What is Reiki healing?
I remember my first Reiki healing session like it was yesterday.
I felt a little nervous and vulnerable at the start of the session as I wasn’t sure what to expect. But just an hour or so later, I felt relaxed, at peace, deeply supported, and inspired.
It felt good, really good, to do something for myself. To take the time out, rest, and replenish. Within a few short minutes of being with my practitioner, I felt safe. There was no expectation or pressure on me to do anything. I simply had to be there, with an open heart, an open mind, and a willingness to receive.
Since then, Reiki healing sessions – and soon after the wider system of Reiki – have been at the heart of my healing and journey of self-discovery and empowerment.
It’s a journey that hasn’t always been easy, because deep healing isn’t, but it has 100% been worth the ride.
And I simply had to share the gift of Reiki healing with others, which I’m very grateful to do through Wholeheartedly You.
Ultimately, the system of Reiki (which includes but is by no means limited to hands-on/off healing sessions) can help us to rediscover who we really are, beyond our worries, fears, anxiety, the roles we find ourselves playing, and our emotional or mental pain.
Sounds amazing right. But what is is really all about?
Well this blog will delve in a little more, focusing more on Reiki healing sessions rather than the wider system of Reiki. Although the only way to truly understand any part of the system of Reiki, healing sessions included, is to experience or practice them. But, in the meantime, this blog is a great place to start.
With love,
Katie
The beginnings of the system of Reiki
‘Reiki’, translated as ‘universal life force energy’ or ‘spiritual energy’, is today a term mainly used to describe a natural and holistic form of energy healing, which centres around hands-on/off healing sessions (which this blog will mostly focus on).
However, to delve deeper into the history and origins of Reiki is to see that ‘Reiki’ is in fact a spiritual system which yes, includes hands-on/off healing, but also 4 other key components: meditations, symbols, mantras and precepts (guidelines for life). It is a system designed to guide us to rediscover the truth of who we are – our inner essence or true self. The truth of who we are beyond our fears, worries, attachments, anger, feelings of unworthiness, depression, insecurity, and jealousy (all of which are part of the human experience, but are not who we really truly are).
The system of Reiki was developed by a man called Mikao Usui in Japan around the 1920s. But why and how did Usui come to develop the system of Reiki?
Well, following three weeks of fasting and meditation on Mount Kurama, a sacred mountain in the north of Kyoto, Usui had his first a powerful experience.
Although he was starving and near death from fasting, a burst of intense healing energy – a bright light – filled him with a sense of immense vitality, peace, and awareness, like nothing he had ever experienced before. It is said that in this near-death moment, Usui was completely open, removed from his rational mind and truly open to the powers of nature and the universe. Despite not eating for three weeks, Usui felt better than ever on every level, making his way back down Mount Kurama where he quickly discovered the hands-on healing abilities he had uncovered through connecting with Reiki energy. He went onto heal all sorts of ailments suffered by numerous people from his community. Shortly after this incredible experience, Usui opened a clinic in Tokyo to practice the hands-on healing technique, and share it with others.
A long story short, Usui in fact developed the wider system of Reiki, including meditations and symbols mentioned above (drawing on other already defined spiritual practices, which he was well versed in, to do so), so that anyone on a quest of healing and self-discovery could be guided to heal deeply and rediscover their truth and inner light. Because, at the heart of Reiki is the understanding that Reiki is within us all – Reiki is our true self – and that in that moment on the mountain, as Usui confronted his own impermanence, he rediscovered the bright light and incredible innate power within himself – that is also within each of us.
With a lineage of Reiki masters teaching the Usui approach after his passing, and with growing intrigue, practice internationally, and research to support its benefits, Reiki is becoming a widely sought after means of facilitating deep healing.
So what is Reiki hands on/off healing?
As mentioned, Reiki hands-on/off healing is just one part of the system of Reiki that Usui developed.
There are a couple of different ways to look at the energy a Reiki healing session works with, which will resonate in different ways for different people. One of these is that at the quantum level – which is between 10,000 and 100,000 smaller than an atom – everything that exists in the universe is energy which is vibrating and oscillating at different rates. Quantum physics also states that mass and energy are interchangeable i.e., they are different forms of the same thing – mass is a manifestation of energy. So, us humans are essentially energy stored in mass particle form.
In fact Einstein himself said it: “Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it.”
It is also said that psychological processes such as thought, emotion, belief, and attitudes are too formed of energy, so emotions we repress mean we’re also repressing their energy, although this is another blog entirely!
Another way of looking at energy, with a more spiritual twist and in fact more accurate to the origins and true heart of the system of Reiki, is that there is “life force” or “spiritual” energy emanating through absolutely everything, which you may have heard referred to as chi, ki, or prana; vibrational energy that is the very essence of all things, including our very own being. Reiki is us and we are Reiki.
The role of a Reiki practitioner is to guide Reiki energy into a person’s body to restore its natural energetic balance, harmonising body, mind, emotion, and spirit.
I like to think of it as replenishing the body’s energetic system with fresh, healing, invigorating life force energy. Like a huge dosage of the best possible vitamins which cleanse, detox, heal, and energise all of the places within us that need it. Fresh energy in – older, more tired energy out.
Through this process, the natural balance that is innate to us – our true self – which can be covered or blocked by physical ailments and stress, emotional distress and mental pain (often accumulated over time) is restored.
What happens during a Reiki hands-on/off session?
A Reiki session involves a trained practitioner guiding energy into and through a person’s physical (and energetic bodies) to promote the natural healing abilities and support balance.
The Reiki practitioner is purely a channel for this energy – rather than the source of it. Because the energy already exists everywhere, and within everything.
An another important point to note is that a practitioner does not decide where energy flows. They are guided by your body and the vibrations and sensations they experience as your body gently draws in energy. This is why Reiki sessions are a beautiful means of self-healing. As an intelligence, Reiki will naturally go where it is needed the most, and will continue to flow within an individual’s physical and energetic bodies after a session too.
Reiki is a gentle, non-invasive healing technique. I use both hands-on and hands-off during a session, gently laying my hands on your head, shoulders, arms, and legs, while hovering my hands a few centimetres above the rest of the body as required. You may sit or stand for a session.
I also like to light some candles, and play some relaxing music to help create a serene and tranquil environment.
What are the benefits of Reiki healing sessions?
The benefits of reiki can be very personal and unique to each individual.
Some of the reported benefits include:
- Promoting harmony and balance, supporting your healing journey to self-love
- Relaxin and releasing tension from the body
- Breaking down energy blocks and balancing mind, body, spirit
- Cleansing the body of toxins and supporting the immune system
- Clearing the mind and improves focus
- Improving sleep
- Supporting spiritual growth and emotional cleansing
- Accelerating the body’s natural healing abilities
What is a Distance Reiki session?
Energy knows no boundaries. This means that it is possible for Reiki to be channelled to you, without you needing to be in the physical presence of a practitioner.
Distance reiki sessions are just as effective as an in-person sessions.
You can learn more about distance Reiki healing here.
Or read more about having a Reiki session with me in Shepherd’s Bush, West London here.