Hand Positions

There are several different schools of thought regarding hand positions in treatments. They are all equally effective making it a matter of personal preference and or lineage tradition.

Some practitioners will treat with their hands resting lightly on the clients body, while others will treat with their hands just above the clients body, working in their aura.

Practitioners trained in Eastern lineages tend not to use formal hand positions, preferring to allow their hands to be guided by intuition.

Practitioners taught in Western lineages are generally taught 12 basic hand positions to use in the treatment of others although this does vary. I found some diagrams on-line that had over 20 hand positions.

Similar preferences apply to self-healing. Eastern trained practitioners tend to use visualisations, whereas western trained practitioners use actual hand positions.

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.

Why All the Hard Work?

Reiki for me is as much about self-development as it is about healing others. I have always believed that you need to heal yourself before you can help others effectively. This is echoed very strongly by the Japanese Reiki training programme which originally focused almost exclusively on self healing.

I have been practising energy exercises and meditations virtually every day since the completion of my Reiki l course. During this time a number of changes have been taking place. I have become much calmer and more able to cope with difficult situations. The flow of Reiki energy during my treatment of others has got much stronger and more consistent.

Would this have happened without the exercises and meditations? Definitely not. I have been experiencing and experimenting with different kinds of energy on and off for the last thirty years. I learned a lot about the energies, but it never had any lasting effect on me or my life.

Is it worth the effort? For me the answer is a resounding, Yes!

What is Reiki?

What is Reiki?

Reiki was originally taught by its founder, Mikao Usui, in Japan during the 1920’s as a spiritual path for those seeking enlightenment, and as a method of self-healing.

Today in the West, Reiki is primarily thought of as a form of complimentary medicine or spiritual healing.