Reiki in an Awakening World
by Margaret Dexter
Reiki is often thought of as a form of hands on healing, which it is, but it is so much more. Reiki is both a healing modality and a spiritual path.
Reiki was developed in the early 20th century by Mikeo Usui, a Buddhist spiritual teacher. Usui experienced what the Buddhists call satori which roughly translates as enlightenment. He developed Reiki to support his students on their spiritual path so that they could ultimately experience satori as well.
Usui practiced what was called “palm healing” and is now known as “hands on healing.” Learning hands on healing was not the focus of his teachings. The focus was on meditation and spiritual practice. Healing ability is the natural result of spiritual development.
Several years ago I questioned whether Reiki was relevant in this time of awakening. After all, what do we care about a system developed almost a century ago? Does it matter now? My answer was absolutely yes!
When I first studied Reiki in 1986, over 30 years ago, I thought of the Reiki energy as being “out there” somewhere pouring into the top of my head and out my hands so I could perform “hands on” healing on myself and others. My understanding of Reiki is quite different now.
The purpose of Reiki is to get in touch with our “true nature” or divinity. The objective is not to “do Reiki” but to “be Reiki.” The Reiki energy then flows from our own divine self because we are Reiki.
One of the elements of Reiki is the attunement, a physical and energetic ritual the Reiki teacher performs around the student’s chair. The purpose of the attunement is to provide a space in which the student can get in touch with their true nature to the extent he or she is ready to do so at that time. Each time a student receives an attunement they have the opportunity to access more of their true nature or what we would call their Christ presence or their soul. Indeed this is valuable as we awaken to the truth of who we are.
Traditional Reiki teaches meditation as a tool for spiritual growth. I would like to share with you a simple meditation taught in Traditional Reiki. You do not need to be Reiki trained to benefit from this meditation technique. This meditation is called Jȏkyȗ Hȏ in Japanese.
A simplified description of Jȏshin Kokyȗ Hȏ is as follows:
Locate your power center called the hara in Japanese. Your hara is about 3 fingers below your navel and deep within your body near your spine.
Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet on the floor or cross legged if you prefer. Place your hands palm up on your lap and begin to breathe deeply. Breathe the energy all the way into your Hara.
On the out breath allow the energy to fill your body. As you continue breathing imagine that the energy is going out through your skin to expand your energy field like blowing up a balloon. Continue to breathe the energy into your hara and allow your energy to expand to fill the entire room then the entire city, the state, the country and continue expanding your energy field to include the entire universe.
You may want to do this for about 5 minutes at first increasing the time with practice to 20 minutes up to an hour. If you find yourself getting dizzy stop the process and breathe normally.
In teaching Reiki I often find that students who have had trouble learning to meditate can easily do this meditation. It is very simple to learn and far more powerful than it seems.
This is just a little taste of the meditations and other techniques taught in Traditional Reiki. With practice they assist you in getting in touch with the truth of who you are as a spiritual being.
Reiki is a powerful spiritual practice in an awakening world. It has many tools and techniques that assist the practitioner in connecting with the spiritual realms and ultimately experiencing satori or enlightenment. Can this be accomplished in a Reiki workshop? No, of course not. In a workshop you learn the tools that with practice will lead to spiritual growth.