Reiki is an energy healing modality of Japanese origin. Modern scientists include Reiki under the category of energy medicine or biofield therapy. “To understand the true nature of the universe, one must think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” says Nikola Tesla a famous inventor and thinker of the previous century.
If you are reading this, I assume that you have an internet connection, through which you are connected to the World Wide Web (www).
Have you ever wondered how this is possible? The physicists amongst you may know for a certainty. People like me think it has something to do with sound and light, waves and particles, and frequencies. (Most of us have heard of frequencies from the FM (short for frequency modulation) broadcasts, as well as the AM and Short-wave channels. They have invented devices that transmit, and reconvert the sound and light waves and bring them back to us as audio-visual media.
You might wonder what this has to do with Reiki.
Our body too is a device that works on frequencies of different energies.
Modern scientists explain the human body in terms of physiological systems, organs, tissues, and cells, breaking them down further into molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, energy, and vibration. They say that everything is made of energy – energy vibrating at different frequencies, classifying the visible portion as plasma, gas, liquid, or solid.
“What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.” ~ Albert Einstein
Human beings too are merely vibrating energy, the difference being that our structure is unique and complex; cells require different frequencies for their functioning.
Our ancient Veda and yoga texts speak of prana, which, having created this universe and everything in it, also makes them function. Our scientists too state that everything in the universe is made of energy; that we are constituted of a gross physical body and subtle bodies. More on this later.
Prana is a term very familiar to all of us, at least in India. “If there is prana in the body it is Shiva (divine), if prana leaves the body, it is shava (corpse) and nobody willingly goes near it.”
This prana is the universal or cosmic energy that takes many forms in the human/animal context and takes care of physiological functions among other things. Just as there is a cardiovascular circulatory system for blood flow, there is a well-defined chakra and nadi system for the flow of prana in the body. Any disruption or obstacle in the system blocks the flow of prana and leads to disease.
We are not just the physical bodies – each individual is made of five sheaths or bodies, the gross physical, the subtle sheaths of vital air, mind, and intellect, and the causal body of bliss. These too are made of energy vibrating at different frequencies, hence the degrees of grossness or subtleness. Each individual is unique due to the differences in the pattern of energy, which is like a unique signature. This, put in very simple terms, is the Pancha Kosha Viveka mentioned in Taittiriya Upanishad.
Let’s understand this. We know the gross physical body – annamaya kosha (so named because the food we eat makes up this body). Imagine now that in the course of a conversation with your friend, she gives you a tight slap on the cheek. Sure, there is a tingling sensation in the affected cheek. But is that all? Where does it hurt? In the heart region? There are many reactions from, “I’ll teach her a lesson she won’t forget in her life”, or, “After all that I have done for her, this is how she treats me”, or show her the other cheek with a smile, to show the audience that you are the victim, all the while planning how to ruin her life”; or keep quiet, mentally thanking her for making you realize that you are wasting your life on petty issues and that you are not making progress on the spiritual path.
The first reaction from your body after the pain is an increase in blood pressure and heavy fast breathing. This is the vital air sheath or the prana maya kosha which controls the functioning of the physiological systems. The incident is played out in the mind again and again. Each time you feel the same emotions. This is the mental/emotional sheath or the manomaya kosha. This is the body that we are interested in.
“We are what we think. All that we are, arises from our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” The Buddha
Our thoughts too are made of energy. The frequency of the energy changes with the thought – the impact of thoughts arising out of lust, anger, greed, jealousy, pride, and their ilk on our body would be different from the impact of thoughts arising out of love, compassion, empathy, and such other positive expressions. The vicious thoughts, however, block the energies and make us ill. Perseverative negative thinking, chronic stress, addictions, and abuse of the body in different ways like over-exercising without sufficient relaxation, all lead to conditions of disease.
The five sheaths of an individual are interconnected and are acutely affected by the change in vibration through the resonance effect. When the vibrations of the manomaya kosha change because of negative thoughts, this affects the vibrations of the other koshas, like the tuning forks. When a tuning fork is struck and brought close to another tuning fork, the second tuning starts vibrating. This is known as resonance.
So now it makes sense to introduce an energy healing/ energy medicine/ biofield therapy… Reiki is a Japanese technique of energy healing – Rei meaning Universal/supreme and ki meaning energy.
