It is my sheer joy and pleasure to be writing about Reiki. Reiki feels like a very old friend, as over the years Reiki has helped me so much, on all levels of my being. So it is lovely to be writing about it and sharing its benefits with you.
Usui Sensei
The founder of Reiki was Mikao Usui. Sensei is the title given to a teacher. Usui was born in Kyoto, Japan in 1865. He was a Tendai Buddhist, who would have practiced projection healings. He was also a very competent martial artist, who practiced Samurai Swordmanship. He was extremely powerful and a very learned person. He had knowledge of traditional Chinese and Western medicine and attended various spiritual/healing groups. He associated with many people with very high spiritual values.
Usui Discovers his Healing Powers
During a fasting meditation Usui felt the air mysterious and then became aware that he had received healing power. So he had not received the healing power from anyone or studied in order to gain healing power. Evidence suggests that Dr Usui was already teaching Reiki by 1915.
Mikao Usui was a Well-known and Popular Healer
In 1922 Usui opened his first ‘Seat of Learning’ school in Tokyo. Usui taught over a thousand people Reiki. His students started out as clients and received Reiki themselves before embarking upon Reiki training.
Mikao Usui was a great healer, who lent his hands to help the surviving victims of the Kanto Earthquake, which took place 50 miles from Tokyo and destroyed Tokyo and Yokahama, in 1923. Usui Sensei received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his services to the people, during this emergency.
How Reiki Works
Reiki works holistically. This means that it includes your whole being. You are more than just your physical body. You are made up of 4 aspects: the physical, which is the most densest part of you. You have a mind, which consists of your thoughts and emotions. Then you have an intellect, which is your reasoning power and decision making faculty. Beyond those aspects is your spiritual part, your most etherial aspect. This is your higher Self - the real you. Reiki works on the whole of you and not just the symptoms. Physical symptoms often arise as a call for attention, to a dis-ease within your being. It calls for attention to some imbalance within your being, which is likely to have started in the mind.
These days many people know that the mind (thoughts and emotions) have a great impact on us. At the time of writing, we are currently living with the effects of Covid-19 and many people are deeply stressed about the impact the virus has had and continues to have on all areas of their lives - family, work, finances, social life and their mental health. What starts out as seemingly innocent thoughts, then soon enough become looping thoughts, which generate emotions such as worries, anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia and more. Finally these emotions manifest in the physical body, as e.g. hypertension. The physical body is the landing place for things going on in your mind.
Scientists today agree that everything is made up of energy, including us humans. So when we are stressed, it weakens our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical energy. We become imbalanced and our energies become suppressed, what is known as energy blocks. When the stress has passed, then we begin to feel lighter in ourselves, more energised and return to balance.
One way to explain Reiki to the lay person, is to liken it to electricity. We all know that this unseen force exists because we are able to listen to the radio or watch the TV etc. In a similar manner Reiki is a universal life force, a healing energy that can be harnessed for self-healing. This was its main intention and yet it can also be used for the healing of others, in person or at a distance. Healing of others is a by-product of self-healing. Although the Reiki energy is not visible to the naked eye, it can produce healing on all the levels of your being.
Reiki’s aim is to return you to inner harmony and peace, which it does very well, by calming your nervous system. When you are stressed then your sympathetic nervous system is active. This system has an excitatory effect on certain organs e.g. it speeds up the heart and breathing rate. This makes it hard to relax. Reiki activates your parasympathetic nervous system. This system controls your sympathetic nervous system and reduces your heart rate and slows your breathing down. This makes you feel relaxed. This is what happens under normal and non stressful circumstances, when you are about to fall asleep. The parasympathetic nervous system takes control and calms you down, relaxes you and you begin to feel sleepy. So you can see why sometimes people fall asleep during their Reiki treatments. This is one way that Reiki can help release your stress.
As well as being relaxed during a Reiki treatment, some people have insights during the treatment itself. As Reiki works on those parts of us that we are conscious of, as well as unconscious of, it can help us release any unresolved issues from the past or anxieties about the future. During the treatment, Reiki can bring up one or more layers of an issue into our conscious mind. It can bring up part and/or all of the information that we need, in order to resolve that issue. The solution can just dawn on our mind.
Most people that have experienced Reiki, would agree that it is a gentle nurturing energy that is very calming and balancing. Essentially, it makes you feel good and at ease.
What is unique about Reiki is that it has its own innate wisdom. That means that although the client may present with a specific issue, something else which is more important for the welfare of that client, at that time, may resolve instead.
During my 22 years of involvement with Reiki, I have seen many incredible Reiki healing miracles, some which complementary practitioners sadly are not allowed to write about, because of the restrictions placed upon us. Of course one cannot guarantee that the same result will be had by all and this is why the restrictions have been put in place, as well as, due to some misleading advertising.
A Real Reiki Healing Case
I would however like to share one case that I witnessed with a client, who suffered with a leg ulcer but who presented for treatment with a mild but stubborn sore throat.
