Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by “laying on hands” and is based on the idea that an unseen “life force energy” flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one’s “life force energy” is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.
The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words – Rei which means “God’s Wisdom or the Higher Power” and Ki which is “life force energy”. So Reiki is actually “spiritually guided life force energy.”
You may be familiar with this energy as Chi (Chinese), Prana (Indian) or Mana (Hawaiian). Thus, Reiki is “spiritually guided life force energy.” This is the energy that animates all living things. As long as something/someone is alive, the life energy circulates through and around it. When it ceases to live, the life energy departs (or vice versa).
If your life energy is depleted or low or if there is block or restriction to its flow, you are more susceptible to physical, emotional, mental or spiritual “dis-ease”. Ki flows within the physical body through pathways called chakras, meridians and nadis. Similarly, it flows around us in a field of energy called an “aura” or human biofield. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), when the flow of chi or ki is interrupted, it causes malfunctioning within one or more organs and tissues. It is this disruption that is the main cause of illness.
Reiki treatments are able to strengthen and restore the flow of energy thus creating ease, health and well being for the patient.