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What I Have Come to Know

Going through the process of revising my website seems to be a good time to reflect on what Reiki means to me. Coming into my 33rd year of practicing Reiki, I’d like to share a few important thoughts about what I have come to know and understand about Reiki.

What started out as learning a simple healing technique has blossomed into a daily practice, a full-time career, and a way of life. Having studied Western style Reiki as well as traditional Japanese Reiki (Jikiden Reiki©) and understanding more about the Japanese culture and philosophy, I now appreciate the depth and simplicity of the practice. Reiki is as simple as hands-on and its flowing or hands-off and it stops.

I still believe that Reiki finds you when you are most in need and ready for the next step on your life’s journey. Reiki often guides you to the right path, putting you in the right place at the right time and helps you to fulfill your soul’s purpose.

The Reiki Precepts (Gokai, Reiki Ideals) were given to us by Usui Sensei as a tool for psychological well-being and guides for living a compassionate life. They can be viewed as a way of life or personal philosophy. Taking one ideal at a time and reflecting on it daily helps you to heal issues in your life. The way of Reiki is about learning to detach from outcome and being fully present in the moment. It is about unconditional love, caring, peace, compassion for all, and trust.

Reiki is so much more than bodywork or a relaxation technique. When you touch someone with Reiki, you touch their physical body, their eternal soul as well as their mind and emotions. You help them find that quiet place within, their inner treasure, and help them remember who they are and what they are capable of. Reiki restores them to their true or original self. Reiki is a gentle, healing and wellness practice that promotes balance and well-being in body, mind, emotions and spirit. Reiki is an invitation to wellness.

There is no wrong way to do Reiki. It is simply connecting with universal life force energy and offering it to another. You can use the standard hand positions or intuitively go to the areas of most need. The energy itself teaches you. Hand positions are only a guide to help one experience the flow of Reiki and give you structure when you are first starting out. Once you have experience and trust what you feel, the hand positions are only guides.

There is no one way to do Reiki. No one’s Reiki is better than anyone else’s. The journey is to find what feels right to you. What philosophy (beliefs) or practice style feels right for you?

Reiki does no harm and has no contra-indications. Reiki is safe and moves one back into balance. It cannot be used to control people or situations. It works to bring the best result or highest outcome for all. When offering Reiki, we only ask for the best outcome possible. Reiki teaches us how to let go and detach from the outcome.

When I think about my Reiki journey, this quote comes to mind:

“And think not that you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.”
Kahlil Gibran — “The Prophet”

Reiki has definitely directed my course and taken me in directions and places I never knew I would or could go. There is so much more that I could say about Reiki. So, for now, please enjoy this collection of my articles written in Reiki News Magazine since 2006. They are all part of my Reiki journey that I would love to share with you. Please feel free to print and share with students, colleagues and anyone else.