"What is Reiki... EXACTLY?"
If I had a quarter for every time I've heard THAT question! Reiki is an amazing healing technique which is difficult to explain with words alone.
Last year, an NDSU Professor contacted me requesting that I come teach their Wellness classes more about CAM therapies. He especially wanted me to help the students understand Reiki, a nearly impossible task!
I SUCCEEDED!!! I will share that insight within this article...
If I had a quarter for every time I've heard THAT question! Reiki is an amazing healing technique which is difficult to explain with words alone.
Last year, an NDSU Professor contacted me requesting that I come teach their Wellness classes more about CAM therapies. He especially wanted me to help the students understand Reiki, a nearly impossible task!
I SUCCEEDED!!! I will share that insight within this article...
I have noticed a massive increase in the Conventional Medical Doctors who encourage their patients to add Complimentary Alternative Medicine (CAM) to their treatment plan. CAM is a category of Alternative Therapies which provide more of the Natural and Holistic Concepts of Healing. These are added to Compliment the patient's regular medical treatment. CAM therapies accepted by Mainstream Medical community include: Reiki, Massage Therapy, Acupuncture, Acupressure, Chiropractic, Native American Medicine, Aromatherapy, Reflexology, etc. Last I checked Reiki Training was approved by North Dakota Board of Nursing for Continuing Education.
Many people are curious about Reiki & usually wish to understand Reiki BEFORE considering it as their CAM Therapy of choice. Perhaps I'll include a "donate" button within this article, so I may start collecting all those quarters!
"What is Reiki... EXACTLY?"
PAY HERE... unfortunately, my web builder doesn't have that option on a blog page- Ha!
Writing an article to successfully explain Reiki is a challenge which ranks right up there with explaining Reiki to 200 NDSU students per Wellness Class!
I'll use that experience to explain Reiki to you too!
The NDSU Professor contacted me because I am known in the local area as an Expert Massage Therapist & Certified Reiki Master Teacher. I usually don't advertise all the other certifications & services I offer, because people take more time asking questions to understand those services, than it takes to help them feel better. I mix and match everything together to best suit my client's health needs. The Professor sent me some information about the Wellness Class so I didn't waste time explaining things the students already knew. After reviewing the information, I asked him which topics he wished me to cover. He had not realized I fell under almost every CAM category within the course materials, which was a lot to cover in only 90 minutes! Touching on all of them PLUS helping the students to understand Reiki? Pulling this off would be some sort of Miracle in itself!
I put a power point presentation together, arranging the therapies in a specific order. Arriving at the theater-like classroom, I wondered HOW in the world I would succeed in this task.... some of the students were SO FAR away!
I began with an aromatherapy example, asking for anyone who had just gotten a sore throat TODAY and wished to avoid getting sick. A young woman raised her hand & I asked her to come down to the front. From my briefcase, I took a small bottle of essential oil, asked her if she minded smelling like this today? No. I put some of the oil on my fingers and placed my hands upon her throat for a few moments. As I did this, I asked someone to please time how long it takes before she can taste it. A girl in the front looked at her watch just as she said, "I can ALREADY taste it!"
I instructed her to return to her seat, her sore throat would be gone in about 10-20 minutes. At the end of the class, this student returned to the front to tell me her sore throat was gone & she had been to the clinic that morning, where they told her, "it was too late, she was sick, she'd have to let the virus run it's course." She asked if her friend could have the same oil for her sore throat too!
The students knew I was a Massage Therapist from the power point displayed up on the wall, this was purposefully sneaky on my part. I asked for another volunteer who would like to experience "what I do." Most arms in the classroom FLEW UP in the air! I pointed at one young lady & she excitedly bounced down to join me on the stage. I asked her to sit upon the chair I had already placed there for my volunteer. Then I placed another chair in front of her, for me to sit upon. I sat down, facing her, our knees nearly touching. I asked her to rest her arms on her legs, palms facing up. Then I reached over, placed my palms on top of hers, while giving her this instruction: "I'm going to keep teaching the class, please let me know when you start sensing something, ok?" The confused panic look on her face was really funny, it was everything I could do NOT to burst out laughing! She said, "but what am I supposed to be doing or feeling?" I smiled and said, "you'll know when it happens! just let me know when it does. Gonna keep teaching the class now, ok?"
