Reiki

Zac-Ek Plast wrote:

Reserved Sanity wrote: I am not well versed on, but am increasingly interested in Reiki. I am considering studying it but and not sure if it's a worthwhile investment of time and energy.

What is your view/understanding/experience of reiki and how it relates to our faith - especially the force?

Here's my take on it. I am currently a Reiki Master, but I don't have a business practice nor do I want to. I had given Reiki to a number of people, but I never charge them for it. Reiki is a valid modality and I understood it, at the time, to be one of the healing powers of the Tao. Like the Force, the Tao cannot be defined.

Last year was my first and last journey into Reiki, having gone through four classes, attending over 40 Reiki share events, having met over 80 Reiki Masters, along with doing hardcore objective research. I treated this journey as an "experiment". When I find something that I do not know, I aim to know - to know both the darkness and the light - to know all the "masks" because that is my faith in knowledge. So, I ended up finding more darkness than light here.

So, here are the bits that I learned from that journey:

• In my first level class, I was taught that there was some Japanese guy goes by the name of Usui who created Reiki that is being practiced today.
→ False. Usui did not created the Reiki system as we know it today, but his spiritual practice was simply a part of it, along with the original symbols. There were several people involved that contributed to the system. One was fairly known, Hawayo Takata (1900-1980), who has brought it to the West. It was because of her that Reiki became very popular.


• I was taught that Reiki is "a universal life force", no matter what "form" it's in.
→ I later found that this is not so. There is no defining what the "real" Reiki was, except that I had observed it to be a subtle energy being given to the person and contribute to the body's need for energy, its need for releasing any emotional/spiritual/mental blockage that the body contains, as it has done in my case. I also found out that one Reiki is not the same as the other. The way I can describe it is a person can "draw" energy from a certain "ethereal realm" - not the same "place" as the "real" Reiki (by "real", I mean the system as practiced by Takata). I even observed that there are many "ethereal realms" as there are "Reiki systems". It felt as if these "realms" were "created", not "naturally formed". Scary thought...


• The symbols are powerful and sacred.
→ Yes, in a way. However, there had been so many practitioners corrupting the symbols by altering them or "adding" symbols of their own (i.e., channeling, from ancient texts, etc.). The problem with these "new" symbols is that their meanings are not understood. So, with each "corruption" birthed a new "Reiki system".

The symbols that Usui has given to the Navy officers (a few years before his death), who don't know how to "call" their own healing abilities as his earlier students did (these earlier students were followers of Buddhism/Shintoism) - they had to use the symbols as "training wheels", nothing more. If you know the psychology of "imprinting", along with the good understanding of energy body, you'd know how the symbols work. Using the wrong "symbols" (as many Reiki systems has done), you don't know "what" you are "inviting" into your "field" (think real hard about that).

Usui never used the symbols on himself or on his earlier students - they were "natural healers" - however, healing was not their "main" focus of their practices, just simply a small part of it.


• Reiki requires a "belief" for it to work.
→ That is false. With a "real" Reiki, it does not require any belief of any kind. It works independently of one's belief systems or concentration. For an example, when I was sitting with a stranger one day in a local park, I suddenly felt the energy moving through me towards that person, without my thought for it. I can then see that person's expression changed from sadness to peaceful. I asked her how she's doing - she was feeling sad, telling me how she couldn't find a "reason" to deal with the things she was going through. She was asking God in her mind for help. Then, she felt her prayer was answered - a "reason" came to her and she felt really happy. That was one of the observations over time that I determined the energy goes to whomever was "asking" for it - in a truest sense of the word - either verbal or in mind. It's the "energy" of the person or its body who are "asking" for the energy that it needs. I even found a few people who wanted "Reiki" and not really asking for it, the energy didn't flow to them, no matter how hard I concentrated. It was strange, really, but eventually I understood that I was simply an "instrument", nothing more.


