Reiki...What is it?

The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy." 

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.

It is taught worldwide by Reiki Master/Teachers.  You can learn to be a practitioner or a master right here at Gossamer Wood llc.

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What Reiki can Do For You...

A treatment feels like a wonderful glowing radiance that flows through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and wellbeing. Many have reported miraculous results.

Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It has been effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect. It also works in conjunction with all other medical or therapeutic techniques to relieve side effects and promote recovery

An amazingly simple technique to learn, the ability to use Reiki is not taught in the usual sense, but is transferred to the student during a Reiki class. This ability is passed on during an "attunement" given by a Reiki master and allows the student to tap into an unlimited supply of "life force energy" to improve one's health and enhance the quality of life.

Its use is not dependent on one's intellectual capacity or spiritual development and therefore is available to everyone. It has been successfully taught to thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds.

While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion. It has no dogma, and there is nothing you must believe in order to learn and use Reiki.  In fact, Reiki is not dependent on belief at all and will work whether you believe in it or not. Because Reiki comes from God, many people find that using Reiki puts them more in touch with the experience of their religion rather than having only an intellectual concept of it.

While Reiki is not a religion, it is still important to live and act in a way that promotes harmony with others. Dr. Mikao Usui, the founder of the Reiki system of natural healing, recommended that one practice certain simple ethical ideals to promote peace and harmony, which are nearly universal across all cultures.

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Reiki Ideals

During a meditation several years after developing Reiki, Dr. Usui decided to add the Reiki Ideals to the practice of Reiki. The Ideals came in part from the five prinicples of the Meiji emperor of Japan whom Dr. Usui admired. The Ideals were developed to add spiritual balance to Usui Reiki. Their purpose is to help people realize that healing the spirit by consciously deciding to improve oneself is a necessary part of the Reiki healing experience. In order for the Reiki healing energies to have lasting results, the client must accept responsibility for her or his healing and take an active part in it. Therefore, the Usui system of Reiki is more than the use of the Reiki energy. It must also include an active commitment to improve oneself in order for it to be a complete system. The ideals are both guidelines for living a gracious life and virtues worthy of practice for their inherent value.


What we teach.

Levels I, II and III/Master/Teacher                   


What do these levels mean?

Reiki I and II 
Reiki I and II are usually taught on separate days, but may be taught together during a weekend intensive. Attunements to each one are given separately. All the information and techniques are covered including:

The Reiki hand positions.
Giving a complete Reiki treatment for self and others.
Japanese Reiki Techniques, as taught by Dr. Usui
Hayashi Healing Guide
Using Reiki for specific conditions.
The Reiki II symbols, how to use them with practice time..
Using Reiki to heal unwanted habits.
Distant healing.

The class is a combination of lecture, discussion and experience. Practice time includes giving and receiving a complete Reiki treatment using all the hand positions, the self -treatment, practice using all the level II symbols including distant healing, and practice using all the Japanese Reiki Techniques.

While practice takes place during the class, it is expected that you will set aside additional time to practice after the class is over. Please commit to this additional time which should be one evening a week for several weeks, or its equivalent, to practice Reiki with one, or more, people from your Reiki class or with members of your family or friends. This additional practice is necessary to gain the experience and confidence you need to fully utilize the Reiki training.

Reiki III/Master 
This is a one or two day intensive. It includes:

Review of the history of Reiki and the material from your previous Reiki I and Reiki II courses.
The complete Reiki III Usui/Tibetan Master attunement.
Instruction on how to give Reiki attunements for Reiki I&II  and full Reiki Master.
The Healing attunement as described on page I-13 of "Reiki, The Healing Touch."
The Usui system of attunements is taught as well as the Usui/Tibetan system used by the Center.
Two Tibetan symbols are given for a total of six.
Lots of practice time doing attunements.
How to give yourself attunements.
Advanced Reiki meditation that harmonizes the energy of the chakras.
The values and spiritual orientation of a true Reiki Master.

Instruction is given on the Usui system of attunements as well as the Tibetan system. Other variations are also outlined in the class manual. Much class time is used for practice so the student becomes confident in administering Reiki attunements. Students practice giving attunements on each other so that each student receives many attunements. The Healing attunement is given and received by all students. This class is a powerful healing experience. A class manual is included that gives detailed steps for giving all the attunements. This class is a powerful healing experience.

Reiki III/Master/Teacher
This is a one day intensive. It includes: A complete review of all of your past Reiki work, and practice teaching the Reiki classes and practicing giving the attunements to others.  It is intended for serious students who intend to teach others regularly and to attune them.

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Why you may want to be attuned.

Reiki is a truly wonderful gift and while some take Reiki training to use on themselves and with friends and family, many feel inspired to share it with a much wider circle. The development of a Reiki practice can be a very rewarding experience. Not only can it provide you with a source of income, there are spiritual experiences that can be much more meaningful. So, assuming you have been initiated into Reiki and have the ability to channel Reiki healing energy to others, I would like to share some ideas and techniques that may be helpful in developing a Reiki practice.

