Reiki

Origin

Reiki is a Japanese technique for relaxation and stress diminution that promotes healing, it represents an ancient healing art; a laying-on of hands technique that can be traced to the Tibetan Buddhists of a few thousand years ago - and it probably even predates them - its roots cultivated in civilizations of yore.

Reiki is made of two Japanese words:

REI which means 'universal', and this can be interpreted in a broad spiritual sense and of the Higher Self, the I Am That I Am consciousness, All That Is. On a deeper level it refers to higher wisdom.
KI which is the life force itself - the prana, the chi, the mana and the countless other names that various cultures have termed it. This is the impalpable, non-material energy that pervades all animate life. The Life Force flows around us (aura) and within the physical constitution via the chakras/meridians. This energy echoes and reacts to our innermost reflections and emotions. Negativity can inhibit or out rightly thwart this flow causing, in turn, constricted functionality in parts of the body.

History

Traditional Reiki history commences in the early to mid-1800's when a Christian minister, Dr. Mikao Usui, principal of Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, was asked by a couple of seminary students to explicate the miracles of Jesus - and the method this Master used to heal others. This question initiated the Doctor's lifelong pursuit and exploration of ancient healing methodology. Dr. Usui spent in an attempt to unlock the mystery of the healing Jesus. Unfortunately, he couldn't achieve the answers he need during his stay in America, so he sailed back to Japan and took up his abode in a Zen Buddhist monastery - where he began his study of their scriptures / sutras. He did locate texts delineating the formula he had been seeking - but not the modus operandi for activating this healing energy.

Later on, Dr. Mikao Usui travelled to Mount Koriyama where he commenced a 3-week period of fasting and meditation. On the 21st day he saw a spark of light coming toward him from the distance, growing larger and larger until it finally struck him in his third eye chakra. He initially thought he had died but he was actually apperceiving a mystical and euphoric experience. He saw countless rainbow bubbles and then golden Sanskrit characters - the Reiki symbols he had been searching for - and he 'remembered'. It was his awakening to a lost ancient method of healing.

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