Teacher: Nevyn
Date: 5/3/2009
<Nevyn> Today we’re going to be talking about non-psionic healing modalities. This is going to be a seminar based class that will rely part on student questions.
<Nevyn> First subject we’re going to cover is the modality that seems to be the most common; this being Usui Reiki.
* Solem raises hand
<Nevyn> yes Solem?
<Solem> Is Reiki a type of Psi?
<Nevyn> note the subject: NON-psionic healing modalities
<Nevyn> Please note that I said ‘Usui Reiki’ instead of just ‘Reiki’. other names you will see for it are Reiki Rhoyo, Usui Reiki Rhoyo, or Reiju (though this normally is only used for the attunements themselves)
<Nevyn> The reason for this clarification is due to the fact that since Usui Reiki has gained a foothold others have “modified” it to create sub-modalities of reiki. Back in 2007 a list was compiled and it listed 406 different styles. Most of these are complete fluff, with the creators just wanting to become popular for ‘discovering’ a new way to heal without actually changing much of anything
<Nevyn> There are however a few that can be useful, and I will touch on those in a bit.
<Nevyn> Usui Reiki Rhoyo was discovered by Mikao Usui in Japan in 1922 after a 21 day meditation retreat on Mt Kurama Yama. After said retreat he claimed to have found a universal “life energy” that practitioners could use without wearing themselves out (become drained)
<Nevyn> The same year he started treating people and opened up a school to teach others. Reiki is taught in three stages, with the third and final being Master/Teacher
<Nevyn> some schools now will teach Master and Teacher as separate levels, but with the last attunement really just being a reattunement and the only new thing the “master symbol” that’s used to attune others.
* Redregon raises hand
<Nevyn> Red?
<Redregon> from what I’ve heard, there is a philosophical component to this? I understand that if there is, we wouldn’t have time here to discuss it, but have you heard of such things and if so, would it be relevant that we should know it?
<Nevyn> I’ll be getting to that in a bit
<Nevyn> There are some people that believe the lineage of reiki masters in important that meaning that those with a shorter lineage of who attuned who leading back to Usui himself will be better, or stronger, in the practice of reiki. These are the people you can laugh at :P they just want to feel special
<Nevyn> Hawayo Takata is the first to bring Usui Reiki to the States, or even out of Japan to begin with. It was her teaching that Reiki should be paid for, and she even charged $10,000 for the Master/Teacher level attunement and class. Due to this it took awhile for reiki to really take off as only the rich could afford it. (This was in the 1970′s if anyone cares). It was discovered after her death that she had falsified much of the teachings to better fit it in the Western world. The first split in Reiki was those that followed her teachings and those that followed the original teachings of Mikao Usui
<Nevyn> His (Usui) original teachings were based in spirituality, thus the philosophical point that Red asked about.
<Nevyn> Many practitioners hold to this and use reiki as a form of self improvement as well as a healing modality. This is made more clear by the principles (more of a mantra) set for by Usui: “I give thanks for my many blessings. Just for today I will not anger. Just for today I will not worry. I will do my work honestly. I will be kind to people and every living thing.”
<Nevyn> Any questions so far?
* Solem raises hand
<Nevyn> Solem?
<Solem> Is the mantra background information, or do we need to memorize it?
<Nevyn> background. it was an example of the spirituality background to the practice of Usui Reiki Rhoyo
<Nevyn> Reiki is a two part word. ‘Rei’ means universal and ‘Ki’ is another name for life energy. However, reiki and life energy are not the same thing
<Nevyn> In the first attunement the student learned the first two symbols and how to heal in person. normally just by laying their hands on someone and willing it. Intent is a very large part of any form of Reiki
<Nevyn> The first two symbols are for basic healing and for mental/emotional healing. These symbols are mainly there to give beginners something to focus on to use the energy but really aren’t needed. It’s just much easier to make someone believe that the use of the “mystical” symbol will allow them access to the energy than to tell them to just do it.
