What is Reiki?

• a Japanese word, the simplest translation of which is "spirit energy"....
• one of 7 energies in the physical body -- which directs the other 6 energies, and acts as a bridge to Shinki, "God energy" (In other words, Reiki is what gives us access to infinite Source.)....
• a healing method using this energy, which can be directed anywhere in space and time....
• a lifelong Way of spiritual awakening, Self-realization (and of which the healing effects are secondary and automatic)....

What is Reiki history?

IN the early 1900s a Japanese man, Mikao Usui, was teaching what he called "a method for achieving personal perfection" (that is, Self-realization). He had discovered a way of awakening the Reiki within us; a way of immediately activating the connection to Source. This was, and is yet, such a great advancement -- truly a quantum leap! -- over other methods, that I think the magnitude of Usui's contribution is not generally appreciated. With Usui's method, we can progress quickly through changes that might require years of practicing other disciplines. Even so, Reiki itself is accurately seen as a lifelong practice.

Some people say that Mikao Usui was the first to discover this method of awakening the Source-connection within us. Others say the Reiki method originated in ancient Atlantis, or Lemuria, or Tibet, or other places -- and that Usui merely re-discovered it. Either way, does it matter? We can speculate endlessly on Reiki history ... or we can simply be grateful for the Reiki method, and make use of it to transform our lives : ^ ).

So, again ... What IS Reiki??

AFTER I was given my first Reiki initiation (1991), I felt that I had suddenly been connected to my Real Self. It was a connection that had been missing for a long time, but still I recognized it. The image that came to mind -- of the connector -- was an electrical extension cord, literally plugging me into the outlet of Divine Source. I suddenly felt my Real Self; and I felt more at home in my body and in the world than I had in a long time.

For the first several years that I practiced Reiki, I conceived this connection to Source -- and Source itself -- as being outside of me. (I guess that's why the "extension cord" was needed! : ^ ) But eventually I came to realize that the Source was everywhere! It was outside of me, and it was also inside me. It was inside every wave-particle* of me. It created every wave-particle of me, from within -- and I began to feel that the most natural place to access it was there, inside.

I began to feel that the only thing separating me from Source was a difference of dimension. That this Perfect, Infinite, Eternal Source was within every wave-particle of my being -- but within its own Source-dimension! And that Reiki was a key for opening that dimension.

* I use the term "wave-particle" because we are actually made of light, which has characteristics of both wave and particle.

Then what is Reiki attunement, Reiki empowerment, Reiki initiation?

I prefer to use the word "initiation" because I feel it's most accurate and least subject to misinterpretation. A Reiki initiation does not give us anything of substance that we didn't have before. It does give us confidence, which is indeed quite a crucial ingredient! And it gives us awareness of the Reiki connection that we have always had.

Is Reiki initiation really necessary?
If Reiki is always within us, connecting us to Source, why do we need a "Reiki initiation"?

GOOD questions! Yes, Reiki and the Source-dimension are always within us -- but we forget how to find them! At birth and for some time after, we are so aware of our Source-connection, we perceive everything as complete Oneness. And Source-energy is pouring through us like crazy! (This is why people are so attracted to babies, even though they may not be conscious of the reason.) It is only sometime later that we begin to form the concept of an individual self, something separate from the Oneness that we previously knew.

From that point on, most of us become more and more "separate" -- disconnected from reality and the Real Self. Our manufactured, separate, personal "self" becomes our reality. The Source and the Real Self are still within us, but we don't remember how to find them! Many of us don't even remember their existence....

Here's a computer analogy: Nothing is ever deleted from a computer. Even when we "delete" something from the Recycle Bin ... it's not really deleted! Everything that was ever in a computer is always in the computer. All that gets erased is the memory of how to find a particular thing; the pathway that leads to it. And there are people ("computer wizards" : ^ ) who know how to find and restore the lost items in our computers.

What a Reiki initiation does is very similar. The person giving the initiation has developed an ability to restore the memory of (or the pathway to) your Source-connection; to activate your awareness of it. The initiation may include a physical procedure, or it may not. What is really happening is an affirmation and a witnessing of your eternal Source-connection being restored to your awareness!

So ... is it necessary to receive a Reiki initiation? Do you need a "computer wizard" to retrieve lost files in your computer ... or can you do it yourself? Some people can indeed do it themselves. Mikao Usui did it himself -- and probably every one of us can initiate our own Reiki awareness to some degree. But, for most of us, without help, that degree will be fairly small. (It may be helpful to know that Mikao Usui was a master of several martial arts and a devoted student of many esoteric subjects; and that he practiced and studied these things for years before arriving at his "method for achieving personal perfection".)

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