• One needs an attunement to practice Reiki.
→ If one wanted to learn and use Reiki, one do need attunements but only from a proper Master. I found out there are "Reiki" groups who don't give attunements, practicing Reiki on others. I met a number of them and I felt no energy coming from them - they appeared to be "pretending" while at the same time, asking for money (while giving true Reiki a bad rep). I also met groups that give attunements, along with New Age rituals, like holy water, chanting, etc. One only need an attunement, nothing more, for one to "receive" an ability to channel the energy. Geez, it's really an overkill with those other things.

What Usui and his students had done with their healing works, they had done so with years and years of training. So, Reiki is very much like a lazy person's Qi Gong.

I'm sure that there are more, but it would take me a lifetime to investigate and break down every exact detail that has happened in the last few decades with Reiki and its dark side.

Recently, I found and read a 2005 interview with one of Takata's original Master students, Mary McFadyen (who, sadly, has disappeared in 2011) and caught this bit (From: _http://www.einfach-nur-reiki.de/reiki/healing-spirituality-interview-mcfadyen.shtml):

The Reiki that was given by Dr. Usui and came to us through Mrs. Takata is enough... But what has happened to it is that it has been distorted and diluted and changed until much of what is taught today as Reiki is not Reiki. There may be an energy there, and some of it is clearly a healing energy, it works, and it's fine... but much of it is not true healing energy, it's not the energy that Mrs. Takata gave us... and it's not Reiki. My guess is – it‘s only a guess, because nobody can possibly know–but my guess is that more than 70 percent of what is given as Reiki today is not Reiki... it has been changed: the symbols have been changed, the initiations have been changed, in some Reiki systems the students are not given the full four initiations for the First Degree, many only receive one, as if this is the same as four, but of course it‘s not the same. I have seen symbols in books that just make my toes curl – they are backwards, they are upside down, in fact to a very extensive degree the power symbol is taught backwards and the proper symbol is taught as an additional symbol. In fact, one puts energy in, the other takes it out... so, what is happening? People think that they can make changes and it's okay... well, it may be and it may not be... my personal view is that it's not. I try to stay true to what Mrs. Takata taught. Reiki has evolved since she died, there are various techniques, which we use the Reiki symbols for, which are extremely valuable, but they are still true to what was taught...

The bit about "more than 70 percent of what is given as Reiki today is not Reiki" also meets my observations, sadly enough. Though, there may be more than that.

There is no single book on Reiki that can tell you everything about it - you'd need to read everything and question everything. I even found books that are like "copies" of each other - gave me headaches.

As for finding a teacher, it will be rare, but not impossible, to find one with proper lineage to Takata, with proper symbols, if you want to learn and use Reiki. So, if you choose to do it, exercise discernment and caution. Ask a potential Reiki Master about their lineage and how they teach Reiki. What symbols they use? What do they charge? What's their philosophy regarding Reiki? A good teacher would answer truthfully. If you find in yourself a strong doubt with a certain teacher, trust it. If you felt something resonate with you, even some part, that would be a good small step toward learning Reiki.

Anyway, that's my take. For what it's worth...

Thank you for this information , i have long thought why my resentment against reiki was so big , but the things you name make ik all clear to me , 3 things stand out

A the constant lying about the source of Reiki
B the not knowing which energy you let in
C The asking money for it

These really bugged me for years and now i know why , thank you very much , its good to hear it from a Reiki master

I'm thankful for Zac-Ek's post, because they hit a lot of points that I would if I were going to take the time to discuss reiki one problem at a time. However, I don't agree with Z-E on all points. Below I've highlighted my personal beliefs, using Z-E's discourse as a framework. I've only been a reiki master for a couple of years, but I've done energy work for two decades, and what follows are my 'opinions' after rigorous study and testing of varying 'modalities' across world history.

Zac-Ek Plast wrote: Reiki is a valid modality and I understood it, at the time, to be one of the healing powers of the Tao. Like the Force, the Tao cannot be defined.

