Many people now have heard of Reiki and many of them after receiving a treatment have gone on to be attuned to the Reiki energy and become practitioners and Masters.  However if you are among those who have never had a Reiki treatment or have never heard of this healing therapy I have tried here to give some understanding of what Reiki is, how it could help you etc. 

I must say first of all that the ideas given below are my beliefs and understanding and you as the reader must discern whether this fits in with your beliefs. 

What is Reiki?

Reiki is a form of healing given to us so the books say by Dr. Usui who discovered it written in Tibetan scrolls when he was in a monastry.  Im not going to go into the story of Dr. Usui and his 21 days meditation on top of a mountain here as it is in all the books on Reiki and can be read by anyone who is interested in the subject. let us say here though that the symbols he was given are the tools that Reiki Practitioners and Masters work with when channelling the healing energy and giving attunements.

Reiki Practitioners and Masters work with universal life force energy (that is the energy which is all around us that we cannot see but is akin to the air we breathe).  This life force energy is of a finer vibration than air and feeds our chakras or energy centres throughout the body.  Without it just like our body needing air to exist our chakras need this finer vibration of life force to maintain our emotional, mental and spiritual well being.

A balanced chakra or energy centre takes in this life force energy which in turn feeds our physical body therefore it follows that dis-ease in a chakra (an emotional block for instance) is unable to let through sufficient life force energy therefore illness may manifest.  Illness then is the result of not identifying and making the necessary changes in our lives, sticking with what we know and not having the courage to move on or make changes.

Dis-ease is our bodies way of bringing our attention to the fact that something is out of balance that we are not at ease with life in someway or another.  For example if we are holding on to something from the past and not moving forward there may well be pain in hands, hips or knees. We may well have accidents that involve these body parts yet if we pay attention to these incidences we can look at the issues around this scenario and make the changes.

So Reiki not only helps us with our emotional and mental issues in life but may also help us physically.  Indeed many people report physical pain is relieved by Reiki and others that it has helped them identify what is not working for them and where changes are needed.

Each Reiki Practitioner and Master has their own expertise that they bring to the therapy.  This is because Reiki comes through the attuned and is channelled to the recipient.  Reiki does not come from them rather they are a link between those in need and the source of the life giving energy.

Traditionally Reiki is received in silence and with a structure of hand positions which to me gives a good grounding for the Practitioner to understand what is happening within the clients life, however I do believe that this way of working stops intuition and should be worked with until the student feels confident enough to go on his own so to speak.  Some Practitioners enjoy and would rather have this structured approach and find listening to their intuition difficult.  There is no right or wrong approach to giving Reiki.