The client had not disclosed the leg ulcer issue, to me, prior to the treatment. During the treatment, I was guided to lay my hands more on her left leg than on the throat. It was only after the treatment and at my prompting, of if she could think of a reason of why I would be guided to work on her left leg so much. This is when she mentioned that she had a very large leg ulcer.
When the client returned on the second week, she reported an improvement in the leg ulcer but not in the throat. During the treatment I once again was guided to lay my hands more on her left leg than on her throat. At the end of the treatment my client showed me the ulcer and it was still rather large.
On her last visit, she reported that her leg ulcer was practically healed, whilst the throat remained the same. She showed me her leg and it was incredible to see such a marked improvement. I did hear later that the ulcer had completely healed up. This is one example of what can happen during a Reiki treatment.
The beauty of Reiki is that it does what needs to be done, at the time of the treatment and no amount of directing of the energy by the practitioner can or will influence the energy, unless it is for the highest good of the client. Personally, I have found that the best results occur when the practitioner doesn’t get involved in the treatment and simply allows the energy to flow unimpeded. The practitioner is simply the conduit for the energy.
What Does the Reiki Healing Energy Feel Like?
During the Reiki itself, Reiki can be felt as a subtle tingling sensation, warmth, heat or even sometimes as a cooling energy. It may also produce a sensation in the area where the client has a physical problem. Some people have visions when they receive reiki. They may see colours or other type of imagery, such as seeing a white light. The client can have a ‘felt-sense’ of some things, too, as well as awareness of something relevant to their healing. Most sensitive clients are able to experience any or all of the previously mentioned sensations. Having said that even those people who don’t experience any of these things, can still have amazing results with Reiki. So experiences as mentioned above are not related to the outcome.
Reiki at Living in the Light, in Little Clacton, in Essex
At Living in the Light, you have a choice of receiving a Reiki treatment or learning Reiki. At this present time with Covid-19, PPE will be worn, to ensure safety.
Reiki Treatments
Typically, the first time you attend for a Reiki treatment, I take a consultation, which lasts up to 30 minutes. The treatment itself is for the duration of 1 hour. For the treatment you would lay fully clothed on a comfortable couch and simply relax.
During the treatment, I channel either a physical or a mental/emotional energy, deepening on your need. As you receive the reiki energy, this allows any less than light energy that you may be currently holding, to leave you. This creates room for a more positive and beneficial energy. This new energy often strengthens your own energy and you may experience a greater well-being. The entire experience of receiving Reiki is unique to each and every person. However, most will agree that often, it is a very gentle and loving experience.
Reiki Courses
The courses taught at Living in the Light are both Western and Original Usui Reiki, as received by Usui Sensei’s original disciples. The courses are built around you and your needs, even though there is a set criteria to cover during each course. Reiki consists of three levels; Reiki I, Reiki II and Reiki Masters. During a Reiki course you will receive the relevant initiations for each level, both for Western and Original Usui Reiki.
At Reiki 1 you will learn how to use Reiki for yourself, friends and family. You will learn the in-depth history of Reiki, Reiki Principles, hand positions, scanning, Kenyoku, Joshin Kokkyu Ho, Gassho meditation, introduction to mindfulness, auras and chakras and much more. Reiki I can be the start of a beautiful healing journey.
Reiki 2 is a practitioner’s course and this course will enable you to use both the symbols and Kotodama of Reiki II, for yourself and others. You will be able to set up your own healing practice after the attendance of this course.
The Reiki Masters Course can be simply for yourself, doing healing on others and to further your spiritual growth but without wanting to become a teacher. More commonly, this course is to help you set up as a Reiki teacher and run your own courses. You will learn to empower yourself with an energy ball.
Conclusion About Reiki
So, to conclude Reiki is a lovely gentle and nurturing hands-on healing therapy, from Japan that can benefit you on all levels of your being. I would really recommend that you try it, if you would like a new experience, are feeling worried about something, overwhelmed, stressed or anxious, as the Reiki energies are very calming.
At Living in the Light, Little Clacton, in Essex, you can receive a Reiki treatment. A Reiki treatment allows you to go into a quiet place within you, which is so important for the quieting down of your nervous system. It is in stillness and silence that you can truly heal yourself. Reiki’s energies are restorative.
Furthermore, at Living in the Light you can attend a Reiki course. A Reiki I course can be the start of a beautiful spiritual journey, a means to heal yourself, give Reiki healing to others. With a Reiki II course you can become a Reiki practitioner and at the highest level of Reiki Masters you will be able to initiate others into Reiki and run your own courses.
Perhaps the best explanation of all, about Reiki, are the following words from Usui Sensei: “Reiki is love, love is wholeness, wholeness is balance, balance is well-being, well-being its freedom from disease.
If you would like to know more about how Reiki can benefit you or you would like to attend a course, then please do not hesitate to contact me on katarinatilley@gmail.com or click here www.katarinatilley.co.uk/reiki to learn more.
If you like this blog post, I would be very grateful if you would please click the heart at the bottom and share it.
Katarina Tilley, Reiki Master Teacher and Mindfulness Meditation Teacher at Living in the Light, Little Clacton (near Colchester, Chelmsford and Ipswich) in Essex.