Reiki is a healing modality, which works through the body’s energy system. Reiki helps the healing process by repairing, stimulating, and assisting the body’s natural healing mechanism to function perfectly. The inherent disease condition is changed and an environment conducive to the promotion of health is established. This is like a tuning fork of a particular frequency which helps tune another fork to the same frequency. Reiki energy is made of special frequencies that are conducive to the restoration of health. When we use the same energy to clear the blocks using time-tested techniques, it is called energy medicine, biofield therapy, etc.
The most familiar biofield energy-based diagnostic equipment are EEG, ECG, MRI, etc. These use the bioelectromagnetic energy released by the brain, heart, etc. Scientific instruments have revealed that the heart shows the maximum output of energy.
As just discussed, disease originates in the mind. This has been described very well in Yoga Vasishta, where Sage Vasishta explains the concept of health and disease to Lord Rama himself from the position of a guru.
“…we have reached our present state [poor mental and physical health] through perpetual growth of desire and egoism of the mind. Our delusion intensifies and mental disease congeals in us. When the intense desires of a person begin to manifest themselves externally, he performs fearful actions which in turn breed bodily diseases. The body is further subject to diseases through such actions as eating unwholesome food, living in unhealthy places, doing things at unseasonable hours, injuries inflicted, association with the wicked, longing for improper things, evil desires, bad thoughts, etc.”
He also states that these interrupt the flow of vital air throughout the body, causing an accumulation of toxins leading to diseases.
At the physical level, we see the result of the above as cholesterol and blocks in blood vessels, thickening of blood vessels leading to conditions of compromised vascularity, ischemia, strokes, etc. One step before this at the subtle bodies is the blocking of nadis and chakras which result in disease in the physical body. The appearance of symptoms of a disease in the physical body is the last step in the pathogenesis of the disease. Sometimes it becomes too late to heal and the entity prefers to let go of the body and start life afresh through rebirth.
To repeat, the vital energy that flows throughout the body is very closely linked to physical, mental, and spiritual health. Modern medicine has developed only in the last two centuries and is developing very fast. Before that people did fall sick and were indeed treated and cured of many illnesses, injuries, and diseases of the body, mind, and spirit. They had native medicine and natural healing therapies to fall upon. They had good knowledge of the medicinal plants in their surroundings; in addition, most civilizations followed energy medicine of one type or the other. Common to all these healing was the belief in universal energy which governed the functioning of the entire universe, including the inhabitants of the universe. It is this universal or cosmic energy that maintains and controls the functioning of the various systems of the human body too. This energy is known by different names in different cultures – Chi in China, Ki in Japan, Prāna in India, life force energy, etc., to name a few. Many healing systems have evolved around it, which recognize the imbalance and manipulate it to bring back homeostasis, viz., Tai chi, Qigong, Acupuncture, Quantum Healing, Pranic Healing, and Reiki. Physics is now explaining this in terms of the biofield and bio-electromagnetic energies of the body. Many instruments have been devised to observe and measure this energy – the GDV based on Kirlian photography, Acugraph, and a few more such devices.
Ancient India was much ahead in terms of the number of healing therapies and techniques available and the quality of the lives of the people. The word Prāna has been in use since before the Vedic Period and much has been stated in the Vedas and Upanishads about the qualities of Prāna, its healing powers, and essential nature.
Ayurveda and Yoga are not mere healing systems but they are ways of life, following which will help one to maintain and enjoy good health – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
However, everything and everyone in the universe is interconnected; no event is isolated. The whole cosmos is involved in every activity. [Panchagni vidya, Chandogya Upanishad]
Thus it is, that prayers work, as do biofield therapies like Reiki. We tune in to a particular frequency to heal. We type the correct web address to reach a website. That’s how mantras work. They have specific frequencies for specific addresses (expected result)
By the same logic, energies like Reiki work from a distance too. In scientific terms, this has to do with the scalar waves of the energy which can travel unbroken over distances without losing strength.
The list of benefits attributed to Reiki is long and varied. Benefits include balancing the organs and glands and their bodily functions as well as balancing the energies in the body. Adapting to the natural needs of the receiver, the Reiki energy releases blocks and suppressed feelings, relaxes and reduces stress, and relieves pain. Not only does Reiki naturally promote self-healing, but it also heals holistically by focusing on the root cause of the disease, while simultaneously strengthening the immune system. It strengthens the life force energy, enhancing personal awareness, promoting creativity, and strengthening intuition.
