What is Reiki?

In this article you’ll read the traditional idea of what reiki is from a transcript I took from a short documentary featuring practicing Reiki Masters.

My opinion of reiki has drastically changed since I first became certified as an Usui Reiki Master approximately 20 years ago.

Why?

Because it didn’t work for me. Energetically I was feeling terrible.

During the time I practiced reiki, I was also a trained and certified massage therapist, However, I was feeling completely drained after seeing a client. It was not normal to feel so low in energy after giving a massage.

At that point I went looking for help. It took awhile, but a phenomenal Spiritualist Healer helped me in a way no other practitioner or holistic technique could.

And that’s why I stopped offering reiki as a healing modality.

I understood it’s the lack of protection that makes reiki a very hit or miss energy modality… and for some, it can be down right dangerous.

So let’s dive into the transcript from “What is Reiki? – A Short Film” – the video is below the text if you’d like to watch it.

My Comments have the aqua background.

What is Reiki? A Short Film

As told by clients and practitioners…

“As I began this journey with Reiki, I was amazed at how people wanted a place to go.

Reiki is creating an environment of comfort and support, where people know they can be able to release their worries, their fears, their pain.

Having had massages before, you know, I’m used to somebody touching me, but the healing doesn’t come from the manner of the touch, like a massage.

The healing comes because there’s this energy, heat, that’s coming from Lisa (the practitioner). I definitely feel a response to the practitioner’s hands.

It’s a warm sensation, it’s a tingling sensation, it’s very comfortable, it feels very safe.

**This is all very nice and visiting an energy healer should be a warm, comforting experience.”
– From ‘What Is Reiki’ A Short Film

Yet, there is no talk of protection.

If you are not going to protect yourself as a practitioner energetically or protect your client energetically, you are inviting all sorts of negative energies to come into you and/or the client.

It may not be dramatic.

**In fact, much of the time it could be very subtle. It could show up as a bad mood the next day or over the next few days after a session. More than likely the practitioner and client won’t attribute the negative energies to the reiki session.**

Clients and Practitioners…

“When I think about Reiki, it’s really human contact, that reflection of affection, like I was hurt so much that I need that balance of love to be brought back to me.

I was so ready for it, and I couldn’t believe I had waited so long in my life to be able to experience that moment of what it is to have energy healing.

For me, I get these rushes of energy. I practically melted into the table with wonderful relaxation.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I feel like it’s warm, and like someone is hugging me. The weight of the world that you carry on your shoulders is now lying in somebody else’s hands.”Maybe I’m crazy, but I feel like it’s warm, and like someone is hugging me. The weight of the world that you carry on your shoulders is now lying in somebody else’s hands.”
– From ‘What Is Reiki’ A Short Film

**And boom! There it is.

It may seem like just words, but the transfer of the burdens of the client can pass to the practitioner and get attached. You may not believe that, but if you are a provider of any type of energetic work or laying on of hands you know what I’m talking about. I’ve felt it many times, the release of a clients energetic burdens only to be saddled with that energy myself.

After many years of working with my Spiritualist Healer, I finally learned how to protect myself from this unintentional onslaught.

**I have no doubt Reiki helps some people. However, it is hit or miss without a protection request and ritual.**

Clients and Practitioners…

“I’ve never been a follower of mind and body and health, but I don’t think you need to be in order to gain benefit. I know for me, I truly believe it’s helping.

When I first learned Reiki, I was so skeptical.

In this day of modern medicine, why wouldn’t you just take a pill?

Why wouldn’t you just go see your therapist?

But something happens during these Reiki sessions, and I thought, I have to share this.

My friends need this. My family needs this. Everybody needs this.

As the practitioner, I’m honoring your space with your need for healing, and so right now it is working on your heart center.

It’s the place that I have my most sadness. My wife passed away two years ago, so I’ve been going through some tough times. There’s been weeks where I don’t know what I would have done without having some Reiki.

It’s probably the most significant way that we communicate with each other. So as I lay my hands on them and I surround us in this beautiful white light, I feel my heart open up, and I feel their heart open up, and then this energy just flows.

Anybody can learn Reiki. Anybody can do what I’m doing.

I was a special ed teacher and stay-at-home mom. I was cooking meals for my kids and picking up dog poop. But I knew I had the capacity for empathy, and I knew Reiki and sharing it with people was my opportunity.

This is something I need to do. When I explain to people who don’t have any experience with energy, I always say it’s a technique that brings relaxation, stress reduction, and harmony.

We’re going to be practicing feeling energy, and that’s going to be an important part of learning Reiki, because we’re taking energy and we’re using our hands to give it onto a person.

I start at the top, and I work down. We let them know exactly what we’re doing. We’re going to be touching your eyes, your ears. I’m going to cradle your head in my hands, and you ask, is it okay?”
“What is Reiki? – A Short Film”

**OK. This is nice and respectful, but again it doesn’t address the problem of energetic exposure or even outright damage. Most practitioners of reiki really know very little about the human energy system and reiki doesn’t teach much of it.**

AND there is NO mention ever for a need of energetic protection in Reiki.**

Clients and Practitioners…

“Once you start getting that experience, then you can start to trust yourself. And you can really take Reiki to wherever you want to go.

Little by little, we’re spreading Reiki, and if it’s just one person at a time, I’m grateful because it’s more people going out there and using it.

When I went through the initial sessions, I had this unloading of all this stuff that was pent up that I never knew.

That’s what Reiki’s brought into my life, and I’ve been forever grateful and never want to be without it again.

The basic fundamental, be good to one another and be kind to yourself. So that part of Reiki becomes exactly who you are.”
– From “What is Reiki? – A Short Film“

This is great, but it’s not everyone’s experience.

Some people are more energetically (spiritually) protected than others. We really don’t know how another person is feeling and what their energy levels are. If someone’s energy levels are low, reiki can bring a lot of darkness for that person. **I know because I’ve experienced it.**

Clients and Practitioners…

“Really having the love for yourself to allow the space for healing to come in, but then also loving people enough to help heal them.

I feel like that’s a primary ingredient in any type of healing is love. It gives you a sense of not being alone. It’s that human connection. There’s something else that’s there.

I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s helped a great deal. You just have to try it.

As I go to different places to share Reiki, I embraced being more of a leader. And then as I am opening those experiences, I also am growing.”
– From “What is Reiki? – A Short Film“

**Yes, love is important in any energetic healing. A space of non0judgement and compassion are too. However, the feeling of love without the request and intention of protection will not be enough to stop a dark force who sees an opening in a vulnerable energy system.

Can you blame a starving homeless man if he stole a loaf of bread from a bakery if the store was left unattended with the door open? It would be smart to keep the doors locked until someone could tend the store, yes?

That’s what I’m saying. The practitioner is leaving the door wide open in the client’s energy system AND theirs when they do reiki. Reiki in all its form does not consider energetic protection a necessity. In fact, every reiki practitioner I’ve every met has had a very poor understanding of the human energy system, yet often thinks they know more than they do.

This is my personal opinion based on many, many years of direct experience with energy healing work and damage in many forms.

In the end, it’s the lack of protection that make Reiki dangerous for both clients and practitioners.

What the video of the transcript below if you like….