Practising Reiki: Background and Philosophy; Treatment; Therapies

By Jennie Austin

Reiki helps you get rid of toxins and clear the immune system and skin

• Language: English
• Publisher: Geddes and Grosset
• Release date: Jun 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781910680001

Book preview

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Contents

Cover

Title page

Warning

Foreword

Foreword to the Second Edition

June Woods’ Foreword

Foreword to the First Edition

Introduction: A Personal View

Definitions

What is Reiki and What is it Not?

A hands-on healing technique

Spiritual but not religious

Reiki energy – a vital life force

Healing

The three Degrees of Reiki

Lineages

Reiki is versatile

What Reiki is not

Questions and Answers

The Roots of Reiki

An oral tradition

The origins of Reiki as told in the West

Dr Mikaomi Usui

Dr Chijiro Hyashi

Roots of the Western branch

Phyllis Lei Furomoto

The Eastern branch

Dr Mikaomi Usui

Mr Kozo Ogawa and Mr Oishi

The Reiki Principles

Versions of Reiki principles

Working with the principles

The Reiki precepts

Receiving a Treatment with Reiki

Hands-on method

After-effects

Ways of Using Reiki

Reiki in the home

Minor health problems

Gardening

Treating animals with Reiki

Reiki at work

Reiki in hospitals and hospices

Reiki with other healing modalities

Reiki and self-development, awareness and care

Inanimate things

Stress and Reiki

How does stress affect us?

What causes stress?

Guidelines for coping with stress

Step away from stress

Reiki Training

The First Degree

The Second Degree

The Third Degree – Master, Teacher

About the Sacred Symbols of Reiki

There are four Reiki Symbols

The Sacred Symbols

The three Sacred Symbols of the Second Degree

The power symbol

The mental/emotional symbol

The distance healing symbol

The Master Symbol

Preparing Yourself for Initiation into Reiki

What is a Reiki Master?

Choosing a Reiki Master/Teacher

Do you resonate well with this person?

Has this Master the experience to teach you?

What is the Master’s lineage?

What form do the classes take?

How long is the training?

How much will it cost?

Find out what the fee covers

After you finish your training

Will you receive a certificate?

How many people in a single class?

Who will initiate you?

How many initiations will you receive?

Where will the course be held?

Reiki and Money

Guidelines for Giving a Reiki Treatment

A relaxing atmosphere

Eat a light meal

Explain Reiki to the healee

Make the healee feel at ease

Good hygiene

Comfortable Reiki treatment

Creating a sympathetic environment

Ending the treatment

Keep records

Don’t worry the healee unnecessarily

Limitations and Contra-indications

Broken bones

Pain relief can hinder medical diagnosis

Do not use Reiki instead of medical care

Children and animals

Anaesthetics

Guidelines for Being a Practitioner

Rules of practice

Responsibilities

Premises

Reiki Treatments

What a treatment may involve and achieve

Hand positions and sequences

Causes, symptoms and Reiki

Accumulation of Reiki

Healing attunements

Treating the self

Treating others

Seated treatments

Prone treatments

Treating the front

Treating the arms and legs

Treating the back

Ending the treatment

Distance Healing

Receiving distance healing

Sending distance healing

The Physical Body

The skin

The eyes

The nose

The mouth and tongue

The ears

The sinuses

The endocrine system

The skeletal system

The muscular system

The vascular system

The lymphatic system

The neurological system

The digestive system

The respiratory system

The genito-urinary system

The Energy Body

The subtle bodies

The chakras

Enhance Your Reiki Practice

Protection and enhancing

The Kenyoku technique

The Gassho meditation (Gassho Meiso)

The indication of Reiki energy (Reijo-Ho)

Scanning

The breathing technique (Joshin Kokyuu-Ho)

Grids for distance healing

Set up a Reiki Healing grid with crystals

Kotodama

Keeping up with legislation

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Personal Insights

Illnesses

Personal Experiences of Reiki

From the records of Jennie Austin

Children

Animals

Plants

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Recommended Reading

Other Books in this Series

A Guide To Back Pain

A Guide to Diabetes

A Guide to Headaches and Migraines

Healing Foods

Live Longer, Extend Your Life

How to Look Great on any Budget

Positive Thinking, Positive Living

Understanding Phobias

Detox

Yoga and Meditation

Copyright

Warning

Please note:

The author is not medically trained or qualified and neither she nor the publisher take responsibility for the application of the methods described in this book.

