Reiki Ryoho FAQ's Page 4
Question: Can I take just the first level training of Reiki without taking higher levels, and how do I go about finding a teacher? Answer: Reiki, as so often taught outside of Japan (home of Usui - founder of Reiki system), is not (in our opinion) a healing technique. It is a disciplined system of attunements, self-treatment practices, and training to develop greater sensitivity to subtle frequencies of energy. Studying Reiki through all of the levels will help a practitioner to understand what Usui experienced of the energy that he called "Rei ki", and what one can accomplish in his/her life by working with it each day. Then a practitioner can better understand how to explain it to others, and how to teach it to effect great changes in their lives. A practitioner can become attuned to only the first level of Reiki, and with focused mind and practice, can learn to access increasing amounts of energy. But as in any system of study, a practitioner will only have partial understanding without continuing to gain knowledge and practical experience. You also cannot teach other nor pass on the certification if you don't take training through the master level. We think that choosing a teacher (of any discipline) is as important as gather facts about purchasing a used car. A potential student should look for someone who has been practicing Reiki regularly for at least 3 years, and who has been teaching Reiki for several more. A desirable trait of a teacher is one who continues to research and learn more about their system of choice, who is comfortable and thorough at explaining it to non-practitioners. A teacher who lives the principles of what they teach, who utilizes the teachings of the system in their daily encounters with life will be more able to teach you the fullness of a subject than someone who has received the attunement, and only the directions how to pass it to others. You should ask to see a teacher's class materials; a well- planned class, with good support material insures good training for the beginner as well as for practitioners of other similar disciplines. You should ask a teacher if they are available for support/questions long after class is over. Also ask if students are invited to participate in giving treatments to teacher's clients, and attend 'Reiki circles' (practicum). I further suggest making an appointment with a potential teacher, asking questions of their experiences, their reasons for using and teaching Reiki; developing a rapport with a person based on knowledge AND heart... in other words, choose someone based on their experience and your own intuitive sense of 'rightness' for you.
Question: If Reiki is intelligent, then why shouldn't we treat a broken bone or burn. Are distance treatments better than hands-on? Answer: Good question and one I have tried to answer previously. You are correct to want to treat someone with a serious injury as soon as possible, regardless of type of injury/dis-ease. I learned that with broken bones, and especially 'compound fractures' (broken/splintered bones protruding through skin) to not work on such an injury if professional help will be available in a short time period. But a practitioner could work on 'shock' or just help a victim to relax. However, if help is not forthcoming, and if someone knows how to set a broken bone, then it is advisable to attempt this procedure, and then tend to the bleeding (skin wound). If a practitioner has absolutely no first-aid training, or has no idea how to proceed, then the wound should be dressed, pressure applied to stop bleeding, and whatever additional help is required to make the victim comfortable. This last case will probably require a re-break and re-set by a professional when available. I further learned that Reiki will begin to speed up the healing process whenever applied, and it was suggested not to work on a broken bone until it was attended to professionally, then lots of Reiki should be applied, even through a cast. I do not see Reiki as having intelligence, but rather as being a higher vibration (closer to that of Creator), hence, efficacious in any situation/circumstance/condition. But it may not be the Reiki that is 'thinking' about how to deal best with each specific situation/need, but rather the innate knowing of the human body/mind/spirit that utilizes the energy in whatever way is necessary for the condition at hand. Burns are another thing entirely, and dirty hands/cloth should not touch burned skin; rather Reiki should be applied off-body (just above the skin). I personally think that a hands-on treatment can transfer more energy, because (according to my understanding) it would take a well-trained mind to hold attention on the task of sending energy over a distance. Perhaps a practitioner, who has good intention of sending distance energy to another not in close proximity, would not send any or little energy if their mind was focused on her/her own needs/desires/fears. I also think that once a practitioner works at training the mind to be focused (one-pointedness), they will be able to send more energy, hence effecting more change within the target person's being.