This was obviously NOT what she thought she was volunteering to do!
I continued speaking to the class explaining my concept of Holistic Medicine, treating the person as a WHOLE PERSON, addressing their Mind, Physical Body, Emotions & Spirituality. Moved on to Massage Therapy, Aromatherapy & the different ways that works, etc. I had saved Reiki for the very LAST topic.
At some point while I was explaining Massage Therapy, my volunteer excitedly said, "I FEEL SOMETHING!!" I stopped mid-sentence, asking her to repeat what she just said, but louder so everyone could hear her. Then I asked her to describe to the class what she felt. She said, "I feel a vibration coming from your hands!" I thanked her, then asked her to let me know if it changed & I picked up talking about Massage right where I left off. I resisted the urge to laugh because of the curiously confused look on her face. I kept everyone in the dark about what exactly this was demonstrating. All the students looked puzzled, it didn't make any sense and I didn't explain it to them On Purpose!
A little while later, my volunteer interrupted again, "I feel something else!"
I asked her to speak up and describe what she was experiencing to the class. She explained the vibration was feeling stronger and traveling like waves up her arms into her torso. The excitement she felt was intense, she wanted to know what this was and why! It was difficult to do, but I behaved as if all was no big deal & asked her to let me know if it changed again while I continued teaching the class. Everyone looked even more puzzled and confused!
After a bit, my volunteer interrupted yet again, "It's different again!" I asked her to describe to the class what she was feeling now. She explained it felt even stronger now and it was traveling down her legs now too! This time she blurted out, "what is this?"
I said, "Thank you for describing what Reiki feels like to the class." I explained further that a Reiki Master learns to take more energy into their body, then focus that energy into another person for the purpose of breaking up their negative energy blockages. This supports the other person's body to heal itself, as the energy flows freely through their body again. I asked if anyone else would like to volunteer to experience Reiki. A young man volunteered & we did the same experiment. He also felt the Reiki energy, describing to the class what he was experiencing and feeling.
The students looked intensely interested in learning more about Reiki.
I told them that when the Professor asked me to help the students understand Reiki, I felt that was a nearly impossible task! I could have talked the entire hour and a half trying to explain Reiki to them, but they would not have connected to it without either experiencing it themselves OR hearing their classmate's description of what they were experiencing. I have found that this is the BEST way to help others understand it.
While writing this blog, I received a phone call from a young college-age woman. She wished to come ask me about learning massage therapy.
When she arrived, I saved this draft to finish later.
She heard I taught someone & certified them to do it too.
She assumed that I was teaching massage therapy & she wished to learn!
I explained that I do not formally teach massage therapy,
then encouraged her to explore learning Reiki.
She asked the FAMOUS question...
"What is Reiki.... EXACTLY?"
I asked her to sit facing me on the couch and place her hands on the couch, palms up. I then placed my hands upon hers and told her to let me know when she started to experience something.
The look on their faces when I do this never loses it's entertainment value! I have used this method of explaining Reiki ever since it worked so successfully at NDSU.
After she began feeling the vibrations from my hands and it increased more, I went a step further (which I sometimes do)... I pulled our hands apart, only 3-4 inches between our palms.
I asked her to explain what she experienced this way.
She said it felt like an electricity coming from my hands, traveling up her arms.
She kept looking between our palms making sure there was really nothing else touching her palms.
Of course, this sparked the immediate interest in knowing more.
This time, however, I told her that it's funny she should ask that question this evening. I reached for my laptop, brought up the draft of this article. I told her of teaching the classes at NDSU, about my first volunteer... turned my laptop towards her and encouraged her to read what the volunteer shared with the class.
I enjoyed watching her facial expressions as she read someone else describing what she had just experienced.
Q.) Can anyone feel Reiki this way?
A.) YES.... if they really try to!
