Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1174218
R "Our history begins with Mikao Usui, who lived in Japan from 1865 until his death in 1926," Miles says. "He was a lifelong spiritual aspirant and a family man—a husband and father of two children. We don't have a lot of really good documentation, but it seems that in 1922—perhaps at a peak of spiritual disappointment—he went to Mount Kurama, a sacred mountain in Japan. He was determined to fast and meditate until he either had a spiritual breakthrough (a satori) or he died. He told his friends, 'If I don't come down, please come collect my bones.' Fortunately for us, he did have a spiritual breakthrough and that was the genesis of what we now call reiki practice." Born of meditation and fasting, Miles says this history places reiki squarely in the realm of spiritual practice. But there are more guideposts pointing to the identification of reiki as a spiritual practice, including its passive, noninvasive approach, and its call on the body to heal itself. But what's most important, Miles says, is that if you are willing to consider the possibility that reiki is a spiritual practice and not an energy-based modality, it gives new life to the possibilities reiki holds—especially for an audience more willing to see its value in that spiritual light instead of being defined within a new-age paradigm. What Reiki Is and Isn't "The reality is, there's probably more misinformation about reiki practice than there is credible information," Miles says. "When you combine that with the emotional investment many have in their practice, their business, and their lineage, it makes for a lot of confusion." Why is this important to understand? "Because there are absolutely no standards for reiki practice or education, none whatsoever, so people practice according to their understanding, and have made changes without noting them for their students and the public to know." Miles believes the public needs to know about the wide diversity of practice approaches, because "there is an understandable expectation that all things reiki are the same, or very similar … and they are not." For example, Miles says, listen to the language. "When you hear reiki practitioners talk about intention, that's not traditional reiki practice. Or when they talk about doing clearing, or 'I have to remove a block in your energy field'—reiki practice is not like that. It doesn't involve entering the person's boundaries; we're not violating the integrity of the individual." Miles says when you practice reiki, you remain at the "periphery." What's carried in reiki- trained hands evokes a "remembered wellness," and a self-healing response from deep within the receiver's system. "That wellness is inviolable; it's spiritual. It exists within our system, but it's been pushed so far into the background that "Reiki is a spiritual practice," says 33-year reiki veteran Pamela Miles. If nothing else, the "story" of reiki shows us this. 66 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 9