Class Teaching and Attunement Schedule

See our calendar.

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Reiki can never cause harm.

Because Reiki is guided by the God-consciousness, it can never do harm. It always knows what a person needs and will adjust itself to create the effect that is appropriate for them. One never need worry about whether to give Reiki or not. It is always helpful.

In addition, because the practitioner does not direct the healing and does not decide what to work on, or what to heal, the practitioner is not in danger of taking on the karma of the client. Because the practitioner is not doing the healing, it is also much easier for the ego to stay out of the way and allow the presence of God to clearly shine through.


Comments from a leading expert,  William Lee Rand

Reiki information has been riddled with inaccurate ideas from the beginning of its practice in the West. Many Reiki practitioners, teachers and authors fail to check the accuracy of the information they base their teaching and writing on, and this has had a detrimental effect on the quality of information published both on the Internet and in Reiki books. 
The best information on Reiki comes from those who have researched the history and practice of Reiki professionally by conducting research in Japan, reading original documents, and interviewing members of the founding Reiki organization in Japan. If the bishops who wrote the statement on Reiki had interviewed several of these experts, they would have realized that much of the published information on Reiki is inaccurate, and they would have had accurate, verifiable information on which to base their conclusions.

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Origin of Reiki

One of the stories told by Mrs. Takata about the origin of Reiki indicates that the founder, Mikao Usui discovered the secret of Reiki in Buddhist texts.1 This story has been repeated over and over in Reiki classes, on Internet Web sites and in many Reiki books. Yet we know this isn’t true. For many years, Mrs. Takata was the only source of information about Reiki for those in the West, and most practitioners accepted her statements without question.

Language, cultural, and organizational barriers in Japan made research difficult for those who wanted to learn more about the origins and practice of Reiki. It wasn’t until the end of the 90’s that a few researchers were able to make breakthroughs. Researchers, including Toshitaka Mochizuki, Hiroshi Doi and Frank Arjava Petter, made contact with the original Reiki organization, discovered Mikao Usui’s grave, translated the story of Reiki inscribed on his memorial stone, and uncovered an original document written by Mikao Usui about the nature of Reiki. These sources indicate that Mikao Usui wasn’t seeking to discover a method of healing, but that the ability to heal came to him spontaneously during a spiritual experience on a sacred mountain.

Furthermore, in his Reiki Ryoho Hikkei (Reiki Healing Art Handbook), Mikao Usui states: “My Usui Reiki Ryoho (healing art) is original, never before explored, and incomparable in the world.” These facts indicate that Reiki couldn’t have come from Buddhist texts, nor could it be connected to any religion or belief system. In addition, Japanese Reiki Masters who have knowledge of Buddhism have indicated that they can find nothing from Buddhism in the practice of Reiki and that Reiki is religiously neutral.

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The Nature of Reiki Healing

One of the first things I noticed after I took my first Reiki class and began to practice Reiki is that Reiki healing energy directs itself. I was unable to direct it with my mind or will and realized this wasn’t necessary as Reiki had its own form of guidance that was superior to my own. This experience has been verified by other professional Reiki practitioners and forms the basis of one of the important keys to using Reiki: If you 
want Reiki to provide the best healing experience, it’s necessary for the practitioner to set their own desire, will and ego aside, and allow the Reiki energy to guide itself.

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Scientific Explanation for Reiki

There is a scientific explanation for Reiki that is based on scientific studies and factual information. This explanation has been presented as a testable hypothesis by James Oschman, Ph.D.  Dr. Oschman is a scientist with a conventional background who became interested in the practice of energy medicine. Through research, he discovered a number of important scientific studies that point to a scientific basis for energy medicine based on the laws of physics and biology. These findings are discussed in an interview, “Science and the Human Energy Field,” published in the Winter 2002 issue of Reiki News Magazine.

The electrical currents that run through every part of the human body provide the basis for Dr. Oschman’s hypothesis. These currents are present in the nervous system, organs, and cells of the body. For instance, the electrical signals that trigger the heartbeat travel throughout all the tissues of the body and can be detected anywhere on the body. Ampere’s law indicates that when an electrical current flows through a conductor, an electromagnetic field is produced that reflects the nature of the current that created it.

Tests with scientific instruments indicate that electromagnetic fields exist around the body and around each of the organs of the body, including the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, stomach, etc. The heart has the strongest field, which has been measured at a distance of 15 feet from the body. 
The fields around each of the organs pulse at different frequencies and stay within a specific frequency range when they are healthy, but move out of this range when they are unhealthy. The hands of healers produce pulsing electromagnetic fields when they are in the process of healing, whereas the hands of non-healer do not produce these fields.

When a healer places his or her hands on or near a person in need of healing, the electromagnetic field of the healer’s hands sweeps through a range of frequencies based on the needs of the part of the body being treated. Faraday’s law indicates that one electromagnetic field can induce currents into a nearby conductor and through this process, induce a similar field around it. In this way, a healer induces a healthy electromagnetic field around an unhealthy organ, thus inducing a healthy state in the organ. A detailed explanation of this hypothesis, including descriptions of the scientific studies, diagrams, and references is presented in the interview mentioned above.

