Reiki Shares

Just over a week ago I attended my first Reiki Share since completing my Level lll, Master/Teacher course and was invited to participate by being one of the Empowerment givers.

Reiki shares are opportunities for qualified Reiki practitioners from all levels and (in many cases) any tradition to get together, share experiences and give and receive healing between each other. What takes place at a share varies from group to group and depends a lot on the tradition of the organiser.

The share I attend lasts just over 2 hours and is held once a month. We start by exchanging introductions and news then generally have a short time where we either try a new exercise or learn about something which is appropriate for any level of practitioner. This is followed by the Hatsurei Ho exercise, sending Distant Healing and individual Empowerments (Tandai Buddhist Blessings). We have a short break for refreshments, then divide up into pairs to give and receive healing.

I felt very humbled to be one of the Empowerment givers for the first time.

Symbol Energies

Reiki Symbols are used as a way to connect to the different subtle types of Reiki Energy.

One of the biggest difference of opinion between Eastern Reiki Masters and Western Reiki Masters centres around the question of whether or not students need to be attuned to Reiki Symbols for them to work. Eastern Reiki Masters say it is unnecessary, Western Reiki Masters say it is essential.

Speaking from personal experience, I have not received attunements to any Reiki Symbols – my lineage follows the Eastern tradition of Empowerments – yet I am able to meditate on, experience the energies of and use in treatments all the Reiki Symbols with no problems whatsoever.

Another difference concerns whether Symbols should be used alone or together. Eastern Reiki teaches that they should always be used individually; Western Reiki teaches its students to use them together and make ‘Symbol Sandwiches’.

Traditional Japanese Reiki did not have any symbols. The subtle energies were connected to using Kotodamas or Sacred Mantras. This would make it virtually impossible to mix the energies.

Again speaking from personal experience, I have tried changing symbols for different parts of the body while treating a client and compared it to using a single symbol throughout the treatment. Both my clients and I have experienced far more powerful healings using just one symbol throughout.

Differences aside – both methods work. Reiki energy follows intent. Providing the practitioner intends for the treatment to be for the highest good of the client – it will be! It is up to the student to decide which tradition they wish to follow.

Different Traditions

Studying for the masters level of Reiki is helping me to better understand the differences between traditional Japanese Reiki and Western Reiki.

One of the biggest difference I see between them is that of focus. Where traditional Reiki focuses on the practitioner and experiencing the energy, Western Reiki Focuses primarily on the client using predefined procedures for channelling the energy. This creates a number of fundamental differences which can be very confusing.

Over the next few posts I will be covering the following different approaches in an attempt to make things clearer.

Empowerments
Attunements
Meditations
Energy exercises and Reiju
Precise Hand positions and timings
Experiencing symbol energies
Ritual use of symbols

Although there are so many different approaches to Reiki, amazingly all of them work, making it a matter of personal preference which tradition you train under.

Reiki Study

Reiki study is normally divided up into at least three levels:

Level l – Shoden
Level ll – Okuden
Level lll – Shinpiden

Level l – Shoden forms an introduction to Reiki giving the student a grounding in the history of Reiki. It teaches about the Reiki energy, provides attunements/empowerments which align the student to the energy, teaches treatment of others, self-treatment and on some courses, the use of distant healing.

Level ll – Okuden builds on Level l deepening the student’s connection to Reiki. It teaching three symbols – Cho Ku Rei, Sei He Ki and Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen – how to draw them, pronounce their names and use them. The course includes further attunements/empowerments and focuses particularly on distant healing.

Level lll – Shinpiden otherwise known as the Master/Teacher course summarises all that has gone before. It teaches the master symbol and possibly other symbols and mantras and includes further attunements/empowerments. Most importantly it teaches the student how to teach all that they have learned and how to pass on the attunements/empowerments.

There are many different traditions and styles of Reiki to chose from. You should research carefully before deciding on a specific course.

Reiki in Japan

Most of Mikao Usui’s students started out as his patients. As part of the treatment he would give them empowerments so that they were permanently connected to the energy source and could treat themselves until their next appointment with him.

His first manual contained the Precepts, Meditations and Waka poetry. His teachings were given one to one and were varied to each student’s need. The teachings comprised three levels: Life teachings, Mystery teachings, and Deep mystery teachings and focused on meditation, chanting sacred sounds and self-treatment.

In 1923 Usui was approached by the Japanese military and asked to teach them a simple hands-on healing system to supplement their shortage of medically trained officers. This changed the focus of his system from healing self to healing others. Usui together with one of his advanced students, Eguchi, devised the symbols we use today as a quick way for the officers to learn to use the energies, allowing them to achieve in a short space of time what had taken his former students months of meditation and chanting.