For many people, Reiki is a healing art. The art of hands-on healing. Especially when people first turn to a Reiki practitioner seeking help for a physical or emotional ailment or challenge. They think that the laying on of hands will work as a magic wand, taking all their pain and problems away. Ideally, within one session. Few understand that healing is an inside job and our own responsibility. How can I expect to run a marathon when I don’t even run a mile a day?

Now that the global COVID-19 pandemic is changing how Reiki practitioners and teachers share Reiki with their clients and students, we need to take a deeper look at the system of Reiki.

Reiki is a natural, non-invasive healing practice that originated in Japan and promotes self-healing and personal growth through spiritual discipline.

Depending on a Reiki practitioner’s lineage and training, there will be more emphasis on hands-on healing, the precepts, or on the meditation practices within the system of Reiki. To me, the precepts are the foundation and guiding light of Reiki practice:

Just for today

Do not anger

Do not worry

Be humble

Practice this diligently

Be compassionate to yourself and others.

When I can walk through life each day with a little bit less anger, less worry, more gratitude and more compassion, I am in a better place. A better place to choose.

I can tap into Reiki, this life force energy, the flow of life, just where I am and as I am, by becoming present and still. As soon as I connect to the present moment and get out of my thinking-head, I can tune into life, become aligned with my body, mind and energy.

Every time I practice Reiki, I make a conscious choice – and Reiki always gives me what I need, not what I want. As a practitioner and teacher, I know and trust that Reiki is helping my clients and students, because my Reiki practice is helping me in so many ways. But the greatest gift that Reiki is giving me is connection, to myself - and others.

Especially in times like these, when I can’t see my clients for in-person sessions anymore and we have to communicate via screens. By using what we call a distance healing technique, I can connect with others energetically, and support them, even when they are not in the same room or the same country or continent. Regardless of time and space, we can still create a nurturing and healing atmosphere where Reiki can flow and the recipient draw what they need. This technique is taught in Okuden, the hidden teachings of Reiki, also known as second level training.

Here’s something interesting: Historically, during WWII, Japanese families, who practiced the system of Reiki as a homecare remedy, used to connect with their loved ones this way. Sometimes women sent remote Reiki to their husbands, who were soldiers, to give them extra strength or to check if they were still alive.

There are many ways to look at Reiki. I, personally, have found my home within the Japanese system of this spiritual practice, taught and practiced as it was intended by its founder, Mikao Usui. Simple, pure, based on direct experience. The Shibumi International Reiki Association supports and promotes this Japanese art of the system of Reiki. Find out more here.