Please see below recently published articles by Jay:

1. Original Japanes Reiki
2. The Reiki Precepts
3. Oneness & Reincarnation
4. Join the Resistance
5. Reiki Accreditation and Self-Regulation
6. Is Reiki Opposed to Christian Teaching?
7. What is Reiki and What are Empowerments?

As a Reiki teacher I have come across many strange views about this Japanese self-healing discipline; from students who have learnt Reiki from a Western perspective, from people who have read dubious books on the subject, and by clients who have previously received Reiki from a Western taught practitioner.

Rumours, superstitions and plain incorrect teachings abound in this 'therapy' - more than most therapies I suspect.

Firstly, I'd like to explain what Reiki really is.

Everything is made of energy; animals, people, trees, water, rocks, as well as our emotions and thoughts. Reiki roughly translates as 'universal life force energy'. The word simply means everything we are and everything we can see, touch and experience and more besides.

A Reiki student is taught how to recognise and use this energy for self-healing and spiritual enlightenment. Once the student is able to work effectively with this energy on themselves they are then able to help others to self-heal.

Reiki practitioners are not healers. Reiki can't be forced onto someone or directed to a particular outcome. We are all made of Reiki and when this energy is placed near or on our body it is us that decides whether to take what we are being offered, and it is us who decides where to best use it. All of this is done on a subconscious/energy level. We don't need to think about it, Reiki goes where it is needed for our highest good.

As to where this energy comes from, well that's up to the individual Reiki student to decide for himself or herself. A Buddhist may feel it comes from 'the source', a Christian may believe it is Gods love, an atheist may decide it is simply physics - energy and vibration. In this way Reiki is compatible with any religious or non-religious view. Reiki is not a religion or a cult, it is simply a way of understanding who and what we are, and what part we play in the universe.

I'd now like to explain what Reiki really isn't.

Reiki isn't a magical force outside and apart from us. It isn't about dealing with spirit guides and it isn't about channelling someone or something else's energy. Reiki isn't about using crystals, tarot cards or secret magical symbols and it isn't about speaking to the deceased. Reiki isn't a cult with strange rituals and mystical beliefs.

Since Reiki came to the West a lot of 'bells & whistles' have been added to it which is confusing for the student, the practitioner and the client. We are now very fortunate to have recently learnt, directly from a group of surviving Usui trained students, what Reiki was really all about and how we can echo the way it was practised.

Original Reiki is simple and uncluttered; it's all about intuition and intention, and as a result it is very powerful. If we accept that we are Reiki, that the universe is Reiki, that we are all one, and that everything is connected, then we should not need to complicate things.

Original Reiki recognises that we all have our own paths to follow. It doesn't indoctrinate its students into a certain religious or spiritual viewpoint. It doesn't restrict its students in their personal development. It has no leaders, no rules and no rituals.

Original Reiki is liberating. It is very simple to learn, and it gives everyone a firm base from which to grow in whatever direction they choose.

And finally, Original Reiki is based on living the Reiki Principles - an affirmation the Reiki student says to himself or herself each day. If we all lived by these principles wouldn't the world be a lovely place to live:

Just for today:
I will be free from anger
I will be free from worry
I will be humble
I will be honest
I will be compassionate to myself and others

The Reiki Precepts

A fundamental part of Reiki is the need to follow the Reiki Precepts, or Principles, as best we can. The Precepts are basically a watered down version of Buddhism. They are an affirmation the Reiki student says to himself or herself each day:

Just for today:
I will be free from anger
I will be free from worry
I will be humble
I will be honest
I will be compassionate to myself and others

I have broken down each line, as I see it, below:

Just for today

What we are accepting here is that we are human, we are not perfect, and it's ok. It is a lot easier to say 'just for today' than it is to say 'for the rest of my life'. This makes trying to live by the Precepts that much easier.

To start with we can try saying 'just for this morning', or 'just for the next hour'. We can take small steps at first, just to get us going. Take your time and do your best.