Question: Are there any particular cases where Reiki is not recommended to a
client? Answer: There is no imbalance that Reiki would not help, including diabetes. A pacemaker does not need Reiki, but if its battery power was running low, it is virtually possible to give it a small charge to keep it going until it can be replaced under surgical conditions. There are some situations that it might not be advantageous to give treatments: when a person is drunk or near fatal doses of drugs, if a person is extremely toxic and going through major purification, or treating a cancer when the client is receiving radiation and/or chemotherapy. Let me explain my reasoning. In the first case, a person who has consumed great quantities of alcohol or drugs, is going to have to let the body's filtering system slowly eliminate the toxicity levels naturally. If a practitioner is trying to help a drunk/drugged person to stabilize, the Reiki seems to do little to perpetuate a quicker detox. I personally think that the person under the influence has such a scattered energy field that the Reiki gets scattered also, and is less effective because the energy is not capable of accumulating in organs that can help to eliminate the toxic overdose. Reiki will not harm in such a case, but seems to do little to speed up a re-balancing of the system. In the third case, that of a cancer patient receiving chemo and/or radiation, to work on giving life-sustaining energy to cancerous cells will do little good against the stronger, cell-killing effects of chemo/radiation. However, continuing to give a chemo/radiation patient on-going/daily Reiki treatments will help to minimize the known deleterious effects caused by such radical treatments. This included hair-loss, nausea, weight loss, and other bodily reactions from chemo or radiation. And the last situation is the person who is overly toxic ('on-the-edge') of purifying (eliminating the excess toxins through normal processes). An example might be a person who is stressed, taking prescription/over-the-counter drugs to try to keep from 'getting sick', who is eating mainly 'junk food'... a person who feels they can't afford to take down-time in order to allow the natural processes of the body to eliminate the toxic build-up that so desperately requires purification. There seems to be quite a few people who live this kind of lifestyle... they feel the effects of 'something coming on' but do all in their power to maintain an upright position in a stressful surrounding. If these people are given Reiki, the energy will start a 'healing crisis' (purification), and they will have to take some 'down-time' in order to flush the toxicity caused by their lifestyle choices. The only reason not to give Reiki to this kind of person, is not because it would be bad for them... on the contrary... Reiki would help them get through the purification more quickly as opposed to just letting it happen in its own timing. But... such a person would blame the practitioner and Reiki for making them feel worse, for causing them to 'miss life' while they eliminate through every pore and orifice in the body. I can usually spot this personality type, because they seem to tell everyone that they just don't have time to be sick, basically do little to care for their physical body, and look to outside sources to help them to maintain their world of dis-order and chaos.
Question: Is lineage important? I am confused by the creation of teachers and who they claim in their lineage. And what of a student who takes each level from a different teacher... what lineage are they in? Should we only learn from a Grand Master so we can claim a lineage?Published in the April 2001 issue of "The Messenger"
Answer: Lineage is not all that mysterious. In old countries, in the old days, a spiritual discipline was taught by a teacher to his/her students. If the student later became a teacher, teaching the same style and information, this was considered 'in a lineage'. However, if information/style/etc. is changed, then that begins a new lineage, as long as new students continue to hold the teachings sacred without changes. Otherwise the lineage is "one person deep". When a system was found to be worthwhile, then people would seek out the master teaching the information, and if s/he were no longer teaching or living, then a student of the teacher was sought out to give the teaching. Here is where it gets sticky... if information is changed, added to or deleted, then the teaching is considered different, and therefore results of a practice would likely change. It is difficult for many in the world, and it seems more so with Americans, to hold true to ancient traditions, especially if the traditions don't fit their needs or beliefs. So there are many teachers running around the US (yes, and throughout the world as well) who have changed the teachings they have received, but continue to hold to the lineage in general. I think that if we truly understood the importance of lineage, we would not only teach the unchanged information, but also teach to keep the lineage intact, by teaching in the same method we learned. Furthermore, if a student takes Reiki I from one teacher, Reiki II from another, and Reiki III/Mastership from yet another, that student is said to have 3 different lineages. This continues if that student teaches each level as it was taught to him/her. But if the student goes to one of the initiating masters, asks for information/teachings from the other two levels, decides to teach it without changes, then the student/teacher could follow the lineage of his/her master. Truly the lineage thing in the US of A is not strictly followed, and would not stand the test of old world apprenticeship teaching that is held in high regard in other countries. Loosely speaking, if we teach some of the same material we learned from our teacher(s), then we think that we have kept the lineage intact... but not so. It has been determined that Hayashi Sensei did not agree with everything that Usui taught, and changed some of Usui's teachings. Therefore, he started his own lineage. He taught Takata Sensei who took the teachings to the US through Hawaii, and we know that she taught pretty much in the way she learned from Hayashi. But some of Takata's original students changed some of the teachings to be more palatable to their western ways/beliefs, thereby canceling out the lineage. Mistakenly, they continued to claim the Usui-Hayashi-Takata-?? lineage, but in fact, there were new lineages created every time techniques was added/deleted/changed. This is how some of the 'contemporary' lineages have begun... and how a student could only be a few people from the top of a lineage. We have traced our many lineages back to Usui, and it looks like a multi-business organizational chart. I guess lineages only show that someone followed a course of study from beginning to end, and that generally, the teachings are somewhat similar to those they received. One of the difficulties is that much of the original teachings from Japan have been slow in being released to the rest of the world, and what information has escaped has been added to in order to create a full system. Information added has come from Qi Qong, Tantra, Yoga, TCM, and other systems teaching about energy transfer. That doesn't mean that it is Reiki as taught originally by Usui, but we know that he didn't learn it from a teacher, but as a result of gaining 'Satori or enlightenment'. So to create a system of teaching that could be easily understood by others who had not gained enlightenment, Usui borrowed techniques from other older systems. I think this has given the modern teachers the idea that they could add any information from other systems of energy, and they could call it Reiki. But this would be very different from what Usui understood and tried to teach to others. Lastly, the "Grand Master" concept was not claimed by anyone until recent times... so this would come from ego needing to be 'culled' out from the masses as 'more in-the-know' from all others. I suggest to every student of Reiki to keep researching the true beginnings of the system, to uncover those students who learned from one of the early lineage holders, and who continue to teach as s/he leaned it. Then take all of the levels of those teachings, so the lineage would be truly intact.
