About Reiki Healing

It was started around 1914 in Japan by Dr. Mikao Usui, who received the knowledge of how to do it during a mystical experience.

It is usually uses "laying on hands," with the practitioner's hands actually on the body of the client. Reiki uses specific hand positions, corresponding to organs and energy centers.

Reiki is not taught in the usual sense, but rather is "transferred" to the student through an "attunement" given by a Reiki master (teacher). This attunement allows the practitioner to tap into an unlimited supply of "life force energy," which they can use to improve their own and other's health and quality of life.

Reiki healing does not depend on the practitioner's intellectual or spiritual capacity or state of development. There is no body of esoteric knowledge to be mastered. Once a practitioner is attuned, the healing energy just flows through her/his hands (when they are being used for healing.)

Reiki practitioners are taught these guiding principles:

Just for today, do not worry.
Just for today, do not anger.
Honor your parents, teachers and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show gratitude to everything.
--Dr. Mikao Usui

There are now an estimated 500,000 Reiki Masters with as many as 3,000,000 people having been initiated into Reiki throughout the world.

While nearly all practitioners are ethical and sincere, it's good to be aware that because Reiki is "taught" through attunement rather than study, it's possible for people to become a "Reiki Master" in a single weekend. So the fact that someone calls himself or herself a Reiki Master can mean a lot (e.g. a lifetime of study, selfless healing, and spiritual devotion)--or very little (i.e. a quick weekend and a couple of hundred dollars).

I normally send people to the Reiki Alliance website for more information. The Reiki Alliance is the organization for traditional Usui Reiki practitioners. Here's the link, but at this writing the site is being overhauled.

As an alternative source for more information, I recommend this site, reiki.7gen.com. It seems very complete and non-commercial.

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