Expand Your View of Reiki Healing

Most forms of healing, including modern medicine, take the approach that there is a problem and it must be eliminated or relieved. It is typically a very effective means of repairing injury and is helpful in finding and removing the immediate source of imbalance in the body. When we think about healing, it tends to be from this perspective of search and destroy. It is often the only one we have ever known; it is our conditioning. In fact, we tend to think about most things in life in this manner.

There is nothing wrong with this manner of healing. In fact, it is truly necessary and is particularly important in a crisis. This sort of thinking in healing has brought us all manner of treatments that save lives and improve the quality of life for many people. It has brought methods that prevent disease as well. The difficulty is that we can begin to think that something outside of ourselves—a pill, a surgery, a doctor—will have the key to our wellbeing and happiness. We often start to think that we have no role or responsibility in our health. We can even begin to feel that we aren’t capable of making any real impact on our minds, bodies or lives. We place all the power in the hands of others.

However, when we think about Reiki, we need to broaden our understanding of healing. While Reiki can be used to reduce pain, bring support during an illness, or boost the healing process after an injury, this is a limited way of using Reiki. Reiki has the effect of bringing the body and mind into the rest and restore state, which allows us to repair and regenerate. In this state, the mind and body can return to balance. During a Reiki session, we are in a state similar to deep meditation. A lot of clearing and balance can be received simply by resting in this state, especially if one is open to it.

From this state of balance, if we are open to it, we find that even deeper levels of healing are available than the immediate ones we many have felt in our bodies. We can release old emotional wounds more easily, becoming free of the energetic bonds to the past. Our minds can more easily rewire to healthier patterns of thought and behavior. From the balanced and calm state that comes with regular Reiki practice or sessions, limited beliefs can begin to let go so that we can choose a new path. Of course, these things are most likely to occur with people who are ready to be responsible for their own well-being and take steps toward that as they become clear to them. Reiki will not remove one’s ability to choose to remain in resistance or to keep the familiar patterns that feel comfortable and safe.

Recall that Reiki means Universal Life Force. It is the energy that is within and all around us, supporting our life. While most people aren’t even aware of Universal Life Force, Reiki brings that awareness alive in us. We can call upon that energy all the time, to support and enliven our lives more fully in every way. Rather than only calling on Reiki to help us when we are in pain, are sick or have a problem, imagine if we worked with Reiki as the supportive Life Force Energy that it actually is!

To be a Reiki practitioner means to learn to work with and manage energy, especially your own. It is to learn to recognize how Universal Life Force energy moves within you and how you manage that energy within your own life. It is so easy to fall into the pattern of “I have this problem, I will apply Reiki to fix it.” But that is limited thinking. Especially when it comes to our health, it can be more useless than not using Reiki at all. It relinquishes our responsibility and power in our life, giving it away to something we view as being outside ourselves. Reiki is not outside of us, but within us.

Reiki is not like taking an aspirin and your problems go away. It is not a bandage. It offers more than that. While some only receive a Reiki session when they are most in need, Reiki practice offers balance to all. For those who are ready to accept the responsibility, it also offers greater clarity and growth, illuminating the stepping stones on the path, one step at a time.

Article by Angie Webster

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Angie Webster made a significant contribution to the Reiki community, with a particular focus on Animal Reiki, which she had a deep affection for. As a knowledgeable Reiki Master Teacher and Author, she conducted online courses on energy healing, herbalism, flower essences, and personal growth.
She is the author of “Animal Reiki: How it Heals, Teaches & Reconnects Us with Nature” and “Reiki from A to Z”. Currently, Angie has decided to retire from her professional life to devote more time to her health, family, and the little joys of life.