Executive summary about reiki usui By Laura Bruno
Today, people practice Reiki worldwide. Many hospitals, clinics,
and hospice settings now offer Reiki as an adjunct therapy given by volunteers
or specialists trained in multiple modalities. Reiki is a wonderful complement
to massage therapy, cranio-sacral work, and psychological therapy.
What It Does
Reiki works on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual
levels. It engages a precise method for combining this universal energy with
the body's own, innate powers of healing. Reiki is not meant to replace
professional medical advice but rather to complement other treatment modalities
by encouraging very deep relaxation. When the body relaxes deeply, it can begin
to heal itself.
Reiki practitioners do not diagnose or prescribe medication. Instead, they allow healing energy to flow through their hands. Recipients often perceive this energy as warmth or tingling. Many fall asleep during treatment sessions, further allowing the body to relax and regenerate.
Reiki practitioners do not diagnose or prescribe medication. Instead, they allow healing energy to flow through their hands. Recipients often perceive this energy as warmth or tingling. Many fall asleep during treatment sessions, further allowing the body to relax and regenerate.
Reiki works with the human energy system, which consists of
meridians (energy channels) and chakras (energy centers). Traditional Chinese Medicine
identifies twelve main meridians-plus a governing and functional channel-that
run like roads up and down the body. Although acupuncture was once considered
completely "alternative," research has shown correspondence between
major acupuncture points and scientifically discovered nerve pathways and
trigger points. Similarly, chakras-seven major energy centers that run from the
base of the spine to the crown of the head-seem to connect via nerve clusters
with endocrine glands whose function or malfunction result in feelings and
physical states associated with those energy centers. The study of meridians
and chakras spans thousands of years, with Western medicine only recently
confirming what Chinese and Indian scholars professed so long ago.
A Reiki practitioner does not need to understand the human
energy system in order to support it. Through mechanisms most people find
mysterious, Reiki flows wherever it most needs to go. In this way, it acts like
what herbalists call an "adaptogen"-energizing weak areas while
decreasing areas of overstimulation. This makes sense, considering Reiki's
status as "universal life force energy." Nature always aims for
balance. A concentrated saltwater solution placed in fresh water results in a
slightly saline combination. Yin balances yang. As Reiki flows through the
body, energy redistributes itself in a balanced and natural way.
Why It Works
As previously mentioned, Reiki works by allowing the body to
relax enough to heal itself. As a gentle, adaptogenic form of energy, it
integrates and reconnects all levels of healing: physical, emotional, mental
and spiritual. This is important for all healing, but especially so for TBI
survivors. In some ways, TBI provides the ultimate illustration of the need for
multi-level healing. A physical injury affects mental processing and emotions.
Depending on the location of brain damage, someone might lose the ability to
feel sad, or forget how to do sequential tasks. Synapses become so jumbled that
survivors often answer questions "randomly," drawing upon whatever
connections the brain happens to make at that time. Rational thought (mental
level) becomes a challenge. Depression (emotional level) affects a majority of
TBI survivors, in part due to neurochemistry and certainly due to chronic pain
and loss of lifestyle. In order to stay positive during recovery, many
survivors find themselves turning to spiritual pursuits.
This spiritual questioning naturally follows an injury that
destroys one's sense of Self. If a physical injury can strip away all the
things we think we know about ourselves, then what remains? What is that
underlying Awareness? Does the universe really deliver random blows, or did
this injury happen for a reason?
If everything happens for a reason, then what might TBI carry as
its message? Returning to the idea of chakras, TBI is a 7th chakra issue. The
7th chakra sits at the crown (top) of the head and is associated with the
hypothalamus and pineal glands, spirituality, oneness consciousness, and the
colors violet and white. Tradition says that whenever an illness or injury
strikes a particular chakra, the spiritual issues connected with that chakra
will aid the healing process. Well, the 7th chakra is THE spiritual chakra. The
crown of the head provides our closest connection to "God
Consciousness" or "Universal Love." This chakra also controls
all the other chakras, in the same way that the brain influences the entire
body. For most survivors, TBI presents challenges in the form of finding one's
life path, opening to a greater sense of connection and service, embracing
traces of Divinity in everyone and everything, and coming to recognize an
underlying order in the universe.
Because Reiki addresses all levels of healing, it also helps
balance the spiritual elements so crucial to recovery. Unlike other forms of
energy work, however, Reiki does so in a very gentle way. Kundalini energy, for
example-also known as the human potential that lies coiled at the base of the
spine-does not present itself as gentle. Powerful, strong, and potent-yes, but
if awakened too quickly, Kundalini energy can actually cause TBI-like symptoms.
Reiki, by contrast, always works as an adaptogen. It does not force rapid
change. Instead, it allows healing to unfold and reveal itself in its own time
and in its own way. Given that the 7th chakra represents a culmination of all
the other chakras, we might extrapolate that TBI and other neurological
problems demand compassion and respect. These are extremely complex and dynamic
health issues. Attempting to force recovery never works, because that would
require superseding something we don't fully understand. Ultimately, TBI offers
a chance for integration in the deepest and most profound way. Many TBI
survivors actually possess strong spiritual, creative and healing gifts, so
their soul retrieval and healing offer potential to effect dramatic differences
in our world. Reiki honors this mysterious process and creates a safe space for
transformation.