Reiki Meaning & Principles: The Universal Life Force

The Origins: Mikao Usui and Mount Kurama

Reiki was rediscovered in the early 1920s by Mikao Usui, a Japanese Buddhist layman and spiritual seeker born in 1865 in the Yamagata district of Gifu prefecture. After years of study in traditional Japanese spiritual practices, Chinese medicine, and Buddhist meditation, Usui undertook a twenty-one-day period of fasting, meditation, and prayer on the sacred Mount Kurama north of Kyoto.

On the final day of this retreat, Usui experienced a profound mystical illumination, describing a powerful light entering the top of his head and expanding outward. He called this experience Satori, enlightened awareness, and emerged with the ability to channel healing energy through his hands. He named this system Usui Reiki Ryoho, "Usui Spiritual Energy Healing Method."

Usui taught in Tokyo and treated survivors of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Before his death in 1926, he trained seventeen Reiki Masters, including Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a naval physician who developed the hand position system still used today and established a healing clinic in Tokyo.

The transmission of Reiki to the West came through Hawayo Takata, a Hawaiian-born Japanese-American woman who sought treatment at Hayashi's clinic in the 1930s for a serious illness. After recovering, she trained under Hayashi and was eventually initiated as a Reiki Master in 1938. Takata taught Reiki in Hawaii and throughout the United States from 1938 until her death in 1980, initiating twenty-two Reiki Masters who went on to spread the practice worldwide.

The twenty-two Masters trained by Takata established the lineage from which virtually all Western Reiki practitioners descend. Frank Arjava Petter, author of This is Reiki, was among the pioneering researchers who returned to Japan in the 1990s and recovered original Japanese Reiki documents and practices that had been simplified or altered in Takata's transmission, enriching the Western understanding of the tradition's origins.

How Reiki Works: Energy, Biofields, and Healing

The theoretical foundation of Reiki rests on the concept of Ki (in Japanese), Qi (in Chinese), or Prana (in Sanskrit): the vital life force energy that animates all living beings. When this energy flows freely through the body's meridians and energy centres (chakras), health and vitality are maintained. When it stagnates or becomes depleted due to stress, trauma, or emotional suppression, illness and imbalance arise.

Reiki practitioners serve as conduits for universal life force energy, channelling it through their crown chakra, through the heart, and out through the palms of their hands into the recipient's energy field. The crucial distinction is that the practitioner does not use their own personal energy; they draw from the universal field, which is why practitioners do not feel depleted after sessions and why Reiki cannot cause harm.

The biofield concept provides a modern scientific framework for understanding Reiki's mechanism. Dr. Beverly Rubik, biophysicist at the Institute for Frontier Science, defines the biofield as "a complex, dynamic, weak electromagnetic field surrounding and permeating living organisms." Research by Dr. William Bengston using laboratory animal models found measurable effects on tumour remission rates through hands-on energy healing that parallel the effects described in Reiki practice.

Physiologically, Reiki activates the parasympathetic nervous system's rest-and-digest response, reducing cortisol levels, lowering blood pressure, decreasing heart rate, and promoting the release of neurotransmitters associated with wellbeing including serotonin and endorphins. This shift from sympathetic (fight-or-flight) to parasympathetic dominance creates the physiological conditions in which the body's own healing mechanisms function most effectively.

The 5 Reiki Principles (Gokai)

Mikao Usui taught that healing the physical body in isolation from the mind and spirit is ultimately incomplete. He developed five ethical and contemplative principles, called the Gokai, which he prescribed for daily recitation each morning and evening as a form of mental and spiritual hygiene.

The phrase "just for today" is psychologically astute. It does not demand permanent change or sainthood. It asks only for present-moment engagement with each principle, making the practice accessible and realistic. Over time, these daily micro-commitments accumulate into genuine character transformation.

Reiki Master and author William Lee Rand notes that the Gokai are not merely aspirational statements but active healing practices. Each principle corresponds to specific emotional and energetic blockages: anger to the Liver meridian, worry to the Spleen, ingratitude to the Heart. Working with the Gokai daily addresses the root mental causes that perpetuate physical illness.

The Three Degrees of Reiki Training

Reiki training is divided into three levels, each conferring different capabilities and requiring a separate attunement ceremony. The progression moves from self-healing, through healing others, to the mastery of teaching and attuning.

Level 1 (Shoden, "First Teaching") focuses on the student's own healing and establishes the foundational channel between the student and Reiki energy. Students learn the history of Reiki, the Gokai, basic hand positions for self-treatment and treating others, and the concept of the energy body. The Level 1 attunement permanently opens the crown, heart, and palm chakras to channel Reiki energy.

