Spiritual Drifts from The River of Karma

You know what’s sad – We’ve reached a point today’s the living world where disease or health problems are abound. If numbers are supposed to tell a story, then the figures are shouting that many people are afflicted with some health problem or another. And the numbers are growing.

Take a look around you. Every other person, if not all, will have some form health ailment. Only difference is in degree. Someone somewhere will have a story to tell. In fact, that someone could just be someone you know.

This coupled with the growing dissatisfaction with the often “Fear Inducing” Western Medicine branch could explain the rise of Yoga, Meditation, and Herbal diets as an alternative choice of treatment. ( I say fear inducing because that's the feeling you tend to get from them)

Among them is one more alternative, growing very rapidly even as you read this blog post, which is Energy Healing. Indeed, even if you’ve never experienced one, chances are you’ve heard about it.

Which is the topic of this blog post that will kick start my journey into learning and blogging about Energy Healing, and also Energy Healers.

So it’s good to start at the beginning. Reiki as I’ve come to see, is the most famous of all Energy Healing modalities. The name is derivative of of two Chinese characters - rei' (meaning 'spirit', 'soul' or 'ghost') and ki (Chinese qi, here meaning 'energy’ or 'life force').

Reiki claims to be able to heal physical, emotional and even spiritual problems. It’s also the widest practiced with healers now almost everywhere like insurance salesman.

The root of Reiki is traced to Japan in the early 20^th century when Buddhist Monk Mikao Usui (left) noticed he had not been drained of energy “after three weeks of fasting and meditating on Mount Kurama.” (Wikipedia)

It is in this realization that saw the birth of a new energy modality into the world.

Drawing from healing entities supposedly existing around us, Reiki teaches that healing energies enters the Healer through the chakra from which it is then directed to the hands and into the patient. This simple idea is not without controversy as arguments are abound between the schools as to which is the receiving chakra. However, all agree the common denominator is the 4^th Chakra (heart or Anahata) which directs it to the hands for a healing session.

Like all other modalities, Reiki is very often a “Hands Off” system. A usual session will see a client lying comfortable with clothes on as the Healer moves both hands over the body either in a predetermined format or just random circles. There have been instances when skin contact was required, but I personally have yet to see one.

A typical session will also the use of symbols, which in the teachings, aids or magnifies healing.

They can be seen here, but in nut shell, each symbol penetrates a problem more specifically.

Patients have been known to experience one of 3 feelings – Tingly, Hot or Cold. Involuntary body movements are not uncommon. Even the sensation of an invisible touch which healers will say never happened. It can happen.

However, that is not the Magic of Energy Healing. It is the experience of healing clients feel after a few sessions. The unconscious disappearance of pain, the sudden jolt of unknown confidence, the control over anger.

In most cases, pain is reduced permanently.

However, one statement that echoes across all modalities of the spectrum is that the clients heal themselves and Healers only facilitate it. Should a client firmly believe that a healing will happen, that’s the usual outcome. If the clients feels the opposite, no amount of Reiki can do anything.

In Part 2 – I look briefly into becoming a Reiki Practitioners and talk about the controversy surrounding this modality.