I wouldn't describe it quite like that, although you definitely could. Especially if one equates the Tao to anything similar to the universal Force. And, in actuality, the Tao could theoretically be defined, but not in the positive--i.e., one would not say 'the Tao is this...'--but rather in the negative, what the Tao is not. "The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao," for example. Likewise can the Force, and the energy used in reiki, be defined.

• In my first level class, I was taught that there was some Japanese guy goes by the name of Usui who created Reiki that is being practiced today.
→ False. Usui did not created the Reiki system as we know it today, but his spiritual practice was simply a part of it, along with the original symbols. There were several people involved that contributed to the system. One was fairly known, Hawayo Takata (1900-1980), who has brought it to the West. It was because of her that Reiki became very popular.

The story goes that Usui Mikao meditated at some spiritually powerful place and that the reiki energy itself brought to him the sacred symbols of level 2 and beyond. That he somehow tapped into some primal, ancient system, blah blah blah.

This tale is impossible for a number of reasons, not least of which the rampant lies spread to make Usui Mikao look like a better or more spiritually gifted teacher than he was. Below, you'll find the reiki symbols (which, for reasons I'll tear apart later, are supposed to be kept 'secret'.)

At least one of those is impossible to squeeze into any "ancient healing" narrative, and the other three have been attested nowhere else, outside of reiki, that I have ever seen. That (for those of you who are budding symbologists) is what we like to call in the business "f***ing weird". If these symbols were used in such powerful healing ceremonies, secret or not, they'd be pretty darn easy to find.

I was taught that Reiki is "a universal life force", no matter what "form" it's in.

→ I later found that this is not so. There is no defining what the "real" Reiki was, except that I had observed it to be a subtle energy being given to the person and contribute to the body's need for energy, its need for releasing any emotional/spiritual/mental blockage that the body contains, as it has done in my case. I also found out that one Reiki is not the same as the other. The way I can describe it is a person can "draw" energy from a certain "ethereal realm" - not the same "place" as the "real" Reiki (by "real", I mean the system as practiced by Takata). I even observed that there are many "ethereal realms" as there are "Reiki systems". It felt as if these "realms" were "created", not "naturally formed". Scary thought...

"Reiki" is said to mean "universal energy." Proponents claim it is the benevolent, sacred, universal life force that has a consciousness and basically does what it feels is necessary. That is incredibly false. Reiki is a specific energy signature or frequency (hereafter "modality") that can be "tuned" by practitioners to do certain things. I won't go into great detail here, but the personal energy/chi/qi/prana/Force of an individual can be tuned to a certain frequency for a certain purpose; it remains the same energy, but it is "colored" by your intentions to be predisposed to the task you set it to. To believe that reiki is some kind of universal energy, disconnected from its practitioners (something that is taught widely--teachers will insist that you allow reiki to flow through you, using none of your personal energy) is harmful and false in a great many ways.

The symbols are powerful and sacred.

→ Yes, in a way. However, there had been so many practitioners corrupting the symbols by altering them or "adding" symbols of their own (i.e., channeling, from ancient texts, etc.). The problem with these "new" symbols is that their meanings are not understood. So, with each "corruption" birthed a new "Reiki system".

I'll disagree with Z-E here quite a bit: the symbols are not being "corrupted", because they aren't sacred or powerful outside of the faith put into them. That's what makes symbols powerful: the human belief systems invested in them. Reiki symbols are not old or widespread enough, even in this day and age, to have "power" on their own. They are, like all other ritualistic devices, simply a symbolic crutch; one uses symbols to lean on so they can "borrow" the faith and will necessary to perform a task they feel they are otherwise unable to do.

Reiki requires a "belief" for it to work.

