What is Reiki?

"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't." - David Bach (author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull)

Welcome to Spirituality and Science! It's been awhile since my first and only post, but I made a promise to myself to post more in 2009 so fear not, my one faithful follower! Hope 2009 is going well for everyone. It's actually been a fabulous year for me so far. As my profile states, I'm a certified Reiki Master and I was just given the wonderful opportunity to edit an entire book on Reiki for my Master Teacher, Marnie Vincolisi-Leichtenberg, who is self-publishing "Finding Your Inner Gift: The Ultimate Reiki 1st Degree Manual." So, as this fits perfectly with this blog content, let's talk about Reiki.

Okay, I admit. I'm from Denver and when someone first described Reiki to me years ago, I thought, oh yeah, that sounds like something those people from Boulder would do. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Boulder (the people and the shops!) but it was not the right time for me to get involved. I had earned my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and was quite content helping troubled teens strive for a better life (ie. not involving jail time). Through a set of weird "coincidences" (which I actually don't believe in, but synchronicity is a whole other topic I'll post about), Reiki found me again and this time I tried it. The simple meaning of Reiki is "Universal Life Energy." It is an ancient method of healing that is believed to have originated in Japan. There are many books that comprehensively discuss its history and uses (such as Marnie's), so I won't go into that here.

Basically, if you can accept that everything is made of energy, then it's not hard to see that your body doesn't actually end at your skin. Sort of like when someone is standing too close to you, and you can feel them in your space. You can - because they are. They are actually standing in your energy field. Your energy reaches out farther than you realize but once you get that, it's actually useful and not so mysterious. Reiki doesn't just heal on the physical level, but also the mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. As the picture above shows, they have been able to photograph the increased energetic pulses coming out of someone's hand while they give Reiki.


So how does it work? Well, my husband "coincidentally" got attacked by a Rottweiler while running the same day I got "attuned" to Reiki. He's a singer/songwriterwho plays guitar and was playing a 4-hour set at a large, local festival the next day. He was able to pull his arm out of the dog's mouth before its' mouth completely engaged, which is the only reason the doctor said he didn't lose his arm. He still had a nasty bite (and has the remaining scars to prove it!) and was in incredible pain. I had only been trained in Reiki for about oh, 2 hours, and thought, well he needs something. He had been supportive of my getting trained but had no idea what the heck it was. I put my hands over his arm (without even touching him!) and he said he felt this incredible heat going into his arm. I did this for about 15 minutes. Long story short, he told me he had absolutely NO PAIN for that day and the next, despite playing guitar for 4 hours straight! I had many other amazing things happen to people during and after Reiki sessions, and have learned so much more in the last year.

If you feel drawn to it, then read about it, learn about it. There are many books that detail its history and usage. It has completely and totally changed my life, which can be unsettling for some as that can mean a different job, different relationship, etc. If you live in the Denver area, check out Marnie's classes through Light Internal at www.lightinternal.com She's an amazing teacher! Feel free to email or post with any stories of your own and I wish you a wondrous year.

Finally, a shameless plug of my now-healed (and dog shy) husband's new band that debuts music from their first CD in downtown Denver at the renowned Walnut Room on Sat. May 16th. Their band is Edge of the World and you can hear some live recordings at www.myspace.com/edgeoftheworldmusic. Peace! Kristi