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Reiki - Are You For It - or Do You Have Reservations About It
AllbuddhaBound
Veteran
I just wanted to get some feedback about how Reiki is viewed in a Buddhist community.
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The interesting thing is that Tibet has a long history of hands-on healing that stems from its history of Inner Asian shamanism (pre-Buddhist). But the Buddhist community practices Tibetan medicine, and frowns on shamanism. Heinrich Harrer said the ordinary people prefer the hands-on healing, though.
I don't know if there's a Zen position on Reiki.
I can do without Reiki. So I do. :wave: .
Kia Ora,
From what I gather Reiki was the brainchild by a Japanese Zen practitioner back in the early 1920s ...
I have friends who are Reiki practitioners, and like @lobster I've never felt the need for it...
Metta Shoshin
A friend of mine, knowing about my spinal injury, told me that she would send me reiki and help the condition.
Well, I don't know what she did, but it made not one iota of difference, and she says she has done it 4 times now.
If anything the condition is causing a gradual and slow deterioration....
Not a sob-story, just a fact....
Not really interested....
I went to a few Reiki sessions and we did some visualisations about finding your inner animal in a cave or something. I found it quite confusing.
A couple of people I know have said they found it helpful, I got the strong impression that it was helpful because they _believed _it would be helpful - so like the a placebo effect.
You can become a Reiki Master after a couple of weekends of training, which to me doesn't inspire much confidence.
But as with most things, why not suck it and see?
Reiki, Pranic, Bowen therapies, the power of suggestion/placebic influence can be efficacious in some cases, but I've known people who have died (and maybe they would have anyway) choosing these methods over conventional treatments, mostly for cancer. My little sister was an example for me, her husband (a bricklayer) convinced himself (and her) he was a Pranic healer and denied her access to doctors, he continually bragged to anyone who'd listen that he was curing my sister and she died a horrible death. He is now a pariah to my family.
I think there can be something to using one owns body as a healing agent. But I am not sold on the idea someone else can do it for me. Or, can do it safely. I am not too keen on other people altering my body's energy. I also don't think it should be a complete system in itself but used in conjunction with modern methods, too. We can heal ourselves with food and exercise, but only to a degree. Most of our power lies in preventing the problems to begin with.
As we discussed earlier, meditation can be a bad thing for those who don't know what they are doing, and embark on advanced practices with no training or supervision. I think any kind of stuff like this is the same. People get desperate when they become ill, they get scared and don't want to die, don't want to suffer the horrible effects of chemo and radiation and so on, so they take on these suggested alternative methods without knowing anything about them. Broccoli is not going to cure your stage 4 ovarian cancer. Neither is someone touching you with their hands. But being in touch with your body and having good mind/body awareness goes a long way to keeping you healthy, and recognizing something is wrong before it turns into stage 4 cancer. It's still no guarantee, of course. Nothing is.
All for it! I'm a "first degree" practitioner and practice mostly on myself whenever I feel like it. Although, I would not replace modern medicine with it.
My aunt tried to heal her breast cancer with Reiki and by the time that she went to 'western' medicine it was too late.
My guess is that western medicine is hammer and tongs. Very blunt and very powerful. Reiki probably helps the subtle body, but if you need a hammer rather than moon light you need western medicine.
The massage school I went to preferred to refer to our practice as "complimentary medicine" rather than "alternative medicine." A small distinction that makes a big difference. Anyone who isn't a licensed doctor but deters a patient from seeking the accepted medical treatment/diagnosis is a crook, plain and simple. I am not western medicine's biggest fan, believe me, but it's simply unethical to guide them in this way when you simply don't have the training to back up those judgement calls.
Don't reiki and qigong have a similar core philosophy? I googled reiki versus qigong and just reading the hits the difference is reiki is the use of my 'healing power' used on someone else, and qigong is a person 'utilizing' that on their own self.
If a very timely kind word can be powerfully healing for someone stuck between two choices, it makes me wonder 'why not?' that one's energy or whatever, if possible, could be helpful to another.
As always, how receptive you are is probably the difference between whether or not a word, a gift, complimentary medicine, whatever 'works'. Western medine for the most part works whether you believe it will or not (vaccinations work even if you refuse to believe they will).
Very interesting thread, I like to read about other Buddhist's thoughts.
One thing about Buddhism is it is very UNlike Christianity (and perhaps the other theistic religions) in that it doesn't have a list of 'thou shalt nots'. Plenty of 'this is stupid and foolish, avoid it' but you won't piss off the Buddha or be denied an ever after in Nirvana if you eat meat or kill bugs or maybe even kill other people.
Kia Ora;
He's not Buddhist but what he has to say about Reiki and other energy healing techniques, is quite interesting...
Sadhguru on Reiki
Metta Shoshin .
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FWIW, Sadhguru seems to not be all that educated about Reiki. He has several misconceptions about it. The questioner also seems to be misinformed. One does not "take on" another's karma when doing it.
I became a 3rd degree Master Practitioner, in France, under Nicole Reynaert .
I studied this to be able to use it in conjunction with the Shiatsu I practised.
The Shiatsu course took 3 years. The reiki, 6 (non-consecutive, separate) days.
While I totally respect your use of it @seeker242, I personally tried to implement it for some considerable time, before I totally gave up on it as being completely ineffective and pointless. I could neither give beneficial reiki in any measurable, demonstrable benefit, either in person, or 'distantly'.
