Why one should learn Reiki + 13 things you should know about Reiki

Today’s fast-paced life can leave you stressed, which can disturb your mental, emotional and physical balance of your body leading to ill health. Therefore, it is vital to adopt a daily practice which can help you ease the tension and relax thereby generating happiness and inner peace. Reiki can be one such alternative practice. It is a spiritually driven life force healing which not only enhances one’s health but also improves the quality of life. Practising Reiki on a daily basis can propel your body to achieve mental, spiritual and physical balance.

What is Reiki?

Reiki originated in Japan, it is an intensive study of the universal life force energy used for healing and also involves the use of meditations. Reiki is based on an Eastern belief in energy that supports the body’s innate or natural healing abilities.

“In simple terms, Reiki is energy, and the body recognizes this energy and uses it for its therapeutic effects,” says Lu-Wong, who is also a licensed acupuncturist.

The basic features of Reiki involve :

• Energy healing – no harm can be done with the universal life energy employed through Reiki.

• Intelligent energy – the energy is intuitive and knows where to go and what to do to help you. In fact, Japanese Reiki offers hand gestures and placements as a framework but encourages practitioners to move away from them eventually to allow for more intuitive movements based on how the energy wants to flow.

• Energy medicine – no other tools are needed besides the Reiki practitioner, who channels healing energy through their hands.

• Distant healing – practitioners place their hands softly on their body or just above their own body. They then visualize symbols, as well as the person they want to send healing energy to.

Reiki is easy to learn, and the knowledge of how to channel Reiki lasts a lifetime. Once you have the energy in you, all it takes is regular self-practice to effectively balance and cleanse your own energy for your better well-being. It's something you can do daily or on alternate days, whether for 3 minutes, 30 minutes, or more per day to give yourself an energy boost.

What are the major benefits to learning Reiki?

There are numerous and bountiful benefits to learning Reiki, but I highlight 13 benefits here. For the rest, you just need to experience it yourself.

1. Reiki is an ancient practice - tried and tested

Reiki is a well-structured energy healing system which takes just an attunement to gain access to the energy. There’s a century-long history with an estimate of over 4 million Reiki practitioners, and 60,000 masters and teachers. There is only one true form of Reiki and that is Traditional Usui Reiki with lineage stemming Dr. Mikao Usui which was then carried on by Dr. Chujiro Hayashi in Japan and Mrs. Hawayo Takata in the United States. Mrs. Hawayo Takata made the Reiki practice more westernized later as people were sensitive to all things Japanese during World War 2.

2. Attunement Process with the Universe

Reiki connects you to universal energy, thereby allowing you access to healing for yourself whenever you might need it. Plus, being plugged into the Universe means you can balance your body, mind, and spirit by spending some time each day devoted to self-healing. The attunements you receive in the courses and regular self-healing help  to disengage from the “over thinking monkey mind” and connect you to your true nature. As a result you worry less and become more present.

3. Reiki is for everyone. It's natural, safe, complementary and easy.

Reiki is one of the safest energy healing modalities that ANYONE can learn to restore their own energy levels. You don’t have to be naturally born gifted or trained from a young age. It’s also great for creating a foundation into any future energy healing practices you might be interested in later too. I would recommend anyone to learn minimally Reiki Level 1, for self-healing or to share with close friends or family or if you ever need to respond to an emergency.

Reiki Training is not just for people that want to become healers. Learning Reiki is a self-development journey. Which is why I adore teaching it so much. Once you become aware of the creative life-force that exists within you and start to work with it on a conscious level, your experience of life will totally transform in the most amazing ways.

4. Brings Deep Relaxation

The founder of Reiki, Dr. Mikao Usui, described Reiki as the “art of inviting happiness.” Often, people don’t know what happiness actually is, and seek material gains or the next promotion. But having a really, truly happy life goes far beyond that. Happiness comes from a profound understanding of the Universe and knowing your place there, which is exactly what Reiki sets out to do.

Happier people live longer. Lowering the stress in your life is essential to keeping illnesses and ailments at bay from your body. Reiki is an excellent tool for keeping your heart and mind calm and connected to an inner peace that will be an asset in troubled times. You will gain a sense of real self-purpose and inner clarity that may have eluded you previously.

5. Health Benefits for the Body

We put natural wear and tear on our bodies on a daily basis, whether through exercise or simply walking around the office. Between that and the toxins in our environment, our bodies are in desperate need of healing. Most people remain in a constant stress-responsive fight mode that it upsets their body’s natural balance and immunity thereby leaving them more susceptible to diseases. Their bodies factually forget how to reinstate the balance. Reiki can play an important role in reminding the body to shift to rest/digest self-healing state which may help it to intensify its natural defence systems.

Self-healing on a physical level helps strengthens immunity and prevent sickness, whether it’s one you’ve already had or one that you may have, and aids our injuries in healing fully. Reiki experts say there is a plethora of ailments that Reiki helps soothe, from mild back pain to even cancer.

6. Become more Grounded and Balanced

Upon finishing Level 1, one of the most common things all students report is that they feel so much more grounded and balanced mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Reiki allows you to become more connected to nature & much more aware of how you can manage your day-to-day energy.

7. Increases Self-Love, Courage & Confidence

Learning Reiki is a journey of self-empowerment. You walk away from the Level 1 no longer a victim to life as you learn how take total responsibility for all areas of your life, your thoughts, feelings, body and relationships and as a result confidence and self-love naturally increases. Learning Reiki allows you to recognise fear for what it is, listen to it’s wisdom and move through it into the unknown with ease, confidence and strength. 