Reiki should never be used in place of medical treatment and care.

You should never stop taking or reduce any medication without consulting your doctor.

Fasting or any drastic change in diet should not be undertaken without the advice of your doctor.

Be aware that Reiki can reduce pain and symptoms, and, if going to a doctor, this may hinder accuracy in their diagnosis.

By law, children and animals must receive adequate medical care. Reiki does not count as such, so if either is ill, make sure that they get appropriate medical treatment. Reiki can, however, be used to complement any orthodox treatment received.

Foreword

I am delighted to have had the opportunity to update Practising Reiki. Since the last edition, Usui Reiki has expanded amazingly.

Dr Usui formulated the Usui System of Natural Healing around his culture and knowledge and created quite a detailed system which included specific formulas for treating certain ailments. We had been led to believe that this had all been lost when it came to the West and that we had replaced the many hand positions that Dr Usui offered for the simplified version of around twelve positions. But then I recalled my First Degree training. I was initiated by Anne Keltie, who had been initiated by Barbara Rae, who had been initiated by Mrs Takata. When the Takata-initiated Masters went their separate ways, Barbara Rae named her form as ‘The Radiance Technique’. We were given a comprehensive manual with guidance on how to do many specific treatments.

For my Second and Master/Teacher Degrees I was initiated by June Woods and these degrees were very much more simple, as many forms have become. I attended a weekend Masters Gathering with Phyllis Furomoto (Mrs Takata’s Grandaughter) and there, the ways we were taught to use Reiki and the presentation were very much on the basic side.

Now do you feel that ‘losing’ all the Dr Usui details was a bad thing? Or do you look on it as an opportunity that nudged us to intrepidly explore the unknown, hoping for guidance and inspiration, or just making it up as we trod our Reiki paths? That does sound a bit haphazard, but every cloud has a silver lining. We could have just trundled along rigidly using the methods that Dr Usui gifted to the system and stood still. (Just go back a couple of decades and see how medicine has evolved and what discoveries have been made that save lives.) Dr Usui gave us a wonderful system, and we have the opportunity to help it evolve into something even more wonderful.We have now had the opportunity to get the best of both worlds.

Worldwide, Reiki has come to manifest in many forms and varieties to suit just about all requirements and preferences. Sadly, there are some that claim their way is the only way and deride others’ forms. I have had several people contact me to say that what I suggest in my book is wrong. Their Master says so. My benchmark is Does it work? If it does the job without harm then that sounds right to me.

We have to ask ‘what is Reiki?’, ‘what is it for?’. It is a system of accessing the wonderful Universal Life Force that is ‘out there’ for us to use for our (as in all of Earths inhabitants) support and good. To use it to heal and bring harmony in our lives and our Universe. There is more than one recipe and method of cooking that can make a yummy cake, and so it is with Reiki.

Our decades of exploration in Reiki have widened its vista and now we have not only Dr Usui’s Reiki, we also have an abundance of other Reiki healing systems and formats, giving us so much more scope to heal our very wounded planet and its inhabitants. Many of these systems have their roots in and were inspired by Dr Usui’s system. Thank you Doctor Usui.

A new chapter has a few useful updates and tools, some of which were in Dr Usui’s original syllabus. These were mainly brought to the West by Frank Ajarva-Petta. You will find his book titles in the Bibliography.

