Dr. Mikao Usui

Reiki is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist healing system that promotes relaxation, stress reduction, and supports and accelerates your body's own ability to heal.  It allows everyone to tap into an unlimited supply of "universal life force energy" to improve heath and enhance the quality of life.

Reiki (pronounced Ray-kee), literally means "universal life force energy."  It is an approximately 2,500-year-old healing system rediscovered by a Japanese Monk, Dr. Mikao Usui, in Japan in the late 1800s while on a 21-day fast and meditation atop a sacred mountain.  After establishing a Reiki clinic in Tokyo, Japan,  he began training others in this healing art.

One of the first other Masters was Dr. Hayashi (a retired naval officer) who trained Mrs. Takata, a women from Hawaii who came to Japan for healing of various mental and physical conditions.  Mrs. Takata took Reiki back to  Hawaii and began teaching it there.

Reiki eventually made it's way to North America through Hawaii and is now being practiced and taught  worldwide by thousands of practitioners.  Reiki is well received by the medical community and readily available in many health spas and chiropractic offices.  Many massage therapists incorporate Reiki regularly into their massage work.  

Reiki is a method of natural healing that uses universal life force energy (Chi in China, Ki in Japan, Prana in India) channeled through the practitioner's body and out the hands to restore health  and a sense of well being.  The divine intelligence of Reiki adjusts to each individual's needs, creating a customized healing session, and giving rise to the saying that it is "intelligent" energy.

People who have experienced Reiki report a warm, loving energy wherever the practitioner's hands are applied.  Reiki creates a deeply profound state of relaxation, which releases blocked energy within and around the body for accelerated healing.  During a Reiki session, the client lies on a massage table, and Reiki is administered with gentle touch through clothing using a series of hand positions on the body, or occasionally with the hands of the practitioner a couple of inches from the body.

Benefits of Reiki:

• Vitalizes both the body and soul

• Balances the organs and glands and their bodily functions

• Re-establishes spiritual equilibrium and mental well being

• Promotes creativity

• Balances the body's energies

• Treats symptoms and causes of illnesses

• Loosens up blocked energy and promotes a state of total relaxation

• Relieves pain

• Cleanses the body of toxins

• Strengthens the immune system

• Adjusts itself according to the needs of the recipient

• Enhances personal awareness and strengthens intuition

• Enhances meditation

The Five Principles of Reiki:

In order to encourage clients' participation in their own healing beyond the Reiki treatments, Dr. Usui developed the following five principles of Reiki:

1. Just for today I will live an attitude of gratitude

2. Just for today I will not worry

3. Just for today I will not anger

4. Just for today I will do my work honestly

5. Just for today I will show love and respect for all living things

Further resources on Reiki:

• www.reiki.org/FAQ/FAQHomepage.html  Reiki frequently asked questions and answers, by the International Center for Reiki Training.

• www.threshold.ca/reiki/index.html

• www.angelfire.com/az/SpiritMatters/intro.html

• www.geocities.com/hotsprings/9434/history.html

• www.geocities.com/hotsprings/9434/index.html

• www.geocities.com/HotSprings/9434/history.html History of Reiki.

• www.sacredpath.org  Reiki website.  Links to information on Reiki, photographs of where to put your hands for self healing, and more.

• www.reiki.7gen.com Reiki information.  Patty advertises on this site!

• hallsofreiki.com/innerlobby.html Reiki information.

• hallsofreiki.com/3masters.html Photos and bios of the Reiki masters.

• www.the-dhn.com Volunteer Reiki practitioners accept distant Reiki healing requests.

• www.energeticarts.com/reiki/reiki.htm