→ That is false. With a "real" Reiki, it does not require any belief of any kind. It works independently of one's belief systems or concentration. For an example, when I was sitting with a stranger one day in a local park, I suddenly felt the energy moving through me towards that person, without my thought for it. I can then see that person's expression changed from sadness to peaceful. I asked her how she's doing - she was feeling sad, telling me how she couldn't find a "reason" to deal with the things she was going through. She was asking God in her mind for help. Then, she felt her prayer was answered - a "reason" came to her and she felt really happy. That was one of the observations over time that I determined the energy goes to whomever was "asking" for it - in a truest sense of the word - either verbal or in mind. It's the "energy" of the person or its body who are "asking" for the energy that it needs. I even found a few people who wanted "Reiki" and not really asking for it, the energy didn't flow to them, no matter how hard I concentrated. It was strange, really, but eventually I understood that I was simply an "instrument", nothing more.

I'm sorry, but this is incredibly true. You can't get two skeptics together and see reiki function properly. That's because all energywork from every modality relies on a modicum of willpower to move that energy from point A to point B, and without the faith and expectation of belief, that willpower becomes very hard to come by. It will fail.

One needs an attunement to practice Reiki.

→ If one wanted to learn and use Reiki, one do need attunements but only from a proper Master. I found out there are "Reiki" groups who don't give attunements, practicing Reiki on others. I met a number of them and I felt no energy coming from them - they appeared to be "pretending" while at the same time, asking for money (while giving true Reiki a bad rep). I also met groups that give attunements, along with New Age rituals, like holy water, chanting, etc. One only need an attunement, nothing more, for one to "receive" an ability to channel the energy. Geez, it's really an overkill with those other things.

This is true in that reiki is a "modality", a frequency of energy. In order to carry that frequency, you must "attune" yourself just as you would tune a radio so you could pick up the frequency of your favorite rock station. What isn't true is that you need to pay for the attunement, or receive it from someone else. All that is required is to come in contact with the reiki energy frequency once, and you can (in theory) attune yourself, with enough willpower and practice. And, if anyone at this Temple wants to be attuned by someone else but doesn't want to pay for it, I volunteer to grant you a free attunement so you can test drive this stuff. I'm sure other Temple members who are masters will do the same.

As for some of the other reiki "lies", this last one is the most insidious. They will tell you that because reiki has its own consciousness (false) and is purely benevolent (false), that reiki practitioners can do no harm. NEVER believe anyone who tells you that you cannot do harm with some form of faith, belief, or energy. They are ALWAYS lying. They tell you this about reiki to assuage your fears, and assume that if you believe strongly enough that you can do no harm with reiki that it will prevent you from doing harm with reiki. Unfortunately, the opposite is true: by believing that it can do no harm, and by believing that the energy goes where it wants instead of where you direct it, some very unfortunate consequences can come about. They're rare, but harm can result from reiki done improperly, which is why training is so very important.

As a level 1 practicioner of Reiki, i feel i must say, as with all Human things of this kind. Belief is paramount. If you have the slightest bit of doubt, it will not work for you. You need to convince the logical mind that it is possible. and then take the experiences to heart. i do not recomend paying for it, instead find someone who is a master and befriend them. that is how it worked for me and i love my teacher for sharing his knowledge.

As a Reiki Master myself, I thought I would give another positive view point.

I have been a Reiki Master for over 15 years. I have met some wonderful practitioners, Masters, teachers, and enthusiast. As well as many people who have been helped by Reiki.

I think some of the problem is that people are looking for a miracle cure. If a teacher is trying to tell you it is a miracle cure and/or wants hundreds of dollars, they aren't worth your time. I was taught for free by a charismatic person who thought Reiki was here on Earth to help all people out. She didn't want money to teach, give treatments, or anything. Those she taught usually did bring her something nice as a thank you, but never any money. I have kept to that tradition of not charging, although I do not teach because I really don't have the time.

The tradition of paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars was when Reiki was first introduced and it was believe that if people didn't pay for it, they would not value it. It is an old way of thinking, that is still true in some areas but not all.

