The State News
The process of Reiki involves seven chakras throughout the human body. The first chakra, known as the crown, corresponds to the color violet or white, and acts as the opening to the universe, connecting the brain to the right eye.
The second chakra is called the third-eye chakra, and corresponds to the color dark blue. This chakra is found on the forehead, is the center for inner wisdom and is also connected to the nervous system and hypothalamus.
The third chakra, known as the throat chakra, corresponds to the color light blue, and is connected to the throat, neck and vertebrae. It deals with the function of communication and self-expression.
The heart chakra, corresponds to the color light green or pink, and is the fourth chakra in the body. It is connected to the lungs, liver, and circulatory system. This chakra’s function is love and compassion, and helps to deal with heart problems and depression.
The fifth chakra is called the solar plexus chakra, and corresponds to the color yellow. It is connected to the stomach, liver and gallbladder. It serves as a center for emotions and feelings, and it’s associated with power and sense of consciousness. Weight problems and diabetes can occur if this chakra is unbalanced.
The navel chakra is the sixth chakra and corresponds to the color orange. This chakra is connected to the reproductive system, and is the center for sexual energy, feelings and emotions. An imbalance in this chakra can cause menstrual and urinary tract problems.
The seventh and final chakra is known as the root chakra. This chakra is connected to the kidneys and the spine, and helps people to achieve goals and feel energetic. It corresponds to the color red.
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A healing balance
Japanese tradition of Reiki provides practitioners with relief, health
With his hands as his only instrument, Benjamen Warren, a master-level Reiki instructor, is able to soothe the discomforts of his clients through the Japanese practice. Warren, who offers classes at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road, and Wholistic Life Services, 1099 E. Grand River Ave. in Williamston, said trying Reiki is an unforgettable experience everyone should try.
“Reiki is based on the idea of a universal life force of energy that runs constantly throughout the entire human body,” Warren said. “When a person’s energy flow is low or becomes interrupted, people are more likely to get sick, or experience difficult emotional problems.”
Warren, who has been practicing Reiki for four years throughout the Lansing area, said it yields similar results to other forms of alternative healing such as acupuncture. It is commonly used for stress-reduction and relaxation, while promoting healing at the same time, he said.
Understanding the body
Reiki is defined as “spiritually-guided life force energy.”
The practice of Reiki concentrates on seven areas of the body known as chakras, Warren said, corresponding to different organs and nerves within the body.
“Each chakra serves as a major energy center in the body,” Warren said. “When we encounter problems within the mind, body or spirit our chakras become dysfunctional or completely closed, leading to disruptions in our energy flow.”
The first chakra is located at the top of the head and the rest are found in descending order. The forehead, or third-eye chakra, is next, followed by the throat, heart and solar plexus, or stomach chakra. Finally the navel chakra and pelvis, or root, chakra complete the chain.
“Because the seven chakras are connected, when one becomes unbalanced the others can be too,” Warren said.
Reiki is divided by three separate levels, Warren said. The first level concentrates on physical issues of pain or illness, while the second level deals with emotions and negative thought patterns, Warren said. By completing the third, or master level, you are then allowed to practice Reiki on other people.
A master-level instructor uses a technique called “laying of the hands.” However, no contact is made between the instructor and the participant. The instructor places their hands just above the participant’s body focusing on the seven chakras and helping the patient to slowly relax, Warren said.
The processes of Reiki, developed in Japan in the early 1900s, Warren said, is gaining popularity. Warren offers one-on-one Reiki healing classes, but said the average size of his classes range from seven to 10 people.
A different feeling
Cole Smith, an environmental studies and applications senior, was introduced to Reiki through a friend, and first tried the practice about six months ago.
“I went into it with a pretty open mind, knowing very little about it,” Smith said. “I was curious about (Reiki) and I figured I would try and see what it was all about.”
Smith said he felt an indescribable feeling in some of his chakras, but was unable to feel anything in some of the others during the treatment.
“I really felt my third-eye and root chakras,” Smith said. “I experienced a warm tingling feeling, and a sense of pressure even though I was never touched. I could see a lot of white light when my third-eye was being worked on, and felt very relaxed, but vulnerable at the same time.”
Smithsaid it was the cost that has kept him from returning for another treatment.
A half-hour session of Reiki costs $30 at Wholistic Life Services and $55 for a one-hour session.
Ann Judge, a Williamston resident and senior at the University of Michigan, has been involved with Reiki for more than 10 years. Her mother used to teach Reiki classes.
“For me it’s really nice when I get stressed-out, and need a recharge,” Judg said. “It really cleanses my mind and makes me more aware of my own body.”
Although Judge said she usually does not seek treatment from her mother, she attends Reiki healing classes around the Lansing area about six times a year, or whenever she is feeling stressed.
Healthy combination
Warren, along with Dr. Edward Rosick, a physician of family and community medicine, said it should compliment traditional medicine.
“I don’t want people to think I am saying forget going the doctor all together,” Warren said. “Seeing a medical doctor is a part of the healing process, and practices like Reiki serve to speed that process along … you just need to find what works for you.”
