Welcome to my Reiki pages
I have been a Reiki master for over 10 years, and have also trained to be a Reiki Master-Teacher for 1st level attunements, which I delivered successfully.
I recently decided that I had an interest in completing my training as a Reiki Master-Teacher, and that I may decide to practice and teach more regularly, and as a part of that I am putting together some Reiki pages. They will answer all the questions I have had about Reiki while practicing it, and I will compose and summarize my own thoughts on the subject, so that prospective students can see whether they are attracted to me as a teacher.
I do not advertise that I am a Reiki master on the main web pages of this site as it may be off putting to some folks who don't understand what it is, and I want to reach out to as many as I can with my book. However, my book contains a section where I specifically validate faith healing scientifically to open people's minds to the possibilities.
Those students who are interested in a very technical and scientific approach to Reiki should be those most likely to find my approach interesting to them. If you find that you have some unanswered intellectual question about Reiki, please send it to me and I will add the answer to this page.
Currently, the page is under construction.
I recently decided that I had an interest in completing my training as a Reiki Master-Teacher, and that I may decide to practice and teach more regularly, and as a part of that I am putting together some Reiki pages. They will answer all the questions I have had about Reiki while practicing it, and I will compose and summarize my own thoughts on the subject, so that prospective students can see whether they are attracted to me as a teacher.
I do not advertise that I am a Reiki master on the main web pages of this site as it may be off putting to some folks who don't understand what it is, and I want to reach out to as many as I can with my book. However, my book contains a section where I specifically validate faith healing scientifically to open people's minds to the possibilities.
Those students who are interested in a very technical and scientific approach to Reiki should be those most likely to find my approach interesting to them. If you find that you have some unanswered intellectual question about Reiki, please send it to me and I will add the answer to this page.
Currently, the page is under construction.
Reiki is experiential
The first thing to know in teaching Reiki is that most of Reiki is experiential and subjective and the majority of the knowledge that is acquired does not come from the Reiki Master-Teacher, but from employing the techniques and observing what happens, and remembering and repeating what was effective.
Intellectual questions will arise when the student has new experiences, and it is best that they are answered, otherwise the student may dream up some creative answers to fill the void of not knowing, and perhaps hold on to those for a long time and hit their head on the wall repeatedly going down the wrong path. This will be my primary intention in creating these pages.
Intellectual questions will arise when the student has new experiences, and it is best that they are answered, otherwise the student may dream up some creative answers to fill the void of not knowing, and perhaps hold on to those for a long time and hit their head on the wall repeatedly going down the wrong path. This will be my primary intention in creating these pages.
Reiki requires intention
The basic intention behind developing Reiki was to make it simpler to provide basic spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical healing to yourself or to another being.
So you must have that intention in some way or the tools provided will be useless.
If you actually have negative intentions, the Reiki symbols will not be activated, nor help you in any way, though your mind is powerful and just holding a negative intention may cause a negative change. Thus it is important as a Reiki practitioner progresses and their intention becomes stronger to not give into having negative thoughts and to work towards only having good intentions.
Fortunately positive intentions are much stronger than negative intentions for the simple reason that life energy will generally not fight a positive intention, while it will fight a negative intention.
Reiki uses Symbols
![Picture](/uploads/3/7/5/9/3759311/4784959.jpg)
Reiki uses symbols as a tool to help the practitioner focus their intention on what will lead to healing. The mind is a powerful tool and indeed mind over matter exists, yet it requires focused attention.
A symbol is simply something that has the 3 M's of Mass, Meaning, and Mobility. It has Mass because it actually exists, even if that mass is very small and only exists in the mind. It has Mobility because it can be focused in different locations. It has Meaning since it contains a very specific intention.
The symbols are put into several extremely active areas of the student's "Aura" during an attunement, so that the student may receive the benefits of the intentions they contain. The symbols may have an effect indirectly when the student focuses on a certain intention, or meaning, or they can have an effect directly, if the student focuses on the symbol itself, willing that meaning to a particular location.
An extremely talented practitioner can create their own symbols with their own meanings, though this would be essentially creating their own system, and if the meaning and explained usage is changed, then obviously this would not be pure Reiki anymore as it was initially designed to be used.
