Andy Chrysostomou and Dawn Mellowship (O Books), Publication Date: 31 May 2008, ISBN: 978-1846940996, RRP £9.99 

The Essence of Reiki, like the art of Reiki itself, is a journey of discovery. Written with love and a deep understanding of Reiki, every detail is as precise and as accurate as possible.

The journey starts with the origins of Reiki, with the founder, Mikao Usui or Usui-sensei as he was known to his students. By understanding Usui-sensei and his life and culture you will gain greater insight into his healing system. From the origins you move onto the development and evolution of Usui Reiki, to the system Usui-sensei bestowed to the world to “make individuals better to make society better” Usui, Mikao .

This insightful book will guide you through the methods taught by Usui-sensei in step-by-step detail so you too can practise the original system. From Usui-sensei's original teachings we have developed Active Reiki Healing to bring Reiki back to its original purpose. What Reiki has lost over the years, we have given back. Reiki once again is a healing system that can be used to treat any condition, any illness, any injury, any emotional problem, just as Usui-sensei intended.

You will learn how to use the Reiki symbols and their mantras with the added use of intention and visualization to treat illnesses and injuries directly using Active Reiki Healing.

The spiritual nature of Reiki is explored and discussed in great detail to help you on your own path to enlightenment. You will learn how Reiki can be used to connect to your true spiritual nature and create the ‘oneness' that will lead you to fulfillment and ultimately enlightenment.

The Essence of Reiki gives you everything you need to not only truly understand Usui Reiki but to live Reiki.

Endorsements

 

"Dawn and Andy are the first Reiki Masters in recent times to put forth the effort of restoring Reiki, a spiritual healing system promoting health and well being, towards the original goals and ideals of its founder Sensei Mikao Usui. This body of work inspires a new sense of spirituality that is currently deficient in the modern day worldwide Reiki community. Virtues of honour, integrity, hard work and sincerity of practice are found within these pages. Read this book to gain a deeper understanding of your Reiki practice, or let it inspire you to begin a new journey towards an incredible path of healing and self discovery for lifetimes to come."

Stephen Buck, Certified Massage Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher, California 

"Reiki is more than just a complementary therapy to be learnt and applied to clients, it is about a way of life, but yet a way of life that does not require any stipulated religious belief system. This book clearly helps to get that message across and works towards a greater understanding of how Reiki and science are finding a common ground in today's society. This is truly a valuable book for anyone new to Reiki or already experienced in this field."

Giles Cartmel , Reiki Practitioner/Master Teacher

Sit back, relax and enjoy some precious moments of zen calm. Ahh...that's better. Who needs expresso when you've got Reiki to boost your employees energy and concentration. We are happy to trek to your London office(s) on a weekly or monthly basis to offer short Reiki treatments to employees, either at their desk or during their lunch hour. 

Reiki is non-invasive and no massage or manipulation is involved. A qualified Reiki practitioner places their hands just above the client (or directly on the head, shoulder or back area if agreed by the client) and channels external energy into the client to promote a sense of wellbeing, improve health and reduce stress. Sensations can include: heat, tingling and a sense of calm and deep relaxation.  

This Reiki training is the Reiki practitioner level, allowing students to use Reiki professionally if they wish. It also allows the Reiki student to use Reiki on a physical and emotional level, to work directly on physical injuries and illnesses and emotional traumas, stress, depression and anxiety. A level 2 Reiki training course is the 'ki' part of the Reiki training, enabling you to use lower frequencies of energy.

By the end of this Reiki training you will be able to use Reiki for yourself and others on a physical and emotional level, comprehending how to use the Reiki symbols (shirushi) jumon (mantra) and kotodama (power of language) in order to achieve this. You will understand how to interview clients and abide by any relevant laws. 

We provide Reiki training from beginner (Shoden) to teacher (Shihan-kaku) level in the traditional Japanese style of the founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui. This Reiki training is known as Usui Reiki Ryoho. We believe in sticking as closely as possible to the original teachings, to retain the integrity and efficacy of the system. Our London Reiki training is comprehensive, fun, educational, conform to the new Reiki Council NOS standards for Reiki and include manuals and certificates. Reiki students also receive free post-course support via email. We are members of the Reiki Healers and Teachers Society (RHATS) and the General Regulatory Council for Complementary Therapys (GRCCT).

What will I learn on the Reiki training?

The best place to start is with Reiki training level 1 and 2 over a weekend, where you will learn to use Reiki effectively to treat yourself and others on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. Through a process called Denju (lit. attunements) anyone can be connected to universal energy to use it for healing purposes, so no prior 'spiritual gift' is required. That's the beauty of Reiki training, in just two days, absolutely anyone who has been trained correctly can become a competent Reiki practitioner. Of course, some individuals simply learn the level 1 and 2 Reiki training for their own self-healing. Students have travelled from all over the world to attend our popular Reiki training, including America, Austria, Brazil, Greece, Jordan, Kuwait and Spain.