The human brain thinks at about 400 Billion Bites per second, but the average human is only AWARE of 2000 Bites per second.
In actuality, everyone feels energy flowing through and around their bodies all the time, they just aren't consciously aware of it!
By asking them to tell me what they experience, without telling them WHAT they will experience at all... they open their awareness searching to sense everything and anything that could be there.
I believe their sense of it increasing is actually their awareness increasing, because the energy levels didn't change from the start to the end of the experiment.
Everyone has sensed energy at some point,
most people even talk about it!
"that guy really gives me the creeps! He didn't do anything, I just got a bad VIBE from him." Bad Vibes or Good Vibes.... people trust their own gut instincts about these things. They even use the right descriptive word to explain it... VIBES!
Reiki isn't new, it's actually VERY OLD.
You probably already believe in it and don't even realize it!
I know that doesn't make sense, but it will...
Reiki is actually two Japanese words:
Rei - spiritual divine wisdom, wonder, universal, divine brightness, omnipresent, omnipotent, shining, clear, etc.
Ki - life energy, vital energy, universal force, the force generating the heaven & the earth.
"What is Reiki... EXACTLY?"
PAY HERE... unfortunately, my web builder doesn't have that option on a blog page- Ha!
Writing an article to successfully explain Reiki is a challenge which ranks right up there with explaining Reiki to 200 NDSU students per Wellness Class!
I'll use that experience to explain Reiki to you too!
The NDSU Professor contacted me because I am known in the local area as an Expert Massage Therapist & Certified Reiki Master Teacher. I usually don't advertise all the other certifications & services I offer, because people take more time asking questions to understand those services, than it takes to help them feel better. I mix and match everything together to best suit my client's health needs. The Professor sent me some information about the Wellness Class so I didn't waste time explaining things the students already knew. After reviewing the information, I asked him which topics he wished me to cover. He had not realized I fell under almost every CAM category within the course materials, which was a lot to cover in only 90 minutes! Touching on all of them PLUS helping the students to understand Reiki? Pulling this off would be some sort of Miracle in itself!
I put a power point presentation together, arranging the therapies in a specific order. Arriving at the theater-like classroom, I wondered HOW in the world I would succeed in this task.... some of the students were SO FAR away!
I began with an aromatherapy example, asking for anyone who had just gotten a sore throat TODAY and wished to avoid getting sick. A young woman raised her hand & I asked her to come down to the front. From my briefcase, I took a small bottle of essential oil, asked her if she minded smelling like this today? No. I put some of the oil on my fingers and placed my hands upon her throat for a few moments. As I did this, I asked someone to please time how long it takes before she can taste it. A girl in the front looked at her watch just as she said, "I can ALREADY taste it!"
I instructed her to return to her seat, her sore throat would be gone in about 10-20 minutes. At the end of the class, this student returned to the front to tell me her sore throat was gone & she had been to the clinic that morning, where they told her, "it was too late, she was sick, she'd have to let the virus run it's course." She asked if her friend could have the same oil for her sore throat too!
The students knew I was a Massage Therapist from the power point displayed up on the wall, this was purposefully sneaky on my part. I asked for another volunteer who would like to experience "what I do." Most arms in the classroom FLEW UP in the air! I pointed at one young lady & she excitedly bounced down to join me on the stage. I asked her to sit upon the chair I had already placed there for my volunteer. Then I placed another chair in front of her, for me to sit upon. I sat down, facing her, our knees nearly touching. I asked her to rest her arms on her legs, palms facing up. Then I reached over, placed my palms on top of hers, while giving her this instruction: "I'm going to keep teaching the class, please let me know when you start sensing something, ok?" The confused panic look on her face was really funny, it was everything I could do NOT to burst out laughing! She said, "but what am I supposed to be doing or feeling?" I smiled and said, "you'll know when it happens! just let me know when it does. Gonna keep teaching the class now, ok?"
This was obviously NOT what she thought she was volunteering to do!
I continued speaking to the class explaining my concept of Holistic Medicine, treating the person as a WHOLE PERSON, addressing their Mind, Physical Body, Emotions & Spirituality. Moved on to Massage Therapy, Aromatherapy & the different ways that works, etc. I had saved Reiki for the very LAST topic.