This is actually quite simple in theory, you need to get the exact meanings that you wish to associate with the symbol in a clear space in your mind, and then visualize the exact symbol in that same clear space in your mind and have them touch each other in a shared clear space, until they associate permanently. In practice, however, this is very difficult as beyond the useful meaning the practitioner would invoke, you would need to include some intentions to protect the symbol from having it's meaning tainted at a later date and getting unexpected effects, as well as preventing it from being erased, and other considerations.
All symbols in traditional forms of Reiki are referred to using Japanese names, though some can be traced back further to having Tibetan roots. I will cover the 4 traditional symbols in Reiki on this page, and skip the more exotic, extra ones.
A symbol is simply something that has the 3 M's of Mass, Meaning, and Mobility. It has Mass because it actually exists, even if that mass is very small and only exists in the mind. It has Mobility because it can be focused in different locations. It has Meaning since it contains a very specific intention.
The symbols are put into several extremely active areas of the student's "Aura" during an attunement, so that the student may receive the benefits of the intentions they contain. The symbols may have an effect indirectly when the student focuses on a certain intention, or meaning, or they can have an effect directly, if the student focuses on the symbol itself, willing that meaning to a particular location.
An extremely talented practitioner can create their own symbols with their own meanings, though this would be essentially creating their own system, and if the meaning and explained usage is changed, then obviously this would not be pure Reiki anymore as it was initially designed to be used.
This is actually quite simple in theory, you need to get the exact meanings that you wish to associate with the symbol in a clear space in your mind, and then visualize the exact symbol in that same clear space in your mind and have them touch each other in a shared clear space, until they associate permanently. In practice, however, this is very difficult as beyond the useful meaning the practitioner would invoke, you would need to include some intentions to protect the symbol from having it's meaning tainted at a later date and getting unexpected effects, as well as preventing it from being erased, and other considerations.
All symbols in traditional forms of Reiki are referred to using Japanese names, though some can be traced back further to having Tibetan roots. I will cover the 4 traditional symbols in Reiki on this page, and skip the more exotic, extra ones.
The Aura, Chakras and other metaphysical considerations
The aura is essentially a field of life energy that surrounds the practitioner. The aura can contain positive life energy or negative life energy, depending on whether a particular portion of life energy is working for or against the practitioner. It is no different than competing species or friendly species in an animal kingdom, and the goal of the practitioner is to "clear" their aura, with the primary goal of getting rid of their negative life energy and to become a "clear channel" for the Reiki energy, by clearing out anything that opposes healing in any form.
Many Reiki practitioners also talk about Chakras in their practice, and balancing them, but this forms no part of the practice of Reiki in it's purest sense. It is simply a neat portion of the Aura that is denser and as a practitioner becomes more aware of the aura and able to manipulate it's energy, they may do a "balancing" as something extra. However, the need for balancing implies competing forces working against each other, and it is far better to clear out those forces entirely. In practice, the short term relief of a balancing can be satisfying, but putting in an extended intention to "balance" rather than to "heal" may conflict with the pure intention to heal in some cases, and impede healing. An actual healing may actually cause a short term imbalance, or "healing crisis" that will at some point release and resolve by itself, or be resolved by a later healing. If a balancing is done, it should not be the primary focus, and the healing should be allowed to override and remove any balancing as necessary... in other words, don't focus on balancing while healing or you may create problems and inhibit the healing.
Many Reiki practitioners also talk about Chakras in their practice, and balancing them, but this forms no part of the practice of Reiki in it's purest sense. It is simply a neat portion of the Aura that is denser and as a practitioner becomes more aware of the aura and able to manipulate it's energy, they may do a "balancing" as something extra. However, the need for balancing implies competing forces working against each other, and it is far better to clear out those forces entirely. In practice, the short term relief of a balancing can be satisfying, but putting in an extended intention to "balance" rather than to "heal" may conflict with the pure intention to heal in some cases, and impede healing. An actual healing may actually cause a short term imbalance, or "healing crisis" that will at some point release and resolve by itself, or be resolved by a later healing. If a balancing is done, it should not be the primary focus, and the healing should be allowed to override and remove any balancing as necessary... in other words, don't focus on balancing while healing or you may create problems and inhibit the healing.