If it works for you, and you have seen it work, witnessed it's benefits and can measure results, then I'm delighted. But there is absolutely nothing I can point to, during the time I practised it, that I could distinctly say was as a result of Reiki.
I will add though, that I am in complete agreement with you regarding the above video. It's totally questionable and dubious.
I have however, practised crystal therapy, and had it applied to me also, and I can say, for my part, from my perspective, that there was definite - if not sustained - personally-measurable improvement in both my physical and psychological state.
The psychological state has been more enduring.
Kia Ora,
Isn't it all along the lines of "Mind over Matter" including things like Émile Coué's "Autosuggestion" techniques...
Some people are more susceptible than others, to the power of suggestion, take hypnosis for example ...
For the most part I get all the help I need from ancient acupressure techniques, modern medicine including meditation (which I guess at times also involves mind over matter & autosuggestion) ...
I must admit, I see meditation as being the wonder drug of modern medicine...But this too should be "taken as directed"
Metta Shoshin .
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@Shoshin!
The mind that entertains us should be viewed as it is intended. But don't give it too much grief!
I don't understand. What "reservations" would Buddhists have about Reiki? What does it have to do with Buddhism?
None @Dakini!
Nothing, though folks new to Buddhism may assume Buddhism has a list of 'unBuddhist activities' as do major theistic religions.
I consciously choose not to heal people.
I only do self-healing for fun.
It's surprising at times how it works.
but lately I am more interested in pain. A total interest in pain actually makes pain into pleasure.
Haha then reiki is pointless.
A total interest in pain actually makes pain into pleasure.
That sounds a little kinky
Kia Ora,
Haven't you heard of kinky
reggaeReikiMetta Shoshin .
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Then I suggest that you eat lots of spinach with cheese sauce so you can grow a kidney stone...you will get hours of fun from that.
Kidney stones are only slightly more preferable to having all your teeth extracted through your nose....
The pain is indescribable.
never had one myself, but as a young student, working holiday time as a cleaner in a hospital, I came across a gentleman patient with this condition. Never seen anything like it. He seriously wanted his entire lower half amputated, to stop the pain.
No amount of Reiki would be of any use whatsoever, I suspect, in such circumstances.
I personally don't put much attention, if any, on the outcome. I never really "measured the benefits" on myself because I've never had any kind of ill health. Hard to say if it heals when you aren't sick to begin with! With regards to other people, I view it similar to charity. Like giving a homeless person some money. Maybe he will buy some food, maybe he will buy some drugs or alcohol. Maybe it will be helpful, maybe it won't. Who knows! But, what he does with it after it's given to him, that is something that I am no longer involved with.
Its currently in my thoughts @federica because I passed a stone on monday morning...
I have had better nights than Sunday's....
My mate who is a kidney surgeon talked me through my CT scan..
He says that that they can form in minutes during flights due to cabin pressure being less than ground pressure, and dry air leading to dehydration..He says to drink lots of water before boarding now that we can't take it on board for security reasons..
Interesting on the flight and kidney stone relationship.
It seems they can at least do a bit more than they used to to manage the pain and passing. A friend of mine (who basically lives on soda, so that doesn't help him) who gets kidney stones fairly often, is given pain control and some sort of relaxant that lets the (forgive my lack of proper terms, lol) tubes from the kidneys relax rather that constrict over the stone.
Interestingly, of all the people I've known who have had kidney stones, I have never known a single female who had it.
Back on topic: I enjoy learning about ways to help with pain without taking meds, when possible. I don't like to take them often and narcotic pain meds make me horribly sick. Even with my csections, once I was off the IV pain meds, I only took ibuprofen. Same with my knee surgery. It boggles my mind that people take those meds to get high because I feel like absolute garbage, and it doesn't matter which kind I take. Ick. I have had some success with exploring various ways to control pain, thanks to a sangha member who is a qigong teacher. Headaches are my nemesis. I have no pain tolerance for headaches and even when it is not a migraine, they will send me under the covers in tears in pretty short order. Yoga sometimes helps. Breathing techniques sometimes help. I also make sure to eat and drink appropriately but sometimes, nothing works. Not even ibuprofen. I'd like to find an effective way to help when that happens. Thankfully it's not frequent. I've had some luck in figuring out triggers and avoiding them, but the weather causes headaches, and so far, no luck in helping them until the pressure system passes.
Freaky fact about me: When I was in-utero, early on, I was supposed to have a twin. I absorbed the twin and was left with 3 functioning kidneys as a result.
That happened to a woman who, upon asking the state for support for her kids, was refused on the grounds that DNA results showed the children were closely related but not hers. However, they subsequently discovered she had absorbed her twin sister, and had her womb.
Amazing.
Your friend was probably given the same as I was @karasti, an Alpha Blocker called Tamsulosin, plus Co- Codamol which made me feel so woozy I only marginally preferred it to the pain.
Fortunately it was relatively small stone ( 5mm ) and I passed it quickly..and the CT scan showed none in waiting...phew..
PS I did a lot of woman- in -labour type breathing..it came more or less automatically.
If that's the type you see in the movies - that's crap. Pregnant women don't breathe like that.
.
Well what I did spontaneously was to breath deeply into the pain with each spasm..It seemed to help. But it was a long night.
The worst bit was missing the Final and having to watch it already knowing the score..
You didn't miss much either way. And Messi? Player of the tournament...?
Yeah, right.....
I know !
He can be excellent.. really. But he had a mediocre tournament. As did the much feted Van Persie. Some of the less well players did much better.