After receiving Level 1, most practitioners undergo a twenty-one-day cleansing cycle. As the student's vibration adjusts to the newly opened channel, old, dense energy is moved and released. This can manifest as vivid dreams, emotional releases, changes in appetite, or mild physical symptoms that resolve within days. It is a natural and beneficial process.

Level 2 (Okuden, "Inner Teaching") introduces three sacred symbols that significantly expand the practitioner's capability. The Power symbol (Cho Ku Rei) amplifies the strength of Reiki energy. The Harmony symbol (Sei He Ki) specifically addresses mental and emotional healing, accessing the subconscious where deep patterns are stored. The Distance symbol (Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen) transcends time and space, enabling the sending of Reiki to people, situations, or events across any distance.

Level 3 (Shinpiden, "Mystery Teaching" or Master Level) confers the Master symbol (Dai Ko Myo) and the knowledge and ability to perform the attunement ceremony on others. Receiving the Shinpiden attunement brings a significant shift in energy sensitivity and spiritual awareness. Not all Level 2 practitioners choose to progress to Master level; it is a significant commitment that is best approached when there is a genuine calling to teach and serve as a lineage keeper.

The Attunement: What It Is and What It Does

The attunement is the defining feature that distinguishes Reiki from other forms of energy healing. It is a sacred ceremony, performed by a qualified Master Teacher, that permanently alters the student's energetic anatomy to become a clear channel for Reiki energy.

During the attunement, the teacher places specific symbols into the student's aura and energy centres using a prescribed sequence of movements and intentions. From the student's experience, the attunement may produce sensations of warmth, light, deep peace, emotional release, visual impressions, or simply a profound sense of stillness and opening.

The attunement does not give the student something they lacked before. Rather, it removes the energetic blockages and conditioning that prevented the natural flow of universal life force energy through the system. Reiki is considered every person's birthright; the attunement simply removes the obstacles to accessing it fully.

The concept of direct transmission from teacher to student in an unbroken lineage traces back through all major wisdom traditions. In Zen Buddhism, the concept of dharma transmission involves the direct passing of insight from teacher to student. In Reiki, this lineage from Usui to Hayashi to Takata and then to her twenty-two Masters is carefully tracked and considered part of the practice's integrity.

What Happens in a Reiki Session

A professional Reiki session typically lasts sixty to ninety minutes. The recipient lies fully clothed on a massage table in a calm, comfortable environment. The practitioner may play soft music and use gentle aromatherapy to support relaxation.

The practitioner begins at the head, placing hands gently on or just above specific positions: the crown, forehead, temples, back of the head, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral area, and then moving to the feet and legs. Each position is held for three to five minutes. The practitioner follows the energy intuitively, spending longer at positions that show greater imbalance or draw more energy.

Recipients commonly report warmth, tingling, a sense of heaviness and deep relaxation, spontaneous emotional releases such as tears or laughter, visual impressions, or a deep sleep-like state. Some people feel little during the session but notice significant shifts in their wellbeing, sleep quality, and emotional state in the days following.

Research and Clinical Evidence

The scientific evidence base for Reiki has grown considerably over the past two decades. While methodological challenges inherent in studying subtle energy healing mean the evidence is not yet as extensive as that for conventional treatments, multiple rigorous reviews and clinical trials support its effectiveness for specific outcomes.

A 2016 systematic review published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine examined eight high-quality Reiki studies and found beneficial effects for pain, anxiety, and overall quality of life, particularly in cancer patients and those with chronic illness. The review concluded that Reiki consistently performed better than sham treatment.

Research at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut found that patients who received Reiki before and after cardiac surgery reported significantly lower levels of anxiety and pain, required less post-operative pain medication, and had shorter hospital stays than controls. The hospital has since incorporated Reiki into its integrative care programme.

The National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) categorises Reiki as a biofield therapy and funds ongoing research into its mechanisms and applications. The centre notes that Reiki is generally safe and may be a helpful addition to a comprehensive care plan for certain conditions.

Combining Reiki and Crystals

Crystal Reiki is a widely practised combination that places crystals on or near chakra points during a Reiki session to amplify the healing at each energy centre. The combination works synergistically: the crystals provide a stable energetic template for each chakra while the Reiki energy flows through the practitioner to clear blockages and restore balance.

Common combinations include placing clear quartz at the crown for clarity and spiritual connection, amethyst at the third eye for intuition, lapis lazuli at the throat for authentic expression, rose quartz at the heart for emotional healing, citrine at the solar plexus for confidence, orange calcite at the sacral for creative flow, and black tourmaline or hematite at the root for grounding and security.

Practitioners certified in both Reiki and crystal healing report that the combined modality creates deeper and longer-lasting shifts than either practice alone. The crystals act as anchors, holding the vibrational shifts initiated by the Reiki energy in place beyond the session, supporting the integration process in the days following treatment.

Frequently Asked Questions