The 'Power' or physical healing symbol, Choku-Rei
![Picture](/uploads/3/7/5/9/3759311/989822.png)
This translates to "Put the (spiritual) power here."
The theory is that most physical illness is due to suppression, where the person is not in control of some aspect of their existence, and is being controlled in a way that they have no positive choice. Having only negative choices is stressful and this causes illness.
Putting that person back into a situation where they have some power over the situation and can then make a positive choice resolves that stress and the accompanying physical illness.
One reason that the person may not have their spiritual power in a certain location of their body is when they have physical pain in that location, and are recoiling from it, but fortunately this symbol can be very effective at reducing or resolving actual physical pain.
Many practitioners believe that this symbol can produce instant physical healing, but my experience has led me to believe that this is not the case, it is just the appearance. What it does is remove the barriers blocking a full healing so that the body is now able to complete healing itself. In some cases, the physical healing can seem miraculous where something that was hurting a lot is simply gone, but this is due to the body having almost completed the healing and just having a block left with a great deal of pain associated with it. When that block and pain is removed, the body part appears to be instantly completely better, and that healing can seem miraculous.
In other cases, the healing is blocked earlier in the completion process and it will take longer for the actual physical healing to occur, but healing will now be possible as the blocks are removed, unless of course more new blocks in the forms of renewed stress come into being. The body is an incredible machine though and when given abundant nutrients and when all negative stressors affecting it directly or indirectly are removed, it can often heal incredibly fast for some illnesses. The body is an interdependent system however, so sometimes a perceived issue with one part is actually mostly caused by another part not doing their job at sustaining it.
The theory is that most physical illness is due to suppression, where the person is not in control of some aspect of their existence, and is being controlled in a way that they have no positive choice. Having only negative choices is stressful and this causes illness.
Putting that person back into a situation where they have some power over the situation and can then make a positive choice resolves that stress and the accompanying physical illness.
One reason that the person may not have their spiritual power in a certain location of their body is when they have physical pain in that location, and are recoiling from it, but fortunately this symbol can be very effective at reducing or resolving actual physical pain.
Many practitioners believe that this symbol can produce instant physical healing, but my experience has led me to believe that this is not the case, it is just the appearance. What it does is remove the barriers blocking a full healing so that the body is now able to complete healing itself. In some cases, the physical healing can seem miraculous where something that was hurting a lot is simply gone, but this is due to the body having almost completed the healing and just having a block left with a great deal of pain associated with it. When that block and pain is removed, the body part appears to be instantly completely better, and that healing can seem miraculous.
In other cases, the healing is blocked earlier in the completion process and it will take longer for the actual physical healing to occur, but healing will now be possible as the blocks are removed, unless of course more new blocks in the forms of renewed stress come into being. The body is an incredible machine though and when given abundant nutrients and when all negative stressors affecting it directly or indirectly are removed, it can often heal incredibly fast for some illnesses. The body is an interdependent system however, so sometimes a perceived issue with one part is actually mostly caused by another part not doing their job at sustaining it.
The emotional healing symbol, Sei-He-Ki
![Picture](/uploads/3/7/5/9/3759311/3852053.gif)
Sei implies emotions, feelings
He-Kei implies calmness, composure, unconcern
Essentially, this symbol helps the person gain control over their emotions which are not positive, to resolve them.
The "implication" of emotions and feelings points to the fact that something must be implying it, which is the spirit, so this helps connect the spirit to their emotions in a way that will resolve the negativity.
Emotions are what lead us to act, and to react. Sometimes we may not be able to heal as when healing begins, we feel a strong negative emotion and react to stop the healing. This symbol resolves that sort of condition.
He-Kei implies calmness, composure, unconcern
Essentially, this symbol helps the person gain control over their emotions which are not positive, to resolve them.
The "implication" of emotions and feelings points to the fact that something must be implying it, which is the spirit, so this helps connect the spirit to their emotions in a way that will resolve the negativity.
