Prior to learning Reiki I thought that it was an energy healing treatment that would bring the body into balance and harmonise it, enabling it to heal itself. I had seen it on the treatment lists of holistic therapists and it was only within this context that I had ever seen it offered. Even when I attended my Reiki 1 course I didn’t really understand Reiki’s potential for personal development as I was very motivated by the idea of treating other people with Reiki.

How Reiki was introduced to the western world
This emphasis on Reiki as a complementary therapy has a lot to do with the way Mrs.Takata, the person who introduced Reiki to the Western world, introduced the techniques. She was very aware that a practice that had it’s origins within Buddhism, Shintoism and Shugendo was possibly not going to be well received by a largely conservatively Christian America at the time that she introduced Reiki to the West.

So the spiritual and self development practices and meditations were played down and the emphasis was placed on it’s benefits as a treatment. Mikao Usui, the person who developed the system of Reiki, was presented to the world as a Christian doctor and Reiki was taught as a complementary therapy.

Original Japanese techniques
It is only in the last twenty years or so that within some Reiki lineages the original Japanese techniques have begun to be taught, thanks largely to the information that Chris Marsh has shared following a meeting with an original student of Mikao Usui, Suzuki San, who also introduced him to further students of Usui.

We now know that it was originally taught as a spiritual practice combining energy work and meditation and that the purpose was self development, self healing and enlightenment. His students would meet regularly with him to receive teachings, empowerments and to follow the practice together.

Reiki practices for self development

This is now the Reiki practice that I follow; I do treat others and this is an important part of my Reiki practice but it is certainly not my only or main focus. The commitment to a daily practice of energy exercises and meditations, following the Reiki precepts, receiving and giving empowerments, practising mindfulness and compassion is the part of the Reiki system that has had the most powerful impact on my life.

I believe it has slowed me down, calmed me down, made me less reactive to stressful situations, helped me give up smoking, helped me sleep better, helped me make better choices in the way I respond to people and situations. This in turn has made my life much more positive and it has ultimately led me down a path where I now teach other people how to incorporate these practices into their life and potentially reap the same benefits.

Impact of self development
I think that self development has an impact on your immediate world and that this then ripples out; chaos theory or the butterfly effect. We are all connected and one person taking responsibility for themselves and the quality of their life has huge potential for creating beneficial change, on a small or large scale for other people.

Therefore working on the self can mean you are also treating others and vice versa, treating others means you too are receiving healing. So Reiki is both a complementary therapy and a self development practice but learning about and using all the aspects of the system of Reiki deepens it’s capacity to change your own and other’s lives.