What is Reiki?

Reiki is not a science and so there are many explanations; what follows here is my own interpretation based on my own 30 years experience.  Ideally Reiki is an experiential discovery, something that you should try for yourself before coming to any conclusions.  Reiki is unique for everyone and everyone experiences the effects and benefits differently.

Reiki is Universal energy

When we are full of energy, we flow and move with life, it's like watching children – they are in flow with Universal energy and as a result they have an abundance of it.  Children can play non-stop for hours.  They have a flow of energy that comes naturally to all of us when we are young, but over time we begin to get a bit ‘crusty’. We build blocks and resistance in the body – some of this may be physical such as posture or structural issues – some of this will be mental, such as beliefs and fears which develop as we grow older – some will be emotional, such as unreleased anger, sadness or trauma.

Over time we begin to block and resist this flow of universal energy and rely more and more on mechanical methods - eating, sleeping, exercise.  Over generations, even these are becoming more toxic: the food we eat has less life force energy; our sleep is more disturbed; our exercise is less outdoors in nature.  So through our own resistance, and through the environment, we have less and less access to life force.  I hope at some intuitive level you understand, because of course from a purely scientific explanation, this is stretching the bounds for sure.  But in my experience, people know they are experiencing some form of loss as the years go on – it may be a loss of vitality, spirit, joy, whatever you might name it.

Reiki is this source that you have lost, it is the life force that flows through everything and is available to everyone.  But for most of us, we have lost the flow and we don’t know how to get it back.

Reiki attunements

In order to gain Reiki flowing from your hands, it is common to get an attunement from a Reiki Master.  This may seem a strange condition and immediately throws Reiki into the ‘too weird’ pile, but it is a very reasonable condition.  Actually you can self attune yourself and allow your hands to channel Universal or Reiki energy.  All you need to do is resonate with Reiki energy at the frequency needed, and you will tune in.  But realistically, do you believe you can do this?  A Reiki Master, or teacher, has been taught how to effortlessly raise their frequency to the Reiki energy and through resonance you will automatically begin to tune in, simply by receiving an attunement from them.  This is because you already have Reiki energy throughout your own being, it is a recognition of something you already have, and in that recognition the body understands how to receive more, and the flow begins.

So an attunement is really just an aid for you, it’s helping you to find the right frequency, like tuning into a radio station, it's a lot easier if you have the correct frequency address and you can go directly to the station, rather than having to run up and down the entire range of stations looking for the right one – think of an attunement as a key to unlocking your connection to universal energy.

Reiki flows automatically

Once you have the frequency, Reiki will begin to flow automatically from your hands and you can begin to fill up.  It is like a pump of universal energy.  The pump is on 24/7 and will flow automatically from your hands whenever you place them on yourself, or others, even as you sleep.

Reiki is not a belief system

It's important to remember that Reiki is not a belief system or religion, there is no spiritual aspect to Reiki that needs to be believed in order for it to work, it is simple mechanics – find the right frequency and bingo, it flows.

Over the years Reiki has been co-opted into many systems of belief which often makes it confusing and off-putting. This is why our main philosophy at the Reiki Centre is to 'demystify' Reiki and reassure you that it is not woowoo, and you do not have to create magical fantasy worlds in order to effectively use and benefit from this wonderful modality.