Reiki For Dummies (eBook)

Nina L. Paul (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 2. Auflage
368 Seiten
Wiley (Verlag)
978-1-119-89452-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Reiki-the alternative medicine therapy that's becoming mainstream

Reiki is a subtle, non-invasive form of healing that uses spiritually guided life force energy, and 60% of top hospitals in the United States now offer it as complementary treatment for anxiety, depression, pain relief, and more. Reiki For Dummies is a clear and easy-to-follow guide to the origins of Reiki, where you can study Reiki, what it can do for you, what to expect in a session, and how to use Reiki at home. This book takes you through the principles, practice, and uses of Reiki-even if you're skeptical or taking your first Reiki class. Dummies is the perfect starting point for anyone interested in benefiting from Reiki or becoming a Reiki healer. Discover how Reiki fits in with other healing practices, and how it just might transform your life. This book makes it easy.

• Learn what Reiki is and how to find a Reiki practitioner
• Prepare for your Reiki session and set realistic goals and expectations
• Explore Reiki classes, symbols, and techniques
• Get started performing Reiki with basic hand positions and self-treatment
• Discover the fascinating history and evolution of this Japanese healing practice

This edition has been expanded with new information on self-Reiki, mind-body healing with Reiki, and becoming a Reiki professional. Plus, you'll find the latest Reiki resources to expand your healing journey.

Autor

Nina L. Paul, PhD, is a Reiki Master in private Reiki practice in New York. She studied Immunology and epidemiology at Yale University and is also the author of Living with Hepatitis C For Dummies.

Textauszug

Chapter 1

Reiki: Connecting with Life-Force Energy

IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting a basic idea of what Reiki is — and isn’t

Finding out about the Reiki system

Discovering the energy and origins of Reiki

Seeing ways to experience Reiki

Selecting a practitioner or teacher

Listing the benefits of Reiki and revealing the symbols

You’re deeply relaxed while lying on the Reiki table as the practitioner lays hands on different parts of your body. Impressed that this gentle laying on of hands can bring you such peace and joy, you want to know more about it. You’ve come to the right place. This book is a guide to the basic practice of Reiki.

This book describes how to use Reiki to heal yourself and your family members and even treat people who are far away. Reiki techniques can also be used for your pets, your food, and the earth. The more you use Reiki, the more uses you’ll find for it. In this chapter, you find out how Reiki works, where Reiki comes from, and what help Reiki can give you. You can even discover how to channel the Reiki energy yourself so that you have a lifelong tool to use for yourself and others. You get a taste of what Reiki is all about in these next several pages.

Discovering What Reiki Is and Isn’t

Reiki is both of the following:

• A healing system that channels universal life-force energy: Mikao Usui originally developed this system in the early 1900s in Japan. For more on Reiki’s beginning, see the later section “Exploring the History of Reiki” as well as Chapter 3.
• The name of the energy itself:Rei means spiritual wisdom, and ki means energy, so Reiki means spiritual energy. See Figure 1-1, which illustrates the word Reiki in Japanese characters.

Because Reiki originated in Japan, you can understand many of its concepts and terms more deeply when you consider the language and culture in Japan in the early 1900s. If you’re interested in studying more about the language or culture of Japan, start by looking at some of the resources in Appendix A.

Reiki is available to everyone. Anyone of any age or level of health can receive Reiki. Even newborn babies or people at the end of life can benefit from the relaxation that it provides. See Chapter 6 to find out how every member of your family, including your pets, can use and benefit from Reiki.

What Reiki is

As an intelligent energy, Reiki gives you what you need, whether it’s a release of tension, an energy boost, or both. To help you more fully understand what Reiki gives you, here are some terms used to describe Reiki:

• Gentle: Reiki’s touch is soft and light.
• Harmless: Reiki can have only positive results.
• Natural: You don’t need any equipment or tools.
• Healing: Reiki’s goal is to bring forth the highest level of healing.
• Balancing: Reiki balances your energy levels.
• Relaxing: The top reason to try Reiki is to feel the bliss of deep relaxation.
• Energizing: If you’re drained of energy, Reiki can revive you.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 1-1: The Japanese characters for Reiki.

What Reiki isn’t

Knowing what Reiki isn’t is as important as knowing what it is:

• Reiki isn’t religious. Reiki is nondenominational. You can practice any religion (or none) and still use and benefit from Reiki. Mikao Usui was influenced by the religions of his country, Shintoism and Buddhism. But Reiki isn’t associated with any religion, and people of all faiths and beliefs are Reiki practitioners. Reiki isn’t New Age either, though Reiki can be used alongside any spiritual belief or religious system.
• Reiki isn’t massage or reflexology. Reiki is an energy-healing system and not a manipulative system (hands manipulating the body). Reiki is distinct from reflexology and massage, but it can be used alongside these and other healing arts.

