Positive Health Online

Reiki is an increasingly well-known and popular complementary therapy. It is a spiritual healing system using 'universal' energy to heal. Reiki is used by large numbers of practitioners worldwide as an effective form of relaxation and energy balancing. Reiki, more importantly, if used correctly can be used to treat physical, emotional and spiritual conditions directly.

There are currently over 144 different types of Reiki in existence, some of which have no connection with the founder Mikao Usui, whatsoever. Currently any Reiki Master can teach whatever they choose on a course and call it Reiki. With so many types of Reiki available and unregulated, it is difficult for consumers to know exactly what they are getting when they visit a practitioner or teacher.

For many practitioners Reiki is a passive therapy, where they believe, the less input they have into the healing process the better. The energy is channelled into the recipient passively, which means that the energy is expected to define its own path within the body, without any direction or focus from the practitioner. The energy is considered to be intelligent and will treat the client always for the highest good, rather than the practitioner choosing what or what not to treat. Regardless of the type of Reiki practised, the passive healing method is most commonly used. This form of healing does not address specific conditions or illnesses, but rather relies on allowing the body to heal itself. This method of working with Reiki is very difficult to integrate into a clinical environment, as practitioners do not treat conditions or necessarily offer any improvements in the client's health.

There is an alternative and much more effective and clinical way of using Reiki, which is the way the founder Mikao Usui used and taught Reiki. Mikao Usui worked directly on the presenting conditions stating in the Usui Reiki Hikkei (Usui Reiki handbook) "If brain disease occurs I treat the head. If it's a stomach ache I treat the stomach. If it's an eye disease I treat the eyes." We call this active Reiki, not to brand our own form of energy healing but to signify that the way we work is different to the majority of Reiki practitioners.

The Active Healing Method

In Mikao Usui's day Reiki was used to treat conditions directly, including medical conditions. Dr Hayashi was a student and friend of Mikao Usui who was tasked with developing Reiki into a more clinical method of healing. One of Hayashi's students, called Matsui Shouoh, during a newspaper interview explained that; "when my hands with activated blood are put on the patient's body, I think my blood vibration may promote the patient's blood vibration. Blood current, vibration may become the same."

With recent research into energy healing and the body's energy field, we can explain this statement in a more scientific manner.

Our understanding of this is that the frequency of the energy used by the healer matches the optimum frequency of the condition being treated. This returns the afflicted body part to its ideal resonant frequency (i.e. back to optimum health).

It has been demonstrated scientifically that each body part produces distinct vibrations of varied frequencies. Each cell, organ or tissue has an ideal resonant frequency when it is in its natural healthy state. These vibrations are not restricted to each body part, cell, organ or tissue but emanate throughout the body and beyond.[1] The frequency of these vibrations can be measured and analyzed. A damaged area of the body has an altered frequency.[2]

The method we use for healing is through direct action on the condition being treated, which is, as we explained earlier, the method the founder used. By channelling energy at the vibrational frequency of the body part being treated, the energy will have a direct effect and ultimately restore the body part to its normal healthy vibrational frequency i.e. the body part is returned to its natural healthy state of being.

The secondary method that is used is to allow the body to 'heal itself'. The research that most readily explains this practice is that the body generates a 'current of injury' at the site of any physical trauma.[3] This current of injury signals to the body (and the brain) via the perineural system that repair is required and attracts the appropriate cells to accomplish this. The frequency of the current of injury depends on the tissues that are damaged and the severity of the damage done. The channelled energy acts as a 'current of injury', instigating the body's self repair mechanism. There are cases where the damage is so extreme that the current of injury cannot travel from the injury site.

A passive Reiki healer is channelling the whole spectrum of available frequencies, some of which will be at the frequency of the current of injury and instigate the body to repair itself, some will be at the optimum frequency of the condition. The majority of the energy will be out of the frequency range of the condition entirely and thus will have no effect on the condition.

As active Reiki practitioners we consciously channel energy at the optimum frequency for the specific conditions we are treating. This is done through the correct use of Shirushi or symbols and Kotodama or mantras again as used by Mikao Usui. This method has allowed us to successfully treat a wide range of clinical conditions, both physical and emotional with incredible results, mostly in just a few treatments. We have helped people with conditions such as: stress, depression, cancer, bereavement, spina bifida, ME, spondylosis of the spine, arthritis, nerve damage, Bell's palsy, fractures, torn ligaments, anxiety and many more. If we had worked on these conditions in a 'passive' way we are certain that we would not have had such amazing results.

