Human Reiki

“The language we use to describe our reality influences how we think about it. The problem with viewing ourselves as being ‘fundamentally different’ reinforces a view of being separate from, rather than part of, the rest of the world.” – Ted Cadsby

The other day someone at a Reiki conference asked me if I practice ‘Human Reiki’. He said’ “Well, there is Crystal Reiki, Nature Reiki, Animal Reiki, Angel Reiki, etc. So you must practice Human Reiki?”

I explained to him that I practice neither Human Reiki, Crystal Reiki, Nature Reiki, Animal Reiki nor Angel Reiki. I explained to him that I ‘practice’….Reiki.

Simply translated, the word Reiki means spiritual energy, which is in essence non-dual in nature. This means that there is no difference in the spiritual energy that exists in a crystal, in nature, an animal, an angel etc….we are all the same great bright light, the same spiritual energy, the same Reiki.

“Everything in the Universe possesses Reiki without any exception.” – Note from a student of Mikao Usui supplied through Hiroshi Doi.

You can also see above that I put ‘practice’ in quotation marks. This is because for me, I practice the system of Reiki; I practice the system of Reiki to remember that I am Reiki, that I am spiritual energy.

So there are two ways of seeing it and two ways of using the word Reiki in the language that describes our reality (which, remember, influences how we think about it.) There is Reiki meaning spiritual energy and there is the system of Reiki which consists of five elements: precepts, meditations, hands-on healing, symbols/mantras and reiju/attunement/initiation.

Through practicing the system of Reiki, we can start to lay bare our innate Reiki and we can start to realize that everything in the universe possesses Reiki, with no exceptions! And thus as Ted Cadsby states, we start to realize that we are part of the world and not separate from it, not separate from anything in the world that we can see, hear, taste, smell, touch, or experience.

The way I see it, the essence of the system of Reiki and the essence of Reiki itself is the precepts:

Do not anger

Do not worry

Be grateful

Be true to your way and your being

Show compassion to yourself and others

These precepts are universal and therefore they do not change whether you practice with a human, a crystal, in nature, with an animal, an angel or anyone/anything else. Hence I ‘practice’ just Reiki.

Personally I also believe that when we say there is a difference between a crystal, nature, animal, or angel we start to separate ourselves from each other; we think and feel that we are different than those around us. But for me the essence of the system of Reiki and of Reiki is to remember that we are all the great bright light; we are all of the same essence. The more we say we are different than, the more we start to go into a space of anger, worry, fear and not being grateful, true to our way and our being and especially not being compassionate to ourselves and others.

“A human being is an animal, a part of nature. But we single ourselves out from the rest of nature. We classify other animals and living beings as nature, as if we ourselves are not part of it. Then we pose the question, “How should I deal with Nature?” We should deal with nature the way we deal with ourselves. . . ! Harming nature is harming ourselves, and vice versa.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh says this very profoundly; instead of classifying and singling out, let us deal with nature and animals (and all else we encounter) the way we deal with ourselves. We are nature!

This is why Mikao Usui went into the mountains; he wanted to rediscover that he was nature, not a separate human being, but part of everything – oneness! This is why he called his system Usui Reiki Ryoho: Usui’s method to remember that everything posses Reiki: non-duality. He didn’t call it Crystal Reiki, Nature Reiki, Animal Reiki, Angel Reiki or anything else, just Usui Reiki Ryoho.

This is one of the reasons why the International House of Reiki never saw it fit to create a specific branch of the system of Reiki and why we still say that we teach Usui Reiki Ryoho.

“We have been talking about the environment as if it is something different from us, but we are the environment. The non-human elements are our environment, but we are the environment of non-human elements, so we are one with the environment. We are the environment.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Again, Thich Nhat Hanh is clear in his words, clear in the language describing his reality. In reality, we are the environment. In reality, we are not separate from anything around us. In reality, we are Reiki.