Can Anyone Be a Healer?

Article by Angie Webster

I love practicing Reiki. I love the feeling of the healing energy running through me. I love the feeling of deep spiritual connection with another. I love being a conduit for healing.

When I first decided to be trained in energy medicine, it was not because I didn’t know how to heal. It was because I was fascinated with the fact that I already could. I wanted to learn more about this healing process of intention and energy. I also desperately wanted some validation through the learning process and credentials that came with Reiki training.

Now that I am part of the Reiki community, I am often surprised at how many of us had experiences with healing others before ever hearing of Reiki. It seems many people have known they were able to heal since childhood and practiced this rather instinctively, especially with animals. Many of us have also noticed that we are often aware when someone is ill simply by sensing it, and some know precisely what is wrong.

Can we all heal? Even without special training or attunements? Hands-on- healing goes back to the dawn of man. Humans have known to direct life force energy since prehistoric times, long before the term Reiki was used. The techniques used vary somewhat, but there are many striking similarities. And clearly all these techniques direct the flow of energy, open restricted pathways and promote total healing.

Reiki teachings don’t dispute that we all have the ability to heal. Anyone can learn Reiki. But what is the difference between our own innate ability and Reiki? I believe it is our openness and willingness to accept the healing process, in ourselves and others.

Healing is completely natural. However, many of us become closed to our ability to heal as we are socialized. This is particularly true in Western society. This keeps us from using it and in some cases teaches us that it is wrong to believe we can heal. It keeps us from accepting it even when we do heal.

Reiki teaches a certain set of hand positions and techniques that can facilitate the healing process. But more than anything, Reiki is the direction of loving intention, allowing the life force energy to flow unimpeded wherever it is most needed. Techniques and hand positions may vary from teacher to teacher, but this key element stays the same.

In order for us to approach Reiki and learn more about it, we open ourselves up to possibilities in healing. We are willing to seek and know that which is already part of us, even if we haven’t recognized it yet. The attunements open our energy pathways (and therefore our minds) even further, allowing us to more easily be a conduit to heal ourselves and others. Even disbelievers in life force energy will feel the difference this makes. Attunement is a very deep healing. In the process of this intense healing, we reawaken to our natural state of health, healing and harmony.

Healing seems to be an instinctive response that we all carry, but many learn to suppress. Through the attunement process, we are able to become aware of the healing that is possible with the direction of the life force energy. It seems that humans have always shared this understanding through various methods of transmission and attunement, awakening those who are ready to understand.

The fact that so many cultures throughout history have had energy healing methods indicates that some people are naturally able to do this work and open others to their own abilities. Dr. Usui is a more recent example of someone who did not need attunement in order to heal and to transmit this knowledge to others. Reiki attunement is a pathway to realignment with what is already within us. I do not believe it is the only pathway. In the end, it is the healing that the world needs. The healing matters more than the name we choose to call it by or how we came to understand it.

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.