Interested in learning Reiki, where to start.

[East Winds]

Shesulsa,

Sorry about the keyboard, and I know what you mean about the coke down the nose syndrome. OOOOOOOOH painful:shrug:. From your input, you are clearly not only a very sincere person, but also a knowledgeable one. And "knowledgeable" is where I have the greatest problem with "Do it in a weekend Reiki Masters". I have absolutely no problem with Chi energy and energy channels/chakras. As a taiji practitioner with 18 years practical experience, it took me a very long time to start to "work" with Chi. I do not need "proof" that energies work. (Look at the energies of Taiji). However I do not believe that you can learn to use and manipulate these energies without some serious time and study. That seems to be Reiki's main problem. The majority seem to have ( and I have no empirical proof of this statement) very little "real" knowledge of energies or their manipulation. As I have said on another thread, one of my Taiji teachers was also a Doctor of TCM and he said he spent more time fixing bad Reiki treatments than he did any other type of treatment. (i.e. blocked energy, excess Yang energy etc. etc.).

Anyway thanks for your considered input, it is always appreciated.

Very best wishes

 

[Xue Sheng]

It's not a "I want reiki to be real". I don't care. If it's debunked, it's debunked. It's but one of numerous similar ideas out there that I have the same questions, interest, etc in. Maybe it is real, but most of the folks doing it simply (for whatever reason) don't have the real gift, something I recall hearing about Qigong as well.

That all make sense?

There are a lot of poorly trained and bad Qigong people out there as well, doesn't mean it is fake just that some of those practicing it are.

I have read this post and I have kept my opinion to myself and I do actually have an opinion about reiki (no surprise there) and it is not high. But that is not to say that there are not real, well-trained, successful Reiki people out there. There are a lot of charlatans in TCM in the west as well (many of those are Chinese) and I know from personal experience if you go to a HIGHLY trained and qualified TCM person it works. But then my Taiji sifu use to have to fix people that had gone to very bad TCM people. And my wife has got some pretty amazing stories to tell about that as well.

As to Reiki, at least in my area of the world it is a very quick way to take money from people for doing nothing.

I am going to read the things that Shesulsa suggested and I hope, I really do, that I find there is more to it than I have seen in my area.

There use to be a person on MT, who no longer posts here (sadly), that changed my mind from Reiki is fake to it is possible that the people I have seen are fake but reiki is real if you are PROPERLY trained.

 

[shesulsa]

Been distracted with R/L stuff lately folks - will catch up to this in a couple of days.

 

[Carol]

I too have an issue with the "learn Reiki in a weekend" schlock as well as other people that use Reiki as a way (or along with) pushing some kind of agenda or ulterior motive. Unfortunately there seems to be quite a bit of this in naturopathic/holistic circles. Personally I find that to be extremely repulsive.

I don't think I can change the mind of a doubter or a skeptic, nor do I intend to. My experiences with Reiki are like my martial arts training: I do it for me. It has been an appreciated part of m life. I like what it does for me. It has changed me for the better in many ways.

Reiki to me is not really a health system. I see an opthamologist for my eyes, an orthodontist for my teeth.....and should I be unlucky enough to get hurt or fall very ill, I'd insist on paramedics and EMT's taking me to a hospital, not a Reiki practitioner.

However, when I have seen a Reiki practitioner, the changes she made in my "energy" and how I was feeling were immediate, and permanent. Thats not to say that I haven't gone out of balance again....I have....but not in the same way.

I've had a tiny bit of training. Not very much, I don't even qualify as a level one practitioner. I am not at the point where I feel that I can practice with another person. I did do some practice with my cat, Alex, when he was alive. Did it affect him? He seemed to like it, as my teacher said he would. I generally concentrated on his ribcage.

The day he died, I found out Alex had lung cancer. The cancer was spread all throughout his lungs. My vet said he was shocked at the extent...that he had never seen animals with cancer that bad without the animals showing severe signs of distress, such as coughing up blood, or not being able to breathe. Alex had never shown any signs of respiratory distress, and he passed away in peace. The vet estimates that he may have had the cancer for 2 or 3 years, or longer. I saw the x-rays, I even saw him make a point of showing the x-rays to his part time doctors that helped out at his clinic. I almost wish I hadn't, it was an ugly thing to see. I don't know if doing Reiki on his ribcage had eased any of his distress or not...but I can't help but wonder if it was a possibility...

I don't see my Reiki teacher very often. One one hand, that to me is a testament as to how good her work is....but on the other it means I'm still very much a noob.

That and $2.00 gets ya a Poland Springs at the corner store, and you might even get back some....change. *rimshot*

 

[East Winds]

Carol,

I can fully appreciate what you are saying. I believe that Reiki is a very potent art that can be used to manipulate energies, just as Taiji and Qigong can be used in energy balancing. However, I do not believe that these effects can be trained in a short period or without some serious study of the human body. The TCM doctor and Taiji teacher I talked about also practiced Reiki but said that no one should practice Reiki on another without having at least ten years experience and training. To many, it is an easy access to the "alternative" therapies gravy train. Whilst to others it is an easy and painless way to earn a fast buck.

Just my two pence worth.

Very best wishes

 

[shesulsa]

I'm curious why we are still focusing on the idea that Reiki can supposedly be learned in a weekend, or a few hours? I think it's been agreed upon that it cannot. You can read the book and get the content you need in that period of time but you cannot bring it into your being in that short a period of time.

