History: Questions and Answers

Q. What is Reiki?
A. Reiki is a universal energy that is intrinsic to all living beings. It is an ancient philosophy and is based on the vibration of healing energy. Reiki is guided by a higher power.

Q. What does Reiki feel like?
A. Some recipients sense warmth or tingling, associated with the Practitioner’s touch for balancing chakras and inviting healing energy to organs, glands and other body tissues.

Q. Does Reiki really work?
A. Yes. Recent research shows that Reiki recipients experience a more integrated mind, body and spirit. Quantitative data indicates an improved relaxation response with Reiki, and qualitative descriptions of its benefits include “peaceful and soothing” (Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2002, Vol. 2, pp. 48-53).

Q. Is Reiki Massage based on both Western and Asian traditions?
A. Yes. It is based on combining Western understanding of anatomy, physiology and psychology with time-tested Asian principles and practices.

Q. Is Reiki Massage more an art than a science?
A. Yes. The practice involves creativity, linking a client’s intention with higher forces. Reiki Massage Practitioners have a commitment to clarify truth, through intention, seeking gentle but efficient ways of achieving the desired state and making connections that are out of the ordinary.

Q. Does Reiki Massage have a religious base?
A. No, it does not have a religious base. Reiki founder, Mikao Usui, was a Buddhist monk and a Christian scholar who respected all faiths. Some people use prayer and Reiki as a spiritual path, but it is not a religion. A sacred part of Reiki Massage, in addition to soulful aspects of the body, is the bioenergetic connection with spirit realms. The combination of Reiki (energy), intention (mind) and soft-tissue manipulation (body) allows one’s spirit to move through and around us in a way that arouses action for the desired outcome and induces a sense of fulfillment.

Q. Is Reiki Massage a form of meditation?
A. Yes, but not in the traditional sense. For the Practitioner, a meditative focus is on hands more than on breath, with intent of healing more than on spiritual enlightenment.

Q. Does a client have to believe in Reiki Massage?
A. No. Mikao Usui asked that people value the health and well being that they receive. One does not have to believe in the power of Reiki, but that would be helpful; just notice that Reiki Massage works.

Q. Does Reiki Massage work on pets and other animals?
A. Yes, because the flow of universal life-force is common to all living creatures.