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Scientific Studies

There are a number of reputable scientific studies that provide evidence that Reiki is therapeutic. These studies can be found by using one of the professional medical databases such as PubMed or Cochrane Collection. Studies meeting medical and scientific standards are usually published in peer-reviewed journals. There are over 20 such studies on the therapeutic value of Reiki. A review of some of these studies, “An Integrative Review of Reiki Touch Therapy Research” by Anne Vitale, Ph. D., can be found at http://www.nursingcenter.com/pdf.asp?AID=732068.

While the Reiki studies conducted to date are preliminary in nature, they do provide support for additional studies. One well-designed Reiki study is “Autonomic Nervous-System-Changes During Reiki Treatment: A Preliminary Study.”  Forty-five subjects were assigned randomly to three groups. One group received no treatment, another received Reiki treatment by experienced Reiki practitioners, and the third group received sham treatment by a person with no Reiki training who used the same hand positions as those receiving real Reiki. Measurements were made of heart rate, cardiac vagal tone, blood pressure, cardiac sensitivity to baroreflex, and breathing. Heart rate and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly for those receiving Reiki, but not for those receiving sham Reiki, or no treatment. This study indicates that the body does respond to Reiki energy and that this response isn’t purely psychological. It also indicates a potential therapeutic effect for Reiki.  “Reiki Improves Heart Rate Homeostasis in Laboratory Rats”  is another valuable study. The value of using animals in this type of study is that they are not affected by beliefs or skepticism regarding Reiki. In addition, highly accurate telemetric implants were used to transmit the biometric data.

White noise was used to increase the heart rate of three implanted laboratory rats. The rats were treated by a Reiki practitioner and by a sham Reiki practitioner prior to being exposed to white noise and after exposure. The procedure involved the practitioner directing their hands toward the caged rat at a distance of four feet. The rats that received Reiki experienced a significant reduction in heart rate, both before having their heart rates elevated by white noise and after, whereas those treated with sham Reiki did not. This is one of the most rigorous Reiki studies to date and demonstrates that Reiki reduces the heart rate in both stressed and unstressed animals and promotes homeostasis, both of which promote healthy heart 
function.

Reiki is practiced by followers of many religious traditions. Although some practitioners integrate Reiki into their existing religious beliefs, Reiki is not a religion, doctrine, or dogma. Reiki is grounded in the principle of compassionate action, which is common to all religious traditions. While each religion has the right to create its own rules, it’s 
within the nature of human dignity and free will for each person to decide which path to follow and what activities are appropriate for them.

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Acceptance by the Medical Community

Although Reiki is not universally accepted within the medical community, many medical professionals, hospitals, and healthcare facilities recognize its benefits and accept it as an adjunct therapy. In Holistic Nursing, A Handbook for Practice, Chapter 2 “Scope and Standards of Practice,” the American Holistic Nursing Association (AHNA) lists Reiki as an accepted form of treatment.3 In addition, according to the American Hospital Association, in 2007 Reiki was offered as a standard part of patient care in 15% or over 800 hospitals across the US.

Doctors have recommended Reiki to their patients for amelioration of various health-related conditions. Surgeons make use of Reiki practitioners prior to, during, and following surgery. As an example, Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of the most respected cardiovascular surgeons in the US, uses Reiki during open-heart surgeries and heart transplants. According to Dr. Oz, “Reiki has become a sought-after healing art among patients and mainstream medical professionals.”


Ethical Implications

To refuse Reiki treatment to patients that request it creates an ethical issue. According to the AHNA statement in response to the bishops’ statement, the practice of holistic nursing is not subject to regulation by the Catholic church and it would be an ethical violation for a member of the AHNA to withhold Reiki treatment from a patient who requests it; this includes those working in Catholic hospitals.

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Reiki Membership Association

We offer over 581 web pages and 326 articles covering every area of Reiki practice at this one Reiki site alone. The free download page contains additional articles and free practice and teaching materials. The monthly free online newsletter will bring you fresh insight about Reiki, and the articles in the 80 page hard copy Reiki News Magazine are written by the some of the most experienced and well known Reiki practitioners and teachers on the planet! We also have a Reiki store in which you’ll find materials to help you learn, practice and teach Reiki. These include The Reiki Touch Kit, the I&II class manual, Reiki, The Healing Touch and the Reiki Master manual.

It is likely you have been guided on your healing journey, your journey of spiritual purpose to many places and many experiences in the past and now find yourself here at this place as you continue to further explore the possibilities for deep healing and inner discovery.

It is my intention that you will find what you are looking for and that the articles and information on this site will be helpful to you. It is also my fondest hope that your life will be filled ever increasing health and well-being and that you’ll be blessed with joy, peace and love.

The above text is excerpted from Reiki, the Healing Touch by William Lee Rand, http://www.reiki.org/ , and other websites.  Google Reiki for more info.

​​REIKI

Healing Retreat Center

Reiki can never cause harm...