15-Minute Reiki: Health and Healing at your Fingertips

15-MINUTE
REIKI
HEALTH AND HEALING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Chris and Penny Parkes

Dedication

For Yvette

whose courage and positive outlook arean inspiration to all who know her

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Introduction

How to Use this Book

PART I: All About Reiki

Chapter 1: Origins of Reiki Healing

Chapter 2: The History of Reiki

Chapter 3: The Five Principles of Reiki

Chapter 4: How We First Came Across Reiki – by Penny Parkes

Chapter 5: Time for Reiki, Time for You

Chapter 6: How Reiki Works

Chapter 7: Self-treatment

Chapter 8: Treating Others

Chapter 9: Hand Positions for Reiki Treatments

PART II: Healing with Reiki

Chapter 10: Everyday Complaints

Chapter 11: Chronic Conditions

Chapter 12: First Aid and Prevention

PART III: Using Reiki to Transform Your Life

Chapter 13: Reiki for a Brand New You

Chapter 14: Restore Your Energy

Chapter 15: Harness Your Inner Power

Chapter 16: Surround Yourself with Supportive, High-energy People

Chapter 17: Nurture Your Spiritual Well-being

PART IV: Reiki Training Courses

Chapter 18: Your Questions Answered

Chapter 19: Reiki Second Degree

Chapter 20: Master Practitioner

Chapter 21: Finding a Teacher

Chapter 22: Becoming a Teacher of Reiki

PART V: Resources

Going Further with Reiki

Chris and Penny’s Reiki Lineage

Using Hypnotherapy with Reiki

Bibliography and Further Reading

Useful Websites and Addresses

Index

Praise

Copyright

About the Publisher

Introduction

A day is a miniature eternity.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Many people have told us they would love to include Reiki in their lives, but there simply wasn’t the time. If there were, there wasn’t the energy, the space, the motivation or the know-how to make Reiki a meaningful and inspiring part of everyday living. If this sounds familiar, then this book is written for you.

Would you like more harmony, less stress and more balance in your life? Well, you’re not alone. Many people are tired of fast-paced, fragmented lifestyles and are interested in a more meaningful life with time for reflection and energy to invest in physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Whether you are a stressed-out executive, a student, a home-worker, someone juggling a busy home life with a career, or someone who is continually tired – with the help of Reiki you can make positive changes. We will share with you many ways to overcome the obstacles that prevent you living a fulfilling life.

Reiki is a wonderfully simple, hands-on healing art. It is an effective method of relaxation and stress-relief. It restores harmony, increases vitality and can treat almost any ailment.

It is our intention to pass on some tools to heal yourself and become the perfect healer that you intrinsically are. Reiki can enable you to take charge of your own health and well-being. Using the various techniques, you will discover the many benefits of this extraordinary and fascinating energy medicine.

Wishing you well in your quest to understand the mystery and beauty of life through the use of Reiki.

IN LOVE AND LIGHT

CHRIS AND PENNY PARKES

How to Use this Book

15-Minute Reiki is divided into four sections to make it practical, easy to use and straightforward to read.

Part One helps you get a feel for Reiki by explaining what it is and how you can use it. Even if you are already an experienced practitioner or a teacher of Reiki, it also includes new information and an updated history of its origins.

Part Two illustrates how Reiki can be used to treat specific illnesses or injuries, even when time is limited. It contains useful information on a range of ailments, from everyday complaints to chronic conditions and first aid. For the Reiki practitioner it contains special ways to treat specific imbalances. This part can be read a little at a time or used for reference when required. In addition, there are tips to keep you healthy, strong and less susceptible to illness.

Part Three puts the theory into action, with exercises for self-healing and transformation. It includes strategies that will enable you to bring more energy, balance and harmony into your life, so you can harness your inner power and live your dreams.

Part Four describes the different levels of Reiki training, and includes lots of practical guidance. It includes answers to frequently asked questions such as how to find the right teacher and how to become a practitioner. For those who have taken Reiki training, it covers new ground and suggests creative ways of using it.

