The Reiki Path – Exploring the Ancient Healing Art

The Reiki Path –  Exploring the Ancient Healing Art of Spiritually Guided Universal Life Force Energy

Reiki Perspective Series

In the late 70’s I dropped my daughter off at a birthday party and was driving home on Milwaukee Avenue. The roads appeared clear, but there was a patch of black ice in my path. I spun out at 50 mph and collided with an oncoming car. It was a miracle that we all survived, but I was left with severe whiplash, spinal subluxations, and hyper-mobility. This created intense migraines and pain in both my neck and lower back. Traditional medicine offered me only pain killers and muscle relaxants which left me unable to fully live my life. Thank God chiropractic got me back on my feet, but for the next eighteen years, I needed to visit the chiropractor one or two times every week to stay on my feet. And still, the pain, though less intense, was a constant companion…until I learned Reiki in 1995. Within 2 months, I noticed something was beginning to change. Within 4 months, the constant pain was gone. Within 6 months, my spine was completely healed; even the curvature in my neck had changed…and bones don’t move! Or so we’re told. Now when you deal with this sort of trauma and then it’s simply gone, your life is profoundly changed. You KNOW there is a higher order.

Profound as it was, the physical healing was simply the tip of the iceberg. Over the next seven years, my emotional world changed profoundly; my spiritual world opened up immensely. You see, taking Reiki to its deepest level is life-changing. This is what I learned: As spiritual beings, divine essence, we all have the capacity to heal ourselves and others; we all have spiritual depth and purpose; we all have the ability to create for ourselves whatever we wish to create. We can know profound peace. We can evolve!

This world is changing; surely you’ve noticed. Even time seems to be moving faster. We are being spiritually supported to grow and evolve to the next level of being and that’s not an easy task. And many of us are floundering as we deal with our karma and emotional/physical issues, thinking we’re the only ones. It’s time to awaken to the majesty of who we really are. Reiki, taken to its deepest levels, can help us to do this.

Explore the Depths of the Reiki Path

Reiki, the ancient Tibetan healing art of spiritually guided universal life force energy feels like a wonderful flow of love radiating throughout your body as it clears and balances energy pathways, moving you to a new level of awareness and service. There is a life force that flows through your physical body through pathways called chakras, meridians, and nadis. It is also all around us in an energy field called the aura. It is at the causal level of disease and physical imbalances. It is highly responsive to your thoughts and feelings. It is disrupted when you succumb to negative thoughts, feelings, responses, or reactions. Reiki heals by flowing through the affected parts of the energy field and charging them with positive energy. It raises the vibratory level of the energy field in and around the physical body where the negative thoughts and feelings are attached. This causes the negative energy to break apart and fall away. In so doing, Reiki clears, straightens, and heals the energy pathways, thus allowing the life force to flow in a healthy and natural way. This may alleviate the symptoms of disease or disharmony by addressing the root cause, revitalizing the chakras, and enhancing the flow of life force, “Ki”. This impacts the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies through releasing the blocks to your manifesting the energy of the loving and powerful essence which you are. The Reiki student learns a natural way of healing that balances energy, re-establishing spiritual equilibrium and mental and physical well-being.

A Brief History of Reiki

Dr. Mikau Usui was a Japanese gentleman of the late 1800s. He was a devout Buddhist who, for many years, pursued a quest to discover, as both Buddha and Jesus had promised, how we could learn to heal.

As the quest continued, A Buddhist priest in Kyoto gave him access to their archives in which were stored Tibetan Sutras, sacred ancient texts. And there the beginning of the answer began to unfold. This led him to make a pilgrimage to Mount Kuriyama, a Japanese holy mountain. After fasting and meditating for 21 days, his third eye chakra was struck by a powerful overwhelming light. Out of this light came bubbles of light energy in white, blue, purple, and gold which contained symbols of the Reiki Ray. And the light had a consciousness; he heard a voice which said to him, “these are the keys to healing; learn them; do not forget them; do not allow them to be lost.” He was then initiated into the path of Reiki.

It soon became apparent that Dr. Usui now had the power to heal; now he needed to learn how to use it. He traveled to the beggars’ quarters in Kyoto to begin healing the sick there. He healed the young and the old, the sick and infirm. However, after about a year, the beggars began to return, once again ill. Out of Dr. Usui’s meditations on this challenge, the precepts and principles of Reiki were born.