This brings in the concept of compassion - the last line of the Precepts. Have compassion for yourself here. Remember you are human and if you feel you have failed to be free from anger for example, then learn from this - there is always tomorrows 'just for today'.

This line also brings in the concept of mindfulness. If we are thinking about the future, even if it is in a very positive way, then we are not thinking about the here and now. We are not in the moment. We cannot experience the now fully. So 'just for today' is also trying to keep us in the now, in the moment.

I will be free from anger

We are human and we feel emotions - it's how we were made, how we have evolved, and we should not beat ourselves up about feeling anger. This line is not saying that if we feel anger then we have failed. It's saying we should free ourselves from the affects of the emotion of anger.

To do this we do not block off the emotion. We shouldn't block off any emotion. When we feel anger what we need to do is simply recognise it as the 'emotion of anger' and let it go, and not react to it. If someone cuts us up in the car then the emotion of anger will make us want to blow our horn, shout and swear, gesticulate our anger toward that person. What is happening here really is we were either scared by a near miss, or are unhappy that we have lost our place in a queue - someone has got one over on us.

Rather than getting upset about this, rather than letting anger control us, we must recognise the anger for what it is and let it go. The easiest way to do this is to accept the oneness of everything. In so doing we realise that the person who cut us up is also us. That person is you and that person is human and also fallible. Have compassion for that person. They made a mistake through a simple act of misjudgement or through arrogance. Either way they are on their own journey and your compassion, not judgement or resentment, is needed here.

The more you work with Reiki energy, the more you actually feel connected to everything and everyone. It moves from being an intellectual understanding to an actual experience, which is much more powerful. So, the more you experience the oneness of everything, the easier it is not to be angry with anyone else - because you actually 'feel' that they are you, and if that person is you then you can only give them compassion and not anger.

I will be free from worry

This is a hard one for a lot of people. We worry about the past and we worry about the future. We worry about what people have done to us and what we did to other people. We worry about where we are going in life, what people think of us, whether we will be successful in our careers, whether our children will enjoy their new school, what the state of the world will be in the future etc, etc, etc.

In worrying about the past and the future we find that we are never in the moment, we are never here. If we are never in the moment then we can't fully experience what is happening to and around us. We can't fully engage in life.

If we had bad experiences in the past, we have to simply accept that these things happened but now they are gone. It is easy to say this but not so easy to do, especially if those things were particularly bad. What we have to accept, though, is that whatever happened was done by someone who was and is fallible, and that that person was and is you. This brings in the concept of compassion again - compassion for that person who did wrong by you.

We also have to accept that we too are human and as a result can make mistakes. We need to learn from these mistakes, sure, but we also have to have compassion for ourselves and not worry about them any longer. They have gone and can only continue to affect us if we let them.

Worrying about the future is pointless. Most of the time our worries never materialise and we have wasted so much time and energy worrying about something that didn't happen anyway. We can make plans, sure, but we must accept that the world is constantly changing and that are plans will probably have to change to cope with this. Nothing is constant, not the economy, not the market place, not the weather, not peoples feelings, not peoples reactions to things, not peoples loves, not peoples hates. If we learn to simply flow with the changing universe, rather than fight against it, then it doesn't matter what is going to happen in the future. As soon as we accept this concept, and we understand that all we have to do is learn to adapt to each event, then there really is nothing to worry about.

Take life as it comes and enjoy each moment.

I will be humble

This corresponds with an important concept in Buddhism - that ignorance is one of three main restraints we have on us that stop us from achieving enlightenment, the other two being anger and desire.

To achieve enlightenment we need to learn. If we are arrogant we cannot learn, as we feel we know everything, or at least that we know better. If we are humble, however, we are accepting that we do not know everything. This opens us up to being able to learn.