Emotions are what lead us to act, and to react. Sometimes we may not be able to heal as when healing begins, we feel a strong negative emotion and react to stop the healing. This symbol resolves that sort of condition.
The distance symbol
![Picture](/uploads/3/7/5/9/3759311/5053275.jpg)
Hon - root, source, origin, essence, basis, counter for long things, book, present, main, true, real
Sha - someone person
Ze - just so, this, right, proper
Sho - correct, justice, certainly, exactly, righteous
Nen - mindfulness, wish, sense, idea, thought, feeling, desire, attention, concern
This basically translates to: Correct mindfulness is the essence of being.
This symbol removes from the mind the barriers of space and time that might impede healing, for example: It's too far, it's too long ago, it's in the future. You simply don't mind any of that, so you can "be" where you want to be for the energy to flow. The word "be" actually derives from the concept of "by".
For example, if there was something buried deep in your subconscious mind that happened a long time in the past, this would help remove the barriers to connect to that to resolve it. It is applied in conjunction with one or both of the previous symbols, or simply the intention to heal.
It is also used to remove any thoughts of barriers of distance between two spirits as spirits are not actually part of the physical universe, so physical distance is not a consideration unless they choose it to be. Sometimes they get caught up in dealing with the physically limited body, and think they are a body, and thus become mindful and limit themselves.
It can also be used to send Reiki into the "Future", as the future is influenced by the intentions and wishes of the present, and removes any considerations that waiting is necessary. Employing it in this manner creates a postulated future in your mind that you will work towards subconciously and attract others to, and can stop worrying about it anymore consciously.
This symbol should not be used in conjunction with the other two symbols when healing in the present, the "here and now" as that removes a layer of protection and may remove something that we wanted to stay in our mind. We often put something in the present but say that it is from another origin (something with some distance to us) when we build mental machinery to protect it from casual removal.
Sha - someone person
Ze - just so, this, right, proper
Sho - correct, justice, certainly, exactly, righteous
Nen - mindfulness, wish, sense, idea, thought, feeling, desire, attention, concern
This basically translates to: Correct mindfulness is the essence of being.
This symbol removes from the mind the barriers of space and time that might impede healing, for example: It's too far, it's too long ago, it's in the future. You simply don't mind any of that, so you can "be" where you want to be for the energy to flow. The word "be" actually derives from the concept of "by".
For example, if there was something buried deep in your subconscious mind that happened a long time in the past, this would help remove the barriers to connect to that to resolve it. It is applied in conjunction with one or both of the previous symbols, or simply the intention to heal.
It is also used to remove any thoughts of barriers of distance between two spirits as spirits are not actually part of the physical universe, so physical distance is not a consideration unless they choose it to be. Sometimes they get caught up in dealing with the physically limited body, and think they are a body, and thus become mindful and limit themselves.
It can also be used to send Reiki into the "Future", as the future is influenced by the intentions and wishes of the present, and removes any considerations that waiting is necessary. Employing it in this manner creates a postulated future in your mind that you will work towards subconciously and attract others to, and can stop worrying about it anymore consciously.
This symbol should not be used in conjunction with the other two symbols when healing in the present, the "here and now" as that removes a layer of protection and may remove something that we wanted to stay in our mind. We often put something in the present but say that it is from another origin (something with some distance to us) when we build mental machinery to protect it from casual removal.
The master symbol, Dai-Ko-Myo
![Picture](/uploads/3/7/5/9/3759311/3592522.gif)
Dai - Large, big, great
Ko - ray, light, shine
Myo - clear, open, bright, radiance
This essentially translates to: Great enlightenment and clearing
This symbol has for it's meaning the combined meanings of the previous three symbols, and generally requires that the practitioner has mastered using those symbols and intentions individually in order to put this symbol to good use. It is additionally desireable that the practitioner has practiced using the symbols in pairs and ideally all 3 at the same time.
It is easier to focus on one symbol and manifest the pre-combined meaning of all 3 symbols than to focus on the three of them with the intention to combine their effect. Some conditions will not resolve with just one symbol, for example an extremely emotional condition buried deep in the past would require both the distance symbol and the emotional symbol. The most difficult of conditions will require that all 3 symbols are applied.
