The Reiki Journey

Reiki is one of the alternative therapies that have arisen out of Indic spiritual ideas. Indic ideas about Brahman, the life energy that pervades every particle of the universe and the different practices linked to focusing on that energy inside ourselves is the basis of different practices varying from Yoga and meditation to Acupuncture and Reiki.

Often people call all these as "unscientific" or "without evidence". However, I think that all these can be seen as another manifestation of what is called "placebo effect", which is a core part of scientific investigation. Whenever we scientifically compare the impact of any therapy through randomised controlled trials, we need to keep account of the Placebo effect, that is the number of persons who will heal themselves with or without the therapy. This means that there are a number of persons who heal themselves, or that our bodies have mechanisms and capacity for self-healing.

Origins of Reiki

Reiki originated in the 1920s by Mikao Usui in Japan. The word Reiki is made up of "Rei" (spiritual), and Ki (life energy).

The Chinese ideas about the blocks and lack of equilibrium in the body-channels of life energy (Chi) is, in my opinion, another approach to a similar idea.

In Reiki the healers use a light touch or keeping the hands near the body to influence the "Ki" in individual's body for unblocking energy channels and thus create equilibrium.

In my opinion, for persons dealing with mental or psychological difficulties, chronic conditions, and life-threatening conditions such as cancer, therapies like Reiki can be a valuable support to more conventional medical treatments. Reiki and other alternative therapies can also be good as a part of people's self-wellness approaches. 

Sadguru on Reiki

Sadguru is a well-known spiritual Guru in India. Recently, I heard him speak on Reiki during a podcast, where he warned about the dangers of Reiki because he said that "life-energy is a delicate and complicated thing and trying to influence the life-energies of people can be dangerous".

I was a little surprised at his ideas since I feel that human beings across cultures and civilisations have been practising different techniques for influencing the life-energy for thousands of years. If we accept his ideas then perhaps we may not even do meditation on our own? 

I was talking about his views to my niece Meghna, who has been engaged in practising and teaching Reiki for many years now.

She said to me, "There is often a lack of understanding about Reiki. Sadguru speaking about it is not new, it came out many years ago when I was in Singapore. I have written a book chapter about my personal life journey and what drew me to Reiki."

Meghna's Journey With Reiki

Some months ago, Meghna has contributed a chapter in a book about Reiki, titled "Reiki Lights - Collected Stories of Transformation". Her chapter is titled "From Doing Reiki to Being Reiki", which explains how she looks at the Reiki practice - a process of her own inner transformation that she uses to help others as a healer and as a Reiki teacher.

About her initial experiences with Reiki she writes: "I realised what a profound self-healing tool Reiki could be, if guided by the right teacher. I approached these practices with the same level of excitement as a child in a candy store. I built a regular self-practice with full body healing techniques as well as distance healing for the inner child when I felt I was working through more deep-seated patterns. I became more disciplined about carving out time at the end of my day ..."

About its impact in the initial phase of her journey she says: "There was an expanding awareness growing within, almost like a quiet voice speaking to me, which inspired the more true to myself choices I started making." 

After facing many challenges in her life-journey, she writes about her present life in Kerala (India): "The Reiki Principles have been a steady compass throughout my journey; guiding my way of being, inspiring me to show up present, authentic, vulnerable and deeply grateful. Practising radical acceptance and surrender is not something I have mastered; it is something I return to, every single day. It has been a journey of constant rediscovery, realignment and remembering. Every day I am learning to be still, and to trust what my heart already knows." 

You can read more about Meghna's Reiki journey and learn more about her Reiki work from her website.

In The End

Reiki, mediation, yoga, mindfulness and similar spiritual practices are important practices to keep us grounded and in contact with our inner core and to what is really important in our lives.

All of us have our ups and downs, moments when everything is going well and moments when challenges come knocking on our doors. I believe that spiritual practices make it easier to deal with those challenges.

*****