I am not a great Reiki Master. I cannot tune people into a magical force. I do not know everything about Reiki or energy systems. I am simply another man who is on a journey, just as all of the people who come to me to learn Reiki are. I am not sure where along that path I am. I do not know where along the path others are. But I do know that it is not the finish line that matters, it is not who is in the lead that matters, it is simply going on the journey that matters.

We must open ourselves to each experience, to each new way of seeing the world. We should allow ourselves to change our minds about the universe and about ourselves as we go along the path, and not be rigid about our views. This is the way we grow. Being humble helps us grow.

I will be honest

I think that this is the easiest one of the Precepts. Once we accept, and feel, that we are one with everyone else then we can't help but be honest. If we were to be dishonest with someone then we would simply be being dishonest to ourselves. If we were to copy a CD, for example, and give it to a friend, we would be cheating the person who made that music. That artist is you, so you would be cheating yourself.

This line means being honest in everything we say and do, being honest about our thoughts and about our feelings. I do not believe it means being honest to the point of upsetting people for no reason - we must after-all have compassion for others - but it does mean being totally honest in your everyday life.

If you are totally honest in your life then it takes away so many pressures. For example, let's say you are self-employed and are totally honest in your tax return. You know that at any time in the future the tax man can come along and check you out and you will be ok. If, however, you are not totally honest, and hide some of your cash sales, then in the back of your mind you know there is always a chance that you will be found out. This feeling creates a certain energy in your mind and emotional energy bodies which continues to have a detrimental affect on you.

This line also means being honest with yourself. In the context of Reiki, for example, it means being honest to yourself about your experiences. If you feel you have experienced a spirit guide that's fine, as long as you are being totally honest to yourself about that experience.

I will be compassionate to myself and others

Again, once we actually 'feel' that we are connected with everyone, that we are in-fact everyone, then it becomes easier to have compassion for others. This final line links in neatly with all of the others above. We cannot be angry with someone when we know they are us. We can only feel compassion for those that have wronged us in the past, because they were and are us.

Compassion isn't the same as forgiveness. To forgive someone suggests that you are on a higher moral ground. Compassion suggests that, whatever the moral ground is, you offer love. There is no judgment, no trial, just love, just compassion.

Many people find it easier to have compassion for other people than they do to have compassion for themselves. We tend to beat ourselves up and not offer ourselves acceptance much more that we do to others.

Take an example: you are an office manager. A new employee starts and is obviously nervous. You offer kind words and support. The new employee then jams up the photocopier, or looses some important emails. It is his/her first day and you still offer kind words, advice and encouragement. Now imagine that that new employee is you. What are you saying in your head when you start this new job? Are you offering yourself kind words of encouragement? When you make a mistake are you still offering yourself kind words, advice and encouragement? More often than not we are shouting at ourselves inside. We are telling ourselves we are useless and to 'pull ourselves together'. We ask ourselves why we keep messing up. We wouldn't do this to the new employee so why do we do it to ourselves?

When you treat yourself with compassion you are also treating others with compassion at the same time, as you are everyone and everyone is you. The more compassion you can have for yourself, the more compassion you suddenly feel you can have for others. This can be as simple as giving yourself time to do your daily meditations, without feeling guilty about spend those few minutes away from the family. We may feel this is a selfish act to do, but after your meditation you are now in a better place to be able to offer even more help and compassion to your family. You are energised and calmer. You benefit and they benefit - this is hardly selfish!

and finally…

The more you try to live by the Precepts the more your Reiki will flow and affect you. The more your Reiki flows, the stronger it is within you, and the easier it becomes to live by the Precepts. It is a positive circular process.

If we all lived by these precepts wouldn't the world be a lovely place to live.

Oneness & Reincarnation

Living and practicing Reiki over the past few years has helped me to understand that we are all one, that everything is a part of us and that we are a part of everything. It's not until very recently though that I fully understood what this meant.

You see I believe, and always have, in three fundamental things; reincarnation, the oneness of everything, and that although we experience time as linear it isn't really (something that physics teaches us).