Reiki isn’t the personal energy of the practitioner but the energy from the universe transmitted through the practitioner.

Describing the System of Reiki

Reiki is a system of connecting to, transmitting, and receiving the Reiki energy.

Connection to Reiki energy is made through

• Reiki Principles (see Chapter 4)
• Reiki symbols (see Chapter 8)
• Prayer and meditation (see Chapter 9)

Reiki is transmitted through

• The hands
• The eyes
• The breath

The energy can be transmitted through gentle touch, be beamed across the room, or be sent by distance through techniques for distance healing (see Chapters 11 and 15). The ability to be a conduit for Reiki energy is taught through Reiki classes. (See the later section “Taking Reiki classes” as well as Chapter 7.)

For receiving, all one needs to do is relax and be open. You probably know how to receive the energy from the sun, from a friend or family member or a pet, or from a forest or body of water. Reiki is the same.

Examining the Energy of Reiki

Reiki is a system of energy healing. You don’t actually need to understand how the energy of the body works to use or benefit from Reiki, but it helps to know the basis for the way that Reiki works, which the following sections examine.

Defining universal energy

As a child, did you ever gaze at the stars with wonder and awe? The sun, the moon, the stars, and all the different life forms on our planet radiate a universal energy. Because this is the energy that animates humans and other living beings, it’s called the universal life-force energy. This energy is known by different names. You can call it universal life-force energy, love, God, or spirit.

Reiki is a system that allows you to tap into and benefit from this universal energy.

Detecting subtle energy

The term subtle energy refers to the energy of Reiki and the energy fields that are associated with your body. When something is subtle, you must get quiet to feel its presence. (Chapter 2 describes other types of subtle energy systems.)

Meditation is frequently used before giving Reiki treatment so you can get quiet enough to sense the presence of the Reiki energy. (See Chapter 9.)

The energy field surrounding the human body is also called an aura, and it can be sensed with the hands as well as visualized with the eyes (with some practice).

When you receive a Reiki treatment, the energy may not feel subtle as you experience the heat from the practitioner’s hands and perhaps the waves rushing through your body. Each person senses the Reiki energy differently, and with time, your sensations will change. After you’re attuned (initiated) into Reiki energy, you may feel Reiki more keenly. And the practitioner might sense the emanations of life-force energy from the recipient. Certain Reiki techniques utilize the ability to sense energy. (See Chapter 11.) But don’t worry; you can still practice Reiki with the standard hand positions even if you don’t sense anything.

Reiki still works even if you don’t feel its energy.

Understanding how Reiki works

As an energy-healing system, Reiki works to heal you at the level of your energy to the root of any disease, imbalance, or disharmony. Reiki works at the level of the whole person, including mind, body, emotions, and spirit.

Healing at the holistic energetic level with other forms of energy is actually quite ancient. Traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and other cultures have identified and classified aspects of this energy that runs throughout the body. (See Chapter 2 for a discussion of chakras and meridians.)

As a healing energy, Reiki is considered to be positive (no harm can come from it) and intelligent (the energy heals what is needed even if you don’t consciously know what you need). The recipient draws the right amount of energy to just where it’s needed. Frequently a practitioner feels their hands “drawn” like a magnet to a certain place. In this way, the practitioner is the conduit of the universal life-force energy.

Distinguishing Reiki from other forms of energy healing

Energy healing is part of many different cultures. Whether it’s acupuncture or the laying on of hands, the use of energy to treat illness is part of human history. (See the nearby sidebar “Universal Reiki — with humor and humanity.”)

Reiki offers a way to achieve spiritual and personal growth and to heal others. But Reiki isn’t the only system with these goals. Two systems with similarities to Reiki are

• Johrei: The founder of Johrei, Mokichi Okada, was a contemporary of Mikao Usui (a founder of Reiki) in Japan. The Johrei spiritual movement encompasses more than hands-on spiritual healing and advocates individual spiritual development so that everyone can reach “paradise on earth.” Visit www.johrei.com for more...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.5.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Alternative Heilverfahren
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Naturheilkunde
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Schlagworte: Alternative Medicine & Complementary Therapies • Ergotherapie u. psychische Verfassung • Geschichte • Geschichte der Medizin u. Naturwissenschaften • Gesundheits- u. Sozialwesen • Gesundheitsvorsorge Alternative Medizin u. ergänzende Therapien • Health & Social Care • History • History of Science & Medicine • Occupational Therapy and Mental Health • Ratgeber
• ISBN-10: 1-119-89452-2 / 1119894522
• ISBN-13: 978-1-119-89452-0 / 9781119894520