Reiki Master Gordon Rosenberg demonstrates and describes all the primary Reiki hand positions for treating front and back of the body. Debby Rosenberg is the recipient. Music soundtrack from Magnatune features Jeff Wahl, Paul Avgerinos, and Suzanne Teng.

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Beginning Techniques for Feeling Energy

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Reiki is a specific application of “universal energy” to enhance healing and self-discovery. It originated in Japan more than 100 years ago and is now done throughout the world, yet is probably is similar to processes which have been practiced by people for many centuries. I've practiced Reiki since 1989, and continue to be awed at the beauty and power of this work.

"Reiki" is a Japanese word meaning “universal life force energy”, as does the Chinese word “chi” and the Sanskrit word “prana”. These and all other forms of energetic healing come basically from the same universal root. There are many applications, techniques, philosophies, and the like, but the root of all is universal energy.

I recommend Reiki to anyone for any kind of healing - either as a primary technique or to support other forms. Not that one should discontinue other forms of treatment. That's definitely not recommended, and isn't necessary. Reiki is a great companion therapy for practically any healing modality. Reiki supports and enhances other forms, including the allopathic medicine developed primarily in the west.

Universal energy flows through all of us from Source. It’s received by each of us as we breathe and go about our lives here. We can learn to increase this flow of energy through our bodies and improve our health and well-being. Universal energy is seen and felt in various ways, but what’s important is that it’s the energy which makes all life possible, and that we can use it consciously for our benefit. Practicing Reiki is one way to do that.

We can learn to clear our bodies of unwanted debris accumulated over years by beginning to sense the energies of the body and going inside to where they're located. However one sees or feels energy, the important thing is that we learn to use it for our own highest good. The very issue of having to deal with one's body is the reason we've incarnated. It is no accident that we're in these bodies. To learn to access and clear one's body leads directly to healing on both emotional and physical levels, and ultimately to full realization of oneself on the spiritual level. For what better reason than this could one choose to be in human form?

When you begin healing the physical, you often notice many energies arising in the body. This is because your body has been storing all these energies until it's time to release them. Often, these energies are there as the result of pain endured on some level, whether emotional or physical. You release them when it's time. Until then, you hold onto them. Energetic healing, the kind I'm talking about when I say Reiki, is a very powerful energy that helps us unleash our body's normal healing energy.

When we allow universal energy to come to us in its natural form, whether through the efforts of another person, or directly from Source, through a form such as tai chi, yoga, working out, etc., we're allowing ourselves to sense the stuff of which we're made. We are the same energy that flows through everything. We are a physical incarnation of universal energy.

You can access healing energy alone via your body's own natural abilities, yet it’s often easier to let someone help you with the process. This is where the role of healer comes in. I don't use the word "healer" to mean that such a person is fully in charge of the process. Quite the opposite, really. The genuine healer simply applies her or his skills to the healing process, channeling whatever energy is most appropriate for the client's highest good. The “client” works consciously with the energy, or hopefully, keeps his or her conscious mind out of the process and lets the energy do the healing. The most important thing is that the new energy be allowed to access those places in the body where old energy is trapped, and to release that energy through natural processes.

It's very easy to let universal energy work within the body. We need only to suspend any judgments we may have about the process, and let it happen. The wisdom of the universe, which comes naturally with universal energy, is far greater than that of any individual human. This is why this energy can access and heal places and conditions we never even knew we had. This is also why it's important for both practitioner and client to stay out of the way and let the process happen naturally. The universe knows how to heal, when we allow it.

I designed this exericse myself for my Reiki classes - and people are often surprised how easy it makes sending and receiving energy. Visual is Dillon Falls, on the Deschutes River in Central Oregon. Music is Running Depth from Within This Space by DAC Crowell at Magnatune.

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