Putting these three things together I have come to realise that if I am going to be reincarnated, and that if time isn't linear, and that if everything is one, then that must mean that everyone on the planet, right here, right now, right this minute, is a reincarnation of me.

My mother is me reincarnated, my wife is me reincarnated, my son, daughter, sister, brother, father-in-law are all me reincarnated, right now. The bus driver, the shop assistant, the guy reading the news are all a reincarnated me.

Not just part of me, not just part of the oneness of everything, but actually me having been reincarnated. I am living my life right now as everyone else on the planet. I'm a 60 year old man in Napal, a child being born in Iraq, I'm Bill Gates and Saddam Hussein (however uncomfortable that last one makes me feel).

So Hello to me... that's all of you by the way!

This doesn't mean that I think I am the center of everything, that I am in some way special, on the contrary, if you are me reincarnated then it follows that I am you reincarnated! We are all one.

If this is the case then I can behave in only one way; I must help you, I must show you love and kindness and I must forgive you. Hey, it's a lot easier to forgive someone their faults when you realise that person is actually a reincarnated you!

This thought has helped me to realise what oneness really means and has led me to understand what karma really means.

I've always believed in karma, from the point of view of there being a balance in the world and that what you give out you receive. I just could never really get my head around the concept that if you do something wrong then at some point in the future you will receive that 'bad karma' back in some form. How does the universe store up this karmic tally and when does it know when to start dishing it out again? Using my new theory though, karmic forces have instant effect. You see if I treat someone with anger, for example, that person receives my anger. But remember that person is actually me. So, in the instant I send out anger, I also receive it. If I'm angry with you, you experience my anger, but you are a reincarnation of me, so I am experiencing someone being angry with me, right there and then - instant karma!

This thought has also helped me deal with the death of loved ones. When someone I love dies it's sad. But you know what, it's also ok because that person who has died is me and, guess what, I'm still alive - I didn't die. In fact when I, Jay, die, I won't really be dying because there's a few billion of me still alive on this planet! I've died many times before and I'll die many times again. I've been born many times before and I'll be born many times again.

This 'oneness' thing doesn't just extend to the human population of this planet. Oneness means everything; the animals, the plants, the very rocks of the Earth itself. I am everything and everything is me, and if this very planet is a reincarnated me then I'd better start taking better care of it in the future.

Of course you don't need to believe in reincarnation to study and practice Reiki. There is no dogma involved in Reiki and no belief system to adhere to. Reiki is all about taking you on your own spiritual path. We all have our own paths to follow and our own truths and each one is as valid as the other.

This is simply my truth.

Join The Resistance

We are at War.

Those words will make most people think of Iraq, Afghanistan, the 'War on Terror'… and who would blame you - it's what your mind has been focused on by politicians and the media.

But there is an even bloodier war going on that the media hardly ever mentions - one that has been going on for the past few hundred years, way back before the industrial revolution. It's an unjust war whichever way you look at it. The aggressor has an arsenal of 'weapons of mass destruction' at his disposal and uses them on a daily basis. The oppressed has no weapons. It has had no choice but to silently put up with its lot, constantly turning the other cheek and never hitting back.

The aggressor steals its resources, pollutes its air and waters with chemical warfare and ethnically cleanses the inhabitants of its lands. It never lets up. It is relentless and carries out its attacks on a daily basis.

We're talking about the human war being waged against this planet. How else can we view it other than as a war.

And what drives this war?

Well, I want a nice car to drive don't I? I want a wardrobe full of affordable clothes. I demand access to cheap food, and lots of it. I expect to fly to exotic places for my holiday and at next-to-nothing prices. I want to be able to water my garden with as much water as I feel it needs. I want to heat & light my house as much I can afford to.

I have access to so much food that I could actually make myself fat. I have access to so much electricity that I can use it to entertain myself with (TV, radio, games console, computer). I can afford to take time out from working and actually take my whole family to another country for a 2 week holiday every year.