The primary purpose of this symbol is for use during attunements to create a very clear space so that the symbols can be put into the aura individually without getting confused with any other concept during their integration.
This symbol should not be used halfhazardly in healing as it results in clearing of whatever is there without prejudice. If it is directed at something the person might have wanted to stay in their mind, as we use machinery in the mind to control the body, it will clear that out as well, which might leave the person feeling disconnected and ungrounded for a while until they reestablish that machinery in their mind, either by remembering it or by recreating it anew. However, if there is a condition that is definitely unwanted and it is being resistant to the other symbols, this is a good choice to focus on that specific thing to resolve it.
This particular symbol is the tibetan master symbol and is different than the usui master symbol.
Note that although this symbol should theoretically be able to clear any condition when used in healing, it also should not be halfhazardly applied. So it is only effective to the extent that the Reiki Master's skills of perception can detect the exact locations which require the application of the symbol. Thus Reiki can not easily resolve any condition once you are a Master practitioner, but your ability to resolve more conditions will improve as you progress and you become more and more of a "clear channel". It can also help to receive treatments from another Reiki master for any conditions you are unable to resolve yourself as they may have different filters on their perception and be able to perceive a location which is hidden to you very clearly.
Ko - ray, light, shine
Myo - clear, open, bright, radiance
This essentially translates to: Great enlightenment and clearing
This symbol has for it's meaning the combined meanings of the previous three symbols, and generally requires that the practitioner has mastered using those symbols and intentions individually in order to put this symbol to good use. It is additionally desireable that the practitioner has practiced using the symbols in pairs and ideally all 3 at the same time.
It is easier to focus on one symbol and manifest the pre-combined meaning of all 3 symbols than to focus on the three of them with the intention to combine their effect. Some conditions will not resolve with just one symbol, for example an extremely emotional condition buried deep in the past would require both the distance symbol and the emotional symbol. The most difficult of conditions will require that all 3 symbols are applied.
The primary purpose of this symbol is for use during attunements to create a very clear space so that the symbols can be put into the aura individually without getting confused with any other concept during their integration.
This symbol should not be used halfhazardly in healing as it results in clearing of whatever is there without prejudice. If it is directed at something the person might have wanted to stay in their mind, as we use machinery in the mind to control the body, it will clear that out as well, which might leave the person feeling disconnected and ungrounded for a while until they reestablish that machinery in their mind, either by remembering it or by recreating it anew. However, if there is a condition that is definitely unwanted and it is being resistant to the other symbols, this is a good choice to focus on that specific thing to resolve it.
This particular symbol is the tibetan master symbol and is different than the usui master symbol.
Note that although this symbol should theoretically be able to clear any condition when used in healing, it also should not be halfhazardly applied. So it is only effective to the extent that the Reiki Master's skills of perception can detect the exact locations which require the application of the symbol. Thus Reiki can not easily resolve any condition once you are a Master practitioner, but your ability to resolve more conditions will improve as you progress and you become more and more of a "clear channel". It can also help to receive treatments from another Reiki master for any conditions you are unable to resolve yourself as they may have different filters on their perception and be able to perceive a location which is hidden to you very clearly.
Guidance
The wonderful thing about the Reiki system is that the symbols allow it to be used by people who may not be fully aware of every single detail of what they are doing; it is similar to using a calculator, you punch in the numbers and you get an answer without having to do all the calculations. In that sense, when you are treating someone, you may get a positive feeling that the energy should be directed to a certain location and when you do it, the condition may resolve. This applies both for healing and for attunements.
Practioners will tend to explain this guidance according to their own belief systems, and I have heard many different explanations. The fortunate thing is that the belief system does not inhibit the effective use of Reiki, so long as there has been a proper attunement and there is a positive intention to heal. They can ask for help with their intention to heal from any source they sincerely believe will provide positive guidance.
I have also found that some guidance can come through other Reiki masters if you tell them what you are trying to achieve, they may apply the energy to you and you may realize something.
Practioners will tend to explain this guidance according to their own belief systems, and I have heard many different explanations. The fortunate thing is that the belief system does not inhibit the effective use of Reiki, so long as there has been a proper attunement and there is a positive intention to heal. They can ask for help with their intention to heal from any source they sincerely believe will provide positive guidance.