At some point while I was explaining Massage Therapy, my volunteer excitedly said, "I FEEL SOMETHING!!" I stopped mid-sentence, asking her to repeat what she just said, but louder so everyone could hear her. Then I asked her to describe to the class what she felt. She said, "I feel a vibration coming from your hands!" I thanked her, then asked her to let me know if it changed & I picked up talking about Massage right where I left off. I resisted the urge to laugh because of the curiously confused look on her face. I kept everyone in the dark about what exactly this was demonstrating. All the students looked puzzled, it didn't make any sense and I didn't explain it to them On Purpose!
A little while later, my volunteer interrupted again, "I feel something else!"
I asked her to speak up and describe what she was experiencing to the class. She explained the vibration was feeling stronger and traveling like waves up her arms into her torso. The excitement she felt was intense, she wanted to know what this was and why! It was difficult to do, but I behaved as if all was no big deal & asked her to let me know if it changed again while I continued teaching the class. Everyone looked even more puzzled and confused!
After a bit, my volunteer interrupted yet again, "It's different again!" I asked her to describe to the class what she was feeling now. She explained it felt even stronger now and it was traveling down her legs now too! This time she blurted out, "what is this?"
I said, "Thank you for describing what Reiki feels like to the class." I explained further that a Reiki Master learns to take more energy into their body, then focus that energy into another person for the purpose of breaking up their negative energy blockages. This supports the other person's body to heal itself, as the energy flows freely through their body again. I asked if anyone else would like to volunteer to experience Reiki. A young man volunteered & we did the same experiment. He also felt the Reiki energy, describing to the class what he was experiencing and feeling.
The students looked intensely interested in learning more about Reiki.
I told them that when the Professor asked me to help the students understand Reiki, I felt that was a nearly impossible task! I could have talked the entire hour and a half trying to explain Reiki to them, but they would not have connected to it without either experiencing it themselves OR hearing their classmate's description of what they were experiencing. I have found that this is the BEST way to help others understand it.
While writing this blog, I received a phone call from a young college-age woman. She wished to come ask me about learning massage therapy.
When she arrived, I saved this draft to finish later.
She heard I taught someone & certified them to do it too.
She assumed that I was teaching massage therapy & she wished to learn!
I explained that I do not formally teach massage therapy,
then encouraged her to explore learning Reiki.
She asked the FAMOUS question...
"What is Reiki.... EXACTLY?"
I asked her to sit facing me on the couch and place her hands on the couch, palms up. I then placed my hands upon hers and told her to let me know when she started to experience something.
The look on their faces when I do this never loses it's entertainment value! I have used this method of explaining Reiki ever since it worked so successfully at NDSU.
After she began feeling the vibrations from my hands and it increased more, I went a step further (which I sometimes do)... I pulled our hands apart, only 3-4 inches between our palms.
I asked her to explain what she experienced this way.
She said it felt like an electricity coming from my hands, traveling up her arms.
She kept looking between our palms making sure there was really nothing else touching her palms.
Of course, this sparked the immediate interest in knowing more.
This time, however, I told her that it's funny she should ask that question this evening. I reached for my laptop, brought up the draft of this article. I told her of teaching the classes at NDSU, about my first volunteer... turned my laptop towards her and encouraged her to read what the volunteer shared with the class.
I enjoyed watching her facial expressions as she read someone else describing what she had just experienced.
Q.) Can anyone feel Reiki this way?
A.) YES.... if they really try to!
The human brain thinks at about 400 Billion Bites per second, but the average human is only AWARE of 2000 Bites per second.
In actuality, everyone feels energy flowing through and around their bodies all the time, they just aren't consciously aware of it!
By asking them to tell me what they experience, without telling them WHAT they will experience at all... they open their awareness searching to sense everything and anything that could be there.
I believe their sense of it increasing is actually their awareness increasing, because the energy levels didn't change from the start to the end of the experiment.
