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Do you suffer from chronic pain, stress, general fatigue?
You can no longer sleep badly and have migraines?
Or, you want to improve some aspect of your life without knowing how to go about it.
Le reiki just might be the solution you’ve been waiting for!
A relatively recent Japanese technique of the twentieth century, reiki is still little known in our Western lands.
What it is, what it treats or does not treat, from the choice of the practitioner to the course of a typical session, I tell you all about reiki.
What is reiki?
In its purest translation, reiki means in Japanese “force of the spirit”. We also find more recently the name “universal energy” which however is not approved by the purists of the French current.
Indeed, the energy used in reiki comes primarily from the natural capacities of our organism to improve its health, and not from the outside.
Reiki consists of an approach through relaxation and meditation, with the objective of improving the well-being of the person who consults.
The practitioner who exercises reiki, also called “donor”, puts himself in a situation of meditation and transmits it naturally to the recipient of the touch.
Meditation, not your thing, can’t you do it?
I will explain quickly: when you are with a calm person, you tend to be calm, with a talkative person you will discuss more easily, with someone enthusiastic you will find fishing, etc …
Our close entourage directly influences our way of being, so the meditative state of the practitioner affects the person concerned without even making the effort to meditate. In a reiki session you will find yourself meditating… by contagion, if I may say so!
What is the goal of this relaxing state?
By touching the body in specific places, the reikiologist promotes the emergence of potential natural healers. It therefore helps the body to find its own resources to get out of its state of discomfort.
This is aimed at both physical and psychological or emotional disorders, because as we know today thanks to advances in science in the field of medicine, the relationship between one and the other is close and interdependent. 1
You don’t feel completely happy in a suffering body, nor completely competent when your mind falters.
Creation and dissemination of the practice
Born in 1865 in Japan, Mikao Usui practiced meditation very early on. Fascinated by the teachings of the Buddha and their impact on psychological suffering, he sought to understand and transmit these vectors of well-being to his disciples.
This is how he managed in 1922 to create a new practice resulting from his years of apprenticeship, which he wished accessible to all, secular, agnostic and above all effective against the evils of everyday life.
Only four years after laying the foundations of reiki, the master suddenly dies. Unfinished teaching, many disciples, see where I’m going?
And yes, the door was open to whoever wanted to take the place.
Chujiro Hayashi, one of Usui’s students, decides to take hold of the theories delivered by the master to accommodate them in a so-called New Age way. From there, a movement is created, leaving an important place for esotericism at the heart of the practices.
The descendants of this line would be endowed with special powers, like the Hawaiian Hawayo Takata, who became a reiki master in 1938 without having known the founder.
It would have been endowed in particular with an ability to speak to ghosts, or to repair dislocated limbs in a few days.
Faced with such a deviance in practices, the French Federation of Traditional Reiki (FFRT) has set up very precise repositories in order to identify the teachings corresponding to the original practice, that of Usui.
The master having died without leaving much writing, it is difficult to establish with certainty the part of the truth, and that added later by the different masters who succeeded him, each having wanted to imbue reiki with his personal essence.
The FFRT is nevertheless based on values similar to those desired by Mikao Usui: secularism, accessibility through the regular updating of practices, westernization of the process, and cross-analysis with current scientific knowledge.
Its specifications are therefore the most valid and the most secure for the practice of reiki.
Why would I need reiki?
Let’s be clear, reiki is not medicine.
If you are ill, you should see a specialist doctor for your problems, whether physical, somatic or psychological.
However, reiki contributes in its own way to improving the general condition of a person. We speak of “positive health”.
This term encompasses various aspects such as the feeling of happiness, self-esteem, the ability to adapt to events, physical comfort or in general, psychic and physical balance.
Here are the main reasons that may lead you to consult a reikiologist.
- Establish natural and lasting well-being in your daily life
- Relieve temporary physical pain and tension due to stress or fatigue
- Go through a difficult, exhausting life situation
- Supporting traditional treatment for illness to improve comfort for body and soul
- Give meaning to your life by discovering the scope of your own person
- Understand the natural healing processes specific to each person
It is therefore both a kind of therapy focused on the present problems, and a path of personal development, even spiritual, towards self-realization.
Everyone can find their own benefits in their life course.
Choose a professional
I repeat it all the time, trust is essential between the patient and the practitioner, whatever the discipline exercised.
It is even a guarantee of success, or failure.
Since 2008, the FFRT (French Federation of Traditional Reiki) has set up a common teaching framework for practitioners. Under the registered name Reikibunseki®, the latter thus guarantee the homogeneity of their practices.
Without knowing the environment, I agree, it seems difficult at first glance to distinguish the qualified professional from the charlatan.
If your practitioner declares himself to be a Reikiologist®, it is because he has normally followed the training charter of the FFRT and for this purpose, respects the specifications set up.
