In terms of understanding reiki the belief is that you are surrounded by an energy life force which you cannot see of course. This pure energy is called by different names depending on the country of origin but the term reiki translates into meaning universal life energy and it can be used in a number of ways. Get more information about reiki at reikitraininglondon.com.
In karate you are taught to draw in and hold the chi, as it's called to the Chinese, so that you can expel it from your body when you are fighting, making each impact on your opponent several times more powerful. This is one use but in treatments like acupuncture the emphasis is very much on detecting and correcting imbalances within the body to create a more even flow of energy throughout.
This treatment is what you might call a fine tuning of the body's energy and can be useful in curing certain ailments. Shiatsu is a similiar process but the practitioner uses his hands instead of needles to produce the same outcome. With these practices as with others it's all about having an excellent understanding of where energy points are within the body and the techniques that go with it to produce the desired results needed.
Now Where both acupuncture and shiatsu deal with energy being channeled properly within the body, reiki is more to do with channeling energy into the body and the transferrence of energy from one person to another. This is at least what is common practice in the west as it serves as a way to treat others in need of some kind of healing process.
A reiki healer as they are called becomes very good at acting like an energy store where by they can draw in energy from an external source and then channel that into someone else which then helps to re energize and heal the person getting the treatment. Both reiki and shiatsu makes use of the hands but unlike shiatsu, reiki isn't really a technique for detection and manipulation of energy spots like shiatsu is. It's more of a case of channeling the energy to an area that needs attention rather than a control of the energy gates as I would call them.
If you look in the advert section of many magazines dedicated to reiki you'll find lots of ads for reiki training London or reiki training Manchester, if you live in the U.K that is as there are a ton of courses being offered to teach you the exact methods and practices but in reality a person becomes good at reiki through a lot of practice and personal development.
Without sounding a little pie in the sky a lot of skill relies on your intuitiveness as you will learn to feel the energy more as you develop. This intuition guides you to the different areas you need to channel the flow of energy and the amount of time you need to lay your hands on the person being healed. Reiki training courses are good in providing you with the knowledge needed to understand how to channel but the effectivness comes with being able to trust your instincts and what your body is telling you.
There is a misunderstanding as well that reiki somehow zaps your own energy which is then transferred to the other person leaving you worse off with your own energy balance but this could not be further from the truth as the energy being transferred is being drawn in from the universal life energy which surrounds us everywhere. I think this misconseption is probably the fault of television and films as I've seen on many occasions how people have been miracoulously healed while the healer is usually either passed out or very weak in a chair.
The reality is that being a reiki master in many ways improves your overall energy balance and even invigorates you as you end up benefitting from all the energy being channeled through you as well.
The fact is reiki in the west has always been seen as a way to heal others through the channeling of external energy but it didn't start out that way as it was first used as an individual experience through various energy meditations and other self treatments. My London reiki training teacher was a big believer in using reiki on himself and so I learned some techniques which aren't always in the courses you can take.
There are also a wide number of reiki systems to choose from and some are more potent than others. It really depends on what your end goal is so it's worth asking the reiki training teacher what course would best suit your needs before jumping on board with any reiki course you find. In case you are wondering, the life force energy we talk about in reiki has nothing to do with the after life or any relation to religious beliefs so if you were wondering if one course relates more to christianity or not due to the over use of spiritual it has no baring which in many ways is good as people from all walks of life can enjoy a spiritual energy development using reiki.
