Reiki is an ancient, natural healing system that works on the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the receiver simultaneously. This is done through by guiding energy through the recipient’s body to promote their self-healing abilities. The word “Reiki” literally translated from Japanese means:
Rei: universal, transcendental spirit, mysterious power, essence
Ki: energy or life force (this is the same as Chi (Chinese) and Prana (Hindi))
Reiki is therefore defined as universal life force or divine spiritual energy. According to Reiki healers, this energy can be used to heal, balance, transform, create and restore.
Reiki is linked to a range of physical and emotional benefits. It is believed that it not only heals physically, but it also increases creativity, increases spiritual awareness, helps release emotions, works on the causal level of disease, releases stress, balances energy, and removes mental blocks. It is a powerful path to further one’s own enlightenment and to deepen one’s understanding of themselves and their own true nature. Its teachings are of peace, compassion, truth, integrity, love and responsibility to the self and others.
From my personal experience with my clients, I have received feedback that their healing helped with a variety of emotional and physical issues from reducing anxiety, finding direction, releasing headaches, improving sleep and even reduction of swelling and pain in the body. The feedback I receive the most, after almost every session, is that the client feels “lighter”. I attribute this feeling to the removal of the heavy energy in their auric field.
A review article in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine found that “Reiki is a safe, gentle, and profoundly relaxing healing modality”. The review was based on 13 peer reviewed studies (4 randomised single-blind and 7 randomised double-blind studies with human participants, and two studies using rats), all with over 20 participants in each study.
This article found that Reiki aided in the following:
· Lowering heart rate
· Reducing blood pressure
· Increasing heart rate variability
· Reducing pain, anxiety and depression for clients with chronic health conditions, as well as improving their self-esteem and quality of life.
The article concluded that, “Reiki has the potential to provide valuable support for a broad range of chronic health conditions”. However, that is should always be regarded as a complementary therapy, implemented with all other medical and therapeutic techniques. As a wholistic practice, Reiki should always be used as a complementary therapy and never as a replacement for medical advice.
As I tell my clients, I believe that it is important that we work with both the spiritual as well as the physical. We live here on earth and all healings are more effective if we have proof that the information coming through is accurate and that what we are doing has been proven to help. That is why I do believe that it is important to include the scientific evidence from these studies in my blog.
But, as I am busy writing this blog, I have just received the following message from one of my clients that I had the honour of working with two days ago, “Today was the first day in months that I felt on my A game. I had a great day at work, I was in a lot of presentations and enjoyed it so much. Thank you. I witness and honor your gift.” On a personal level, there is no better proof as to what Reiki healing has the ability to do than when I receive a message like that one.