In return, the certification granted to him attests to his experience and professionalism.
The values carried by the federation encompass four poles:
- Integrity
- Ethics
- Respect for human rights
- Respect for the original practice delivered by Mikao Usui
By choosing a certified rekiologist, you will be protected from numerous deviant practices in this area.
Because, as this video put online by the federation explains very well, a discipline must present the same practices if it wants to identify with the same name.
Find here the list of qualified practitioners practicing throughout France.
I recommend that you talk about it around you: it is more than likely that one of your friends or one of your cousins has already had an experience with a reiki practitioner.
In which case, he may recommend you, or on the contrary protect you against certain professionals.
Nothing like good old word of mouth to find the right addresses!
How a reiki session unfolds
The consulting person lies down, dressed, on a table. She closes her eyes and tries to stay calm, doing nothing in particular.
The practitioner places himself above her, immersed in a specific state of meditation that he gradually associates with the impositions of hands on various places of the body. It can be the head, stomach, legs, depending on the story and the consultant’s request.
The person lying down also enters a meditative state, of deep relaxation, which will allow the tensions existing in the places identified by the practitioner to be released.
Reiki is based on the principle of the existence of capacities specific to the organism to heal itself and improve its well-being.
Some consultants evoke diffuse heat during the laying on of hands, others tingling or vibrations, sometimes even visions.
Of course, the result obtained depends on the cooperation of the person. The more open the mind is and favorable to the practice, the more easily the tensions will be relieved.
The session generally lasts 45 minutes to 1 hour, to be repeated until symptoms improve. If you stick to the principle, nothing prevents you from going back once a year for a small assessment.
Unfortunately at present, reiki is not among the benefits reimbursed by mutual societies, although Switzerland and Germany have already adopted it.
The Timone hospital in Marseille, well after the United States but a pioneer in France, introduced reiki as a complementary therapy. 2
For patients as well as for teams, reiki helps relieve certain pains and soothe the mind agitated by stress and working conditions.
I look forward to seeing it offered in maternity hospitals as an accompaniment to birth.
To read: The guide to the 7 chakras
Does reiki have any contraindications?
Although reiki is identified as a gentle practice, it can still be dangerous in some cases.
I strongly advise against consulting a reikiologist if:
- You suffer from strong emotional fragility
- You are depressed, in an acute phase
- You have psychotic, schizophrenic, bipolar disorders that are not stabilized
- You suffer from dissociation of the personality
- The practitioner does not have sufficient training
- You are reluctant to approach him
- You can’t stand body contact like massage, or it makes you uncomfortable
The dangers of sectarian aberrations
The current trend, more than ever, is towards wellness practices.
Tai chi, sophrology, yoga, acupuncture, osteopathy and homeopathy are on the rise.
However, if the contributions of each discipline are undeniable, we must not fall into the trap of the sect.
If I told you that eating spinach every day would fill all your gaps, would you believe me? Spinach is delicious and strong in many qualities, yet it provides only some of the body’s vital needs.
Likewise, reiki brings undoubted benefits to its followers, but cannot replace medication or psychotherapy when necessary.
Do not be fooled by the false promises of advertisements which extol the merits of reiki as a revolutionary, miraculous method, overcoming the greatest evils on earth.
It is often these advertisements that encourage you to buy magical products, books that will change your life, to pay for expensive trainings or sessions at a high price, with not very promising results.
Keep your feet on the ground during your first session and always know how to refuse a practice that makes you uncomfortable. The ideal is to test reiki for free during a festival, a conference or a session offered by a practitioner.
You will know if the practice is right for you and if you have confidence in the practitioner.
Remember: reiki must, above all, offer well-being.
To read: The benefits of lithotherapy
What reiki is not
- Reiki cannot cure physical illness on its own
- The practitioner cannot make a diagnosis because he is not a doctor
- Reiki is not practiced at a distance but by laying on of hands
- Likewise, it cannot be used by absent people
- Reiki does not require specific initiation, it is accessible to all
- It does not use the principle of universal energy in its original version, as this concept only appeared in 1942
Regarding the last point, no one prevents you from going to see a practitioner of the “New Age” wave if the current is going well.
The important thing after all is that you feel good in his hands and enjoy real benefits at the end of the session, no matter what technique you use.
Conclusion
There you go, you can now shine at the next family reunions on the subject of reiki!
The still stammering development of this practice cannot, in my opinion, remain discreet for very long.
Gentle, non-invasive, effective for a wide variety of disorders, reiki should be offered consistently, not as an alternative to medicine, but as a support in recoveries, whether rapid or difficult.
To make up your own mind, nothing better than to test for yourself.
What works for some does not suit others, and for me it is the real benefit of offering patients the most complete range of care possible, if at all reiki can be considered as such.
Have you already tested reiki, do you practice the discipline as a professional? Leave me your impressions in the comments!