Using Reiki on Energy Meridians

Article by Liz Rowlands

Reiki purists insist that knowledge of the body’s energy system is not required when giving Reiki as the Reiki energy will flow into the body where it is needed and this is indeed true. But it is now over 100 years since Dr Usui brought Reiki through again to this planet and people are generally better educated and have vastly more knowledge of biology, physiology, physics and other sciences and find it interesting to understand what is happening when Reiki is given.

Due to the popularity of yoga many people, including Reiki practitioners, are now familiar with the chakra system of body energy and how these energy centres interact and affect the surrounding organs and their health. It can enhance your understanding when you work, intuitively or not, with Reiki. Similarly, learning about the energy pathways or meridians that ‘join up’ the chakras and distribute energy to every cell of the body can be helpful.

There is a lot of information on the web and in books about the traditional Chinese system of the energy meridians of the body so I am only going to very briefly outline the system. There are 12 major meridians – Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, Spleen, Heart, Small Intestine, Bladder, Kidney, Pericardium (Circulation Sex), Triple Warmer (Triple Heater or Thyroid), Gall Bladder and Liver. Each major meridian is paired so that the system is symmetrical on each side of the body. There are also a Central (Conception) meridian and a Governing meridian that run between the perineum and mouth on the front and back of the body respectively.

When there is a malfunction or blockage on a meridian then, as with chakras, ill health manifests but where it manifests is more complicated as the problem can lie on any part of the meridian which can have a strange inexplicable pathway. For example, the Gall Bladder meridian runs between the outer edge of the eyebrows to the fourth toe but in between weaves around the ears, up to the top of the head, down the neck and shoulders, curving round to the front of the ribcage then back at the waist, forward on the hips and down the outside of the legs. So disruption to the energy flow may result in headaches, migraine, pain in the jaw and outer corner of the eyes, ear problems, dizziness, pain in the hip, jaundice, nausea, bitterness in the mouth, frequent sighing and emotional rage and anger.

Personally, I found that it was nigh on impossible to remember all the pathways and which way they ran when I first started using my knowledge of meridians along with that I had about chakras.

Sometimes using your thinking brain too much interferes with the flow of Reiki as you tend to tense up and it is best to be relaxed. Then I was inspired to look again at the meridians and realised that the Central and Governing meridians are close together at the tip of the tongue and the roof of the mouth so I could just treat the mouth area. The other major meridians flow through either the ankles or the wrists. It is so SIMPLE, I channelled Reiki at the mouth, wrists and ankles with the intention of clearing any blocks to create an energy system with all parts communicating and flowing freely. I didn’t even need to know which way the meridian flowed as the intelligent Reiki energy and the body’s own innate intelligence sorted this automatically for me. I could feel the energy flow improving immediately.

As I became more relaxed and familiar with the system I started also working on the individual fingers, toes and ball of foot where the meridian pathways start or end, again with intention. At first I used to treat each individual toe or finger but then I used a pendulum that I had programmed to indicate if a meridian was flowing properly or not to speed up the process. As I became more familiar with the feel of meridian energy I could then tell instinctively which pathway was not flowing and only needed to treat those that were compromised.

A few months ago I came across a Reiki discussion forum on LinkedIn where Daphne Struve generously mentioned that she used Reiki symbols on meridians. This took my idea to a new level of focus and I started using the Power symbol (CKR) and if that didn’t work I used the Emotional Harmony symbol (SHK) and then if that didn’t have any effect I used the Distance symbol (HSZSN). The effects are immediate and very powerful.

Recently, at a Reiki share I had organised I was told by my guides to ask the Reiki practitioner to put one hand on the person’s right hip on the right Gall Bladder meridian line and the other hand on the left just under the ribs again on the Gall Bladder meridian, but this time the left one. There was an immediate shift of energy and improved flow and I realised that of course both left and right meridians have to communicate at times which is achieved by something called the Strange Flows, shifting energy pathways that come into action to coordinate and redistribute energy when needed. It was one of those times and interestingly the person being treated developed a pain at the side of her head near the outer corner of her eye which we then cleared. It was great confirmation to me that using this type of knowledge is valuable and it produces such quick results.

I am still learning this process but I sincerely hope that reading this account inspires you to experiment and try this for yourself.

I used various sources for my learning but mainly ‘Energy Medicine’ by Donna Eden; ‘The Subtle Body’ by Cyndi Dale, information provided by my Tai Chi teacher, Thalia Sayer and a website natural-health-zone.com

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Liz Rowlands is a Master Teacher of Usui Reiki, Angel Reiki and Magnified Healing along with qualifications in Crystal healing, Bach Flower Essences and hand, arm, leg and foot massage. For the past year Liz has been working with the Ascended Master St Germain and the new Violet Flame Chakra, channelling new healing Rescue Flames. For the last four years Liz has worked as a volunteer therapist at a local hospice for the dying and long term ill giving Reiki and hand massage.