Everyone has sensed energy at some point,
most people even talk about it!
"that guy really gives me the creeps! He didn't do anything, I just got a bad VIBE from him." Bad Vibes or Good Vibes.... people trust their own gut instincts about these things. They even use the right descriptive word to explain it... VIBES!
Reiki isn't new, it's actually VERY OLD.
You probably already believe in it and don't even realize it!
I know that doesn't make sense, but it will...
Reiki is actually two Japanese words:
Rei - spiritual divine wisdom, wonder, universal, divine brightness, omnipresent, omnipotent, shining, clear, etc.
Ki - life energy, vital energy, universal force, the force generating the heaven & the earth.
Ki in Chinese is called- Chi,
Ki in Sanskrit is called- Prana,
Ki in Christianity is called- The Light,
etc.
The Light... many reading this already believe in that! You see, they already believed in Reiki and just didn't realize it!
Reiki and Native American Medicine are both good examples of how some CAM therapies address the WHOLE person.
This is where Healing & Spirituality merge.
Physical well-being is associated with spiritual balance and illness is associated with spiritual imbalance.
I teach my Reiki students how to connect with this healing energy/light.
Once they are able to maintain the energetic connection at the Master Level, I am no longer their teacher.
They are reconnected with the Energy of the Divine, which takes my place as their teacher.
If they run into a "speed bump" in their healing journey & feel "stuck," I'm available to provide guidance, which I call Reiki Guided-Learning.
You can access my website for more information about Guided-Learning and Reiki.
Example I use with my Reiki Students:
Look at the light fixture on the wall, there are wires in the wall supplying electricity to the light fixture. If those wires came into this room, without a light fixture, that energy could not light up this room, the fixture is a physical tool it needs to light up the room.
Reiki energy is like that electricity running through those wires....
YOU are like the light fixture it needs to light up the room.
Letting the Reiki energy flow through you....
JUST BE THE LAMP!
written by: Jennifer Kruse, LMT CRMT
Jen's blog
Like this?
Jen is available to SPEAK on this topic and many others.
As a Holistic Healer, Teacher and Practitioner of many
Alternative Medicine Modalities, Jen helps people connect & understand
aspects of SELF in a profound healing experience.
Helping YOU Transform Your Life!
Interested in scheduling an Event or Class?
Call Jen at (701) 371-3111
www.JenniferKruse.com
www.Aspire2Heal.com
Ki in Sanskrit is called- Prana,
Ki in Christianity is called- The Light,
etc.
The Light... many reading this already believe in that! You see, they already believed in Reiki and just didn't realize it!
Reiki and Native American Medicine are both good examples of how some CAM therapies address the WHOLE person.
This is where Healing & Spirituality merge.
Physical well-being is associated with spiritual balance and illness is associated with spiritual imbalance.
I teach my Reiki students how to connect with this healing energy/light.
Once they are able to maintain the energetic connection at the Master Level, I am no longer their teacher.
They are reconnected with the Energy of the Divine, which takes my place as their teacher.
If they run into a "speed bump" in their healing journey & feel "stuck," I'm available to provide guidance, which I call Reiki Guided-Learning.
You can access my website for more information about Guided-Learning and Reiki.
Example I use with my Reiki Students:
Look at the light fixture on the wall, there are wires in the wall supplying electricity to the light fixture. If those wires came into this room, without a light fixture, that energy could not light up this room, the fixture is a physical tool it needs to light up the room.
Reiki energy is like that electricity running through those wires....
YOU are like the light fixture it needs to light up the room.
Letting the Reiki energy flow through you....
JUST BE THE LAMP!
written by: Jennifer Kruse, LMT CRMT
Jen's blog
Like this?
Jen is available to SPEAK on this topic and many others.
As a Holistic Healer, Teacher and Practitioner of many
Alternative Medicine Modalities, Jen helps people connect & understand
aspects of SELF in a profound healing experience.
Helping YOU Transform Your Life!
Interested in scheduling an Event or Class?
Call Jen at (701) 371-3111
www.JenniferKruse.com
www.Aspire2Heal.com
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