A Summary of the History and Science behind Reiki

By: Catharine Walkinshaw

Reiki is a form of natural energy healing re-discovered in the late 1800’s by a Japanese educator by the name of Dr. Mikao Usui.  I say “re-discovered” because some form of hands-on energy healing can be traced throughout history and found within many ancient indigenous cultures.  Dr. Usui theorized that this type of healing, performed by spiritual masters such as Buddha and Jesus, could be something learned by others and practiced for the benefit of mankind.  He embarked on a lifelong journey to find the answer. 

He learned how to read Sanscript and was able to decipher ancient Buddhist texts.  There he discovered what he thought was a description of this type of healing.  The legend goes that he then went on a pilgrimage to Mount Kurama, a sacred mountain located outside Kyoto, Japan.  I have been to this mountain and hiked the very trail that Dr. Usui supposedly took.  Along the way, there are several Shinto and Buddhist temples. While on this trek, the legend states that Dr. Usui fasted and had a vision where he was purportedly given the symbols and attunements that allowed him to develop and practice what he called “reiki.”

On the way down, he injured his foot and put his hands on it whereby the injury was supposedly healed.  He returned to his community, quit his job as a teacher (which made him a disgrace in his family and society’s eyes), and opened a clinic.  One of his first students was a Japanese medical doctor by the name of Dr. Hayashi, who developed a reiki healing guide with hand positions for certain specific injuries and diseases.  Dr. Usui passed on the reiki wisdom to Dr. Hayashi before he died.  Dr. Hayashi treated an American Japanese woman by the name of Mrs. Takata, who lived in Hawaii, for a serious medical condition.  When she recovered, she also asked to be taught and attuned to the reiki energy healing methods.  Dr. Hayashi did so and from there reiki has spread throughout the world.  

Currently there are many different ways reiki is practiced and taught across the world.  But the core of reiki remains the same – that of a universal energy that can be transmitted from human to human for physical, mental, and/or spiritual healing. 

Reiki is a Japanese word that roughly translates into “universal life energy.” A person can learn reiki from a Reiki Master, who has received the techniques of reiki from another Reiki Master.  It is only passed on from Master to Student.  Reiki is unique from other forms of energy healing in that there are “attunements” whereby a Reiki Master performs certain, sacred techniques to tune the student’s energy field to become better focused to receive the healing energy. This is similar to when a radio dial is turned to bring in a certain radio station.  A reiki attunement tunes a person’s energy field to focus in on the healing frequencies of that energy (more on this in the section on the science behind reiki below).

Students also learn about the history of reiki and how to use hand positions to funnel the energy through their hands.  Students are taught symbols and how to use them for healing.  These are the symbols that Dr. Usui purportedly received in his vision while on Mount Kurama. Some are Sanscript while others are Japanese characters. Most importantly, students learn how to give reiki to themselves, which immensely helps their own well-being.

Normally reiki is taught in degrees.  The first degree is the longest training and involves attunements and hands on healing practice sessions with oneself as well as others.  Second degree involves more attunements as well as instruction on how to send reiki across time and space, what we call distant reiki.  And third degree/master level training, is further attunements as well as instruction on how to teach reiki to students.  Various forms of reiki modify these trainings in different ways, but all of them generally adhere to this outline.

A good book to get and read is:   Reiki, A Comprehensive Guide by Pamela Miles

The science behind reiki has been studied in a wide variety of methods.  Most of the evidence is anecdotal in nature, which show that reiki treatments help with relaxation and reduce stress, pain, blood pressure, etc., all results from a deep relaxation state, similar to mindfulness or meditation.  Because studying “energy” is so outside the western allopathic medical model, it is difficult to pull concrete evidence directly pointing to reiki’s effectiveness. Most concluded that reiki was beneficial and was not damaging, but were not able to determine if it was a placebo effect or not.

One of the best descriptions I’ve seen about the science of reiki was written by United Kingdom Reiki Master, Tamisha Sabrina.  I have retyped her description verbatim below:

The Science Behind Reiki

What Happens In a Treatment?

