Reiki is a popular complementary therapy that helps people to deeply relax and connect to the energy that is all around us – the essence of what we are. Reiki as a practice is essentially/ultimately an energy-focused meditation technique and spiritual path devised by Mikao Usui (1865-1926) in Japan in the early 20th century. The name Reiki is both the name of the technique (often referred to as ‘energy healing’,) and the name for the energetic essence of the universe, the mysterious source of all, that surrounds us, is us! Reiki as a therapeutic technique helps us to remember and access this sense of oneness and wholeness with the energy of the universe.
A Reiki session offers deep relaxation, which helps the nervous system regulate (and co-regulate with the aid of the Reiki practitioner,) triggers the para-sympathetic nervous system and lowers cortisol, the stress hormone, which has many positive knock-on effects for the physical body. Reiki ‘healing’ isn’t about offering a ‘cure’, it’s about facilitating deep relaxation and holding space for people to feel grounded, connected and rebalanced, which brings about a greater sense of well-being. We can and should always leave room for the mystery inherent in the nature of energy and the universe, but as a Reiki practitioner and teacher, I personally want to keep my explanations and practice grounded in the tangible, measurable and practical.
The original reiki method created and used by Mikao Usui was influenced by Shintoism (Japan’s original, indigenous shamanic/animist beliefs and practices) and Japanese Buddhism. Reiki as a hands-on healing practice can be described as a form of medical qigong and originally involved intuitive hand positions as well as various other techniques. Mikao Usui was greatly influenced by his own intuitions and insights gained from a profound spiritual/shamanic experience he had on Mount Kurama near a Buddhist temple, when his path of teaching Reiki was said to be revealed to him. He went on to treat and teach thousands of people with his Reiki Healing Method as both an energy healing technique and a complete spiritual path to bring about greater peace and well-being.
The ‘ki’ of reiki is the Japanese name for ‘chi’ as in Tai Chi and Chi Gung/Qigong. It is most often translated as ‘universal (Rei) lifeforce energy (Ki)’. It’s the energy that we are made from and surrounds us. To help us understand the Reiki/energy that surrounds us/is us, it’s helpful to compare it to air and breathing. We tend not to consciously think of the air that surrounds us all the time, the mystery of breath/air that connects us to all life and how the breath is used by the rest of our body. We share our breathing symbiotically with the natural world, our green kin, and have shared this same, recycled air with all beings who have ever lived. Even though it’s integral to us being alive, we rarely consider our breathing in any detail, yet how we’re breathing and the quality of air is completely vital and intrinsic to our physical well-being.
If we learn and practice breathing techniques to calm our minds and bodies, we would begin to feel the benefit of that increased awareness and more oxygenated blood etc. So it’s similar to the Reiki/energy that is us and surrounds us, as by increasing our awareness of it, by consciously connecting to it and accessing it with intention, directing it to where we need more of it, we can feel the benefit of great well-being, deeper relaxation and the physical body coming back into regulation – balance and wholeness which are a definition of ‘healing’.
Mikao Usui was able to feel for energy blockages and direct the Ki/energy into his client, allowing the client’s body to rebalance itself. He eventually taught a simplified method of this healing technique to over 2000 people in his lifetime. This same technique has been passed on from student to teacher ever since, with some additions.
In the 1930s Reiki was introduced to the US by Mrs Takata, a Hawaiian-Japanese student of one of Mikao Usui’s closest students Mr Hayashi. When Mrs Takata began to teach Reiki she changed the biography of Mikao Usui, updating the details to better suit a western audience. That was understandable, given the time and the feeling towards Japanese people in the US back then especially following WWII and lack of acceptance and understanding of Eastern or ‘other’ cultures. Unfortunately though, changing the details of Mikao Usui’s life and the story of Reiki’s origin has led to much confusion and some controversy over the years. More recently, thanks to the dedication and research of Reiki teachers and authors such as Bronwen and Frans Stiene and Frank Arjava Petter, we now have much more historical and factual information and more clarity than ever before, about the origins of Reiki and how it would have been originally taught. Ultimately, Reiki is a form of meditation practice that puts us in touch with our True Self/Buddha Nature/Source/the Universe.
Over the years Mrs Takata developed the Western tradition of Reiki and from her lineage many of the traditions we have today including some of the symbols and Western attunement processes, have been developed, to make passing on the system of Reiki more uniform and understandable by Western students. I have written extensively about the attunement process here, in an excerpt from my Reiki Level 1 teaching manual.