There are many ways to use Reiki, it can be an enhancer in many areas of your life. As a massage therapist, I incorporated it into my work all the time. They symbols are a nice meditation focal point. I have even used it to dispel negative energy.

As to one of the original questions, as the idea of Reiki and The Force. I think the energy used in Reiki (the universal life force, chi, ki, prana, etc.) is the Force. They are just different names for the same thing. This is my point of view, of course, and may not be shared by others. This is just what my experiences have shown me.

Figment wrote: ... I have been a Reiki Master for over 15 years. ...

I have a question for you, Figment.

I am a Reiki Level II practitioner (Usui tradition). I have a positive affiliation with the person who attuned me to both levels I and II, and she has nudged me to consider the Level III attunement. While my "attuner" does charge a fee, I am convinced this suggestion is not motivated by money; the amount to be paid is nominal.

My understanding is that the benefits of Level III are for those who want to attune others. I do not currently expect to be doing this, but down the road ... you never know. In the meantime, I am curious; do you feel there are other benefits from Reiki III attunement?

I'd appreciate any guidance you can offer - thanks.

-- Todd

Omhu Cuspor wrote:

Figment wrote: ... I have been a Reiki Master for over 15 years. ...

My understanding is that the benefits of Level III are for those who want to attune others. I do not currently expect to be doing this, but down the road ... you never know. In the meantime, I am curious; do you feel there are other benefits from Reiki III attunement?

I'd appreciate any guidance you can offer - thanks.

-- Todd

Hi Todd,

I would say that if you aren't expecting to teach anytime soon, I would wait. There are a couple of benefits, for instance you will notice energy and be open to more energy than in level II. That being said, if you are the type of person who is already sensitive to subtle energy changes, it will not do much for you. The master symbol can be useful, but to be honest, I normally just use my Reiki II symbols when doing healings or energy work.

If you really are interested in the experience, perhaps something can be worked out with your Master, like a trade or a discount. You also have the option to talk to other practitioners and see what others charge. Sometimes there are Reiki shares where you could meet another person who could attune you for a much lower price.

Hopefully this answer your question, feel free to msg me any time.

Figment wrote: Hopefully this answer your question, feel free to msg me any time.

Thank you for the insight, Figment. At least at the moment, I'm leaning away from Reiki Mastery; I just don't see the need for it in my own personal situation, though for teachers it's of obvious benefit.

If my mind changes, affordability with my Master is no problem. Her fees are low, and I do not have reservations about paying for a service like this as some do. Providing services along the lines of Reiki training provides her livelihood, and I do not begrudge her in the least for getting paid.

Thanks once again. Much appreciated!

I had never heard of this before now. Many interest. Much research.

I have my Reiki I and my Celtic Reiki I attunements, and I only use them on myself.

For me, the techniques taught seem to be about channelling the Force in a way that makes sense to the practitioner. If Reiki doesn't make sense to you, don't use it, but don't piss in the proverbial cornflakes of those who do find understanding and connection through it.

However, it is perfectly fair to challenge people who cause harm using Reiki as an excuse. If someone claims Reiki is a miracle cure, or that it has an ancient, pure lineage, then question them.

I want to be in tune with the Force, and Reiki training gave me a way to do that though I used different language at the time. I work shamanically, so it makes sense to me.

Hi

To me Reiki and Jedism are a natural pairing. In basic terms Reiki is a form of healing work done by channelling the energy of the universe, and in basic terms, in my limited understanding, the Force is that living energy of the universe. You will find that if you choose to close your mind to either you will have a lets say a limited experience. The opposite is of course true for both as well. What is best, or worth it for you is your choice, your intent, and the direction of your focus. Use your feelings, trust your instinct. Follow the guiding force inside of you, not others opinions. Then your path will become clear.
As far as costs go you can find endless free information online and on utube.
Good luck

Mac