REIKI

Reiki is an ancient hands-on healing art that was re-discovered by Mikao Usui in the nineteenth century. A Japanese minister working at a Christian seminary, Usui studied Buddhism, Chinese, and Sanskrit to understand ancient texts on healing.

Following a twenty-one-day fast on a mountain, he was struck by a powerful light and saw visions of symbols. These symbols revealed the working of a universal life-force energy as it was described in ancient Sanskrit writings and gave Usui insight into using this energy for the purpose of hands-on healing.

Usui shared this knowledge with sixteen people. Today this gentle, healing modality has spread across the world and is practised by many thousands of people. Reiki (which means universal life force energy) practitioners believe that when energy flow is restored in the body, health is also restored. I believe that scientific testing consistently demonstrates the eff ectiveness of this form of therapy for a couple of different reasons: our hands emit both electromagnetic energy and infrared light that falls into the healing range of the electromagnetic spectrum (remember the FIR saunas?).

Reiki practitioners will never tell you they are healing you or giving you their energy. They are merely serving as a conduit for universal energy. It is a very caring and generous form of therapy and works on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. That never hurts when we are looking to restore our health and is especially good for emotional cleansing.