Independent research by Dr. Robert Becker and Dr. John Zimmerman during the 1980’s investigated what happens whilst people practice therapies like Reiki. They found that not only do the brain wave patterns of practitioner and receiver become synchronised in the alpha state, characteristic of deep relaxation and meditation, but they pulse in unison with the earth’s magnetic field, known as the Schuman Resonance. During these moments, the biomagnetic field of the practitioner’s hands is at least 1000 times greater than normal, and not as a result of internal body current. Toni Bunell (1997) suggests that the linking of energy fields between practitioner and earth allows the practitioner to draw on the “infinite energy sources“ or “universal energy field” via the Schuman Resonance. Prof. Paul Davies and Dr. John Gribben in The Matter Myth (1991), discuss the quantum physics view of a “living universe” in which everything is connected in a “living web of interdependence.” All of this supports the subjective experience of “oneness” and “expanded consciousness” related by those who regularly receive or self-treat with Reiki.

Zimmerman (1990) in the USA and Seto (1992) in Japan further investigated the large pulsating biomagnetic field that is emitted from the hands of energy practitioners whilst they work. They discovered that the pulses are in the same frequencies as brain waves, and sweep up and down from 0.3 – 30 Hz, focusing mostly in 7 – 8 Hz, alpha state. Independent medical research has shown that this range of frequencies will stimulate healing in the body, with specific frequencies being suitable for different tissues. For example, 2 Hz encourages nerve regeneration, 7 Hz bone growth, 10 Hz ligament mending, and 15 Hz capillary formation. Physiotherapy equipment based on these principles has been designed to aid soft tissue regeneration, and ultra sound technology is commonly used to clear clogged arteries and disintegrate kidney stones. Also, it has been known for many years that placing an electrical coil around a fracture that refuses to mend will stimulate bone growth and repair.

Becker explains that “brain waves” are not confined to the brain but travel throughout the body via the perineural system, the sheaths of connective tissue surrounding all nerves. During treatment, these waves begin as relatively weak pulses in the thalamus of the practitioner’s brain, and gather cumulative strength as they flow to the peripheral nerves of the body including the hands. The same effect is mirrored in the person receiving treatment, and Becker suggests that it is this system more than any other, that regulates injury repair and system rebalance. This highlights one of the special features of Reiki (and similar therapies) – that both practitioner and client receive the benefits of a treatment, which makes it very efficient.

It is interesting to note that Dr. Becker carried out his study on world-wide array of cross-cultural subjects, and no matter what their belief systems or customs, or how opposed to each other their customs were, all tested the same.  Part of Reiki’s growing popularity is that it does not impose a set of beliefs, and can therefore be used by people of any background and faith, or none at all. This neutrality makes it particularly appropriate to a medical or prison setting. Tamisha Sabrina – UK Reiki Federation

A few additional thoughts:

Whether to use Reiki or reiki:

Both are used interchangeably in the media and by reiki practitioners.  I like to see Reiki because it gives the appearance of being a “proper noun.” However, reiki is also used to show it is similar to modalities like acupuncture, massage, etc.

It is possible to feel worse after a reiki treatment. 

Sometimes a person may undergo what we describe as a “healing crisis,” whereby they are so out of balance that they may become ill after a reiki treatment because that is what their energetic body needed to heal.  I’ve had clients who have experienced headaches and/or trembling, for instance.  I also knew another Reiki Master who received a reiki treatment from Mrs. Takata herself and became quite ill afterwards.  Mrs. Takata told her she need to rest and then take a bath, which she did and told me she felt the best she’d felt in years afterwards.

As reiki practitioners, we encourage our reiki clients to commit to a few sessions in a row (at least 3) so that their energy field is cleared and healed completely, or as much as possible. The first may be the most intense, but things improve with the second and the third even more so.

In a reiki treatment, it is the person receiving reiki who is in charge and directs the energy.  All we do as practitioners is to “plug in” with the universal energy field and transmit that to the client.  The client then takes that energy within their being and directs it where it needs to go. This is mostly done subconsciously as a client frequently falls into a deep sleep during a treatment.