Reiki is a complementary health approach in which practitioners place their hands lightly on or just above a person to promote a sense of well-being. Reiki is a form of alternative medicine developed in 1922 by Mikao Usui. Since originating in Japan, reiki has been adapted into varying cultural traditions across the world.
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"Reiki is a Japanese word that means sacred or spiritual energy. Ki is that life energy or universal energy that is cultivated and used in the art of Reiki.
Many different names are used to describe it. Ki is a Japanese word but in China the same universal energy is called Qi or Chi (Ch’i). In India and Tibet the word prana is the same universal energy, but used in relation to energy healing and yoga practices. In Native American cultures the Iroquois people call this energy Orenda and the Lakotas call it wakan. The Sufis call this same energy baraka, the Polynesian Hunas call it mana, the Ituri Pygmies call it megbe, the Christians call it the Holy Spirit, and in Hebrew it is called Ruach. All of these names point to the same idea of universal energy.
Ki is also used in traditional Japanese martial arts such as judo, karate, kendo, aikido, toate, and shintaido. It is also the main principle in johrei and mahikari. Hospitals in China have an herbal unit, an acupuncture unit, and a unit devoted to Qi healing and Qi Gong. Some modern hospitals in the West are beginning to talk about energy medicine and healing as an option.
Nevertheless, despite the lack of recognition from hospitals, the world of alternative medicine is widely accepting energy healing therapies such as Reiki. Furthermore, yoga and martial arts use the same universal energy by a different name, both of which have spread throughout the modern world with respect and recognition. However, the Japanese art of Reiki is a particular method of cultivating and using this energy to heal or to make whole. The concept of Ki is universal, but the art of Reiki is unique." (~Written by Rosalyn Imrie)
Reiki History began with the energy being rediscovered by Dr Mikao Usui 1865-1926 in 1865 who founder of Usui Reiki,. As a child he studied in a Tendai Buddhist monastery school entering at an early age.