What is Reiki?

In Japanese the word Reiki is a combination of images, called kanji, that have a special meaning or kotodama. There are special types of kotodama called jumon, or incantation. The Kanji of Reiki is composed of two distinct parts, the first can be broken down into Rei - Rain, Mouth and Shaman. The second part is Ki, Steam coming off Cooked Rice.

You often hear Reiki described as the "Secret Mystery" and "Universal Power or Energy" I like to think of it as a Healers connection to the Natural Source of Energy. In other words through teaching from a qualified teacher you learn to access and use the energy of the universe for healing and balance.

What do I mean by Energy? All matter in our universe is made of waves and particles. All waves and particles are packets of energy. One of Einsteins insights is as follows

"A photon, a packet of electromagnetic energy, is a physical reality and its electromagnetic field thins out to zero at great distances away from the center of the vibration or source or center of the energy." So energy is this photon or packet of electromagnetic energy. All the cells in our body give off electromagnetic energy. Inside of all of our DNA strands are packets of Light. All of our energy, or photons, interact with the universe thinning out to Zero.

Zero as it turns out is also a field, A Zero Point Field, which is not a vacuum but rather an always active source of energy with particles popping into and out of existence. So our packets of energy flow away from us out into the universe becoming part of this Zero Point Field.

Reiki is an inherent natural part of  this source of Energy. We give light to the universe and we learn how to be a channel for light back to ourselves.

Reiki Healing in a "Need to Know" world.

When I am asked how Reiki works or why Reiki works I often pause and think about the multitude of answers.  On the one hand I have nerdy scientific answers and on the other hand I have beautiful 'leap of faith' based answers.  With our complex and sensitive measuring devices we can measure the light from a Reiki healing.  But because of the nature of the double blind experiment current studies on Reiki are proving difficult to 'prove' 100%.  It is a Quantum Conundrum really, the observer changes the experiment and in this case the Reiki therapist knows they are tapping into our universal source and channeling the "ki" to their patient.  So even if the results of the study say  Reiki works to provide much needed relief and nurturing, there is still doubt in the modern scientific community.

Interestingly though hospitals all over the United States are more and more willing to take that leap of faith.  There are many hospitals here in my area that train their nurses internally to practice Reiki and more hospitals offer Reiki as a complimentary service to their patients.

Our ancestors knew a lot about energy and took it as a leap of faith that energy healing worked.  It wasn't until medicine in the west gave up the concepts of 'humors' and 'temperaments' that western medicine steered so far to the opposite side of energy healing.  And now as more people are left feeling 'mostly better' or maybe even 'let down' with modern western medicine that the resurgence of energy medicine is so strong.

So are you the person that 'needs to know' how Reiki and Energy Medicine works to try it or are you comfortable acting on a leap of faith?  In my next several blog posts I am going to explore the science and faith behind Reiki.  And because I also practice chakra healing and meridian healing I will start blogging about more advanced energy medicines.  Be sure to sign up for my email so that you get a notice when there is an updated blog post.

Many Bright Blessings,
Carmen Tracey
414-367-4325