Reike Roots and History

Reiki is a universal energy technique to Heal

Reiki is known as a spiritual energy based on a pantheistic worldview like its counterparts.
Ray Yungen reports that in 1970, there were ½ million Reiki channellers. There are 1 million Reiki channellers in Germany and 2.6 million web pages on Reiki. So in the 90s, it grew significantly.

Reiki is the Japanese word for Universal Life Form Energy. The definition for Reiki is universal, transcendental spirit, power, and essence. The Rei and ki are broken into two component parts (Kanji Japanese alphabet). They are described as vital life forms of energy similar to the Chi of Chinese acupuncture. In the Encyclopedia of Alternative Health Care, author Kristin Olsen says Reiki is “an energy healing system based on ancient Tibetan knowledge discovered by a Japanese theologian.” 

Many people have commented on the ecumenical aspect of Reiki. Supposedly, it was founded by Dr. Mikao Usui, a Japanese Christian minister in Kyoto, Japan, in the mid-1800s. When one of his students challenged his belief that Jesus Christ healed people with His hands, Dr. Usui began a quest for proof that this type of healing existed.

Dr. Usui began a journey of many years looking for a way to heal through the 'light of God,' the way Jesus had healed. Studying first at Christian schools in the US, he had yet to receive results. He studied Buddhist writings at a monastery in the Orient but needed help finding answers. Usui learned the ancient language of Sanskrit and began to read the sutras, the ancient books of esoteric Hindu religious teaching.

The story goes that after discovering this healing in the sutras, Usui told the monastery monks he intended to fast and meditate for 21 days on a nearby mountain in Japan. If he did not come back, they should go and get his body.

He went to the mountain and gathered 21 stones to count the days. Each day, he would throw away a stone and, in this way, count the time. On the 20th day, no revelation had come, and he threw away the last stone, saying, “Well, this is it; either I get the answer tonight, or I do not.”

On the final day of his meditative quest, he could see a ball of light approaching him at night on the horizon. The first instinct was to get out of the way, but he realized this might just be what he was waiting for, so he allowed it to hit him right in the forehead. As it struck him, he was taken on a journey and shown bubbles of all the colors of the rainbow, which were the symbols of Reiki. These were the same symbols in the Tibetan writings he studied but could not understand. Now, there was total understanding.

After this experience, he began back down the mountain and, from this moment on, was able to heal. This first day, this new power proved itself to Usui when he stubbed his toe and could cure it, his own starvation, an ailing tooth, and the Abbot sickness that was keeping him bedridden. These are known as the first four miracles.

Thus, the healing knowledge he termed “Reiki” was discovered. The name comes from the Japanese words rei, meaning “boundless and universal,” and ki, meaning “vital life energy force that flows through all living beings.”

Wanting to use these abilities to help others, he spent the next seven years in the beggar section of Tokyo, healing the poor and sick.
How Does It Work?

Reiki is a “laying on of hands” healing. Reiki today is an energy technique passed along from Reiki masters to initiates. According to Olsen, these Reiki masters don't understand how it works. They can only describe it as a link with the cosmic radiant energy, an opening of chakras, or an attunement with universal life energy. Proponents say these can be applied to the practitioner himself, plants, or animals and can even heal long distances!

Reiki is drawn through the channel, not sent. By laying hands on the person, you draw appropriate amounts of energy to whatever areas of your body need. The energy centers, also known as charkas (found in Hinduism), are opened to enable the person to channel higher amounts of universal Life Form Energy. They claim the “recipient” does not take on any negative energy or blocks from the practitioner. Reiki passes through a purified channel in the body, and each has a treatment by this process. Proponents say the technique can be applied to the practitioner himself, other people, plants, or animals.

“Once the chakra is opened, the universal energy is channeled to flow freely and in higher amounts; Reiki is never sent but drawn through the channel. The energy enters through the crown chakra of the healer. It passes through the upper energy centers, the heart, and the solar plexus, then through the recipient's arms and hands. So, the practitioner and the patient are both treated. They teach that we all have the reiki energy and that anyone can learn to lay their hands on another to help accelerate the healing process by transferring magnetic energy” (Paula Horan Empowerment through Reiki May 1990 Calendar of Events, Hawaii newspaper).

Reiki treatments consist of three or four sessions lasting about an hour each. The practitioners do not claim to diagnose. The 'words' spoken mentally or verbally during the healing session are essential to them. The symbols drawn with the healer's palms over the patient should be correct as the light energy is brought through the healer. During a Reiki session, the practitioner draws energy and focuses it through his hands, thus providing a link between himself and the patient. Some Reiki teachers have described this connection as “lighting up.” The practitioner's hands are held at twelve basic positions for five minutes each. A practitioner allows his or her own intuition to guide the placing. Over problem areas, the hand is held twice as long. Some Reiki practitioners claim to heal at long distances.

We are told that we all have Reiki energy (Universal Life Form Energy), and anyone can lay their hands on another person and help accelerate their healing process by transferring this energy (many claim that this is how Jesus healed using these various techniques). One must go through the attunement (the initiation) process that the student experiences in the multiple levels of Reiki classes. With practice, they say they can detect energy responses from the body that often give clues to the site of an organic problem and its seriousness.

Most believe they are helping people with this undiscovered but ancient energy-balancing new-age technique. They think they have discovered tools for reawakening, higher levels of consciousness, and creating better health.

Again, like other new-age practices, this energy is manipulated by techniques learned by the initiate. This differs from many other prana, chi, and Ki techniques. It has nothing to do with a Christian worldview and actually opposes it.

Traci Morin
Touch of God International Ministries - a Christian Healing and Deliverance Ministries - Setting the Captives Free from Curses