Question: I am a nurse who uses Reiki often to help the dying to move on with less pain and fear. Strangely, I feel "pulled" towards the dying, even if I don't know them, or if they are not my patients. After giving them Reiki, I feel drained, exhausted, lightheaded, and jittery. Why? 
Answer:I recently helping a friend make her transition, peacefully and without fear... using Reiki. I too experience the same symptoms and more, here is my understanding of why:
From a Reiki perspective one can experience personal imbalance when treating a very sick/dying person:
If an energyworker treats a highly imbalanced person (someone who is about to make their transition qualifies as highly imbalanced) for days in a row without taking necessary time to regenerate their own energy... they will begin to resonate in-kind with the energy of the imbalanced person and will feel 'sick' or imbalanced themselves... until they take the necessary time for themselves to come back to their own energy. This is universal and is something that will happen regardless of the method of energywork done.
One will not take on the disease of the person... but they surely will feel achey, drained, and exhausted and may also feel hyper-sensitive (loud noise, strong oders, or anything extreme may have the effect of over stimulation to the senses). The lightheadedness/dizziness is a result of working with a great volume of energy, as is feeling very thirsty... this is normal as the body is trying to come to its' own balance and integrate or adjust to the new level of energy.
None of this is something to worry about as it usually clears rather quickly... within a day or so of treatment. Just make sure you give yourself the necessary down time to allow your body to come back to its' own natural balance... a day or more. After working intensely 2 - 3 hours a day for 3 days in person, plus 1 hour of distant work for 2 days on my friend, it took me 3 days to completely come back to my own energy.
Working with the critically ill or dying is not something to be taken lightly, it is very hard work and can be extremely draining, physically/energetically, mentally and emotionally; and very rewarding as well. So if you feel drawn to this service, please take the necessary time in-between treatments to take care of you. Rest in a very quiet atmosphere, meditate, drink lots of water, eat small nourishing meals and give yourself daily Reiki treatments of 1 hour or more.
Question: I am 2nd degree reiki channel. The channel has been almost blocked by some very high powered evil energy which I am not able to clear inspite of all my efforts. Why? Answer:There is nothing evil blocking your reiki flow... why would something outside of yourself do such a thing? I see nothing evil in the universe, just Divine Unconditional Love... it is only our perceptions which makes something seem evil or good.
There is nothing in the universe which can harm you... unless you allow it. What do you FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real)... you cannot experience love and fear at the same time. Do you wish Unconditional Love in your life, only you can choose... FEAR or LOVE. If you keep dwelling on the negative, negative will be your reality, if you keep saying evil exists, guess what... it will be very real in your life. Change your thoughts, change your life! Create what you DO want, don't dwell on what you do not want. Create your world in Peace, Love, Happiness, Truth, Light and Wisdom.
Do not give your power away to others, claim it as you own... if you think something outside of yourself is harming you... you have allowed it to and there is a lesson in it for you. Look at your world, at yourself closely and see where you have come out of Divine alignment. Do you... always, in all things, at all times, focus your attention on God/Creator/Goddess... do you allow the fullness of Creator to flow through you. Or have you placed beliefs outside of yourself to someone or something else? Bring it back to self and God... there is nothing outside of this. The Universe continuously rearranges itself to manifest your picture of reality. The world is a mirror for you, it shows you your mind. Make your mind as a Diamond, clear, pure, reflecting perfect "Light".
On your reiki flow, more then likely you have integrated the energy from your second level attunement and no longer feel the same flow. So if you want to feel it again I suggest you do lots and lots of Reiki... do it on yourself a minimum of 1 hour per day... more is better. Work treatments on your family, friends and others... every day, all day when ever possible. Get another attunement to pump up your volume again from your Reiki Teacher, or another Reiki teacher who is willing. Use all of your symbols together... whenever you work Reiki... over and over and over. Keep working, be dedicated and you will see your Reiki flow increase tremendously.
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