Luxury after luxury that I see somehow as a basic right. But who really pays for this life of mine?

When I stop to think about it I have to ask myself some fundamental questions…

Is my water clean and safe to drink?
Do I have enough food to eat?
Do I have a place to stay that keeps me out of the weather and safe at night?

I'm very fortunate that I can answer yes to all of these questions. The majority of the worlds population cannot. They see what I consider my basic entitlement as pure luxury.

Whilst I live this engorged life, I confidently blame 'Big Business' for all of the troubles in the world; for polluting the environment, for using child labour, for adding chemicals to my food, for bad animal husbandry, for fast-food outlets springing up everywhere. I blame the large supermarkets for driving small shops out of business, for paying smaller and smaller prices to its suppliers, for exploiting the third world farmer and manufacturer.

But I have to ask myself; how are they able do this?

There is only one answer… I let them. No, more than that, I actually encourage them. They do it with my blessing. I even pay them to do it!

I need to accept the truth of this and understand that the buck stops with me. Not with my neighbour, not with my government, not with someone else's government, with me. I'm the one. I'm one of the combatants in this prolonged war. I pull the trigger daily.

Now that I realise that I'm the true cause in all of this then, thinking positively, I can also be the cure. It will just take a little effort.

So what can I do about it? Aren't the billions in India going to get to a point soon when they are polluting far more than us mere 60 million here in the UK? How is my use of an energy-saving light bulb going to help save the planet when someone in America continues to drive his gas guzzling SUV? Why should I go without my cheap flight to Spain when my next door neighbour continues to enjoy his two weeks in Malaga?

Well all of the above is true, but it shouldn't stop me from joining the 'Resistance' - to continue the war analogy. That doesn't necessarily mean becoming a paid-up member of the Green Party or Friends of the Earth (although that's not a bad idea!), I will simply resist the war effort by using my purchasing muscle where it counts.

And so I now make this pledge to you, to me and to the planet…

• I will use less fuel in future. I'm going to turn the heating down a couple of degrees and put a jumper on if I'm cold. I'm going to walk or cycle when practical instead of using the car.



• I'm not going to buy that 4x4 I always wanted (yes I have been thinking about it) and instead I'm going to convert my diesel car to use bio-diesel - and not the stuff supplied by big garages which is only about 5% bio, but I'll source some local full-on non-polluting bio-diesel.



• I'm only going to buy locally produced organic food. I will save the earth and my health in terms of non-pesticide use. It will also cut down on pollution with less traveled miles from farm to table. I will only use local farms, independent shops and box delivery schemes.



• I will only buy Fair Trade products. There's no point me feeling all smug about my new 'green' life when if I go and buy that £2 shirt from the large supermarket it possibly costs someone else in another country their health, and certainly keeps their standard of living lower than mine. I don't want big businesses to exploit my fellow humans in my name anymore.



• I will invest my money only in ethical banks. Yes that means the hassle of changing banks, but the large banks invest in large companies, and I don't want to encourage them any more.



• I'll change my electricity supplier to a company offering Green Energy. Using my purchasing power I may be able to change energy policy in this country.



• I will no longer fly. I will holiday here in the British Isles with my family in future. There's plenty of places I could explore, instead of doing the worst polluting thing I could do and take that flight to Spain. If we run out of places to visit we can always get the ferry to the continent.



• I will recycle and reuse much more. Generally I'm pretty good at this but, if I'm honest with myself, I know I could be better. I will attempt to only buy products that don't have any nasty packaging; I'll only buy milk in cartons not plastic, only buy juice in glass bottles not plastic etc.

I'm sure there are plenty more things I can do but this is a start, and it's all good news. You see I've worked out that I can still live a luxurious life, it just means making a bit more of an effort.

And if my neighbour continues to wage war on the planet, at least I can sit back in years to come and proudly explain to my children and grandchildren that I was a true member of the Resistance.

So that's my pledge.

