The Healing Journey – Part 2

Reiki

In our last article we ended it with the Reiki Principles. We hope that you had occasion to use them. If you have practiced the Reiki Principles, you more than likely have found that they have improved your life.

Reiki is many things, but one thing that it is not is a religion. It is said that its founder, Mikao Usui, was a teacher and a Christian minister who was asked by his students to show them the method by which Jesus did his healing. That was the beginning of his quest to find Jesus’ healing methodology. He allegedly exhausted all of the Christian information that he could find and then moved on to study other religions and religious practices to get his answer. It wasn’t until he became almost a scholar in the ancient language of Sanskrit that he was able to read very old texts in that language and he found his answer. It was quite simple, but it also entailed that he go through a fasting and a meditative process that lasted 21 days in seclusion atop of a mountain. On that last night before the 22nd day the story goes that he had the equivalent of an epiphany in which he was enlightened to the secrets of this healing.

Parts of this story are disputed today that Usui was a Christian minister and teacher, and it is suggested that part of the story was to give legitimacy to Reiki in the West.

Usui then went on to develop his method which he then taught to another Japanese man who was also a doctor in their Navy. That is how Reiki was originally passed down; through word of mouth and teaching from someone who had the knowledge. That is why the “lineage” is sometimes brought up among Reiki Masters, to show that their “lineage” is closer to the origin implying that it is less adulterated, more powerful and legitimate.

All of what we just said is just to serve as some type of background knowledge of how Reiki originated. The name Reiki is broken into two parts, Rei means wisdom for the spirit and Ki means energy. So in essence, Reiki means spiritual energy. When you go to a Reiki Practitioner they do not Reiki you as if Reiki itself was an action. What is done is that the Practitioner passes Reiki energy to you.

Reiki is similar to other healing modalities that involve touch. One of the best known healing modalities of this type would be therapeutic touch, which is practiced most often by the nursing profession. It requires compassion and the desire on the part of the practitioner to achieve similar results as Reiki. Some people mistake Reiki as massage and we have even heard it said that people are going for a Reiki massage. Although Reiki uses the hands on approach, just like in massage, it is quite different in that with Reiki it is the laying of the hands on certain strategic locations on the body that pass the Universal Energy to the recipient.

The one thing that makes Reiki unique to any of the other healing modalities is the attunement process. It is through the attunement process that the Reiki energy is passed to the practitioner which enables them to be a conduit of this energy to the recipient, their client.

In most schools there are three Reiki attunement designations…

• The first attunement is Reiki I – This is the basic Reiki methodology for passing healing energy. It is where you learn where to strategically place your hands to pass the universal energy to the recipient. We have heard some people refer to themselves as Reiki Masters when they have received this attunement. They are actually Reiki practitioners. This in no way takes away their ability to send Reiki energy into their clients. However, one’s ability to use this universal energy becomes greater with each subsequent Reiki attunement.
• The second attunement is Reiki II – This attunement is very powerful and introduces the Reiki practitioner to more powerful symbols. It is the attunement of these symbols and their specific energies that make the second phase very powerful. These symbols have to do with magnification of energy, mental and emotional issues and distance healing. The practitioner also learns other techniques for using Reiki.
• The third attunement is Reiki III – This can be broken into two phases and this is where the confusion of Reiki III and Reiki IV come in. If the practitioner choses to be attuned to all of the Reiki symbols except for those necessary to teach Reiki and pass attunements as well, that practitioner would be called a Reiki Master Expert and can legitimately call themselves a Reiki Master. Not all schools attune to this designation; that would be considered Reiki III. The true “Reiki Master” is a practitioner who has completed all of the attunements to pass Reiki treatments as well as having received the training to attune individuals to become Reiki practitioners and Reiki Masters. If the school attunes to the Reiki Master Expert level, this last attunement would be considered Reiki IV. In traditional Reiki there are only three levels.

There seems to be an issue in our culture where we have to be better than someone else at something and that is why we believe that people will refer to themselves as Reiki Masters when they are not. A person who is a Reiki practitioner has the ability to pass Reiki healing energy and this brings us to the most important factor in the use of Reiki and almost any other complementary and alternative healing method; the practitioners intention. The best way we can describe this is by the saying that the rainfalls on both the righteous and the unrighteous. What we mean by this is the Universal Energy is a pure energy and available to all, for without it we could not live. It is how the individual uses and manipulates this energy by their intention that gives its results. This being the case, you could have a Reiki I practitioner having better results than a Reiki Master Expert or Teacher, if their focus and purity of intention is greater.

This brings us to a pet peeve. We constantly hear people who have taken Reiki, to whatever level of attunement, saying that this other method that they are now practicing is more powerful than Reiki. We feel that anyone who practices any of these energy methods with focus and purity of intention will get the results that their client desires. Reiki is a very powerful medium just like any other healing modality that we are discussing, but not every modality is for everyone, whether it be the practitioner or the client. Therefore, to say that one modality is better than another makes absolutely no sense to us.

In our next article, The Healing Journey-Part 3, we will discuss other healing modalities.

Patricia Pedersen is a Natural Healer, Certified Clinical Hypnotist, Certified Acupressurist, Nutrition Counselor, Master Herbalist and is completing her studies to be a Doctor of Naturopathy. Patricia is a teacher, counselor, coach and a partner with you in your quest for health and wellness.

Robert Brienza is a Master Hypnotist, Mental Trainer, Certified Master NLP Instructor, Reiki Master Teacher and Certified Sports Enhancement Specialist. He has continued his course of study in Healing and Pain Management and is a Therapeutic Massage Therapist. Robert helps people to overcome fears, stop smoking, meet weight reduction goals, improve golf games and overcome addictions.

Patricia & Robert have been interviewed many times on NY Talk Radio, are presenters at Essex County College and travel extensively giving workshops on such subjects as Complementary Health, Stress Reduction, Pain Relief, Weight Reduction, Nutrition & Herbs, Past Life Regression, Sports Enhancement and Mental Training for Sales & Marketing.

Patricia & Robert are available for corporate speaking engagements and events for groups of 15 or more. To book a speaking engagement call Wholistic Wellness Associates, LLC at (908) 206-1399 or (201) 424-2234. If you would like to communicate with us via email, our email address is…wholisticwellnessassociates@gmail.com

Our website is www.wholisticwellnessassociates.com. Although still under construction, it can be viewed by all!