What are the health benefits of Reiki?

Reiki is a great way to heal yourself on all levels whether it's for easing a headache on the physical level or bearing anger or sadness on the emotional level or helping to give greater clarity on the mental level or helping us to connect to our greater sense of purpose on the spiritual level.

I live my life following the Reiki precepts and I meditate or self treat with Reiki most days not just because it gives me an enhanced connection to the Universe but it puts me in tune with my own body, making it easier to spot tensions or stresses before they become chronic.

The greatest aspect of Reiki is that anyone and everyone can do it and that empowers us to be responsible for our own healing. Responsibility for yourself is one of the first big steps that we all take on our healing journey and usually one of the hardest. If you've not heard of Reiki and want to know a little bit more then read on.

Reiki (pronounced Ray-Key) means Universal life force energy in Japanese. Ray being universal and Ki being life energy. You may also have heard life force energy called Chi (China) or Prana (India/Yoga). Reiki was developed by Mikao Usui, a professor of theology, from rediscovered ancient teaching Sanskrit and after many years of study, research and meditation. It was brought to the west in the early part of last century and is passed on by Reiki Master to student.

Everyone has the ability to make use of this Universal Life Force Energy and we are all subject to its flow whether we recognise it or not. Learning or using the Reiki way of healing is just a tool to assist us in making better use of our own innate healing abilities.

There is no belief system attached to Reiki. It can be practiced by any faith or by anyone with no faith.

Reiki is a holistic complementary natural hands on healing system. Treatment involves energy being channelled through the practitioners hands, which are placed on the body in different positions. It is not necessary to remove any clothing.

The most important requirements are that the recipient desires the healing, has had the opportunity to ask any questions and feels comfortable with their surroundings. I recommend lying down on a treatment table with a warm covering wearing loose fitting clothes, some relaxing music and perhaps some candles.

If the recipient isn't comfortable with lying down then Reiki can be given in any position that is comfortable

There are many different experiences during a treatment. Some people see bright lights, beautiful colours, feel very warm, feel cold, feel tingling or feel nothing at all! We are all different. A Reiki treatment is very relaxing and stress relieving.

As Reiki is a holistic healing system it treats the whole body rather than just the symptoms. The symptoms are usually the last manifestation of an energy block that was created some time before and the Reiki energy works to serve us best by reducing the pain but also by bringing our attention to the original block. This can be done by perhaps showing us life circumstances that mirror the original block and give us an opportunity to release the stuck emotions that caused the blockage in the first place.

Reiki works on all levels, physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. It always works for your highest good and will not bring you anything that you cannot deal with. It is both powerful and gentle. Reiki energy flows through the body like water gently cleansing little by little and yet powerful enough to remove the largest of objects if the flow is constant.

Reiki works in harmony with the body and promotes the body's natural ability to heal itself. It can reduce pain and inflammation.

Self realisation, self awareness, personal growth, spiritual growth, connection to your higher self or healing your inner child are all higher benefits from Reiki.

Reiki supports all forms of treatment both orthodox and complementary because Reiki energy can do no harm as it has no side effects and cannot be overdosed.

The precepts are ways of incorporating the Reiki energy into our lives to maximise our use of and alignment with the Universal energy. They are as follows...

For today only:

• Do not anger

• Do not worry

• Be humble

• Be honest in your work

• Be compassionate to yourself and others

Everyone has different interpretations of the precepts, therefore I believe that the best approach is to meditate upon them and see what unfolds within yourself as your truth.

Do not anger and do not worry: Rather than being prescriptive advice about trying to bottle up real feelings being experienced, I believe the wisdom here is about living in the moment (For Today Only).

There is no point worrying about the past as it has gone and the future doesn't exist yet or at least it can be changed therefore the only moment that is really happening is now. There may be many things in the world that could cause us to worry or be angry but we will only add to the negative energy surrounding events if we get angry about them too.

Our energy follows our mind....would we really want to use all our energy into the negative aspects of our life? Do we really choose to make them grow?When we concentrate and focus on the positive aspects we let the light inside us grow. You can't banish darkness by concentrating on it but you can banish it by turning on a light.

I'm not saying that anyone should bottle up their anger and pretend that they are never angry.....that is the root of many long standing energy blockages. Anger expressed in a positive way is a very powerful energy.

Be Humble to me talks about being aware of our limitations as physical beings. If we follow our true path and live our life purposefully then everything in our lives is naturally set in Divine Order. When I give a healing my skill as a Reiki master comes in putting aside my own thoughts, ego and intentions because I could not possibly know what is the best for the person concerned. In fact I can't know everything that is happening that will affect my own life therefore to try and control it appears arrogant. There is only one presence that can be all knowing and omni present and the Reiki energy will follow that path if we step aside and allow it.

Be Honest In Your Work talks to me about being truthful with yourself about everything, to be Pure in Intent . Sometimes we think we are being honest but we have lost the ability to be in tune with ourselves and to really know our Essential Nature because we have gathered so many wounds and defences during our lifetime. To be honest in all we do is to take responsibility for all that we do because it's when we take responsibility that we have control over what is happening to us. We always have choices in every situation but we don't always know them all or which is the appropriate one until we begin to know who we truly are.

To be compassionate to yourself and others is about seeing and understanding the place of pain that others and yourself are coming from when we do something that is considered 'bad'. This is not about allowing somebody to walk all over you because that isn't being compassionate to yourself but it's about allowing us to see the truth and pain behind our "enemies" hatred so that eventually we don't see "enemies" anymore, instead we see a wounded person reacting from fear. Armed with that knowledge of insight we can choose another way of reacting other than just hitting back and with that the whole world changes.

So you can see how Reiki has many applications in our normal everyday lives, right from treating headaches through to blessing food to enhance its vitality and onwards into world peace and harmony.