautiful white clouds. As you are gazing up at the clouds, a beautiful beam of light begins to shine down. This is no ordinary light: it comes from the third heaven. The light shines all around you and flows into you, filling you with warmth and feelings of safety and love. As you gaze up into the light, it begins to guide you. Follow the light."

Meditate for 20 minutes and allow whatever happens to happen. Some people have very visual experiences, some more physically oriented experiences, some just feel calm and peaceful, and others experience very little. This process is not about judging your experience, whatever it may be, it's about leaning into it.

Holy Fire 2 Placement

"This is the Reiki 2 placement. It will upgrade your Reiki energy to Reiki 2 and activate the Reiki 2 symbols. It's a beautiful day, warm and sunny. You're walking down a path in a beautiful forest. As you breathe into yourself, you breathe in the life energy of the forest and with each step you take, you feel the energy of the earth flowing up through the bottoms of your feet. As you walk along you notice another path going off to the right, you feel compelled to follow this path. As you follow this path, you come to a clearing in the forest and in the middle of the clearing is a small hill covered with tall grass. As you climb up the hill, feel the grass rubbing against your legs. When you get to the top of the hill, lie down in the tall grass. Feel the grass and the earth beneath your body and gaze up into the sky. Gaze up into the sky and see the beautiful white clouds. As you are gazing up at the clouds, a beautiful beam of light begins to shine down. This is no ordinary light: it comes from the third heaven. The light shines all around you and flows into you, filling you with warmth and feelings of safety and love. As you gaze up into the light, it begins to guide you. Follow the light."

Meditate for 20 minutes just like in the Reiki 1 placement.

Reiki symbols are symbols used for specific purposes within Reiki sessions. The symbols are optional and can only be used effectively by a person who has obtained the requisite Reiki level. Some people will name the symbol, picture it in their head, or write it in the air in order to activate it. Biogeometry Signatures by Ibrahim Karim is a good book to read about how symbology can have tangible impacts in the physical world. As everything in Reiki is based on intuition, use these symbols are your intuition dictates.

Here is an explanation of the Reiki 2 symbols and their uses.

Reiki Master Placements and Ignitions

The Reiki Master meditations are broken down into two parts that must be done a few days apart, specifically the second meditation must be done 24-72 hours after the first meditation, but not before 24 hours.

Holy Fire ART Placement:

This is a separate meditation that proceeds the two meditations that must be done within a few days of each other.

"This is the Advanced Reiki Training Placement. It will upgrade your Reiki energy to Advanced Reiki Training and activate the Dai Ko Myo symbol. It's a beautiful day, warm and sunny. You're walking down a path in a beautiful forest. As you breathe into yourself, you breathe in the life energy of the forest and with each step you take, you feel the energy of the earth flowing up through the bottoms of your feet. As you walk along you notice another path going off to the right, you feel compelled to follow this path. As you follow this path, you come to a clearing in the forest and in the middle of the clearing is a small hill covered with tall grass. As you climb up the hill, feel the grass rubbing against your legs. When you get to the top of the hill, lie down in the tall grass. Feel the grass and the earth beneath your body and gaze up into the sky. Gaze up into the sky and see the beautiful white clouds. As you are gazing up at the clouds, a beautiful beam of light begins to shine down. This is no ordinary light: it comes from the third heaven. The light shines all around you and flows into you, filling you with warmth and feelings of safety and love. As you gaze up into the light, it begins to guide you. Follow the light."

20 minute meditation.

This is the Dai Ko Myo symbol and its explanation taken from the same website as the previous picture:

Pre-Ignition (Part 1 meditation):

