Reiki Therapy? What's that?

The first question that I am asked is "Reiki? What's that?"  And honestly, I really don't have an answer.  Shocking? I know! Let's first start at the beginning.  Reiki (pronounced ray-key) was introduced by Mikao Usui in the early 1900's.  Usui was a Buddhist Monk and a devoted meditator and it was during a 21-day meditation on Mount Kurama that Usui discovered "a great white light" that he later named Reiki.  My understanding of Usui is that for him, Reiki was a spiritual practice with healing benefits.  Usui later established a clinic in Japan and trained a handful of Reiki Masters or Teachers.  One of Usui's students was a retired naval doctor named Chujrio Hayashi, who then simplified the practice. Some years later, a woman named Mrs. Hawayo Takata returned to her parents native homeland in need of healing from her own medical crisis.  Mrs. Takata became a student of Hayashi and with his help, Mrs Takata established a Reiki Clinic in Hawaii.  Mrs. Takata eventually relocated to the U.S. mainland, settling in California, where she trained 22 Reiki Masters before her death in 1980.

So now we know some of the history of Reiki Therapy, but still "What is Reiki Therapy?"  Okay, here we go! In Eastern medicine the patient is treated as a whole.  Therefore, health is viewed as a balance of the whole human system, meaning mind, body and spirit.  In Western Medicine the disease is singled out as the problem and then all interventions have one focus, which is to remove the physical aspects of the disease, never really taking into account the patients' mind, attitudes, emotions or spiritual development. Eastern medicine and practices on the other hand included all of these when providing any type of treatment, They see all individual systems as one integrated and connected whole. 

Reiki, in Japanese, means universal life force and it utilizes spiritual energy to assist in healing.  Are you still with me? I like to refer to a Reiki Therapy session as inducing a meditative state, as many clients often have a deeply relaxing experience.  Scientist label Reiki as a bio medicine and so far scientists have not discovered a mechanism of action to explain how Reiki Therapy works. However, Reiki Therapy is among the growing accepted field in alternative health and is offered in over 800 U.S. hospital, with endorsements from M.D.'s such as, Dr. Mehmet Oz from The Dr. Oz Show.


During a formal therapy session the client will lie on, or be in a reclined position on, a massage table and remain fully clothed.  Reiki is non-invasive and uses light touch hand placements on the head, front and back of the torso, sessions last an hour to an hour and a half.

 Many us tend to be unbalanced due to stresses in our modern life. Reiki Therapy works to balance one's whole system. The most common benefit clients report feeling is relaxation, improvement in sleep, reduction of feelings of anxiety and pain, better digestion and improved mood.  I like to call it the "happy buzz". While research is still preliminary, there are a few small studies showing positive results.


Finally, Reiki Therapy is not massage or hypnosis and although Reiki Therapy is a spiritual discipline, it is not a religion.  There isn't any dogma attached to Reiki Therapy, nor is it a part of any religious doctrine.  Reiki Therapy is practiced by many people throughout the world and is steadily growing in popularity.
So, "What is Reiki?" you ask? Reiki is a therapy, an intervention, a practice and a discipline. It is also a personal experience that is as unique as the individual having the experience.