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Writer's pictureEmily Quinn

Reiki: Simple in Theory, Complex in Practice

 

Reiki as a concept is fairly simple. It is the practice of a trained, attuned individual channeling "Reiki", the universal life force, from the surrounding area into the client for healing purposes; including pain-relief, reducing anxiety, easing stress, and more. But is all Reiki the same? The source is "universal" after all, so it should be applicable in the same way, in the same manner, to any person regardless of circumstance, practitioner, or client.



However, the key word there is "should".


The Reiki practice as we know it today is, by in large, very different from what the founding practitioners learned and used. More importantly, it is only one form of what is known as "energetic healing". Why is this all relevant to you? Because without understanding the many nuances of Reiki, you may not understand what you are paying for, what your experience will be like, and how to tell when something isn't right. In writing this, I hope to arm you with a depth of knowledge that will equip you to dive into energetic healing, like Reiki, as an informed consumer and receiver of healing.


As I mentioned before, Reiki is a form of energetic healing - meaning it works with a person's individual energy and the surrounding energy to create healing effects. While Reiki is currently the "fad" form, it is certainly far from the only one, and each has its own unique properties. Shamanism, which is found worldwide across cultures, has its own forms of energy healing. There is chakra healing, crystal healing, even Qigong and acupuncture are considered forms of energy healing. But there are also those methods that go unnamed, simply referred to as energy healing. None of these are any better than the other, but despite being technically the same type of thing, they yield different results.


Why? Let's look at Reiki as an example.

Dr. Mikao Usui, Founder of Usui Reiki Ryoho

It is generally accepted that the founder of Reiki was Dr. Mikao Usui, or Usui Sensei, who became attuned to the energy and began teaching it in 1922. That is how most practitioners will explain it to you today. However, that is a twisting of the story. Reiki had existed in Japan prior to Dr. Usui's attunement - history shows that there were at least 4 types of Reiki that predate his method. In 1914, Matiji Kawakami developed a healing style known as "Reiki Ryoho". Other forms of Reiki that were contemporary were: "Reikan Tonetsu Ryoho", developed by Reikaku Ishinuki, "Senshinryu Reiki Ryoho" developed by Kogetsu Matsubara, and "Seido Reishojutsu" developed by Reisen Oyama.


So already, even at what we considered the very beginning of "Reiki", we find that it already existed. Dr. Usui simply developed the method, called "Usui Reiki Ryoho", that rose to popularity, while the others fell into obscurity. For objectivity's sake, I will continue to refer to Dr. Usui as the founder of modern Reiki, as his form is what the vast majority of practitioners are rooted in today.


As Dr. Usui taught it, Reiki began as an oral tradition, passed from one generation to another, with elder students being encouraged to take lower-level classes to help new students in their studies and keep the information fresh in their minds. Nothing was allowed to be written down. And as with all oral traditions, the further you went from the original source, the less and less it resembled what it started as.


Before his death, Dr. Usui entrusted Usui Reiki Ryoho with one of his master students, Chujiro Hayashi, a previous Navy doctor, urging him to open his own Reiki clinic to continue the practice. But Hayashi Sensei's teachings and methodologies changed from Dr. Usui's, developing the "Reiki Ryoho Shinshin", a manual to aid students in memorizing hand positions.

Madame Hawayo Takata

From the Hayashi clinic, a particular student took Reiki to a completely new place - the West. Hawayo Takata trained at the Hayashi clinic and became a well-respected healer who travelled across the United States. However, her version of Reiki was "westernized". She simplified it, developed her own hand position system (called the foundation system), a different attunement method, and began comparing the core concepts of Reiki to Christian religious concepts - the most common being that "Reiki" as an energy form is interchangeable with "The Holy Spirit". And while these might all seem like major changes, which they were, if it were not for her innovation, Usui Reiki Ryoho would have likely fallen into obscurity like the methods that had proceeded it.


Still with me? Good. Let's get more modern.


Currently there are two "Traditional" schools of Usui Reiki. One, taught by a former student of Takata Sensei, Dr. Barbara Weber, and the second, taught by Takata Sensei's granddaughter, Phyllis Furumoto. Reiki taught by Furumoto Sensei travelled to England and the other Commonwealth countries, while the Reiki taught by Dr. Weber remained in the United States. While the two lineages, as they are called in the healing community, have many similarities, the fundamental difference between the two is the teaching of Reiki Guides, spiritual beings that assist you in your path and practice of Reiki, (Furumoto Sensei) and not teaching about Reiki Guides (Dr. Weber). For example, in my training, I was not taught about Reiki Guides and had absolutely no idea what they were when I first heard of them, meaning I am from the Dr. Weber lineage. A friend of mine who was trained in Australia was the one who first mentioned Reiki Guides to me, meaning she comes from Furumoto Sensei's lineage.


And while this might seem a trivial matter in the greater context of Reiki, it has caused a 40+ year feud between the two schools. They even have separate larger organizations: The Reiki Alliance following Furumoto's teachings and The American International Reiki Association following Dr. Weber's teachings.


"Reiki" in Japanese Kanji

Did you think that was it? Oh no, there's more.


From there, various "non-traditional" methods of Reiki have been developed, such as Karuna, Holy Fire, Twin-Flame, Blue Flame, and Sekhem/Seichim, to name a very limited few. These forms of Reiki almost all require mastership in a traditional Reiki method to pursue them and they all have their individual quirks, practices, and focus areas. This includes additional symbols, presuppositions, definitions of "Reiki", methodology, and so on. While the traditional schools take a "live and let live" approach with these schools, it is important to educate yourself about these methods if you wish to pursue them as a client to know exactly what the differences and outcomes are.


All of this, and we haven't even touched the nuances the practitioner and the client bring to the table.


While the oral tradition of Reiki has long since been left behind, no one Reiki Master teaches the methodology exactly the same. They include their own experience in the mix, tweaking and altering what they share as they go. Thus, the practice is ever evolving, and varies from practitioner to practitioner.


But even students taught by the same master do not practice the same. This is because everyone gives and receives energy differently. The way in which my body processes Reiki energy while practicing or receiving it is most certainly is not the same as my classmates': because I am my own person, as energetically unique from any other person as I am genetically unique. This same concept also applies to Reiki clients, those being healed by a Reiki practitioner. Your own energy will change how you processes, disperse, and receive energy from the practitioner working on you. Some may even find that receiving Reiki is altogether unpleasant - I have heard it compared to dry drowning in some cases - because your own energy simply doesn't accept energy in the manner that Reiki practitioners channel it. That doesn't mean there is something wrong with you or your practitioner, it's essentially an energetic allergic reaction. Furthermore, you may have this reaction with one practitioner, but not with another. Finding the right fit for you can be a process of trial and error, just like with any other service provider in the world.


By now, you may be realizing that Reiki is as layered as an onion - as a grumpy, wise-cracking, animated Ogre would say. It is because of these layers, these nuances, and the rich and complex history that I have begun to hesitate to call Reiki "universal", because in many ways, it isn't. What I would instead call it is "eternal". It is energy, which can neither be created nor destroyed. It has and will always exist. As for the way in which it manifests? Well, that will always depend on more uncontrollable factors than we would like.


Just know that none of it is the same, and will never be the same, as it is as diverse as all the things living and dead, conscious or non-conscious, in the world.

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