I have also found that some guidance can come through other Reiki masters if you tell them what you are trying to achieve, they may apply the energy to you and you may realize something.
History, Traditions, Culture, and Research
If the non technical aspects of Reiki interest you, such as History, Traditions, and Culture this is a good site: Reiki wikipedia
As far as research is concerned, it is not a site which has a good judgement for the technical aspects of Reiki however. For most subjects people generally want to get the opinion of an expert who regularly achieves positive measurable results, however this does not appear to be the case for Reiki. To begin, most practitioners do not ask their clients to fill out papers indicating what health they are in before, and how they are doing afterwards, so nothing is being measured. Next, Reiki is an unregulated subjective field, so there are no official standards of competence required to be a practitioner... which leads to the problem that there are also no real standards by which a critic can be judged. So as opposed to other fields where they will only allow the opinions of experts, it is difficult to identify who is an expert in Reiki, so it is allowable for those who have had absolutely no practical experience in the field to set up experiments. How can they properly identify their candidates as experts if they are not experts themselves, and furthermore how can they measure it's effectiveness if they don't know how it works, and for which conditions? Finally, if these people have negative energy and an inherent interest in seeing Reiki fail for some reason, these negative thoughts and behaviors and tests could stress out the clients and affect their healing.
Having a reasonable degree of Reiki expertise, good results, as well as scientific expertise, the very least I would expect to see Reiki do in any credible study is to work as effectively as a placebo. This would require both practitioner and client to either believe in or be sincerely open to the possibility that Reiki works, as that is a factor, and to not have any others around with doubting attitudes. Then ideally, there would be a similar study done under similar conditions, but the people would not be given Reiki but just be given a standard placebo, such as a 1 hour saline IV drip lying down, and told the same words in both cases, that this may be able to treat their issue. Any physical measurement of healing would be done when both the client and the practitioner felt that the healing had been successful and that the body had time to heal from it's previous damage, within some maximum time limit. This would be a workable experiment that would compare the effectiveness of Reiki treatment to a placebo.
Some statistics on the placebo effect can be found on this web site: Placebo wikipedia There is some interesting information there, for example:
* "The percentage of patients who reported relief following placebo (39%) is similar to the percentage following 4 mg (36%) and 6 mg (50%) of hidden morphine."
* "In one study, the response to a placebo increased from 44% to 62% when the doctor treated them with "warmth, attention, and confidence."
* "Other researchers (Wampold et al.) re-analysed the same data from the 2001 meta-analysis and concluded that the placebo effects for objective symptom measures are comparable to placebo effects for subjective ones and that the placebo effect can exceed the effect of the active treatment by 20% for disorders amenable to the placebo effect "
* "Despite low effects in general and the risk of bias, the authors acknowledged that large effects of placebo interventions may occur in certain situations."
* "A 2004 study in the British Medical Journalof physicians in Israel found that 60% used placebos in their medical practice, most commonly to "fend off" requests for unjustified medications or to calm a patient.[114] The accompanying editorial concluded, "We cannot afford to dispense with any treatment that works, even if we are not certain how it does."
As far as research is concerned, it is not a site which has a good judgement for the technical aspects of Reiki however. For most subjects people generally want to get the opinion of an expert who regularly achieves positive measurable results, however this does not appear to be the case for Reiki. To begin, most practitioners do not ask their clients to fill out papers indicating what health they are in before, and how they are doing afterwards, so nothing is being measured. Next, Reiki is an unregulated subjective field, so there are no official standards of competence required to be a practitioner... which leads to the problem that there are also no real standards by which a critic can be judged. So as opposed to other fields where they will only allow the opinions of experts, it is difficult to identify who is an expert in Reiki, so it is allowable for those who have had absolutely no practical experience in the field to set up experiments. How can they properly identify their candidates as experts if they are not experts themselves, and furthermore how can they measure it's effectiveness if they don't know how it works, and for which conditions? Finally, if these people have negative energy and an inherent interest in seeing Reiki fail for some reason, these negative thoughts and behaviors and tests could stress out the clients and affect their healing.
