Reiki Meditation

In the Japanese Reiki tradition, meditation was the central practice, considered essential if anyone wanted to progress on the path to spiritual enlightenment. This continual meditation, which comprised the daily practice of mindfulness and a wide range of energy exercises, by balancing and clearing the student’s energy system made it possible for them to carry out self-healing and treatments on others.

Mikao Usui’s students were taught to meditate daily on the five precepts and it was believed that this meditation alone had a greater effect on the students spiritual development than any of the other traditional practices.

When Reiki travelled to the west with Mrs Takata the emphasis changed from spiritual enlightenment and self-treatment to treating others. The use of Formal Hand Positions together with the Reiki Symbols more or less replaced the meditation practices of the original tradition as a means to connect with the Reiki energy.

Today in Western Reiki, although there is a move back towards teaching the original meditations, the main emphasis is on receiving attunements, practising self-healing and using formal hand positions together with the Reiki symbols to treat others.

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.

Western Reiki

Reiki was brought to the West by Mrs Takata after she received her training to Master level from Dr Hayashi, one of Mikao Usui’s former students, in Japan during a visit in 1938.

As a result of the political climate at the time of her return to the United States, Mrs Takata modified what she had been taught to make it more acceptable to her Western clients and pupils. Up until the early 1990’s most Western Practitioners and Teachers practiced and taught this modified version of Reiki.

Since then, there has been a revival of interest in traditional Reiki as taught by Mikao Usui, following the discovery of a small group of Usui’s original pupils living and practicing in Japan. Reiki Masters now teach a combination of Western and Traditional Reiki.