The Everything Reiki Book

Channel Your Positive Energy to Reduce Stress, Promote Healing, and Enhance Your Quality of Life

Phylameana Lila Desy

• Publisher: Everything
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9781593370305
• eBook ISBN: 9781440522734
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Alternative & Complementary Medicine

For centuries, Reiki has been valued by Eastern cultures as a means for relieving pain and balancing the body's natural energies. This hands-on healing method is now gaining subscribers in the Western world who seek a mind-body approach to overall wellness. The Everything Reiki Book introduces readers to basic Reiki techniques and teaches them how they can channel positive energy to reduce stress, enhance vitality, and strengthen the immune system. Packed with easy-to-follow instruction and helpful illustrations, The Everything Reiki Book is the perfect resource for readers interested in using this effective touch therapy in the comfort of their own homes.
Reiki Master Phylameana lila Désy shows readers how to:

• Identify and tap into "life energy"
• Make use of Reiki principles for treating themselves and others
• Channel positive energy through proper hand placement
• Use Reiki to alleviate specific ailments, such as indigestion and foot pain
• Integrate Reiki into all aspects of daily life

Written with the beginner in mind, The Everything Reiki Book is a practical approach to all-around wellness for the body, mind, and soul.

Chapter 1

What Is Reiki?

Usui Reiki Ryoho is an ancient hands-on healing art that intentionally channels ki energies to promote balance and well-being. The term Reiki is derived from two Japanese syllables, rei and ki (pronounced “ray key”), meaning Universal Life Energy. Rei represents the source of this energy and ki represents the energy’s movement within and around us.

Reiki Is Energy

Reiki is the source of Universal Life Energy, and it is also a term used to describe the healing modality that accesses and transmits that energy. Reiki as a healing instrument operates through the concept that there is an unlimited supply of Universal Life Energy available for us to tap into.

Some believe that the Universal Life Energy, or Reiki, first emerged through the Creator. Many names can be traced back to this source, the diversity of these names implying that they were conceived through the auspices of different belief systems. Among these names are Universal Life Force, God-power, Goddess Energy, Breath of the Great Spirit, Nature, and Divinity.

Ki is the Japanese term that refers to the life force, or living energy, that connects us to everything and sustains our life breath. The Chinese refer to this force as chi, or qi, the Hindus know it as prana, the Greeks as pneuma, the Polynesians as mana, and the Egyptians as ka.

It can be difficult to describe what Reiki is to someone who has not come into contact with it. How would you describe the wind to someone who had never experienced it? We cannot actually see the wind. We can feel and see only the effects of the wind; we feel its warmth or coolness against our skin when a breeze is gentle, and we see its strength when trees and homes are leveled during hurricanes. Wind upsets our hair, sweeps and scatters leaves about, waves our flags, and so on. It is an external force that we feel outside of our bodies. In contrast, Reiki could conceivably be compared to wind internalized. Reiki’s life source fluctuates within our bodies.

How Reiki Enters the Body

There are different opinions about how Reiki enters the body. Some people believe it is pulled upward from the earth’s grounding energies through the soles of the feet. Others believe it enters from a celestial source through the top of the head at the crown. Others feel it enters through the tan tien, or root chakra. Plausibly, it is a combination of all of these.

What is the tan tien?
The tan tien (pronounced “dawn tea in”) is located approximately 2.5 inches below the navel and about 2 inches inward. You can access this area by pushing both your index fingers and middle fingers into this soft tummy area. The tan tien is considered to be the center of our ki, where truth and inner knowledge reside. In martial arts, this center is used to draw upon power.

How Reiki Flows from the Body

In applying Reiki to the recipient, healing energies flow out of the practitioner’s body through the palms of the hands as they touch the recipient’s body. The flow varies in speed, depending on various factors such as the extent of the recipient’s illness, degree of blockage, his or her readiness to accept change, and so on. The source offers an unlimited supply of Reiki so that we, as facilitators of Reiki, are never depleted. You can learn more about giving Reiki to others in Chapter 7.

Profound and Yet So Simple

Reiki, in its purest form, is an uncomplicated system of healing. You do not have to believe in Reiki for it to work. The facilitator cannot claim or take responsibility for healing or nonhealing when Reiki is applied. Reiki works at the level of acceptance of the person who is receiving it. Acceptance is not a matter of faith or belief. Acceptance suggests that there is a willingness to move from a painful experience into a less painful experience.