These extras include scanning, healing grids, some Japanese techniques, about the Kotodama and how Reiki is being regulated in the UK. These are to let you know what there is, so that you can research further and expand your knowledge. There is more than enough to write another book, but others have already done that!

I would like to give thanks to Roy for his everlasting patience and support while I have been scripting the changes and updates of this edition. Thanks also to all my students and Reiki Colleges who share experiences and counsel with me, and to those who contribute to our Distance Healing Teamwork. You make a difference. Reiki Blessings for you all.

Jennie Austin, 2014

www.jennieaustin.com

Foreword to the Second Edition

Welcome to the bigger edition of Practising Reiki. It is ten years since I tapped out Practising Reiki on my computer. Since then the world has changed and evolved at an amazing speed and Reiki has not been left behind. Back then there was very little information in the West and, what there was, was passed on by a scattering of Masters and a few books. Now there is an abundance of Teaching Masters and shelves in shops creak under the weight of books covering a huge range of approaches. These have come about through mankind’s ability to imagine and manifest.

Practising Reiki still offers the basics, and I trust that it will continue to provide the foundations for those to come, to inspire them to imagine and manifest to keep up with the need for Reiki on our planet and for its inhabitants.

I would like to thank all those who have taken time to write to me and apologies if you had to wait for an answer. Also thanks to all the Master Teachers who have chosen to give copies of Practising Reiki to their students and to those who have taken it worldwide.

I now have a website where you can keep up with developments and find my up-to-date contact details.

The blessings of Reiki to you, with love,

Jennie Austin

Reiki Master

June Woods’ Foreword

I am delighted to write a few words for this publication. As Jennie’s Master/Teacher, I had the privilege of initiating her to the Reiki Second and Third Master Degree levels of this wonderfully simple healing process. So many books have been written from many different pathways of training. We have often discussed the need for a very simple form of book that would be clearly understood by the general public – to inform the many who are now forming an interest in alternative therapies. Everyone has the potential to become a healing channel for this beautiful universal energy, and has the basic requirements to attain this. Jennie herself is a dedicated therapist with many skills learnt over many years, including aromatherapy, reflexology, Bach flower remedies and electro-crystal therapy, but, as she says, the Reiki energy is present within any other form of healing. When you have received the initiations, this energy is always within you, for self-healing and as a channel to share with others. You will hear of the many results that have been of benefit to those who have received a healing session from those who have committed to helping their fellow beings. With love and blessings,

June Woods

Reiki Master

Foreword to the First Edition

This book does not set out to be a definitive work on Reiki, but is an introductory guide. It is a starting place, a place of introduction. Reiki is a constant, yet its presentation comes in diverse forms as do the humans that work with it. My aim is to present a taster of some of the options, and hope that, for those who know nothing about it, it will inspire them to join the many who are already benefiting from Reiki. It will perhaps set them on their way to finding the path that suits them. For those who already know Reiki, I hope many will find what I have written pleasing. If they don’t, I hope that it offers them a view of wider horizons while clarifying and reinforcing their personal expression of Reiki.

Reading this book, and working with the methods and sequences within, does not enable you to channel Reiki. To do this you need to be trained and attuned by a Master. But don’tletthisputyouoff. Therearemany Mastersandtraining centres about and the training is not difficult. We all have to start somewhere, and if this book is your first contact with Reiki, may I welcome you wholeheartedly and hope that you will benefit from Reiki as much as I have and continue to do, whether as a patient or as an initiated Reiki-ist.

To you all, happy reading, and the blessings of Reiki,

Jennie Austin

Reiki Master

Introduction: A Personal View

I have been working with complementary therapies since 1983, when I came to them initially as a patient, and being so impressed with their approach and effects I went on over the years to qualify in aromatherapy, reflexology, electro-crystal therapy, the Bach flower remedies, and to study in-depth shiatsu, hypnotherapy, radionics, counselling, nutrition and Feng Shui. When I realised the massive potential of these therapies, especially in the areas of self-help, I decided to train as a Teacher. Since I qualified I have taught many people how to use these therapies for themselves, their friends and family, and some to work professionally. This has been a privilege and has brought me much satisfaction and fulfilment for which I give unending thanks.

