About Reiki

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Reiki

Today, there is a need for healing that goes beyond just the physical body. The need runs deep into the mental and emotional soul of the human spirit. People are searching for answers for illnesses. They are looking for a way to become whole again.

There are many paths to wholeness, many systems to healing. Some people choose to go to conventional doctors and listen to conventional wisdom. Other people choose to go to Alternative practitioners and begin a journey of self discovery and understanding.

I, myself, began this journey many years ago through my own physical problems. I was around 39 years old when I started to get severe and debilitating migraines. I would literally go blind during an attack. This was especially frightening to me since I was the mother of a 4 year old and part of car pool. How could I be responsible for all those little lives with me behind the wheel? How would I handle an attack while I was transporting these little children? There were no answers and then things began to get worse.

Then came the panic attacks. For those who don't know what a panic attack is, or who think it is trivial, take it from me, it is not. Since I was unfamiliar with what it was, it feels like a heart attack. In fact, it was horrible to me that I actually had my first out of body experience during an attack.

Back then, I was unfamiliar with alternative anything, so I went to the doctors for help.I was given a prescription and went home and tried 1 pill. Let me tell you the experience of that 1 pill. That 1 pill took over my body so completely that I had to lie on the couch because I couldn't stand. Once on the couch, I couldn't lift my head up from the couch. I was extremely frightened but the drug made be not care.

I wanted to return to my old health and I had to find a different way to get that accomplished. This is where and when I began looking into alternative healing, and that is when I found Reiki.

What is Reiki?

Reiki, (pronounced ray-key), in the Japanese Character system, is a combination of two separate words. meaning universal, spirit, a boundless essence and meaning life force energy. Together their meaning is roughly Universal Life Energy, or Universal life force energy. Life force energy is resides in everything you see around you, yourself included. All animals, plants, humans, have life force energy.

Conditions that Reiki may improve include:

Stress
menstrual problems
pain
insomnia
anxiety
tension
headaches
asthma
anxiety attacks
intestinal gas
many, many more…

Reiki is not a substitute for traditional medicine. No Reiki practitioner should ever tell a client that they can “cure” an illness or advise their client to stop taking any prescribed medicines or to stop seeing their doctor. This is very bad business, and the Reiki practitioner must stay out of the choices their client’s are making. It is both unethical and illegal to make suggestions such as these to any client.

The Color associated with Reiki is Violet

The Gemstone associated with Reiki is Selenite

The History of Reiki

In the early 1800s, Christian Missionaries traveled around the world to share the gift of Christianity to everyone they met. One such stop found them in Kyoto, Japan.

Mikao Usui listened to their tails of Jesus Christ and how he was able to heal the sick. He asked the missionaries if they could heal like Jesus did and he told that they could not because they had not been taught how to heal. Usui was very interested in healing and know ancient texts often taught about such healing.A learned man, Usui worked on translating ancient scripts into modern day language. During his work, Usui came across texts on ancient healing symbols but he did not know how to use the symbols. As was the custom of the time, you would go to the sacred mountain and fast and meditate to receive answers to your questions. So Usui decided to do a 21 day fast at the Holy Mountain of Kuriyama. He set out 21 stones in front of him. Each day he would cast out one stone. On the 21st and last day of his fast and meditation, he saw a shining light coming towards him at great speed. It struck him in the Ajna center (middle of the forehead) and knocked him unconscious. He saw millions of little colored bubbles that contained symbols in them. Along with the lights, came the knowledge of how to activate them. He had found what he was searching for.

Upon Usui’s return to his monastery he decided to go into the slums of Kyoto to treat the beggars and help them to live a better life. He worked for seven years in an asylum treating many illnesses. One day he noticed some of the same people returning for treatments. When he asked them why they had not begun to live their new lives, he was told that working for a living was too hard, they preferred to beg. Usui was deeply saddened by this and wept. He realized that he had forgotten the most important ingredient in his healing work, “gratitude”.

After leaving the streets of Kyoto, Usui practiced his healing art in the palaces. His fame grew and soon other men began asking Usui to teach them how to heal. It is said that Usui initiated 13 men as Reiki Masters before his death. Usui is buried in a Kyoto temple with the story of his life written on his gravestone. It is said that his grave was honored by the Emperor of Japan, whom Usui had helped with an illness. Among his thirteen master students was a retired officer, Chijiro Hayashi. Hayashi opened a Reiki healing Clinic in Japan and taught additional hand positions for the Reiki system. One of Hayashi’s patients was Hawayo Takata from Hawaii. After being healed of her severe illness in his clinic, Takata wanted to learn the Reiki system of healing. After she learned the system she returned to Hawaii where she instructed 22 others in the Reiki system of healing. Most Reiki practitioners in the West owe their heritage to Takata.

