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Health From a Reiki Practitioner's Perspective:
A Process of Empowerment

Marnie McKay

Editor’s Note: This paper constitutes Marnie’s undergraduate magnum opus — so far, anyway. If you’re like me before I read this paper, and don’t know anything about the healing method of Reiki, this is a wonderful, nondaunting way to start learning. Marnie combines her personal experiences with interviews and literature research, which makes the paper a particularly engaging read. For file-size purposes, the paper has been split into four sections. May I remind you that black-on-white prints very nicely?

Acknowledgments

Many health care professionals offered me small bits of guidance or information while I researched this paper. I extend thanks to each and every one. Professor Maddox helped me focus on what I really wanted to learn about and thus improved the quality of this project. I often disagreed with the connections he made between my research and American cultural trends. These conversations helped me gain clarity about what I was observing in my research and in popular culture.

I interviewed two doctors when I first began my research. My focus changed so dramatically from the initial stages of research to the writing process that I chose not to include their perspectives. I would like to thank both of them for their time and insight, which were valuable in helping me decide where to direct my efforts. I would also like to thank the three Reiki practitioners I interviewed for sharing their experiences. J.S. and K.M. also provided helpful tips and clarification while I was writing.

I read and re-read parts of Rosalyn Bruyere’s book Wheels of Light while I wrote this paper. I do not refer to it in the paper, but it provided me with inspiration, clarity, and many ideas to consider.

Many thanks go to my mother and Neema Avashia for reading the work in progress and giving me feedback. I would also like to thank everyone who participated in the Reiki exchanges I attended while I was doing research.

Any errors in the paper are my own.

A Reiki Exchange

The man on the phone said that the Reiki exchange started at seven, and as it was a few minutes after the hour I hurried towards the door, anxious that my tardiness would be disruptive. The outer door was unlocked so I let myself in and went up the staircase to Karen's office. The doors to both rooms were shut and I heard quiet voices behind the door to her treatment room, so I knocked on that one. A woman with short blond hair and a kind face opened the door rather awkwardly from her seat on the floor. I realized that my anxiety had been unnecessary. The four women who had arrived before me were sitting or lying on the floor and chatting informally about their families and work. They greeted me pleasantly and said that yes, this was the Reiki II exchange.

The room was softly lit with lamps and candles burning on shelves and small tables. Some were tall and fat, others had melted down to the last few hours of their existence. To my right was a couch with a white floral slipcover, to my left a bookcase with candles, a small Buddha statue, some books and sheets that Karen uses on her massage table when she treats clients. As this table was absent, I assumed it had been put away to make space for tonight's exchange.

The best way to understand Reiki is to have a practitioner place his hands on you, or to attend a class and receive an attunement. For those people who have not had this experience, I will briefly describe what happens when I channel Reiki. If the person is in the room with me, I place my hands on her shoulders and simply allow the energy to flow through me. I feel very peaceful, I breathe evenly and my body is calm. My hands become warm, and I can feel energy pulsing from my palms, the soles of my feet and throughout my body. The person receiving Reiki usually feels calm and may fall asleep for a few minutes.

If I am sending Reiki to someone who is not in the room with me, I ask that person's higher self for permission to send her Reiki. The answer I receive is a quiet knowing in my heart that I recognize as coming from my spirit or someone else's, not just from my rational mind. If I receive permission, I place my hands on my knees with my palms up and my fingers together. I silently say the name of a symbol three times, and then draw the shape of the symbol in the air with my head. I do the same with two other symbols used in channeling Reiki. If I do not receive permission, I do not send Reiki. At this particular exchange we were sending Reiki to people who were in their homes.

One more woman arrived and sat in a folding chair from the other room, and then Karen arrived. When we had all gathered, each woman mentioned at least one person she knew who was ill and to whom she would like to send Reiki. Most of these people had requested the Reiki and were expecting to receive it this evening, while a few were not aware of the exchange or that we were going to send them Reiki. Karen wrote each person's name and their main ailment on a piece of paper.

Feeling slightly lost, I said that I had not been to a Reiki exchange like this one and I was confused about what was going on. Karen said that she thought I had seemed a little bewildered, and explained that we were going to send Reiki to these people who were ill.

This was different from previous Reiki exchanges I had attended with Karen or with other Reiki Masters. These other exchanges had involved a short meditation, and then each person lay on the table for ten minutes while everyone else placed their hands on the individual to give him a Reiki treatment. When I realized this was not going to happen, I almost left. I was exhausted, hungry and cranky. I understood perfectly well that when I channeled Reiki to someone in the room or elsewhere, I was acting as a channel and was therefore not depleting my own energy. I also understood that when I allowed Reiki to pass through me to heal someone else, it would heal me in the process. Nevertheless, at that time I did not even feel that I had enough energy to act as a channel, and I gave serious consideration to leaving that instant and going straight home to bed. On the other hand, I had driven all the way out to this meeting and it would have been even more frustrating to have made the trip for nothing. So I stayed.

