What is Reiki? (Part 1)

By Amanda Coleman

Since I've just recently joined the team here at Oasis, my familiarity with the world of alternative medicine extends only as far as I've read, and Reiki is something I've always wanted to know more about. When talking about “energy work”, Reiki seems to be one of the first things to come to mind. These days, Reiki is very commonly paired with massage, as the styles of treatment complement each other and work towards a similar purpose.  I did some more reading on the subject, and thought I'd share with you some of the interesting things I found.

The word Reiki comes from a combination of the Japanese words Rei, meaning God's wisdom, or the Higher Power, and Ki, meaning life force energy. When combined, Reiki means “spiritually guided life force energy.” And though Reiki is based on this spiritual energy, it is not a religion and does not require any specific religious beliefs. By definition from the Oxford Dictionary, Reiki is “a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient's body and restore physical and emotional well-being.”
           
Reiki is a holistic therapy intended to:

• relieve stress and pain
  
• induce relaxation
• release emotional blockages
• accelerate natural healing
• balance subtle energies in the body
• support other medical modalities including traditional therapies

 
One of the most impressive, and unique qualities of Reiki, is that there are no side effects or adverse reactions, and no contraindications. Which means trying Reiki is completely risk free in the sense that even if it doesn't work, there's no risk of negative side effects or unintended consequences.  Very few things in life are so safe to try.  So really it begs the question: Why not?
 
If you'd like to learn more, keep an eye out for our next section of this series: Origins and the Attunement (Training) Process.
 
Sources

• http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/reiki
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki
• http://www.reiki.org/faq/WhatIsReiki.html
• http://greenlotus.hubpages.com/hub/Reiki_Really_Works-A_Groundbreaking_Scientific_Study
• http://www.reiki.nu/reiki/initiations/initiations.html