I guess in some ways I am a bit unique amoung Reiki people as I have experienced different "brands" of Reiki and decided fairly quickly one doesn't need to keep paying for the same thing over and over (if it's universal, it's universal.) I have decided Ki is the energy and Reiki and all the other systems it has spawned are systems of using the energy. I have taken attunements in Reiki, Seichim, SKHM, and Karuna Reiki tm. I am presently taking Tera Mai tm and have planned to take Lightarian Reiki tm also (an add-on to Karuna Reiki tm which is an add-on to Reiki)! To really round out this education, I suppose Radiance Technique and Mari-El might be nice to add. However, none of this really makes a difference as to my ability to channel energy. I did that even before reiki. Really good techniques, however, are being preserved in the different schools. And attunements are wonderful healings. Seems no matter how many you have done, you always get that "thrill" of anticipation, and get a nice cleanse or awakening.How do the different systems compare? Seichim feels lighter or higher somehow. People who see energy report it is blue, while reiki is spring green! (I see all energy as golden or purple)Karuna was very grounding, as if a full charge of electricity went through and caused a major cleanse. I am not comfortable with using it much, it is like high wattage compared to reiki. I do not feel that makes it better; power is not the immediate concern in healing. Healing is. SKHM is more of a crown opener, with a meditative feel to it. I think Tantra and Kundalini yoga practitioners would recognize the energy. It also gave me migraines. Tera Mai felt warm and bubbly and I got the giggles!
What I have come to conclude is that different teachers alter the basic Reiki attunement by intent; different parts of the aura/spiritual bodies get targeted. This causes another cleanse and a slightly different feel which (taken experientially) makes it feel like "new" energy. It is still ki, no matter how it feels!
I did psychic and crystal healings with Native American techniques before doing Reiki. The main difference seems to be that I don't have to "think" so hard when doing Reiki as the acceptee's body will determine what it needs.
As I myself wanted to study more systems, I had to ask, WHY do people (including me) feel they need "more," that there must be "higher levels" or for that matter, why do they WANT "higher levels" (implying spiritual realms and not being as connected to the the physical body) instead of being here in this wonderful physical playground we have? What is wrong with good old Reiki or being in a body? Do we need the add-ons? Is this about prestige (I'm better than you), learning more, or just an attempt to accumulate more power?
I have made some small decisions over the years, in regards to doing Reiki. I am, after all, a minister, with a Christian healing forum. I have to understand what I do, in spiritual and ethical terms, to work with my flock. My stand on ethics seems to also draw Wiccans to me as a teacher. They are always told my particular beliefs before we do an attunement.
As I do not accept doing religious practices with energy work, I do not chant, tone, or overtone. [Matthew 6:7 "but when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." this is taken to mean not to chant-not to repeat syllables over and over-by many Christians. It also refers to prayer by formula or saying certain phrases over and over as a prayer]] One can simply use standard scales or just sing whatever note comes to mind into a "stuck" area (boom it into the chakra-sing directly into it mouth open, the sound made is awww.) My favorite technique is to sing low to high, foot to head and then back down again. Nothing more involved than that has to be done with sound. Healing with sound is not only a Reiki technique. [Barbara Brennan, "Hands of Light",1987.Bantam books,New York,NY pgs 240-241.] I do indeed know some powerful Native American techniques, but would never use them except by permission of the client.
As I do beleive in free will,I do not send energy to anyone who has not asked, and refuse any blanket energies sent to me. This has led me into the realm of "love and light" nazis who would force their energy on me,even say it is good for me! It has been suggested to me by more than one person that I do not have the right to refuse any energy at any time, that if I feel it is negative that is my problem.
I do not know the intent of someone sitting at a computer and "sending energy." They might be fine, or they might have other agendas and be mixing their personal ki or magical properties in with what is sent. It is not good enough to call yourself a lightworker; others should have the right to test you,over time, and decide whether or not to accept energy from you. Discernment is critical whenever we deal with the things of spiritual nature. Reiki is not purely physical; therefore it does fall into a catagory of where we must exercise our judgement as to its spiritual correctness for us.
There are many examples of energetic situations that are unpleasant in everyday life. Most of us dislike the "energy parasites," the sad sacks who hang on to us and drain us dry in so many ways. In a work environment, we can't say "No" out loud! And it is grueling to deal with an "overwhelming" personality. Likewise, calling it a "reiki distance healing" does not stop it from being an energetic interaction. Therefore permission is as important as intent.
To put it in simple terms, how do you know where I am or what I am doing when the energy "hits?" I do not WANT excess energy when working or driving my car. Many of us do not have proper shielding and would not know what had happened if we got one of these energy "bolts." Certainly children, mental patients, and sensitives could be harmed by this. (Mental patients often react very negatively if spiritual healings are done around them. They lack an intact aura and feel way too much.) The answer to this for those of us who care about this issue, is to shield. Simply put your hands in front of your torso-your solar plexus-shove away and say "No, I do not accept this from you!" This simple technique was given to me by Pastor Karl Klein of the Church of Proper Intent.
This lack of ethics, and of intellectual consideration, led me straight into a direct confrontation with one teacher who teaches "heart center openings" and "feel it." Like many on this path, he tells wild stories of his spiritual experiences.
