By Luc C Duchesne, PhD

132 Leo Avenue Sault Ste Marie, Ont P6A 3V7 tel. 705 942 6552
 
My first encounter with Reiki healing changed my life unexpectedly. Suzanne, my wife had coerced me into taking a free appointment with a Reiki practitioner who was visiting my workplace as part of a health fair. Begrudgingly I accepted, although it put a hole in my busy schedule as a research scientist. I resented the intrusion.

My first surprise what that the Reike practitioner, her name was Rachel, looked every bit as much a professional as a massage therapist. Tainted by my own prejudice I had expected her to look like an eccentric clairvoyant, or perhaps even a mysterious Gypsy. She explained to me that Reiki is a Japanese word meaning Universal Life Energy which is what she was going to pass along to me.

Rachel was kind enough to overlook my nervousness and she directed me to lie down on a massage table like she had done to hundreds of other patients before. She wrapped me in a thick blanket, dimmed the lights, turned on relaxing music and placed her hands on a my head. Even with my eyes closed I saw a deep purple light that penetrated my body and I felt intense heat radiate from her hands. And suddenly, for the first time in a long while, I was able to forget my burden of fears, duties and commitments. Inexplicably the heat from Rachel's hands had brought me peace in only half an hour.

My only encounter with Rachel turned me into a Reiki junkie. From that moment on, I did everything to get as much Reiki as possible, and I found that Reiki had a powerful effect on me: it made me sleep better, increased my concentration, made me feel calmer, all around happier and more at peace with the world.

Reiki is the gentle laying of hands for healing by transferring life energy to the recipient. Reiki takes advantage of the warmth and energy that radiates from the human body by consciously channeling it into healing through the hands of the practitioner. I discovered by reading several books on the subject that Reiki is widely practiced as a non religious healing art worldwide and is even used in conjunction with modern medicine in several hospitals of the United States.

Reiki can heal various types of medical and psychological conditions ranging from chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, addictions, infections, and possibly some forms of cancer although Reiki cannot change genetic deficiencies. I have learnt from numerous parents that Reiki has helped their children with such medically complicated conditions as autism, cerebral palsy, ADD and ADHD. My scientific background made me doubt such claims, as they sounded too good to be true. But then, six months after I started receiving Reiki regularly I had rid myself of Raynaud's disease which is a circulatory problem that had made my skin and fingers turn white and painful at the first hint of cold for 25 years.

After flirting with Reiki for a few months, I became so fascinated with its healing power that I decided to become a Reiki healer. For this I needed to receive attunements from a teacher at the master level which is the highest level in the Usui Reiki system. The Reike family tree started with Reike master Mikao Usui, a Japanese scholar, who reinvented Reiki in late nineteenth century.

The discovery of modern Reike is a fascinating story by itself. Mikao Usui engaged in a ten year quest to determine how Jesus performed healing. Usui studied both theology and Tibetan Buddhism and he concluded that both Jesus and Buddha used the same healing method though they certainly did not call their healing power Reike. Studying the 25 century old texts of Sanskrit Buddhism, Usui discovered healing formulas that enabled him to heal himself and others, presumably in ways similar to Jesus and Buddha's.

To train as a Reiki master I had to pass four levels of attunement, each of them taking me to deeper levels of introspection and inner peace that I had never thought possible. But the most fascinating and astonishing development was after my first attunement when I realized that I could channel energy through my hands. By performing the proper preparatory steps my hands started radiating intense heat!

My family became the immediate beneficiary of my newly found healing power. My children won't go to sleep before their daily dose of Reiki, whenever there is a scrape or a bump they come to me for Reiki, and when ill they crave the healing and comfort of Reiki. My family has been changed dramatically by Reiki and I can foresee the day when my children will become Reiki practitioners too. Already my nine-year-old son Gabe, has received his first attunement and gives Reiki to the rest of the family.

One of the greatest irony of modern medicine is that it has taken away our ability to heal ourselves as we have become dependant on synthetic drugs together with complicated and expensive technology. However, Reiki healing, which should be practiced as a complement to modern medicine, has empowered my family into a more holistic approach to our health.

Additional reading:

Diane Stein. 1994. Essential Reiki. A complete guide to an ancient healing art. The Crossing Press

Reprinted from The Western Parent, December/January 2002 issue