While Reiki is in essence a straightforward healing art, each person will develop his or her own way of relating to it. This book is designed to be an accessible guide to enable Reiki to fit in with your life, rather than the other way around.

PART ONE

1 Origins of Reiki Healing

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds.Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

The word ‘Reiki’ refers to a simple, hands-on healing technique discovered by Dr Mikao Usui in Japan in the early 1900s. Its popularity has spread all over the world, particularly throughout America and Western Europe.

Dr Usui called this energy medicine Reiki, meaning ‘life-force energy’. It describes a process of healing that is brought about through the use of hands laid on the body in certain positions. This healing art is passed from teacher to student by a series of mystic attunements that are carried out during a Reiki training course.

The empowerments help each person to open up to and receive an increased amount of life-force energy. As the energetic amplification varies at each stage, the study of Reiki is divided up into three levels or degrees.

In quantum physics, energy is recognized as the fundamental substance of which the universe is composed. Our physical universe, while seeming solid, is actually composed of densely vibrating energy particles. All these particles vibrate at different speeds, and their speed holds the pattern of their physical form. Physicists describe particles not as isolated grains of matter, but as interconnections in an inseparable cosmic web.

Our own physical bodies are composed of energy. Everything within and around us is, too. The various parts of the body are made up of energy patterns. These patterns have many different forms and densities. These forms can remain constant or be subject to change. Some alter quickly and easily. An example of this is human thought. Other forms of energy take more time to change, such as human tissue. Denser energy forms, such as rocks, take much longer to change, yet even these can be altered by a lighter, finer energy, such as water, though this occurs over a very long period.

As well as being composed of energy, we also have energy running through us. Many Eastern forms of medicine believe this flow of energy sustains life itself. Universal life force energy is said to pass through the body via channels or an energetic grid, known as ‘meridians’. In Chinese medicine, the aim of acupuncture is to stimulate the flow of energy through these pathways.

While we are healthy and strong, there is a powerful flow of energy running through the body. When we are feeling stressed or unwell, this flow of energy is reduced. Reiki is a simple and effective way of restoring the flow. In time and with practice, it is possible to achieve vibrant health, inner calm, balance and harmony.

It is now known that Reiki is the secularized form of a much more complex system of spiritual healing techniques developed by Dr Usui. He designed the system to be accessible to people of all backgrounds. While it is not necessary for a practitioner to believe in Reiki’s more mystical element, it does require regular practice to reap the maximum benefit.

While spontaneous cures have been known and chronic conditions eased, Reiki is at its most effective when used frequently as a preventative measure and to speed up post-operative healing. Regular use calms the mind, relaxes the body and soothes the soul.

Overall, it is a gentle, non-invasive way of keeping healthy and staying relaxed. Its regular use can enable you to bring joy, peace and vitality into your life.

WHY LEARN REIKI?

Having taught Reiki for many years, it was apparent to us that it is one of the simplest yet most profound healing systems. We have had the honour of witnessing many individual transformations that have occurred through its use.

At the beginning of each course, we ask participants why they have decided to study Reiki. The answers vary. Many tell us their decision followed a spontaneous healing or a particular state of consciousness experienced during a treatment. Others noticed positive changes in their friends or partners following a course. There are many personal reasons, but mostly it is because they want to make a difference both to their own lives and to others’.

The following are some of the reasons why people have chosen to take Reiki training:

It is easy to learn by anyone, regardless of background, age or experience.

Reiki enhances physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Reiki is a natural, drug free healing remedy.

Reiki calms the nervous system and is a natural antidote to stress.

Reiki can be used anywhere, at any time.

Reiki promotes self-reliance and can be used effectively as a self-treatment.

Reiki relieves physical symptoms and works towards alleviating their underlying cause.

Reiki raises self-awareness.

Reiki combines well with other healing modalities.

Reiki can be used effectively with children, animals and plants.

Reiki promotes inner peace and calm by dissolving the barriers to harmony.

Reiki can be used alongside allopathic (orthodox) medicine and medical treatments.

Reiki can be used to solve problems and achieve goals.

You don’t have to believe in Reiki for it to work.

The benefits last a lifetime.