Reiki Principles and Precepts

There are five principles of Reiki:

1) Just for today, do not anger.
2) Just for today, do not worry.
3) Honor your parents, teachers, and elders.
4) Earn your living honestly.
5) Show gratitude to every living thing.

There are two simple precepts:

1) Never do healing work without the permission of the recipient. The free will of all human beings is sacred.
2) There must always be an exchange of energy to ensure each person’s active involvement in their own healing process.

Reiki cannot be learned through books or traditional educational techniques. It must be passed on through an attunement or initiation process. Dr. Usui passed it on to Dr. Hayashi who opened the first Reiki clinic in Tokyo in the early 1900s.

Mrs. Hawayo Takata brought Reiki to the United States just before WW2. She lived in Hawaii on a sugar cane plantation and became very ill with a tumor, gallstones, and a stomach ulcer. Immediate surgery was recommended. At this time in her life, circumstances brought her back to Japan, where the diagnosis and prognosis were confirmed.

She chose not to have the recommended surgeries and was put into contact with Dr. Hayashi who healed her completely through intensive Reiki treatments over a period of months. Ultimately, Mrs. Takata was initiated as a Master and brought this elegant healing art form back to Hawaii.

Through a series of events related to WW2, she eventually became the main teaching Reiki Master of this traditional lineage.

Usui Shiki Ryoho School of Reiki

It is learned simply and easily in three or four one or two-day workshops which attune your system to the “healing ray” or universal energy. Unlike many healing modalities, Reiki cannot be taught through books. There are three attunement procedures that must happen through an initiated Reiki Master Teacher. Much like a three-way light bulb, they incrementally align the chakras and nervous systems to the healing ray of Reiki as well as open the crown, heart, and palm chakras to this energy. This is a powerful spiritual experience that creates a special link between the Reiki student and the Source of Reiki or Universal Life Force Energy.

As the Reiki energy is spiritually guided, so too is the attunement process itself. Your Reiki Guides and Masters, seen and unseen, as well as the Healing Angels, are present during the procedure. The experience is unique to each individual, but a common thread is an enhanced sense of connection to the Divine. The ability to receive Reiki is similar to all but the ability to perceive Reiki is unique to each. Some visually see the energy, the attendant guides, Masters and angels, the colors of the chakras, etc. Some hear the sound of the energy as a high-pitched humming or the voices of the Masters. Some feel the energy kinesthetically as a warm, tingling sensation. Some simply sense that something special is happening. One student reported that he simply felt a smile on his face when the energy began to flow.

The effects differ also. Some students have increased sensitivity and psychic perceptions as the chakras are aligned and the third eye is opened. Certainly, all can receive the ability of increased healing potential…if the energy is utilized.

The Reiki path is about healing, empowerment, and balance. It is about revitalizing and balancing ki to heal you on the deepest of levels. It is about releasing powerful energies into your field of body, mind, emotions, and spirit. With daily practice, the Reiki practitioner will maintain a high level of emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual health, balance, and harmony. Once you have been initiated into Reiki, you will be empowered to heal yourself and others as long as you choose to use this gift. This empowerment is enhanced and made stronger with each level of Reiki. And it is refined through practice…practice…practice.

Using Reiki for healing alone will bring you great benefits. But for those of you who want to use Reiki as a tool on the path to discovering the deepest essence of who you are, you can use this energy as a springboard to deeper and deeper levels of consciousness. Both powerful and gentle, Reiki has many benefits for both client and practitioner, including higher states of clarity and sometimes spiritual experiences. Many students of Reiki feel more at peace, feel less pain, are more aware and alive, and even dream more lucidly.

Unimpeded Divine Order

Reiki does not adhere to any particular faith or religion but complements and enhances your path, whatever that may be because it gives you a direct experience of your Higher Power. Reiki feels magical, spiritual, even mystical, but it is simply unimpeded Divine Order.

**This article appeared in The Reiki Times, the official magazine of the International Association of Reiki Professionals.

About the Author:
Pamela Arwine is the creator of Quantum Healing Energetics and Sound of Light Healing and offers services and products. Visit Pamela online at www.pamelaarwine.com
Article © by Pamela Arwine