Go on join me, it only takes a little effort by all of us to make peace with the world and maybe, in time, we can stop this crazy war.

Reiki Accreditation and Self-Regulation

No Reiki courses can claim to be 'accredited' as there is no such thing in this country. At the moment anyone can legally set themselves up as a Reiki practitioner or teacher.

The Reiki Regulatory Working Group (RRWG), a UKRF-led initiative was set up by representatives of the UKRF and other Reiki organisations, in collaboration with the Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Health, to work towards Voluntary Self Regulation of Reiki. This is in the consultation process at the moment (as of Jan. 07) and it is our guess that it will take a number of years before it is implemented. When the final proposals are made, for what we teach and how we practice, we will then have a choice as to whether to join the new body or not. As the new org. will be totally voluntary to join nothing much will change in terms of being able to teach or practice if you do not join - it will just look better on your headed paper!

At the moment (2009) it seems that the RRWG is going down the Western approach to Reiki, treating it purely as a complementary therapy with set hand positions and pre-requisite knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology etc. This, in our view, misses the point entirely as to what Reiki is and what it's initial intentions were.

As a Reiki school, we have decided to pull out of this process and join an organisation that follows the original intention of Reiki - this is the Shibumi International Reiki Association. Shibumi is a non-profit professional international Reiki association. It's aims are to support and promote the Japanese art of the system of Reiki.

This decision does not affect our taught Practitioners or Teachers. All students are still able to join the UK Reiki Federation, or any other Reiki organisation, and get practitioner insurance with our certificates.

Is Reiki Opposed to Christian Teaching?
by The UK Reiki Federation

In recent months we have been contacted by a number of concerned Reiki practitioners who have been verbally abused by members of the public as being "unChristian", and being "touched by the Devil" - even some of their clients have been exhorted not to have any more Reiki treatments. We have also been sent copies of articles from the Catholic press recommending that Catholics avoid Reiki, disparaging it as "pantheistic" and "a particularly dangerous form of Gnosticism".

Whilst it is a regrettable situation, it is not without precedent, as various fundamentalist Christian groups have demonstrated against or published works denigrating Reiki for quite some time. This is clearly a result of a misunderstanding about Reiki and how its practice fits into religion and spirituality.

If we look at Reiki historically, it is an energy science which pre-dates the Christian faith - it originates from Buddhist practices from around 500 years before Jesus was born. However, the system of Reiki we use in the West, based on the teachings of Mikao Usui, is not a belief system, and is not in conflict with Christian beliefs. Indeed, Usui met and engaged in discussions with a number of Christians, and many of his students, and some of the Masters he trained, were Christians, and perhaps most importantly, one of those Christians was Dr Chujiro Hayashi, who clearly did not consider Reiki to be contradictory to his beliefs. Western Reiki's lineage is through Dr Hayashi, who taught Hawayo Takata, who taught the twenty two Masters through whom Reiki has spread throughout the Western world since the mid -1970s.

Surely the main point here is "that which is good is from God"? We are told in the Bible that Jesus laid his hands on people to heal them (John 14:12; Matthew 10:8), but the laying on of hands for healing has been a part of many cultures and many religions for millennia - not just 2,000 years. Reiki is accused of being "pantheistic" - that just means believing that God is identifiable with the forces of nature and with natural substances, such as in Paganism, or it can mean the worship or tolerance of all gods. Well, we certainly don't worship ANY gods, neither do we follow any Pagan rituals when we practice Reiki, which is one reason why Western Reiki is suitable for people of any religion. Indeed the reason for condemning Reiki given in the article is that Dr Usui thought Buddha and Christ had an "inner energy" that helped them to heal, and that this is what he sought and found whilst on a Buddhist retreat.

