A complete system requires the three ingredients of intent, path and result.
Let’s look at how these ingredients work within the system of Reiki.
Intent is necessary to begin your journey. Intent is the directed thought that triggers an action to take place. Without intent you would not have read this article, let alone begun to study the system of Reiki.
We received a question this week that brings up a number of connected issues.
Q: Hi I just read an article about Reiki and it said that Intention is not a part of Reiki and that Reiki brings a meditative state itself and is unlike disciplines such as QiGong where a practitioner grounds him/herself first.
A: Intent is… everything.
Intent is the initial, directed thought that flickers across your mind - often before you are even consciously aware that you have begun the thinking process.
This directed thought sets a process in motion. It stimulates your energy to trigger an action. The action might be picking up a tea cup, talking to someone or beginning a personal healing process.
Many people relate the system of Reiki to a magical process. It is true that we often cannot see what is happening yet we reap the benefits of the practice.
As a student moves to the second level of the system of Reiki then he or she delves into the uses and practice of 3 of the 4 symbols and mantras. The first symbol, which we call by the pseudonym of CKR, has often been attributed with performing almost ‘magical’ acts. By considering CKR as a magic wand it becomes exactly that; an external source. Yet, Real Magic comes from the inside.
We might think it is great to feel the client’s discomfort as it confirms very strongly to ourselves that something is happening during the treatment. But as you say you do not want the client’s pain and discomfort, therefore you need to find another way of working energetically.
Q: If I am giving myself Reiki as I go to sleep at night in bed, does the Reiki still flow after I’m asleep?
A: You would need to look at your understanding of what Reiki is first. Our understanding is that Reiki is the energy of everything… and if that ain’t flowing - there’s trouble!
BUT when we work with Reiki, we are working consciously with this energy.
A Reiki practitioner learns techniques to draw energy (Reiki) through the body – some people call this channelling energy. During a treatment the practitioner does not “push” this energy into a client’s body or try to manipulate what is happening in the client’s body. The practitioner offers energy to the client’s body and the client (largely unconsciously) decides how much energy to draw through the Reiki practitioner. This energy is utilised by the body to attempt to clear the body’s natural flow of energy enabling the client to move back toward a natural sense of balance.
By ‘doing’ Reiki we’re referring to the act of placing your hands on the body with the intention that energy be drawn into the body. Hands–on healing, or tenohira in Japanese, is one of the five elements of the system of Reiki.