You can learn a whole form in a few hours. But do you own that form? Memorization is one thing - owning the material is another. If you learned all your rank material in a weekend, would you be ready for promotion? I think not.

So I'll take a moment to reiterate what I stated before - because I think some are missing it.

I don't believe a person can "become a Reiki master" or "practitioner" in a few hours or days. It takes practice like anything else.

There's more to address here, I know, but my time is limited and I'm spreading myself over a few threads here on MT. Will post later today on this. Thanks!

 

[Xue Sheng]

So I'll take a moment to reiterate what I stated before - because I think some are missing it.

I don't believe a person can "become a Reiki master" or "practitioner" in a few hours or days. It takes practice like anything else.

There's more to address here, I know, but my time is limited and I'm spreading myself over a few threads here on MT. Will post later today on this. Thanks!

Actually there is no need to reiterate as far as I am concerned; I understand what you are saying. But the majority of the alleged Reiki practitioners I have come across do not agree with you and lord knows I wish they did.

I see the same exact thing in acupuncture and in TCM and that is mainly being done by people who are MDs already deciding to get into acupuncture on the side. They only need a few short weeks of training and BANG they are an acupuncturist, as opposed to my wife that went to school for 6 years or my Sifu that followed acupuncture Sifu for many years.

And don't get me started on herbology charlatans that run about dispensing herbal like pixy dust

 

[Formosa Neijia]

I can fully appreciate what you are saying. I believe that Reiki is a very potent art that can be used to manipulate energies, just as Taiji and Qigong can be used in energy balancing. However, I do not believe that these effects can be trained in a short period or without some serious study of the human body. The TCM doctor and Taiji teacher I talked about also practiced Reiki but said that no one should practice Reiki on another without having at least ten years experience and training. To many, it is an easy access to the "alternative" therapies gravy train. Whilst to others it is an easy and painless way to earn a fast buck.

I don't do Reiki but I do a form of etheric qigong that is similar to it. It's usually used for qi healing.

One of the reasons they say that you can learn these systems in a few hours is that we already have qi flowing through our bodies, but most people can't feel it. The technique to acquire the feeling seems to be fairly standard and it is possible to "turn it on" in a short time. It took my about 5 times to make it work because I wasn't relaxed enough but when I got it wow. And the feeling was their any time after that I wanted to access it.

So learning doesn't take long. Mastering it is another discussion. But running the energy also isn't harmful so using it on others doesn't tend to be a problem most of the time.

About the "words" these work like mantras. They tend to focus the mind so that negative energy can't enter. You'll find such beliefs throughout many religions.

About reiki specifically, I think the training gets out of hand price-wise in all the levels nonsense but then I haven't been through the training. Some of my friends have done the first few levels and I rely on them for info.

I did have a specific experience with reiki that took me years to process. I wrote about it here:
http://formosaneijia.com/2006/09/07/qi-healing-my-experience/

The main thing that experience taught me was that things beyond the normal boundaries do sometimes work whether we believe in them or not.

The main problem with reiki and other energy healing is that there is no frame of reference in Western society for what it does or how it works. People expect energy healing to knock them over or they go try it after everything else has already failed. At that point, nothing is likely to work.

Finally, I would suggest that people look at a number of different systems that use similar techniques: therapeutic touch, quantum healing, taichi touch, qi healing, all of these are related.

The qi healing DVD by Ken Cohen seems especially good and it ties in with the rest of his qigong system. That's a big bonus because it opens up other possibilities with the qi once you have it.

Peace.

 

[marlon]

Learning reiki is in some sense a misnomer. The level one week end thingy is valid in that it clears one and connects one to the energy in a particular way...then you need to practice. There are the mechanics to learn and sensitivity to be developed before moving to the next level...if ever. the main reiki organization at one time held a very tight control and set fees in vacuum of competion. So, when the natural rebellion against it came about many good things were thrown out with the fee structure including continuing close contact with your teacher and time between levels and the necessity to be told when you were ready for the next level. Of course the inevitable dumbing down of things. Where without explaination and contray to what should be taught at level one "intent" becomes everything and this is where people can do things that more competent energy workers may need to "fix"
level two after sufficint growth at level one can indeed be shown in a week end but a month would be better. However, it takes years to develop this level sufficintly. there is daily work that needs to be done, and understanding that will not simply come on its own, but rather requires specific focus and knowledge and exercises. To be sure it is much less extensive that more traditional asian energy work and can be almost equally beneficial, yet it is not a few slaps on the hands some 'keys' and your done
mastery / level 3 / teaching level is best done as an apprenticiship prgm after years at level 2 and should take a minimum of 6 months to complete, depending on the student. there are, again exercises to learn and things to study and experience to be gained guided by a teacher before one is even attuned to this level let alone completing it.
in the martial arts one wears a belt but has not complerted that level until one goes on to the next belt...this is a good way to think of it I remeber once a gentleman i was speaking with about taiji and qigong touched me on my shoulders and my sternal notch with two of his fingers ended our conversation and then left. About 30 sec. later i ran him down in the hall way to ask him what he did because i was feeling somethin like a liquid warmth flowing through (what i now know as the microcosmic orbit) he congratulated me on noticing the feeling and left. If i would have considered my self to have achieved a level of competency in qi gong because of this i would have been like the reiki masters who learn reiki in a week end. something happened to be sure, but it was a tiny first step that needed much more to amount to anything significant and / or helpful

my thoughts

Marlon