I never base the worth of a teaching method, or a teacher, on undocumentable "experiences." I think watching a teacher for a while, how they deal with their lives, shows you a good deal more about whether or not they have anything of value to teach you. I don't assume I'm special, either, because of "experiences." I assume mostly my brain is filling in details given uncharted areas-part of why we see UFO's by the way!Our brain gives a meaning to the lights in the sky. Spiritual experiences follow patterns (as does insanity-compare the middle ages to now-we express insanity in ways acceptable to the society. In the middle ages, people could wall themselves up in monastaries and have conversations with God, or believe an incubus or succubus was forcing them to have sex. Now our schizophrenics-no longer mystics alas-see demons and other Gods. So we medicate them-put them behind a different kind of wall.)
Tell someone red lights is-Unarians, and that you have talked with Unarians, and soon everyone around is having Unarian experiences. We give form to our experiences in this way.
In the case of Seichim, one of the results of the attunements seems to be the experience of seeing symbols. I cannot tell you how many "new" systems have been formed because of this, when no new symbols were needed. It is not personal revelations of a new or better way, just an experience of Sacred Geometry! Many Seichim teachers went the opposite way and quit using symbols at all, just do attunements and healings by intent. Their energy work "works" too. Now, I am wrestling with how to explain to clients and students much of what they are doing, while seen as "opening to new thought," is ego-driven and delusional (channeling without discernment, experimenting with ritual without a basis in the traditions on the way it is perfomed, working with crystals and giving away your power to the crystals as the "healers," and other currently popular New Age practices). I do not want to attack my students and clients; but allowing false thought (the old therapy technique, beleive in your client no matter what they say) can be harmful in the long run. On the other hand, it also means that I as a teacher have to remain open and non-defensive to allow my students the room to ask questions once the basic core of the class is taught, and make decisions for themselves. This is a Native American tradition; you teach what the student asks about! It is my job as a teacher to facilitate learning, not to control what the student thinks and feels. I am not making Faith copy-cats.
Same thing with Reiki. As the ceremonies altered, as the channelers gave us more "information," we assumed we were dealing with all sorts of new stuff instead of the simple, elegant form of using qi developed by Dr Usui. Meanwhile, really good new information coming out of Japan by Frank Petter [Frank Petter, "Reiki, The Legacy of Dr Usui," 1998, Lotus Light Publications,Wisconsin], Dave King [webpage is located at http://www.reikilinks.com/home/tjreiki/]and others, is changing our view of what reiki is. However, the researchers are being attacked by groups intent on maintaining the control they feel they have; the lies Takata told are being taken as "truth" no matter what.
I am certainly not against experimenting with Reiki, against meditation, against humans getting more comfortable with themselves, or any other way we learn the how to be "more human" and "more divine".
I am against anyone saying they are "the special one" or the "new way." If Reiki works, it has to work for all.
I have spoken with (by email and snail mail) Frank Petter, Kathleen Milner, and Patrick Zeigler. All are engaging people, and we have been able to discuss things without having to agree on everything. I have found many Reiki Masters to be open and friendly people.
But as trademarks and schools have blossomed, open war is occurring in the Reiki community.
I just read that one of Takata's masters made you promise to "earn your living soley from Reiki," a factor in the competitiveness found amoung some Masters. With this vow, they have no CHOICE but to earn their living from Reiki. Thus, we get a schism amoung Reiki practitioners, between those committed to charging large sums and the part-timers or those who do not charge. When you get to root issues such as having shelter and food, people do indeed do whatever they have to to survive. This is an unfortuneate part of the Reiki legacy. According to Frank Petter, Usui himself had a family business which his son took over after he died. This was apparently part of his financial support.[one version of the memorial is available online. http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/roots/memorial.html] This is how he was able to travel and teach Reiki!
People want a life of meaning and connection. Reiki is certainly a path to that! But what I see so often is a wish to use Reiki to replace a spiritual path (ie a religion, a known form) with a formless, no-rules kind of deal that, unfortunately, often leads to a lot of mush. For example, one consistent practice is to "get in touch with your center" or "be heart centered" or "feeling centered. "
The problem with being "heart centered" is that it is unbalanced. If you do not draw from the lower chakras (physical realms) and the upper chakras (spiritual connection and will) and the hands-outward expression in the world- what you have is-a lot of feeling, a lot of ego, and a lot of delusion as the ego grabs this base of operation and runs for all it is worth.
There is a difference between clearing (defined as an emotional response) and being stuck in an never-ending sea of pain! The ancient Hebrews thought of it this way-the heart is the seat of the "evil imagination." What they meant is that there is a seat of focus on God, then there is the human heart, focused on-whatever and wherever! Desires, delusion, fantasies![Mark 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Mark 7:22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: Mark 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.]
The rage for digging up memories of abuse several years ago led to the "false memory syndrome." By feeding the client certain thoughts, by therapists leading them, in hypnotic trance, horrific stories would come out. None of it was true. Families were torn apart as "victims" insisted on apologies. This diminishes the real horror of abuse suffered by so many.
Jesus said that outward forms of cleansing were of no value, that you must change the hearts of men. This is how he taught his disciples to teach [Acts 15:8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; Acts 15:9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.]
Perhaps the next stage of healing is coming about. A stage where we can finally accept ourselves and others as being "ok" no matter how different a path we walk, and committed to doing everything in a balanced way-in all realms of life. Maybe then we will bring forth fruits in the physical world, not just the etheric or spiritual realms.
I pray each and everyone of us can move into using Reiki for positive good in our lives. Look to your own goals instead of comparing yourself to others.