8. Learn Art of Self-healing, to amplify body's natural ability to heal itself - Nature's natural pain reliever

Your body always wants to be in balance and harmony. It is wise, intelligent and powerful. Self-healing allows you to connect to your body and listen to its wisdom. You connect to your inner compass, allowing you to let go of things that no longer serve you and move forward with ease and grace. Reiki is wonderful as a natural pain reliever, whenever I get any discomfort (stomach-ache or headache) now rather than reaching for the medicine, I simply lie down, place my hands over the affected body part, channel healing energy, and then almost instantly the pain will dissolve. Amazing.

9. Treat Symptoms linked with Cancer

Although Reiki cannot cure cancer, it may prove very effective in treating the symptoms related to cancer like pain, fatigue, and depression. Reiki for cancer patients can be one way of helping them deal with tiredness, pain that usually results after most cancer treatments. It can be used to strengthen them mentally to fight cancer thus improving their quality of life. Similarly, Reiki can bring significant relief to people suffering from sciatica, migraines, arthritis, asthma.

In an article on Healing with Reiki, Lu-Wong also is exploring the tangible benefits of Reiki, most notably in a 2015 pilot program she conducted at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital to determine whether a method of relaxation can produce immediate and prolonged declines in perceived anxiety, stress, and pain in radiation oncology patients.

Twenty-four NewYork-Presbyterian patients ages 40–79 undergoing radiation therapy during cancer treatment participated in the study. After their radiation session, they underwent 30 minutes of relaxation exercises, which consisted of Reiki, therapeutic touch, sound therapy, music therapy, and aromatherapy. Blood pressure, heart rate, and pain level were recorded before and immediately after the intervention.

“The data demonstrates a consistent pattern in decreased blood pressure, heart rate, anxiety, and pain scores among radiation oncology patients,” says Lu-Wong. “This clearly shows evidence of the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine.”

10. Stronger Intuition & Trust for Self and the Universe

Everyone is psychic and intuitive; it isn’t a gift reserved for a “special” few. The Reiki journey helps you reclaim these innate gifts. Reiki  helps you to return to wholeness.. You discover that you are a child of the universe, and very much part of it’s nature cycles. When re-connected to nature you start to recognize the divine perfection, balance and harmony within everything and your place within that framework.

11. Share the amazing gift

In Reiki 1 training you learn not only how to do self-healing, but how to share healing energy with family, friends, loved ones, plants, animals, land and physical objects. It is such a sacred gift to be able to share and it provides deep comfort, healing and relaxation during any challenging circumstances life may present. Sharing Reiki is a gift that many would count as invaluable in their lives. Imagine helping people be free of injuries that have plagued them for years, or giving them a sense of inner peace! Giving back like this is truly its own reward.

As Reiki energy comes from the Universe, it’s channelled energy so the giver of Reiki does not tired or lose their own energy from facilitating Reiki healing. If anything, it energizes the Reiki practitioner. 

12. Practised by millions worldwide by people from all walks

In 2014, the Washington Post reported that 1.2 million Americans have tried Reiki. Also from the Washington Post, “More than 60 U.S. hospitals have adopted Reiki as part of patient services, according to a UCLA study, and Reiki education is offered at 800 hospitals.”

Highly stressed professionals such as doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, bankers and others have learned Reiki or received Reiki to better cope with their day-to-day or to facilitate healing to others.

The fact that Reiki services are offered at hospitals in the U.S. says a lot. Although they aren’t offered as hospitals in Singapore (yet) I do have to say I see quite a lot of clients who find Reiki and energy healing helpful in conjunction with medical care, especially if they are receiving medical attention regularly for chronic issues.

13. Encourages Spiritual Growth

Reiki sessions drive an individual’s self-healing journey by way of personal development and brings you closer to your Higher Self, which is an essential part of anyone’s spirituality. It helps create a connection with the soul and endorses the qualities of understanding, love, and acceptance. It helps a person accept himself the way he is and have compassion for others. The perks of being more in tune with your High Self include being more intuitive, helping you make better decisions and giving an overall feeling of wholeness as if a missing piece of your life’s puzzle has fallen into place. Once again, you are more plugged into the Universe through the practice of Reiki.

Let your mind be opened up through practicing Reiki, thus freeing up yourself and your spirit.

Is it Hard to Learn Reiki?

Just like anything new, learning a new modality or method of healing takes time and effort to study and learn the ins and outs of the philosophy. Luckily with Reiki, there are no special abilities needed as a prerequisite to learning the practice, the ability to use your energy for healing is latent in us all.

In general, it is relatively easy to learn the basics of Reiki, though continuing on a more involved path can require more effort and commitment, especially if one wants to learn traditional Japanese Reiki.

Pretty cool huh? Have I sparked your interest?

I teach Usui Reiki Workshops on a regular basis and I teach each of the below levels :

Reiki 1

Reiki 2

Reiki 3

Reiki teacher

If you wish, try a 1-1 Reiki session (physical or distance) first before learning it, so you can fully experience it as a receiver first to get a better understanding of its various benefits.

If you’re keen to learn Reiki 1, please get in touch with me (visit my instagram for more) or learn more about my trainings in my other blog on 'Sneak Peek into my classes'.

"I am delighted to be a Reiki Master Teacher who gets to guide and awaken my students to this natural truth and magical force. It is my mission to propagate and share Reiki for it to be more widely accepted and appreciated by many. Reiki makes life sacred. In current times when everything is moving so fast and more people are feeling lost and disconnected, it is needed more than ever."

Amanda