Reiki is an energy-working method that helps to facilitate healing. Reiki is a Japanese word meaning “Universal Life Force”. Generally speaking, one does not "learn" Reiki... rather the healing method is passed from master to student in a process called "attunement". In other words, you become "attuned" to this new way of channeling the flow of energy for healing. The classes that accompany a Reiki attunement teach the practical, hands-on method of sharing this energy to facilitate healing, but the attunement is where the Healer is made.
There are typically three levels of practitioner: level one is where most people often stay... it's the standard Reiki practitioner. Everyone who seeks this attunement will then be able to channel healing Reiki energy for the self and others. Level two attunement is usually for people who are interested in dedicating themselves to the healing arts. There is a higher commitment to the role of the Healer. This level of attunement also allows the practitioner to perform distance healings. Level three is the Master level, and is usually reserved for those who wish to commit themselves to Reiki, to teach it, and to pass along the attunements to others.
The biggest drawback for most people is that taking the Reiki classes and receiving the attunements typically cost a whole lot of money. To the order of several hundred dollars for level one, up to several thousand for level three. If you are lucky however, you will find one of a growing number of Reiki masters who believe that this healing energy should be a gift freely shared with all who wish to receive it.
I received my attunements at the Pagan Spirit Gathering in Ohio circa 1996. I had been working with energy healing modalities for several years, when I met a Reiki master at the Gathering. We were sitting around swapping stories (and mead!) when I found out he was presenting a Reiki workshop the next day. Feeling like I knew quite a bit about healing with energy, but very little about Reiki, I attended.
I admit that I approached Reiki with a very skeptical, and even slightly hostile, attitude. The whole idea that Reiki could only be passed on by a "master" smacked of elitism of the worst sort, and the fact that it was traditionally extremely expensive also helped to confirm that it was some brand of quackery. After all, I was already doing exactly the same thing, naturally, and for free.
At the end of the workshop, he offered free attunements to anyone who wanted them. (You don't find people often who are willing to do the attunements for free, so if you do, grab the chance!) The neat thing was that he modified the attunement process and gave all three attunements at once. (packed quite a punch, I assure you!) His theory was that since it was impossible for the Reiki energy to harm anyone, he'd give the maximum attunement possible, and the process would open the energy channel as much as the person was able to handle. For most people, they experienced the typical symptoms of a level one attunement... (many people go through a 24-48 hour period of physical detox symptoms following attunement.)
For those like myself who had already spent some time working in similar energy healing systems, the attunement merely refined the channels that were already opened by prior use. I had been working with energy for healing for many years before receiving the attunements. I didn't notice a huge difference after attunement, but there was a difference in how I channeled and directed the energy, and how I felt afterward. A typical hallmark of the Reiki practitioner is a phenomenon known as “hot hands”. Often, when a practitioner is channeling Reiki, the hands will become very hot to the touch. This had happened to me occasionally during healings before the attunements, but it began happening consistently for me after the attunements.
I have since successfully passed attunements for other people, so I suppose that means my master attunement “took”. But since I didn't attend the classes, and I don't have the fancy certificate of lineage to hang on my wall, I don't really feel like it's something I can brag about. I did, however, feel like it was my responsibility to then learn more about it, so I have studied Reiki since then. (I’ve found "Essential Reiki" by Diane Stein to be an excellent book on the subject.)
Although we call Reiki a “healing modality”, it in fact should more properly be referred to as supportive assistance to healing. Reiki should never be used to replace other standard methods of healing, but rather, the Reiki energy that is used in a session is offered to summon and support the body’s natural capacity for healing. Reiki should never be the primary healing modality for serious illness or injury, but a supportive adjunct.
I did a Reiki healing for the mother of a dear friend who went in for a heart exam recently. She had gone to the doctor on a Friday complaining of shortness of breath, and was found to have an irregular heart rhythm. She was given medication, and scheduled with a follow-up appointment on Monday to see how her heart responded. Several of us who knew her spent the weekend sending her Reiki and prayers. By Monday, she had responded to medication and her heart had steadied into a regular, healthy rhythm. Maybe those prayers and Reiki energy had nothing to do with it... on the other hand, several days of intensive Reiki probably didn't hurt, either. The healing stories that get passed between Reiki practitioners sometimes seem fantastic, but after awhile, we all end up seeing some pretty miraculous things happen.
Although I approached Reiki with skepticism, I feel fortunate that it’s an avenue I was given the opportunity of exploring. I'm sure that I'd still be the same fine healer I was before the attunements, but there does seem to be a direct, tangible benefit from receiving them. Now when I'm called on for healing work, it's a lot more effortless, I'm not as drained as I used to be, and in fact, I’m left nourished and enriched each time I allow it to flow through me.
~Flame RavenHawk
February 9, 2003