Having a reasonable degree of Reiki expertise, good results, as well as scientific expertise, the very least I would expect to see Reiki do in any credible study is to work as effectively as a placebo. This would require both practitioner and client to either believe in or be sincerely open to the possibility that Reiki works, as that is a factor, and to not have any others around with doubting attitudes. Then ideally, there would be a similar study done under similar conditions, but the people would not be given Reiki but just be given a standard placebo, such as a 1 hour saline IV drip lying down, and told the same words in both cases, that this may be able to treat their issue. Any physical measurement of healing would be done when both the client and the practitioner felt that the healing had been successful and that the body had time to heal from it's previous damage, within some maximum time limit. This would be a workable experiment that would compare the effectiveness of Reiki treatment to a placebo.
Some statistics on the placebo effect can be found on this web site: Placebo wikipedia There is some interesting information there, for example:
* "The percentage of patients who reported relief following placebo (39%) is similar to the percentage following 4 mg (36%) and 6 mg (50%) of hidden morphine."
* "In one study, the response to a placebo increased from 44% to 62% when the doctor treated them with "warmth, attention, and confidence."
* "Other researchers (Wampold et al.) re-analysed the same data from the 2001 meta-analysis and concluded that the placebo effects for objective symptom measures are comparable to placebo effects for subjective ones and that the placebo effect can exceed the effect of the active treatment by 20% for disorders amenable to the placebo effect "
* "Despite low effects in general and the risk of bias, the authors acknowledged that large effects of placebo interventions may occur in certain situations."
* "A 2004 study in the British Medical Journalof physicians in Israel found that 60% used placebos in their medical practice, most commonly to "fend off" requests for unjustified medications or to calm a patient.[114] The accompanying editorial concluded, "We cannot afford to dispense with any treatment that works, even if we are not certain how it does."
Other uses than healing - Manifestation
The Reiki symbols can be used to help you manifest, or wish, for certain specific things to occur in your life. This is done by holding in your mind the outcome that you would like to manifest, and by using the appropriate Reiki symbol according to it's meaning at the same time.
For example, if there is some situation in your life that you feel you don't have a lot of choices around, and are lacking personal empowerment, you could visualize a situation which would resolve that situation, and use the power symbol, which would effectively bring your spiritual energies to that location and resolve issues with that coming to pass in the future. Obviously as we are talking about future, the distance symbol would be useful here as well.
In truth, there is no other use of Reiki than healing, and the manifestation will end up being something that brings some degree of healing into your life, otherwise it will simply not manifest. But the life energy of Reiki is not simply about your relationship to your body and healing it, it is about your relationship to all aspects of life, so sometimes healing can come in an unexpected way.
For example, if there is some situation in your life that you feel you don't have a lot of choices around, and are lacking personal empowerment, you could visualize a situation which would resolve that situation, and use the power symbol, which would effectively bring your spiritual energies to that location and resolve issues with that coming to pass in the future. Obviously as we are talking about future, the distance symbol would be useful here as well.
In truth, there is no other use of Reiki than healing, and the manifestation will end up being something that brings some degree of healing into your life, otherwise it will simply not manifest. But the life energy of Reiki is not simply about your relationship to your body and healing it, it is about your relationship to all aspects of life, so sometimes healing can come in an unexpected way.
Limits
Despite the fact that the Reiki Master symbol's meaning is "Great enlightenment", you should not realistically expect taking, learning, and practicing Reiki by itself to guarantee that you make it all the way to total enlightenment on your spiritual journey, nor should you expect it to be able to cure every physical or emotional condition.
As mentioned earlier, to some extent the Reiki practitioner is limited by their awareness and perception, or to the extent that they can allow for effective guidance. Therefore, all practitioners I have interacted with practice other ways to improve their effectiveness, whether it be through prayer, meditation, or some other method.
To some extent, you may be able to "Reiki" your perception in order to improve it, but that is only if you are able to perceive your perception, or allow yourself to be guided to Reiki the issues with your perception, that your perception itself can improve.