There are many other systems of Reiki in the world today, as there are lineages. Do not be caught up in either. Reiki is a loving and healing energy with very few rules and regulations. The greatest magnifier of the Reiki energy is LOVE. It is that simple. Usui did not leave a “lineage”. He did not leave a manual of “Do’s and Don’ts. He passed on to his students what worked best for him and allowed them to adapt his teachings to their own. Reiki works well with other modalities. So feel free to add Reiki to anything other healing modality that you use.

Reiki energy is transmitted through the hands (and other areas) of an attuned practitioner. The Reiki practitioner is a mere conduit to the passing through of this energy from source.

I look at Source as the Creator of everything. That source to me is God. It may be a different name to you, it does not matter. What matters is that you are aware that no energy comes from YOU. In other modalities, the practitioner comes away from giving a treatment drained and/or exhausted. This will never happen with a Reiki treatment. As long as you keep your ego and other healing energies out of the treatment session, the practitioner will feel none of their own personal energy drained from them. It is one of the many things that attracted me to the practice of Reiki. Other modalities like Qigong use your own accumulation of Qi energy. You must even decide where to amass this energy and when and where to send it. With Reiki, you need to do none of that. Reiki will continue to flow for as long as it is needed and will “shut off” when the treatment if finished. It takes the guess work out of when, how much, where, until when, etc. Reiki decides where it will go and what it will do and for how long. You are simply supplying the line for which Reiki can make communication to the body. It is truly wonderful!

Exercise 1:

As an exercise to feel this energy, begin by rubbing your hands briskly together for one minute. Bring your minds focus to your hands. Now, slowly and gently, pull your hands apart about 1-3 from each other. Slowly bring your hands in together, without touching, and take them apart a few inches. Do this for a few minutes to feel the energy. That is your life force energy.

Exercise 2:

Rub your hands briskly together again as you did the above exercise. Bring your minds focus to your hands. This time, bring your hands to 1-3 from your partners hands. Slowly bring the hands together without touching and then apart. Do this a few times and write down below any sensations you experienced with this exercise

Exercise 3:

In this exercise, you will experience seeing your aura, the life force energy that surrounds all living things. To do this you will rub your hands briskly together once again. Focus your mind on your hands. Now place your hands, palms facing you above your head. Have the fingers of both hands facing each other and keep them about 1/2 inches apart. It is also helpful if the ceiling behind your hands is white. Now, allow your eyes to go out of focus and just lazily stare at the space between the tips of your middle fingers. In time, you will be able to see a haze appear around your fingers. This haze will be translucent or opal in appearance. This is your life force energy.

When working with Reiki energies we can significantly alter and modify the layers of energy that surround each and every one of us. Reiki works on ALL levels for healing, both inside our bodies dealing with physical, emotional and mental healing, as well as, outside of our bodies dealing with the many layers of our aura (our first defense against disease and illness).

Reiki, in practice, is a safe, natural, and holistic way of treating yourselves and others from many acute and chronic conditions. It helps to brings about physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well being.

Conditions that Reiki may improve include stress, menstrual problems, pain, insomnia, anxiety, tension, headaches, asthma, anxiety attacks, intestinal gas, etc. Reiki is not a substitute for traditional medicine. No Reiki practitioner should ever tell a client that they can cure an illness or advise their client to stop taking any prescribed medicines or to stop seeing their doctor.

Ethical Principles of Reiki:

The Secret Method of Inviting Blessings

The Spiritual Medicine of Many Illness

"For Today only, do not Worry, Do Not Anger

Do Your Work with Appreciatiion

Be Kind to all People

Show Gratitude to Every Living Thing

Say this in the morning and at night, with hands held in prayer,
think this in your mind; chant this with your mouth."

Dr. Mikau Usui

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Usui Reiki Level One Book. Cost: $20 plus $3.99 U.S. postage

Mission Statement

The Mission of the Reiki Center of Venice is to bring Reiki awareness to the community, as well as educational opportunies in Alternative Therapies for those wishing to become a Holistic Health Practitioner.

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