As I explored various therapies I became aware of the importance of vibrational energies – the invisible energies, that mystics have always known were there, but that science could not quantify and so did not acknowledge. As science is growing up (it is only a baby really as far as time is concerned), it too is acknowledging that there is more to us, life, our planet etc, than purely empirical things and forces that can be registered on instruments.

Reiki joined me on my path of life in l988. Like so many others I came upon it by chance. (Is there such a thing as chance?) I saw an advert in the local newspaper for a talk. I went, not knowing what Reiki was but feeling an undeniable urge to attend. By the weekend I had been initiated into the First Degree of Reiki. I never questioned my unsubstantiated decision to do the course, there really did not seem to be any need to. I just knew that it was my next step.

It did not make massive changes in my life. It did not rock the universe for me – yet, in hindsight, I can see how the pace and character of my life altered. It carried me through change, supported me during what was already a very stressful time, and supplied me with insights that made even the challenges fulfilling. I like to have proof, and although I wanted to believe Reiki could be all that was suggested on the course, I was at that time not allowing my sensitivity a free rein. It all seemed too good to be true. I had been raised in an atmosphere of discipline and tangible fact, and of not challenging my elders and betters. Reiki was a bit far out of the accepted format, it seemed to defy logic, yet for me it manifested all my childhood suspicions that there was more to life than we were being told about. I mixed with people who implied that if I was any sort of a therapist or healer, then I didn’t need to have Reiki. So I went underground with my Reiki. I trundled on, on the face of it working without Reiki, yet adding Reiki to everything that I did, using both belt and braces. Any good effects it might have had were met with the response: ‘Well, that might have happened anyway!’

My ‘betters’(?) were telling me that it didn’t count, so who was I to challenge them? I continued to give Reiki the benefit of the doubt, applying Reiki energy here, there and anywhere just in case Reiki was really working. I – though I should say we (Reiki and I) – had successes, but if you are a doubting Thomas it is surprising how you can explain things away.

Then, Cathleen, a neighbour, said she was going to do Reiki. Her enthusiasm was contagious. At last someone that I respected had confirmed what I believed in. I started to be more diligent about my self-treatments, and found they made such a difference that I wanted to kick myself for having allowed myself to be influenced by others, and having wasted several years not benefiting from Reiki as much as I could have. I still had no desire to progress to the Second Degree, finding the First Degree wonderful to use in my work as a complementary health practitioner, especially now that I had ‘come out’. However, I was not to be allowed to stand still. Cathleen was so impressed with Reiki that she went on to do her Second Degree. Then she asked me to work with her and another friend in a healing centre, which I eagerly agreed to do. That was when I found I could no longer leave Reiki on the back burner. At this point I was still not interested in going any further in my training (which is not like me; I usually like the challenge of things new with little patience for having to wait). However, I believe that this slow progression stood me in good stead, and that the slow assimilation of Reiki has given me a deep knowledge and experience of it, that I would not have got had I rushed into it.

Finally, in 1994, a Second-Degree training weekend came up, and I couldn’t find an excuse for not doing it. My First-Degree initiation had been so subtle, that at the time I sensed nothing, and just had to accept my Master’s word that it had worked. It is only in hindsight that I can recognise its full impact. But my Second Degree nearly blew my socks off! It was all the more astounding as I had not had any expectations. Of course I then went into overdrive, and wanted to be a Master. Already being a Teacher, I wanted to share this with others, and now I thank my Master, June Woods, for her wisdom, as despite my nagging, whingeing, feeling hard done by, and threats of finding another Master who would initiate me, she advised me to wait. Eventually just over a year later, she initiated me – and of course the time was just right. The bonus was that I learnt the importance