Reiki: Healing system? Meditative practice? Or spiritual path?

From the lens of modern Reiki practice, the system of Reiki is more known for being a healing system. Yet, it is undeniable that as a hands-on healing practitioner, the practice of Reiki changes us. It starts with experiencing energy flow and other sensations and sometimes even intuitions. For me, beyond this, it made me more mellow, more calm, less angry, less worried over time.

From the lens of traditional Reiki practice, the system of Reiki consists of hands on healing, but also has many meditations like Joshin Kokyu Ho and Hatsurei Ho. And for me when I started training with traditional Reiki, and embracing the foundational meditations as a core part of my practice, I grew more focused, more present, and even less angry, even less fearful, and I felt more energetic in practical living. And my hands on healing sessions went deeper. It was no longer just about watching energy movements surge and flow, or noticing blocks and sensations. The hands on healing sessions became less and less of “sending energy”, “offering energy”, “moving the energy”, and more and more of “being present”. What needed to happen happened for the recipients whether as the practitioner, I experienced energy flow or not, whether I experienced special sensations or intuitions or not.

And going deeper into the traditional Reiki practice, one sees more pillars of the practice, around chanting the mantras associated with the four symbols, around Reiju (spiritual blessing) and most importantly the Reiki precepts. Practicing with the traditional Reiki system, systematically brings forth the qualities of grounding, harmony, Oneness and the Great Bright Light of True Self to the experiential realm. So, surely the traditional system of Reiki is a systematic spiritual path to awakening to our true nature. And with this deepening, for me, fear and worry have gone distant on most worldly matters, arising occasionally but without any force to them. Anger for me has reduced dramatically, with very few things pushing my buttons. Gratitude is baked into living, with which humility came along for the ride. The essence of integrity, being true to my way and my being is clearer than ever. Compassion isn’t a thing I have to remember to feel often, it sort of is slowly becoming a way of life, starting with compassion towards myself. And the hands-on healing practice is very much a practice of non-doing (if such a thing could be said and for it to make sense). So has the notion of distance healing changed where BEing in silence, time and distance as constructs lose their meaning, and distance healing yet again is about BEing present.

In this sense, for me the experience of the system of Reiki has been all of the above, a healing practice, a meditation practice and a spiritual path, over time.

“Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh 

So, you see, healing, meditation, spiritual practice all of these appear as different things only because of the vantage point we have, or the perspective we have from where we are on the journey. Going deeper, these are all one and the same.

That makes sense, because the great spiritual traditions point to the One Truth that underlies all existence: 

“All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.” ~ Swami Vivekananda

And the traditional system of Reiki enables that experiential journey from suffering to healing, from confusion to clarity, from judgments to love, from attachments to gratitude, from the separate-I to the One. All we have to do is practice, be patient and persevere, as Frans Stiene says.