Interesting Facts About Reiki You May Not Know

People around the world seek the healing power of Reiki, and now it is even used in the medical field as a complementary therapy for physical, emotional, and mental ailments.

Reiki is a spiritual philosophy and energy healing practice developed in Japan in the early 20th century by founder Mikao Usui.

Usui was a Tendai Buddhist whose lifelong pursuit of spiritual knowledge and healing techniques took him on a journey into many religious and spiritual traditions, including Shinto, Buddhist and Christian teachings, as well as the study of martial arts.

The most critical moment in Usui’s life occurred on Mount Kurama, a sacred mountain north of Kyoto. After 21 days of fasting and meditation, Usui had a profound experience of spiritual enlightenment, which gave him the knowledge and ability to channel healing energy.

This experience led to the development of a healing system he called “Reiki,” which means “cosmic life energy” or “spiritual energy.” It is based on the wisdom that “cosmic energy” can be channeled to support the body’s natural healing processes. Reiki is an extremely powerful energy and a very gentle form of healing.

We are all already spiritual energy and practicing the Reiki system will help us rediscover this~ french stone

After attaining enlightenment, Usui began offering healing services and teaching his healing methods to others. The practice soon spread and grew in popularity, and is now practiced by millions of practitioners around the world. Although Reiki has evolved into different branches and interpretations over time, the core principles and practices established by Usui remain at the heart of this remarkable healing tradition.

While Reiki has become widely practiced and popular around the world, there are some interesting and unusual facts about this energy healing technique that are not well known and rarely mentioned:

Reiki Discipline

Because most people think of Reiki as a healing technique, people don’t know that Reiki is actually a broader lifestyle philosophy and spiritual practice. Mikao Usui’s original teachings include certain principles for living a beautiful and spiritually aware life, known as the Five Reiki Principles or Precepts, which emphasize kindness, gratitude, and personal and spiritual development. These principles are intended to be ideals that people not only strive to achieve but also live by in their daily lives. The five precepts are:

Just for today, I won’t be angry.
Just for today, I won’t worry.
Just for today, I would be grateful.
Just for today, I will do my job honestly.
Just for today, I will be kind to all living beings.

These principles deserve careful consideration and serve as the basis for personal and spiritual development through the practice of Reiki. They encourage living in the present moment, promoting peace and health in yourself and the world.

Reiki is a gift from the universe to the world. Safe, gentle, and powerful, everyone can learn it easily~ Diane Stein

reiki symbols

Reiki practitioners also use certain symbols to enhance the flow of life energy. These symbols have traditionally been kept secret, revealed only to students who have achieved a certain level of mastery. Each symbol has a specific purpose, such as increasing energy flow, emotional healing, or distance healing.

The number of Reiki symbols and their specific uses vary depending on the Reiki system or tradition. Traditional Usui Reiki has four main symbols:

Zhuo Guli (Strength Symbol) – Used to increase Reiki energy, focus it in specific locations, cleanse negative energies, and provide protection.

Qingheji (Psychic/Emotional Symbol) – This symbol is used for emotional and psychological healing, balance, protection against negative energy, and purification. It can help heal past trauma, calm the mind, and restore emotional balance.

Shaze boy (Distant Healing Symbol) – This symbol transcends time and space, allowing the practitioner to send healing energy to distant individuals as well as past and future events.

Great Gaomiao (Master Symbol) – Used by Reiki Masters, this symbol is considered the most powerful symbol. It is used for soul healing, personal transformation, and to empower other symbols.

In addition to these four main symbols, some Reiki traditions and modern variations have introduced other symbols. These can include symbols for grounding, spiritual healing, or other specific purposes.

distance healing

While Reiki is often practiced through gentle hands-on touch, physical contact is not actually required for the treatment to be effective. Energy can be channeled from a distance and directed to the recipient, even if they are in another room or location.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Reiki is the concept of distance healing, which allows practitioners to send healing energy across time and space. This means that the practitioner can offer Reiki to someone who is not present, and possibly even to past or future situations.

Learning Reiki is not only for healing others, but also for spiritual growth and to be more considerate of the true meaning of life~ Penelope Explore

animals and plants

Reiki treatments or therapies are not limited to human patients. Practitioners can also use Reiki to heal animals and plants. Many pet owners and veterinarians are now using Reiki as a complementary therapy for their animals. Likewise, gardeners and even some farmers use Reiki to promote plant health and growth.

Dr. Bernard Glyde, a biologist at McGill University in Montreal, conducted one of the earliest scientific experiments to study the effects of healing energies, including Reiki, on living organisms. His research, conducted in the 1960s, was one of the pioneering studies in the field of energy medicine and was designed to determine whether healers could have a measurable effect on biological systems.

In one of his famous experiments, Dr. Glide found that mice treated with therapeutic energy healed faster than mice in a control group, suggesting that the healer’s energy can indeed have a positive impact on the healing process. In another study, he found that plants watered with water “treated” by energy healers grew faster than plants watered with untreated water.

These experiments were significant because they were the first attempts to apply scientific methods to the study of healing energy and opened the door to further research in the field of energy medicine.

complementary medicine

Some hospitals and medical facilities around the world have begun integrating Reiki into their patient care services. It is offered as a complementary therapy to help patients manage pain, reduce stress and improve overall health. Reiki is considered a non-invasive, supportive therapy that can work alongside traditional medical treatments. A growing number of health insurance companies around the world are also offering coverage for Reiki and other forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

In 2019, researchers from Harvard University, the University of Arizona, and the Reiki Research Center conducted a large-scale study to determine whether Reiki was effective as a complementary therapy. The primary purpose of this study was to measure the impact of a single Reiki session on physical and mental health in a large sample of people. Results from this multi-center efficacy study show that a single Reiki session can indeed improve multiple variables related to physical and mental health, including improvements in mood, appetite and overall well-being, as well as reductions in anxiety, depression, pain, fatigue, nausea and breathing short.

Reiki Trivia

A large stone in a cemetery in Tokyo, Japan is engraved with the life and teachings of Miko Usui, the founder of Reiki. This memorial stone is engraved with Usui’s life story and Reiki principles and has become a pilgrimage site for Reiki practitioners around the world.

World Reiki Day is celebrated every year on August 15th by Reiki practitioners around the world to commemorate the birth of Reiki founder Mikao Usui. This is a day to share Reiki, promote healing and spread awareness of this energy healing practice.