The basic philosophy of Reiki is based on the holistic principle that a healthy mind, body and spirit support one another and all three must be healthy and in balance for a person to be "whole" and balanced.
Many think of Reiki as the "healing" practice or modality and leave it at that. But for others, Reiki becomes a spiritual path and way of life.
Although in the Western world Reiki is taught as primarily a way to heal oneself and others, Reiki is much more than a natural healing system. Reiki is also a way of life, a way of thinking and perceiving designed to help the individual along their path of spiritual development. Whatever the individual’s personal beliefs and/or religion, Reiki is designed to be a positive and inspirational supplement to other spiritual practices.
The following is an excerpt from the book, "Reiki, A Way of Life" by Patricia Rose Upczak
Reiki (ray-key) is an ancient healing art that helps one's body balance its own energy and heal itself. The purpose and goal of Reiki is to help people balance their lives physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Reiki has been a transformative, powerful healing tool for me and has enabled me to discover the endless mysteries in life. There is so much to learn and explore. As human beings we can get stuck in the struggles of everyday life. The mundane can wear us down, but as spiritual beings having a human experience we can look at life from a different perspective.
Studying Reiki helps us to find the inner peace needed to gain this perspective. Through Reiki we can learn to live a life of expectedness, as opposed to a life of apprehension or negativity. We are pulled towards our destines through circumstances and synchronicities. Our job is to pay attention and take action when the timing feels intuitively feels right to us. Reiki helps us do that. It is not a religious belief. People from all walks of life use Reiki as a part of everyday life. I was a teacher of learning disabled adolescents for 25 years and it helped me with my students on a daily basis. Reiki helps us become clear channels of energy and light. You don't have to be special to do Reiki well - just take a Reiki class and start healing yourself naturally, physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
One of the techniques I offer my Reiki students to visualize this force or energy is to imagine a divine ocean that is an enormous source of loving power. If we can imagine that we are tiny drops in this ocean and that each one of us is a spark within the whole. Every action we take has an impact on the rest of the Universe.
The main focus of Reiki helps us become aware of and heal the imbalances in ourselves and our lives. One of the greatest challenges for a Reiki pratitioner is to learn to view the world with compassion, clarity and without judgment. It is vital for our complete health to heal the multidimensional parts of ourselves. The path of Reiki can help all of us to do that. Reiki calls us to be authentic, whole human beings filled with integrity in all areas of our lives in order to balance our total health.
Rituals like meditation, Reiki and prayer empower us to experience the life we seek. This life does hold challenges and heartache, but it also has unbelievable beauty everywhere. It is important to start thinking of yourself as an energy being along with your physical body. It is my belief that a healers' path includes learning to develop peacefulness, unconditional love, gratitude, compassion and happiness through an act of intention. We are all multidimensional, multisensory beings connected to each other at many levels.
Reiki encourages and supports balance, respect and harmony at all levels. Our society and world could use that balance and healing now more than ever before. Reiki is a gentle yet powerful healing tool that we all can use as a way to heal ourselves and this seemingly chaotic world of ours together.
©Copyright 2000 Patricia Upczak. All Rights Reserved.