"This is the pre-ignition. Imagine it to be a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Imagine walking through a beautiful forest. As you breathe into yourself, you breathe in the life energy of the forest and with each step you take you feel the energy of the earth flowing up through the bottoms of your feet. As you walk along you notice a path going off to the left and feel compelled to follow the path. It begins to go up a hill which you easily begin climbing. You are filled with energy and enthusiasm as you continue up through the trees. As you reach the top of the hill you come up to a plateau and slowly walk out to the edge of the forest. As you stand at the edge of the forest, before you is a beautiful valley. It's filled with plants and flowers and trees and bushes, filled with life. And at the far end of the valley there's a waterfall. There is a path leading along the edge of the valley, the clouds part slightly and a beautiful beam of light shines down into the valley. As you watch the beam of light shining on the vegetation in the valley, the clouds shift and the beam of light beings moving slowly through the valley. And as you watch it, you can tell that this is no ordinary beam of light, but is coming from the third heaven. As it shines on the plants, they become more alive and seem to be filled with joy and vitality. The light shines on a tree that has withered and is not healthy, but as soon as the light shines on it, it is healed and is filled with life! The beam of light shines on the pool of water under the waterfall and the fish begin jumping up into the light, playing, and filled with joy, and as it shines on the waterfall, beautiful rainbow colors of light begin shimmering around the waterfall. The clouds continue to move and the beam of light comes across the valley toward you, the moves up the side, and is now shining right on you, and even shining right through you. Look into the light and allow it to guide you."

20 minute meditation.

Wait 24-72 hours.

Master Ignition 1 and 2

"Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Bring your hands up into the gassho position (praying hands basically). Now focus your attention on the space between your palms. If thoughts arise in your mind, gently brush them aside and bring your attention back to the space between your palms."

Wait 1-2 minutes.

"A beautiful light appears in the third heaven. The light comes down, descending all the way down to in front of your hands, then flows through your hands and into your heart. The gift of Love. The ignition process will begin now. Remain with your eyes closed and your attention focused inwardly on your own inner experience."

15-20 minute meditation.

The second ignition is the exact same procedure but stating that it is for the master ignition 2 before starting.

Karuna Reiki Placements and Ignitions

With Karuna Reiki there is yet again a 2 step meditation that must be done after 24-72 hours, but not before 24 hours.

Pre-Ignition

"Imagine it to be a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Imagine walking through a beautiful forest. As you breathe into yourself, you breathe in the life energy of the forest and with each step you take you feel the energy of the earth flowing up through the bottoms of your feet. As you walk along you notice a path going off to the left and feel compelled to follow the path. It begins to go up a hill which you easily begin climbing. You are filled with energy and enthusiasm as you continue up through the trees. As you reach the top of the hill you come up to a plateau and slowly walk out to the edge of the forest. As you stand at the edge of the forest, before you is a beautiful valley. It's filled with plants and flowers and trees and bushes, filled with life. And at the far end of the valley there's a waterfall. There is a path leading along the edge of the valley and you decide to follow it. As you walk along, up ahead you see a very large boulder covered with moss. And in front of the boulder there's some soft grass. You feel compelled to go over and sit on the grass and lean against the boulder. As you sit relaxing and gazing into the valley, at the far end of the valley, the clouds part slightly and a beautiful beam of light shines down into the valley. As you watch the beam of light shining on the vegetation in the valley, the clouds shift and the beam of light beings moving slowly through the valley. And as you watch it, you can tell that this is no ordinary beam of light, but is coming from the third heaven. As it shines on the plants, they become more alive and seem to be filled with joy and vitality. The light shines on a tree that has withered and is not healthy, but as soon as the light shines on it, it is healed and is filled with life! The beam of light shines on the pool of water under the waterfall and the fish begin jumping up into the light, playing, and filled with joy, and as it shines on the waterfall, beautiful rainbow colors of light begin shimmering around the waterfall. The clouds continue to move and the beam of light comes across the valley toward you, the moves up the side, and is now shining right on you, and even shining right through you. Look into the light and allow it to guide you."

20 minute meditation.

Wait 24 to 72 hours.

Master Ignition 1 and 2

"Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Bring your hands up into the gassho position (praying hands basically). Now focus your attention on the space between your palms. If thoughts arise in your mind, gently brush them aside and bring your attention back to the space between your palms."

Wait 1-2 minutes.

"A beautiful light appears in the third heaven. The light comes down, descending all the way down to in front of your hands, then flows through your hands and into your heart. The gift of Love. The ignition process will begin now. Remain with your eyes closed and your attention focused inwardly on your own inner experience."

20 minute meditation.

The second ignition is the exact same procedure but stating that it is for the master ignition 2 before starting.

Karuna Reiki Symbols

Karuna Reiki has 8 unique symbols which you can read about here.

As mentioned previously, seeking a professional teacher or guide can help you gain confidence and develop your Reiki abilities should you need it. Otherwise, happy practicing!