In a nutshell, if you can't resolve something, it is because you are being a part of the problem, instead of a part of the solution. You need to find a way to take a step back "out of the box" in order to lift the box off the ground, otherwise you are trying to lift your own weight.
While Reiki can help remove the blocks the body has to healing itself, and the body has an incredible ability to regenerate, it may simply be "too late" for the body to heal if it has sustained a certain amount of damage. The body is mortal and is designed to eventually cease functioning, but in that case, Reiki can increase the quality of life while still afflicted by the disease, both with reduced pain, and with increased emotional calmness. Fortunately modern medical science can now handle some of these emergency situations where the body has been completely overwhelmed, and give it a fighting chance again.
The use of the Reiki symbols themselves, while powerful and helpful, are essentially a "crutch" that the practitioner has to use since they are not easily able to easily hold a perfect healing intention without them. A truly enlightened being would be able to do so easily without any crutches, so at some point the practice should start to transcend the use of symbols and move over into pure intention to heal, and interaction in ways to do so.
Furthermore, Reiki creates an energy flow around and through mental masses, in an attempt to dislodge them, however sometimes what is needed is that the spirit themselves go through the mental mass, by re-experiencing it, and re-living it, as there was something there intended to be a lesson to them. If they simply persist in trying to dislodge the mental mass, using a symbol which was not appropriate to the task, and put it elsewhere to open up an energy channel, that lesson will be obscured and deferred and more barriers of distance will be created that will need to be handled with the distance symbol at some point, so apparent forward progress that results in actual backwards progress is possible. If you find that you are needing to employ a great deal of intention as opposed to a light touch, you may have run into such a situation. As well, sometimes the issue is not a matter of treating the person themselves, but making them realize they have an unhealthy interaction with someone or something else. If that interaction must stay, then it may be necessary to treat the person or thing at the other end of the interaction and resolve it that way.
As mentioned earlier, to some extent the Reiki practitioner is limited by their awareness and perception, or to the extent that they can allow for effective guidance. Therefore, all practitioners I have interacted with practice other ways to improve their effectiveness, whether it be through prayer, meditation, or some other method.
To some extent, you may be able to "Reiki" your perception in order to improve it, but that is only if you are able to perceive your perception, or allow yourself to be guided to Reiki the issues with your perception, that your perception itself can improve.
In a nutshell, if you can't resolve something, it is because you are being a part of the problem, instead of a part of the solution. You need to find a way to take a step back "out of the box" in order to lift the box off the ground, otherwise you are trying to lift your own weight.
While Reiki can help remove the blocks the body has to healing itself, and the body has an incredible ability to regenerate, it may simply be "too late" for the body to heal if it has sustained a certain amount of damage. The body is mortal and is designed to eventually cease functioning, but in that case, Reiki can increase the quality of life while still afflicted by the disease, both with reduced pain, and with increased emotional calmness. Fortunately modern medical science can now handle some of these emergency situations where the body has been completely overwhelmed, and give it a fighting chance again.
The use of the Reiki symbols themselves, while powerful and helpful, are essentially a "crutch" that the practitioner has to use since they are not easily able to easily hold a perfect healing intention without them. A truly enlightened being would be able to do so easily without any crutches, so at some point the practice should start to transcend the use of symbols and move over into pure intention to heal, and interaction in ways to do so.
Furthermore, Reiki creates an energy flow around and through mental masses, in an attempt to dislodge them, however sometimes what is needed is that the spirit themselves go through the mental mass, by re-experiencing it, and re-living it, as there was something there intended to be a lesson to them. If they simply persist in trying to dislodge the mental mass, using a symbol which was not appropriate to the task, and put it elsewhere to open up an energy channel, that lesson will be obscured and deferred and more barriers of distance will be created that will need to be handled with the distance symbol at some point, so apparent forward progress that results in actual backwards progress is possible. If you find that you are needing to employ a great deal of intention as opposed to a light touch, you may have run into such a situation. As well, sometimes the issue is not a matter of treating the person themselves, but making them realize they have an unhealthy interaction with someone or something else. If that interaction must stay, then it may be necessary to treat the person or thing at the other end of the interaction and resolve it that way.
My opinions on how to give an optimal Reiki treatment
Under construction.