Active Reiki is much more likely to be positively received by conventional healthcare professionals, as it offers more direct results and a much more logical explanation and approach.

In fact we recently attended our local Primary Care Trust Complementary Health day where NHS staff had the chance to experience different therapies. We gave Reiki treatments to doctor and nurses and active Reiki was very well received. As a result, a new clinic opening in our local area has asked us to provide active Reiki for patients.

Below we have cited some case studies demonstrating the positive effects of working with Reiki actively.

Case Study 1

Person A was diagnosed with breast cancer and over a three week period between diagnosis and surgery, received Reiki for two hours over the first few days and subsequently 45 minute treatments took place every other day. No other treatments were received during this period. The tumour shrunk by 1cm.

Case Study 2

Person B had nerve damage in her right knee and had had no feeling in the knee area for 8 years due to a skiing accident. After one 30 minute treatment on the knee area person B got the feeling back in her knee completely.

Case Study 3

Person C had a smashed right knee cap with a metal plate inserted due to a motorcycle accident. The knee had been swollen for six months and person C had very restricted mobility in the knee joint. After three 20-minute treatments on the knee area the swelling was completely gone and he got around 75% mobility back.

Case Study 4

Person D had a torn cruciate ligament in his left knee. There was swelling around the knee area and the client was in significant pain. After one 20-minute treatment on the knee area the swelling and pain was completely gone. The client was able to use his knee in a normal way and continues to do so.

Case Study 5

Person E was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia on the right side of his groin. This caused him significant pain, discomfort and a restriction in mobility. After daily one-hour treatments over a four-week period his doctor diagnosed that the inguinal hernia was completely healed.

Reiki in the NHS

From our experiences of treating clients we feel that Reiki could be utilized within a clinical environment to supplement the work of doctors and nurses. Active Reiki could be used as a first line of treatment before drugs or surgery are offered, or as a complement to drugs and surgery to provide a more rapid recovery. From Case Study 5, the client had the hernia healed whilst waiting for surgery, thus avoiding painful surgery and huge costs to the NHS.

To enable Reiki to be accepted into the NHS or even the private sector we need to have professional standards in both the teaching and practice of Reiki. Additionally we need to have a clear definition of what Reiki is and how it is used. The government has introduced voluntary self-regulation (VSR) across all complementary therapies and the regulation of Reiki is progressing.

Unfortunately there are many practitioners that are not making the most effective use of Reiki, which is stalling its progress into a medical environment. The VSR process is being used to introduce higher standards but is not being used to define a standard form of Reiki practice to be applied across the board. What this effectively means is that everyone will continue to practise Reiki as they currently are, with the majority of people using passive Reiki and very few using active Reiki. This means the NHS is unlikely to adopt Reiki because there are so many types of Reiki with differing practices that there can be no unified set standards of treatment. A doctor cannot prescribe Reiki because they don't know what they will be getting!

Where Reiki Should be Heading

The first thing that we need to do within the Reiki community is to adopt a definition of Usui Reiki that is based on the teachings of the founder Mikao Usui i.e. active Reiki. All other forms of Reiki should be excluded from this particular definition. In this way all Usui Reiki practitioners will be using the same methods and practices to treat any condition with similar results.

Records need to be kept for all treatments given to enable a statistical trial of Usui Reiki to take place. This will give provable results that can be used to push for Reiki in the NHS as a viable method of treatment.

We need a single regulatory body or professional association that all Usui Reiki practitioners can belong to, to ensure that high standards are maintained and to protect clients.

We need to create nationally recognised professional Usui Reiki practitioner and teacher qualifications to ensure that the same standards and syllabuses are provided across the country.

Hopefully with these practices being adopted, Reiki can become a respected and professional complementary therapy that can be utilised by both the NHS and the public with confidence.

References:

1. Frohlich H, Bose. Condensation of Strongly Excited Longitudinal Electric Modes, Physics Letters. 26A: 402-403. 1968.
Frohlich H, Bose. Biological Coherence And Response To External Stimuli. Springer. Verlag, Berlin. 1988.
2. Pienta KJ, Coffey DS. Cellular Harmonic Information Transfer Through A Tissue Tensegrity-Matrix System. Medical Hypotheses. 34: 88-95. 1991.
3. Davson H. A Textbook Of General Physiology. 4th Edition Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore. p559. 1970.