Reiki is a form of hands-on energy healing developed by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan in the early 20th century. Today, more than 300,000 Reiki practitioners live in the US alone. The numbers are increasing by leaps and bounds.
The following is an interview with Atlanta Reiki Master Brad Dixon.
>Q: Brad, how many years have you been involved with Reiki? What are her “credentials”?
>I first learned Reiki in 1996 to improve my personal health. I continued my training after moving to Atlanta in 1999 through the Usui Master and Karuna Master levels. I opened my practice, Wellspring Reiki, in 2002, offering both sessions and classes. I recently became certified as a La-Ho-Chi facilitator, another powerful form of energy work.
>Q: What kind of problems do people come up with? And how does Reiki affect these clients?
>Reiki works on all levels: mind, body and spirit, according to the needs of the clients. Some people come to me for specific health concerns, while many simply want to explore new ways to manage stress. Many people come to the Reiki experience simply to broaden their horizons.
During a session, they learn about the importance of healthy energy flow through the body’s main energy centers, called chakras, which are located at the top of the crown, the third eye (just above the forehead area between eyes), throat, heart (center of chest), solar plexus (just above the navel), sacrum (just below the navel), and root (at the tailbone). A typical Reiki session involves the placement of the hands focusing very high vibrational energy into the chakras to restore them to optimal functioning.
Stress, negative thoughts, and unhealthy lifestyle choices can cause our chakras to become unbalanced or even closed. Keeping these important energy gateways working properly is vitally important to our health, because interruptions in the flow of energy often lead to disease. So Reiki is great preventative care. It is also useful for health problems that have already manifested themselves. Any problem that involves the mind, body, or spirit can benefit from this healing technique. However, all I can promise is that it is good for stress reduction and relaxation.
What people experience during a Reiki session varies. Most people feel the energy as soothing warmth or a pleasant tingle, and some feel completely enveloped in radiant warmth. As the energy breaks through negative feelings like tension and fear, people sometimes drift in and out of sleep or feel like they are floating. Many of my clients have reported profound experiences.
>Q: Is it difficult to learn Reiki? What makes a good Reiki healer?
>The beauty of Reiki is that virtually anyone can easily learn it. No prior experience with meditation or other healing arts is required. It is widely accepted in the Reiki community that this healing art is a gift from a Higher Power (however you choose to define it) who wanted humanity to raise awareness of it. But Reiki is not a religion, so even if you reject that idea, you can still learn this healing art and it will work for you.
In Western Reiki classes based on the traditional Reiki system developed by Mikao Usui in Japan, there are four levels of attunement (I, II, Advanced, III), each conferring an increasing ability to use this energy. . I divide the training into two one-day classes (I/II, Advanced/III), so the basics can be learned very quickly. A lot of important learning, of course, involves regular practice. Many people just want to learn it to use it on themselves and their friends/family.
For those who feel led to work with others professionally, I believe it is important to approach work with good intentions and to get your ego out of the way. Don’t let the title “Reiki Master” go to your head. Anyone can easily get Level III/Master’s training (in fact, I encourage it).
Reiki energy, by nature, is spiritually guided to do what it needs to do on whatever level (mind, body, spirit) is most needed at the time. So if practitioners focus their intention on being a clear and open channel for energy to pass through, remarkable things can happen. With time, practice, and dedication, Reiki practitioners can develop a greater intuitive ability to read or perceive energy fields, but it is not necessary to see auras and gain psychic impressions to be a perfectly effective Reiki healer.
>Q: Reiki seems to be growing within the mass consciousness. Why do you think she is she?
>I believe that the explosive growth of yoga, with terminology that includes chakras, has done much to deepen our curiosity and understanding of our energy. On many of my students’ personal journeys, Reiki is the next stop after yoga. Many people in the Western world have also embraced the concept of feng shui in recent years, recognizing that the proper flow of energy, or “chi,” through the environment is vital to maintaining a happy home. You are also beginning to realize that this energy also flows through your physical bodies. Awareness of the importance of maintaining high levels of life force energy is increasing even in medical circles (I have had several doctors come to me for both sessions and classes).
Interest in Reiki is also fueled by growth in spirituality. People everywhere seem to be having spiritual awakenings, seeking enlightenment in many different ways. The best thing about Reiki is that people of all religions can practice it. I even had a Southern Baptist minister take my class and he loved it.
Knowledge of Reiki accelerated much faster in the 1980s after the death of Hawayo Takaka. She is highly respected for bringing Reiki to the West from Japan in the 1930s, but she did introduce some restrictions that were not part of the traditional system. For example, she required that Reiki only be taught orally; nothing could be written. She also charged an extremely high price for the Master’s training, $10,000, so there weren’t that many masters to share the gift. In the years after her death, teachers began charging much more reasonable fees and writing books to get the word out.
I believe that the Internet’s treasure trove of information is doing more than anything these days to raise awareness of Reiki. Many people are exploring alternative means to improve their health online. Like me in the 1990s, they are getting tired of a medical system that focuses on treating symptoms instead of finding root causes. It is my hope that the trend of introducing some Eastern practices into Western medicine will continue. The growing acceptance of acupuncture by the medical establishment in this country shows that this merger has already begun.
>Q: What has been your deepest experience(s) with Reiki?
>For me, the most miraculous thing about Reiki is the attunement process, and I feel blessed to be able to facilitate it on a regular basis. No one is sure why this rather simple ritual works. It requires a student to simply sit peacefully in a chair while I touch their hands and shoulders in a few specific ways while focusing my intention visually and energetically. In 10 minutes or less, they connect to this universal life force that has a much higher vibration than the energy they were previously able to access. Even students who already practiced other types of energy work are surprised by the difference.
The initiations are always successful, they only require the intention of the student to receive them and of the teacher to transmit them. Many people believe that angels and spirit guides are involved in adjusting the energy field. Others speculate that it is a latent ability in all of us that simply needs to be activated. All I know is that I feel deeply wonderful about the intense energy that goes through me during initiations, whatever its source. To my knowledge, no one has been able to discredit his success.
Brad Dixon regularly schedules Reiki classes in the Atlanta area and at affordable prices. Click here to visit Brad’s website.
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