Find us on Google+ Blue Mountain Reiki: February 2014

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Understanding Reiki (with Special Thanks to the Hands-On Museum)

This post has received a lot of positive attention recently, so I have updated it and added some new material and am republishing it! Blessings and thanks!

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I am often asked what Reiki is and, each time, I try to come up with a fresh way to talk about this beautiful energy practice. One of the things that often throws people off is when we start talking about "energy." What is this "energy" stuff anyway? Is it all a bunch of woo-woo nonsense? Nope. :)

This past week, I visited the Hands-On Museum in Ann Arbor, Michigan with my family and was presented with a perfect tool to help explain exactly how practical and tangible "energy" really is.

As we were walking down the exit staircase, we reached a landing that had a station where you could place your hands on a set of metal hand prints and then watch the needle on an energy gauge move to show how much energy was coming from your body. We all have energy coursing through our bodies, helping us to function. When that energy flow is not optimal, we can feel the difference, whether the effects are physical, emotional, or spiritual in nature. Reiki is a practice that is used to remove blockages in the flow of that energy and return us to a state of balance and wellness.

This simple tool at the Hands-On Museum shows that our bodies are energy conductors. We can also see energy working in and on our bodies when we get a shock from a static charge, or in the way food turns into energy to help our bodies function--these are very real, very approachable ways to think about and understand what energy means when it comes to the human body.

It is important to note, though, that we Reiki practitioners are not using our own energy to restore balance to our clients. Instead, we are merely the lightning rods that the Reiki energy flows through to affect balance on the client's energy system. We conduct it, but we do not create it. Reiki founder Mikao Usui discovered that Reiki was a practice that he could use to help people without draining his own energy. That is one of the most beautiful things about Reiki: It works on the practitioner as she or he practices.

Rei = spiritually guided

Ki = life force energy

When this spiritually guided life force energy comes through the practitioner into the client, both receive healing. Ahhh... :)

So, relax and enjoy a Reiki session sometime soon. And if anyone looks at you sideways next time you talk about "energy," think of the Hands-On Museum and how easy it is to talk about the human body as a walking, talking energy conductor!