Reiki

Just for today, do not worry.
Just for today, do not anger.
Honor your parents, teachers and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show gratitude to every living thing.
—Dr. Mikao Usui

What is Reiki?

Reiki (pronounced "ray-key") is an ancient healing technique rediscovered in the late 1800s in Japan by a monk named Mikao Usui. Reiki is a system of healing through touch, using the body's natural energy flow and chakras (energy centers) to promote whole-person wellness. The practitioner transfers healing energy by placing hands on or near the recipient, following traditional Usui positions. Reiki is a healing art which works to release pain, tension, and anxiety. It is a subtle, non-invasive healing modality, which can yield powerful shifts in energy on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.

How does Reiki work?

When I give a Reiki session, I often envision pain and stress releasing or rising like a bird taking flight, and clients often describe feeling deeply relaxed and somehow "lighter" after a session. This, for me, is the essence and intention of my Reiki sessions.

Reiki engages with the body's energy in a similar way that acupuncture and Shiatsu use the body's energy meridians (channels of ki or chi) to promote healing. Instead of using pressure on points along energy meridians, Reiki involves using light touch to unblock and balance the body's chakras. The presence and use of chakras is ancient and can be traced back to the Vedas, ancient Hindu texts of knowledge (2,000-600BC). The body has seven chakras, starting from the crown chakra at the top of the head to the root chakra, which extends from the pelvis to the toes.

Reiki treatments can be given to people, animals, plants, things, and even situations. Reiki does not require faith or religious belief to be effective; you need not subscribe to any particular belief system in order to give or receive Reiki. Reiki can be given to people of any faith, and to agnostics or atheists.

Reiki for People

Reiki is based on the principle that universal life energy (or ki) is present in all living things and when this energy becomes blocked, discomfort and disease can occur. I work with people to release blocked energy, to ease pain or discomfort, and to help the body heal itself.