I think of Reiki simply as a practice that reconnects a person with their natural intelligence. Healing is a natural result of bringing the mind back into balance.
A Reiki session works by clearing away the mental, emotional, and spiritual debris that inhibits the experience of your true nature. Your identity is not related to the material world; it isn’t your body, career, your name. The real Reiki is you, as we are all an expression of the same divine spirit – The Source.
Reiki is a hands-on healing practice, meaning literally “palm healing” and “hand placement.” A long tradition of hand healing is not only evident among Japanese spiritual movements; Reiki is only one of many. Laying on of hands has been used among many cultures to effect change in an individual’s health.
Its oldest reference to using hands for healing can also be found in The sacred Hindu texts – Vedas that speak about this concept in Sanskrit as ‘Hasta Sparsha Sarva Roga Nivarana’, Literally meaning placing of palms to remove the disease.’
Touch, by its very nature, is therapeutic. In a world of disconnection, making conscious and conscientious contact with another person can offer something otherwise absent from some people’s lives. To touch without agenda or motive—merely being present and mindful—is one of the greatest gifts of Reiki.
It can be argued that Reiki, in its genesis, was primarily a spiritual practice rather than one related to health and healing, so the Five Principles or gokai were introduced to help students navigate along their journey. Usui taught that all illness first occurs in the mind or spirit (Kokoro), and thus the Gokai are tools for achieving healing at the core level. When we practice them, we become happier, healthier, more successful individuals.
The bonus is that the flow of Reiki energy enhances, supports, and supercharges that loving, compassionate contact.
The symbol for rei directs us to be the spiritual intermediaries of our time. As Reiki practitioners, we release our judgments, attachments, and expectations so that we can be pure and open vessels for the spiritual blessings continuously bestowed by the universe. During the practice of hands-on healing sessions, we become the conduit for Reiki energy to flow into the recipient. We serve as the link between the higher and lower realms so that Reiki can lead both practitioner and client toward balance.
Our trapped emotions, anxieties, and unresolved life experiences that have not been processed tend to linger in our minds and manifest in our bodies as dis-ease. We will perceive energy blocks if we listen, feel, and dialogue with the energy as it bubbles up.
The Path of the Gokkai
For this moment only
May I Be free from anger,
May I be free from worry,
May I be Grateful,
May I be diligent and honest in my practice,
May I be compassionate to myself and others
– Mikao Usui, The Founder Of Reiki
These Five Principles (Gokai) are the spiritual backbone of the Usui System, and they continue to be as relevant to the people of today as they were in 1920s Japan.
These short statements may seem simple, but they are deceptive in their depth and breadth. We learn mindfulness, compassion, devotion, and presence when we actively use the Gokkai in our everyday lives.
The more we use it ourselves, the more sensitive we become to the energetic aspect of healing and the more proficient we respond to that energy.