<Nevyn> Second attunement includes distance symbol and teaching the student how to perform reiki on someone that isn’t right there in front of them. Third and last attunement includes master symbol and teaching them how to attune others.
<Nevyn> It is possible to attune yourself to the energy or just learn to copy it as well.
<Nevyn> Now, for those interested, I’m holding a ball of the energy used in Usui Reiki in my right hand if you’d like to scan for it.
<Nevyn> three minutes is good enough I think.
* Jeffro raises hand
<Nevyn> Jeff?
<Jeffro> Is it possible I see a light blueish/greenish color/aura around the ball of energy?
<Nevyn> it’s possible you see a giant blue monster. :P People see and feel energy differently, but both blue and green are common colors to see reiki as
<Nevyn> Usui Reiki classes are now easy to find for those interested. free attunements are also available online (and in person in some places)
* thais raises hand
<Nevyn> two other forms of reiki that I have found to be useful are Karuna Reiki and Kundalini Reiki. Karuna was created primarily as a continuation of Usui Reiki and tries to make the power stronger in practitioners and does a decent enough job at it. However, it’s important to note that they claim that you can only get theattunements in person and everyone charges for it.
<Nevyn> Thais?
<thais> does it matter how “good” the person attuning you is?
<Nevyn> short answer, no. long answer, it really depends on the intent of both parties, but normally if the ‘teacher’ is a quack just the intent of the student will be enough. But you will normally feel it more if the teacher is better. There’s also the fact that you don’t actually NEED to be attuned. it just helps a bit. For example, I have never been attuned in Karuna because I refuse to pay for it, but I can use it fine.
<Nevyn> Three minutes again scan right hand for Karuna
<Nevyn> last for of Reiki: Kundalini. Again very spiritual is was created to aid in Kundalini awakenings, which is a release of energy that is supposed to lay dormant at your root chakra and travel up through all the chakras when awakened (normally throughkundalini yoga). It is often described as a fire serpent. There is some difference of opinion in how it works. Some believe that Kundalini taps into earth energy as well as reiki, others believe it uses psi or actual ki (life energy). The main reason for this confusion is because there is the same confusion in the Kundalini by itself. Some believe it just opens the channels between the chakras while other believe ties the root chakra to the earth.
<Nevyn> alrighty, example time. again, right hand
<Nevyn> Ok, Reiki is what I know best. I’m going to cover a few more but only briefly as I don’t have much experience in them.
<Nevyn> First is Chios. It’s another attunement based system, but more strict than Reiki as there is actually a governing body that requires paid courses and applications to be allowed to teach it. It’s another three level course, but they don’t allow all three levels to be done at once as they want it all to build upon the others and require the students to fill out workbooks which they have to redo if they answer incorrectly. I have yet to actually see theChios energy in use, so am not able to give an example, but it appears to be much like Reiki. The main difference is that there’s a central body saying who can teach and who can’t.
<Nevyn> Another one that is fairly common is Therapeutic Touch. To learn more about it you can read the primary book on the subject, which is just named “The Therapeutic Touch”. It focuses more on altering the patients energy field to improve their health instead of using another energy to do so indirectly. The main problem with it is that it also tries to teach a worldview that really has nothing to do with the ability to heal. But we saw that Reiki did the same thing, and in the same way the worldview can be safely ignored without consequence. It is a non attunement based healing modality, and was actually created by an RN. The different levels are hour based, much as you see in traditional schooling systems. The first three levels are 15 or more hours of instruction each. The next is two 30 hours sections, and the last I am unsure of the length requirement
<Nevyn> The largest difference between Therapeutic Touch and the others is that in TT there are specific methods taught for different illnesses and in the others the primary component is intent.
<Nevyn> Reiki classes teach different hand positions, but they are not actually required. In Therapeutic Touch the different methods actually are needed.
<Nevyn> Any questions?
* thais raises hand
<Nevyn> thais
<thais> is there anyone that you know in OEC that practices TT?
<Nevyn> nope. I’m sure there are, but I don’t know who.
<Nevyn> Ok, this class is done.