Reiki

Reiki is a Japanese folk healing practice.

More accurately known as Usui Reiki Ryoho (Usui Reiki Healing Method), the history that follows Reiki from its origins to today is unique, complex, and sometimes disputed. The story of Reiki has been obscured by myth and legend, by historical amnesia and cultural erasure, by repression from military and government forces. As a white American practicing Reiki, I perpetually risk participating in a wellness culture that systematically centers whiteness and erases the cultural context of healing modalities.

Reiki is a Japanese folk healing practice.

Reiki is universal life force energy.

Reiki is the combination of two Japanese words: rei and ki. I do not speak Japanese, but I have learned that “ki” suggests life force energy (like qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine), and conjoined with “rei” comes to describe a universal, subtle, intelligence that permeates all of life, from the microscopic to the cosmic. Many traditions across space and time hold practices of energy healing and laying on of hands. Modern physics confirms what indigenous and folk wisdom has held since time immemorial: we are interconnected through the unseen, through energy. Intentionally accessing the field of universal energy is possible, and has healing potential.

Reiki is universal life force energy.

Reiki is gentle.

Reiki is most commonly performed with hands on the body using a light, non-invasive touch with minimal pressure. It can also be practiced hands-off over the body, or through a distant treatment. Reiki has no known adverse effects. Because the light, pulsating energy adjusts to the need of the recipient, you can't get too much Reiki, no matter how long the practitioner's hands are in place. That said, even gentle relaxation practices have the potential to influence how we experience the effects of PTSD, cardiovascular conditions, certain medications, etc. As always, refer to the guidance of your health care providers, as well as to your own self-awareness and inner wisdom.

Reiki is gentle.

Reiki is relaxing.

While the likelihood is that Reiki works on levels not (yet) understood or quantifiable by Western scientific worldview, one thing that is widely agreed upon is that Reiki elicits the relaxation response. The relaxation response supports the nervous system to shift to a parasympathetic state, “rest and digest,” where the heart rate and blood pressure slow, mental activity eases, and neurochemical responses that support relaxation enter the bloodstream. While it is not agreed upon “why” in health and scientific circles, the point remains. Reiki is associated with this shift into a state of physiological relaxation.

Reiki is relaxing.