How Does Reiki Work?

The question of how Reiki works often arises among those who are newly exposed to Reiki. Actually, most people will take one of three primary approaches in questioning the workings of Reiki:

1. Close-minded skepticism. Naturally, there will always be skeptics who look for answers as to how Reiki works — or question whether it works at all. Unfortunately, the individuals who desire to dissect and scrutinize Reiki before ever trying it often overlook the simplicity of Reiki’s profound gift.

2. Openhearted acceptance. Free-spirited individuals will jump right in with a willingness to take Reiki at face value, seldom questioning why or how it works. They are focused on results and are not overly concerned about the workings of Reiki. This casual ideology is certainly okay, since Reiki harms no one and does not interfere with other health treatments.

3. Open-minded curiosity. A third group looking at Reiki may be described as open-minded individuals with a profound curiosity and a healthy dose of skepticism. This diverse group is genuinely interested in learning more about Reiki.

In truth, nobody knows exactly how or why Reiki works. While it is clear that it does work, modern science has, at the present time, provided no reasonable explanation for it.

Is Reiki a religion?
No. Having a belief system is not necessary for Reiki to work. Reiki does not infringe on your right to believe what you wish and does not require you to change or switch your religious faith. Christians, pagans, agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews may freely adopt Reiki as a means to heal and bring harmony into their lives.

Story: Ticktock

A woman was walking along the business district on her way to meet a friend for lunch at a local restaurant. Earlier, she had taken a wrong turn and had lost her way. After she got her bearings and was once again on a familiar street, she wondered how much time she had lost and if she would be late for her luncheon.

She remembered that there was an antique-clock shop on the next block, so she decided she would go in and find out what time it was. When she stepped inside, she saw hundreds of clocks displaying different times. Sitting in the corner at a desk was an older gentleman, a clock maker, hunched over some watch parts he was toiling with. He looked up and asked the woman if he could help her.

She answered, “Oh yes please, I’d like to know about the time.”

Thinking that someone was interested in the work he had spent his whole life laboring on, he enthusiastically began to show her all the minute parts and inner workings of a wristwatch he was in the process of assembling. He explained in great detail how everything works to make a timepiece.

The woman tried her best to show interest in the information that the man was sharing because she did not want to dampen his enthusiasm. But she really only wanted to know the time; it mattered little to her how a clock works.

The Reiki Analogy

This story demonstrates how we depend on our wall clocks and wristwatches to tell us the time. Seldom, if ever, are we concerned about the inner workings of the gadget that guides us though the hours and minutes of each day. Once you have experienced Reiki and have had positive results with it, the need to know why or how it works doesn’t seem as important. This is not to say that further exploration of Reiki is not important. It’s just that once you experience it, you’ll know that it does work, and knowing how becomes less important.

Reiki is not a gadget, and the way it works is actually less complicated than clockworks. No one had to invent it. Reiki has always been readily available and easily accessible to anyone.

The Power of Love Energy

Because of its gentle nature, Reiki is often described as a love energy. Its infinite healing power is limited only by our self-made boundaries. If you will allow it, Reiki will offer unconditi...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Top Ten Benefits of Practicing Reiki
• Introduction
• 1: What Is Reiki?
• 2: Reiki Sensations
• 3: Who Benefits from Reiki?
• 4: Reiki Attunement Process
• 5: Pretreatment Preparations
• 6: Self-Treatments
• 7: Treating Others
• 8: Absentia Treatments
• 9: Reiki Shares
• 10: Treating Aches and Pains
• 11: Reiki and Intuition
• 12: Reiki As a Way of Life
• 13: Reiki for Fun
• 14: Journal Your Reiki Experiences
• 15: Levels of Training
• 16: Reiki Symbols
• 17: Past, Present, and Future
• 18: The Human Side of Reiki
• 19: Reiki Systems
• 20: Reiki Controversies
• 21: What Reiki Is Not
• 22: Other Touch or Energy-Based Therapies
• Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions
• Appendix B: Glossary of Terms
• Appendix C: Additional Resources