If this is true, why is that wrong? Surely that is a wonderful achievement? But perhaps the disparagement of that achievement relates to the accusation that Reiki is a "dangerous form of Gnosticism" - which relates to knowledge, especially esoteric, mystical knowledge. Throughout history the Christian church (and other religions, too) have feared and distrusted mystical knowledge, that is an awareness of things they could not understand, and Christians who embraced occult or mystical thinking which was considered heretical were labeled as Gnostics between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.

Have we really made so little progress in the West in seventeen centuries? Surely being a Christian should be less about religion, and more about behaviour - including hopefully being tolerant of things that we don't necessarily understand?

Reiki is a safe, non-intrusive complementary healthcare modality with no known contraindications, which many people find to be a helpful support for their health and wellbeing, whether they are using it for themselves, or receiving it from Practitioners. On a practical level, many of our doctors and other healthcare professionals have different belief systems which may conflict with Christianity, but this does not prevent us from accepting medical treatment!

Some Reiki practitioners may have rather unconventional views, it is true, but belief in Reiki guides, channelling, and so on, somewhat unkindly called "flaky Reiki", are new aspects of modern Reiki styles - they were not part of Usui's original Reiki system as it was first taught in the West. But Reiki is practiced by people of many different faiths all over the world, and just because someone has a different belief system to your own does not make them a "bad" person, nor does it make the healthcare practice they offer something "evil". You wouldn't ask your doctor if he or she accepted Christ as their saviour before accepting a prescription; nor would you ask a nurse to describe her religious beliefs before submitting to a blood test, would you?

There is beauty and peace in the practice of Reiki that can fit easily into anyone's spiritual life, but Western Reiki is not a religion - even its roots in Buddhism do not really constitute a religion, as Buddhism is a way of life, so it does not conflict with Christian beliefs. What we try to promote within the practice of Reiki is an environment of tolerance and acceptance, so we do not judge our students or clients by their religious beliefs. We would wish that others would behave in the same way towards us.

Dr Robert Jefford, Chair, The UK Reiki Federation
Penelope Quest, Vice Chair, The UK Reiki Federation

What is Reiki and What are Empowerments

The practice of Reiki is simply an enhancement of a natural process.

The universe is made of energy (or vibrations). Everything in it is made of energy, from the very rocks we stand on, to our bodies, and to our very thoughts and emotions. At every moment of the day we are passing energy through us in order to stay alive. This is a natural process, something every living thing does – as natural as needing, and drinking a glass of water.

Those people who have been taught Reiki have been shown ways of increasing the flow of this energy through them. By increasing this flow we are able to heal ourselves on many different levels – physical, emotional, spiritual.

We are also able to pass this energy through us and out of our hands (primarily). This, again, is a natural process that everyone does. When we are treating someone else we place our hands near that person’s body and they are then able to use this increased energy flow for their own good.

Finally, because this is a natural process, that every living thing does all the time, Reiki can in no way harm anyone or anything. It can only be beneficial to the recipient of it because it is the recipient who is always in control. The recipient’s body automatically knows how much of this energy it needs, what particular frequency it needs and where in it is to be used.

What is an Empowerment?

When you receive an Empowerment you are not having something done to you, you are doing something for yourself. Empowerments are really self-empowerments.

The Reiki Master has been taught how to get certain frequencies of energy flowing through his/her hands and places them near certain parts of the students body, but the Reiki Master is not ‘putting anything in’ to the student. The Reiki Master is simply offering up the right type of energy to the right places, and it is the student who takes the energy and uses it for their own purposes.

The Reiki Master is not ‘tuning the student in’ to some magical force that they would not have been able to use if they had not been ‘tuned in’. The Reiki Master is helping the student remember what they are and enhance and increase their natural Reiki ability – something everyone has to a greater of lesser extent. Just like when working with a client, where the client is doing all the work, it is the student doing all the work when being given an Empowerment.

Everyone is on a journey, a journey of discovery, and Empowerments give the student a sort of ‘turbo boost’ to speed up this personal journey. It increases their sensitivity to the natural flow of energy. It strengthens this natural flow, and it makes the student more intuitive.