The placebo effect is unquestionably a powerful phenomenon. A placebo is a substance given to an individual as a medicine or therapy, which itself has no therapeutic effect. In medical studies it allows drugs to be tested against controls for efficacy. Although, is not intended to have any medicinal effect, it does, purely because the patients taking it believe that it is a genuine drug and expect that it will produce the desired outcome. The patient’s belief produces effects and natural chemicals in the brain and body as if they were actually taking the anticipated drug. As scientists wrote in a review of the placebo effect published in the journal Annual Review of Psychology,

Placebo factors have neurobiological underpinnings and actual effects on the brain and body.

In fact, the placebo effect is so powerful that the Harvard Placebo Study Group was founded in 2001, as part of a Mind-Brain-Behavior Initiative at Harvard University. The group is made up of neuroscientists, psychologists, a behavioural geneticist and an anthropologist. Research carried out by Fabrizio Beneditti (of the Harvard Placebo Study Group) and his colleagues found that the placebo response in terms of pain relief is triggered by the release in the brain of endogenous opiates – our bodies’ natural painkillers, produced when the individual expects pain relief.

Once the individual is told that they have been administered a placebo, which is not causing a physical effect, the therapeutic effect stops, confirming that it was the patient’s belief causing biochemical changes in the body.¹

It is said that around 33 per cent of patients with a range of clinical pains respond to placebo, although in some studies up to 100 per cent of individuals have responded.

Below are just a few studies demonstrating the powerful effects of placebo.

1. The placebo effect has improved numerous medical conditions, Parkinson’s Disease being one of them. Researchers at the University of British Columbia discovered in one study that the placebo effect produced the same results as pharmaceuticals on 12 patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. Those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease do not produce enough dopamine in the area of the brain which affects physical movement. Patients who received placebo injections in the study exhibited natural dopamine releases in the brain, which the authors of the study concluded was associated with “expectation of reward.” The researchers also looked at whether the placebo effect may enhance the effects of the active drugs, but to the contrary, this proved not to be the case. In fact the study’s author’s stated “in some patients most of the benefit obtained from an active drug might derive from a placebo effect.”²
2. In 1988 researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, USA, conducted a trial on the effects of the drug ‘Acyclovir’ on 27 adults suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Three patients suffered from nephrotoxicity (poisonous effect on the kidneys) as a result of taking Acyclovir and dropped out. Of the 24 remaining patients 11 taking the drug experienced improvements and 10 taking the placebo experienced improvements. Any improvements to the patient’s condition were attributed to spontaneous remission or the placebo effect.³
3. Research conducted in 1996 on the steroid hydrocortisone as a potential treatment for CFS found that around half of the study participants reported improvements after taking the placebo.^4,5

It is not only being given a placebo unknowingly instead of an active drug that is important, but the practitioner’s enthusiasm for the treatment being administered. In 1987, 200 patients were given one of four consultations:

1. One conducted in a positive manner, with a placebo (where the patient was told confidently that they would get better in a few days), or without a placebo (where the patient was told they required no prescription), and
2. One conducted in a more negative manner (where the doctor stated “I cannot be certain what is wrong with you”), with a placebo (where the doctor also stated “I am not sure that the treatment I am going to give you will have any effect”) and without a placebo (where the doctor added to this “And so I will give you no treatment”).

Two weeks after the consultation 64 per cent of those receiving a positive consultation got better, only 39 per cent of those receiving a negative consultation got better irrespective of what treatment they got.⁶ Thus, the effects of a drug or indeed placebo are enhanced or not depending on how positive the practitioner is.

What we are told by the health professionals or anyone we put our trust in can have an impact on us physiologically and psychologically. 

With regards to Reiki, the placebo effect will undoubtedly be a factor in many cases where the patient believes that Reiki will have a positive impact and where the practitioner adopts a positive approach about the benefits of Reiki. This is the same whether it's a complementary therapy or a medical drug being used. However, Reiki can be used on animals and very young children, who have no belief in or understanding of Reiki or expected outcomes, and the Reiki treatment will still give a positive effect. Reiki can also be used on those in a coma and distantly on individuals who are not aware of receiving a treatment (although we do not recommend doing Reiki without permission) and it will have an impact. 

A Reiki lineage is the line of Reiki teachers that leads to the student. For traditional Usui Reiki the lineage begins with the founder, Mikao Usui. If Mikao Usui does not appear on a lineage then the system is not a traditional form of Reiki originating from the founder. 

 

Reiki works well with any form of healing treatment. Reiki enhances the benefits of the therapists existing form of healing. Clients usually feel the difference in the treatment they are receiving and often therapists offer Reiki healing as an additional treatment.

This question has many answers and some of the most pertinent ones are listed here. 

Usui Shiki Ryoho refers to the form of traditional Reiki that comes from the Takata lineage. This is Reiki knowledge and practice that has been handed down directly from Mikao Usui to Dr Hayashi, then to Mrs Takata. This is a form of Westernized Usui Reiki.This form of Reiki is taught in three levels and has been modified by various teachers since the death of Hawayo Takata. 

Usui Reiki Ryoho refers to the traditional form of Usui Reiki that has been shared by Hiroshi-Doi. This is considered to be closer to the original system taught by Usui-sensei, both in content and in spirit. This form of Reiki has more of the original Usui methods and is taught and practiced in a disciplined and structured way.

We teach the traditional Japanese form of Usui Reiki with the addition of the relevant knowledge to prepare our students to practice Reiki safely, effectively and professionally.