Reiki
Reiki is a structured system of energy healing developed in Japan in the early twentieth century by Mikao Usui, based on his study of ancient Buddhist and Shinto healing texts combined with his own meditative experiences on Mount Kurama. The word combines the Japanese characters for rei, meaning universal or spiritual, and ki, meaning life force energy — the same concept expressed as chi in Chinese medicine or prana in Ayurvedic tradition. Reiki practice involves the attuned practitioner channeling universal life energy through their hands to the recipient, either through light touch or by holding the hands slightly above the body, systematically addressing each of the major energy centers and anatomical regions in a structured sequence of hand positions. What distinguishes Reiki from informal energy healing is the attunement process: students receive initiations from a qualified Reiki master that are held to open and permanently expand the practitioner's capacity to channel ki, making the energy available at a consistently higher flow rate than individual development alone produces. Reiki is now practiced in thousands of hospitals worldwide as a complementary therapy for pain management, anxiety reduction, and post-surgical recovery, with a growing clinical evidence base from randomized controlled trials. The system is organized into three primary levels: Reiki I establishes self-healing capacity, Reiki II introduces distance healing and the three traditional symbols, and Reiki III or Master level enables attunement of others.
Signs You Have This Ability
- 1
Your hands consistently produce heat and tingling that others feel during touch or even before physical contact is made
- 2
You have an intuitive knowledge of where in a person's body energy is blocked or depleted before conducting any formal assessment
- 3
People fall into deep relaxation and sometimes sleep within minutes of receiving your touch or energetic attention
- 4
You feel an energetic pull or repulsion from different areas of a body you are working with that guides your hand placement independent of the standard protocol
- 5
Following attunement to Reiki your own health, emotional clarity, and perceptual sensitivity increased markedly
How to Develop Reiki
Receive a Reiki I attunement from a qualified teacher before attempting to practice on others — the attunement is considered essential to establish the channel. After Reiki I, practice daily self-treatment for at least thirty days to integrate the attunement and develop sensitivity to your own energy field before working on others. Receive Reiki II after developing confidence and seeking to add distance healing and the traditional symbols. Maintain your own regular practice, clearing sessions, and self-treatment regardless of your level, as personal energetic hygiene is foundational to effective work.
Notable Practitioners & Historical Context
Hawayo Takata, a Hawaiian woman of Japanese descent who brought Reiki from Japan to the West in the late 1930s, is credited with training twenty-two Reiki masters before her death in 1980 — the lineage through which essentially all Western Reiki practitioners today trace their attunement.
Discover Your Psychic Gifts
Unsure which psychic abilities you carry? A gifted psychic reader can identify your strongest innate channels and give you a personalised development roadmap.
Talk to a PsychicFirst 5 Minutes Free