At this point we went around the circle, each saying "I am that I am" three times, and then naming immediate and extended family members as well as pets. This meditation acknowledged that we were healing ourselves and those who had chosen to participate in our healing during our time on the Earth. We then split into two groups with each group sending Reiki to half of the people who were ill. We sent Reiki to one individual at a time. I asked in my heart if I had permission to send Reiki to each person. I do not know if the other women asked formally or not, as some of them had already spoken with the people to whom we were sending Reiki, but it is a basic tenet of healing that each person's higher self, soul, heart, spirit, or whatever name one chooses to give it, knows what is best for his or her healing and it is important that the Reiki practitioner honor that knowing.

At one point the two women in my group said that they thought the person to whom we were sending Reiki would benefit from a violet flame, so they added that to their healing. I had read a little bit about healing with colors but I was not sure of what, exactly, they were doing, so I said nothing and continued to send Reiki. When we had finished the healing sessions with our chosen patients, I told them my reaction to their conversation. They laughed pleasantly and said that it was simply one's intention which sent the violet flame.

When we had finished sending Reiki to each client, the women had some brief discussion of their experience of healing each person. Then Karen asked each of us how much the strength of our flow had increased in return for our gift of healing to those who needed it. To determine this, each woman appeared to rely on an internal knowing or she used a small wooden pendulum.

A pendulum is a tool used for obtaining divine information. If it swings clockwise, the person is receiving an affirmative answer, while if it swings counter-clockwise that is a negative answer. In this case a person would ask "Did my energy flow increase x%?" and vary the percentage until she received an affirmative answer. Wood is preferable to metal or crystal, as the latter two materials are more affected by other energies such as electricity or emotions. The increases ranged from about 30 to 60 percent. One woman said that she felt the energy come right up into her from the Earth.

At the end of the exchange we chatted informally and the women made plans for a New Year's Eve gathering at Pittsburgh's point of the three rivers. At twenty-one I was easily the youngest in the room, the others ranging in age from their thirties to their sixties. While initially I felt slightly out of my league with a group of women who had been working with Reiki and energetic healing much longer than I had, I also felt welcomed and included in their group. I was glad that I had chosen to stay. Before we left for the evening, they shared with me some of their experiences working with Reiki and gave me some tips about using it on myself. More than anything, from all of them I felt a tremendously comforting sense of being supported and mothered.

This healing ritual is part of a larger trend of Americans taking an active role in their health care. Not everyone participating in this trend believes in metaphysical energies such as Reiki. Some people are interested in nutrition, chiropractic care, homeopathy, or in becoming more informed about prescription medicines. Regardless of the discipline, what these people have in common is a belief that their choices and behavior can influence their health. Rather than viewing themselves as completely powerless over frightening diseases that could strike at any moment, they are discovering how much innate ability they have to heal.

To document this changing perspective, I interviewed three Reiki practitioners from the Pittsburgh area. I place these interviews in a larger context of a theme of authentic empowerment that is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S.. The author Gary Zukav has articulated this theme beautifully in his book, The Seat of the Soul.

The thesis of Zukav's book is that throughout human history we have perceived power to be outside of ourselves. We equate power with the ability to "win" an argument with a spouse, possess an attractive body or "win" a war. Also throughout human history we have learned, individually and collectively, that this form of power is an illusion. We feel distant and lonely from our spouse even after we have proved how right we are, our bodies grow old, and the suffering of war makes it difficult to determine what has truly been "won".

Authentic power, on the other hand, is within us. To say that a person is becoming "authentically empowered" means that she is making choices that move her closer to her spirit. Over time she becomes more loving, compassionate and wise. As we begin to learn about authentic power, we value connection to a spouse more than winning a fight, accept our bodies and re-evaluate the costs of war. This does not mean that we never argue, feel ugly or go into battle. It does mean that through such conflicts we strive for peace and healing, rather than allowing anger and fear to control our lives.

When we apply this concept to health care, we see that from the perspective of external power the focus is on suppressing the symptoms of disease. In the United States the patient and health care professional often see the disease entirely as a physical phenomenon, separate from the patient's job, family, beliefs and past experiences. The intention of both parties is usually to try to control the symptoms without making changes in any other areas of the patient's life. This can be done with mainstream medicine or alternative therapies.

From the perspective of authentic empowerment, the focus is on the cause of disease. The intention of the patient is to heal the root of the disease with the assistance of her chosen health care professional. Rather than inconveniences to be suppressed, symptoms are to be listened to and learned from. Physical factors are considered along with her job, family and beliefs. The process of regaining her health is an opportunity to make the changes in her life that will bring more peace and fulfillment than she currently enjoys.

This cultural belief in authentic empowerment is part of the change occurring in the health care system because health care professionals, patients and facilities do not exist in a vacuum. While the tools of modern medicine are useful, by themselves they are not adequate for the many people whose experiences conflict with the philosophy of mainstream health care. Patients are seeking and finding methods of healing that are more consistent with their goals and beliefs. These patients and doctors who share their perspective are, in turn, effecting change within mainstream medicine. Anthropologist Arthur Kleinman has devoted his career to studying the connection between health care and culture.

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