Whatever the origins and add-ons, the fact that Reiki is still so prevalent and even more popular today, is testament to its benefits and Dr Usui’s vision for helping people through his Reiki Method. As I say in the About page, Reiki’s roots in the Eastern traditions of Shintoism and Buddhism and the self-revelatory experience of Mikao Usui means that it is already shamanic in origin, and therefore already entwined with practices that connect to nature and the spirit in all things, something that as westerners, we are mostly so detached from.
Early on in my Reiki practise I found myself intuitively drawn to much more than the standardised Western Reiki hand positions and to the more intuitive approach originally used by Mikao Usui. It was following this intuition that led me to the Reiki Drum Technique after a wish to combine sound therapy and a more shamanic approach to my Reiki practice, and to combining Reiki with Indian Head Massage.
Reiki Drum – Sound and Vibration, Relaxation & Shamanic Style Healing
As well as a Usui Reiki Master/Teacher, I’m also a ‘Reiki Drum’ practitioner qualified to Master/Teacher level. The Reiki Drum Technique uses traditional North American shamanic-style medicine drumming and sound healing techniques combined with the Usui Reiki method. It is a practice developed by the shamanic practitioner and teacher Michael Arthur Baird and was brought to the UK in the 1990s by his student Sarah Gregg, who I trained with.
The drum is an ancient instrument found in all cultures and thanks to our modern technology we now know that sound therapy is an important tool for triggering deep relaxation and the body’s natural healing/rebalancing ability. The drum beat can slow the heart beat and brainwaves, triggering alpha and eventually theta brainwaves, which is what is experienced during deep meditation and REM sleep.
Reiki Drum sessions can take various forms depending on the client’s need. The drum beat itself helps deeply relax the mind and body and to clear stuck energy. It has also been combined with Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques, which can help a client to access and visualise the pain in the body and transform it through affirmations, visualisation and suggestion, combined with the drum beat and Reiki energy. The client can then reduce the tension they are holding around physical pain or emotional issues.
Drum Journeys/ Guided Meditations
I have been trained in Shamanic Drum Journeying both through Reiki Drum and online training with Shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman. This is a type of meditation with deep relaxation and visualisation or pure intention, sometimes guided or unguided. This technique offers us the opportunity to connect with our deep sub-conscious inherent wisdom that can take the form of meeting guides, receiving messages, insight, a symbol, receiving a sensation of healing, or reconnecting to fragmented parts of our vitality. This can sometimes can help us access the root cause of conditions such anxiety, depression, dissociation, addiction, chronic fatigue syndrome etc, and work on the cause on an energetic level. Please note that this practice isn’t suitable for anyone suffering from serious mental health issues or psychosis.
Guided Meditation for Deep Relaxation & Nature Connection
My sessions often start with a guided relaxation meditation that connects the client to the elements and nature. A lot of the people I talk to feel a state of disconnection to the world, to nature and are experiencing stress, overwhelm, trauma, anxiety, depression or all of the above. Often they find it hard to rest, to feel safe enough in their body to relax, which would be the first step to begin to let go of the stress and burdens they are holding onto and feel more ease. I endeavour to create a safe space to help my clients relax and receive the Reiki treatment through first guiding you to a place of connection with nature and the elements.
This in itself can be such an aid to the healing process – providing a safe space to simply allow yourself to rest and begin to let go into deeper and deeper states of relaxation.
The Benefits of Reiki & Reiki Drum
Although I don’t make any claims about ‘results’ beyond helping a client to fully relax, the kind of deeply relaxed state that sessions of Reiki and Reiki Drum can provide has been found to help bodies self-regulate and rebalance. This rebalancing can help to lower blood pressure, reduce tension and therefore lessen some kinds of pain, reduce stress and stress hormones, lower blood sugar, improve digestion, increase deeper breathing which reoxygenates the blood and improves circulation. Being in regular states of deep relaxation can improve sleep, activate the vagus nerve, activate detoxing, which can lead to a decrease in inflammation and improve the immune system.
I don’t call myself a ‘healer’ or claim to perform any ‘healing’, but I do aim to create the conditions necessary to help people deeply relax, to reconnect to nature and the elements, to the Reiki energy that is us and around us, and to get in touch with, and let go into the body’s own self-healing, self-regulating potential. Through facilitating this coming back into alignment, balance and wholeness, I have witnessed some remarkable experiences with clients!
Please read testimonials from my clients to hear about their experience.
Nature-focused, Shamanic Reiki Drum, Reiki & Reiki Massage, Forest Therapy 