Although Rosick is not trained to perform Reiki on his patients, he said he integrates forms of alternative healing such as acupuncture and herbal medicine, within his medical practice.
“I like to think I have the best of both worlds,” Rosick said. “In certain cases, medicine may be the most helpful to a patient, but I also like to look at things many people don’t know about, (like alternative medicine), that could help their conditions.”
While she has been practicing Reiki, Judge said she has found herself taking less frequent trips to the doctor.
“Since it takes away any blockages within my body, I think that keeps me healthier and away from the doctor,” she said.
After the hour-long treatment, Smith and Judge both said they felt a sense of raw energy and a clear mind that lasted an additional four to five hours.
While experiences vary, Warren said feelings like these are very normal.
“I have never heard anyone say they did not enjoy going to a Reiki class,” Warren said. “Everyone I have worked with can find at least one way Reiki has benefited them.”
Published on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Comments
common sense
06/12/08 @ 12:56am
Let me guess, you take the DO side?
Johnny B Good
06/12/08 @ 7:19am
voodoo
captain obvious
06/12/08 @ 7:22am
This is total garbage. If you have $55 for this, I have an acre of oceanfront property for sale in South Dakota for you.
I am all for an open mind, but this is ridiculous. It is worse than chiropracting and/or osteopathic “manipulations”. Total quackery.
beau
06/12/08 @ 8:16am
As above. If anyone can produce a double blind study that shows any significant statistical improvement beyond chance or placebo effect please enlighten us all about this amazing discovery. Testimony from believers doesn't count, sorry. However, if you think this helps you then go for it but please be aware that you could probably acheive the same results with a good book on a nice day away from the noise of the city and study, less expensive too. Thus far all "complimentary" medicine with the some very narrow exceptions have not been supported by any well designed studies to do anything and is most likely Quakery. This isn't to say those practioners who offer such intervention are hoodwinking anyone intentionally. Most of the time these good folks believe as strongly as their customers in these processes. Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, most alternative medicine is wishful thinking but not much else. Then again wishful thinking can do wonders for a soul but there's nothing really magic about any of this. Too bad, would be nice if it actually worked.
Jake
06/12/08 @ 9:52am
$55 can get you an hour-long massage, which will definitely help you relax and has been medically proven as a useful technique. I’d much rather have that than some whispered spiritual words and use of The Force.
A. Cooper
06/12/08 @ 1:17pm
“Reiki is based on the idea of a universal life force of energy that runs constantly throughout the entire human body”
That ‘idea’ belongs in the dustbin of science. It was once a reasonable hypothesis, but now we know that the only energy in the human body is the same sort of energy that powers the sun and your car.
common sense
06/12/08 @ 3:18pm
Other thing I don’t get, how the F is it a Japanese thing if it has “chakra”, a sanskirt (India) word?
Ian Stone
06/12/08 @ 7:57pm
Thanks Katie for this informative piece. It has obviously created enough interest for sceptics to question. This is good, because they have now heard about Reiki and are thinking and questioning. Reiki and other forms of Energy Healing will become and increasingly major part of our total health system because they work. It is interesting that only people who are open to try these treatment can understand the benefits.
It may or may not seem to work with every one, however I would ask your readers if they have ever gone to a Doctor, got some treatment and it did not work, did they then go back and the Doctor, they try something else and then something else many of these medications may also have side effects.
Maybe trying something first would be a better way than just criticising something without comprehensive research.
With Love
Ian Stone – Founder of <a href=“http://www.metaphysicalinstitute.org/heartenergyhealing.html”>HEART Energy Healing System</a>,
<b>H</b>uman <b>E</b>nergy <b>A</b>ssessment <b>R</b>elease <b>T</b>reatments
<a href=“http://www.metaphysicalinstitute.org/”>Metaphysical Institute</a>
<a href=“http://metaphysicalinstitute.blogspot.com”>Metaphysical Institute Blog</a>
beau
06/13/08 @ 9:08am
Ian: The problem with alternative medicine when actual scientific research is performed is that very little of it actually holds up under peer reviewed scrutiny. Reiki, TT, Holistic medicine all sound very plausable and consumer friendly but it none the less comes out no better the placebo. It’s understandable why people would seek treatment from alternative approaches given the clinically sterile mainstream medical environment. Mainstream medicine often leaves people with serious medical problems quesioning if anyone really gives a damn about them beyond this lab test or that xray. Does regular medicine screw up, you bet, all the time but the point of scientific medicine is that it improves over time. I have never heard of any alternative approach finding a cure for smallpox, measles, pumps, malaria and a long list of other ailments that not more then several generations back were a true scurge on the land. Go to any graveyard and look at the number of children from the same family and those of their neighbors who all died within days of each other. Don’t see that anymore because of mainstream medicine. Other then the psychic relief one can obtain from Reiki, TT, and other alternatives there just is no real evidence it actually “cures” anything. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people use these treatments in the US yearly does not mean it works nor does testimony replace actual double blinded studies. So if you asking folks to do research on the subject I fully support your directive. However be sure the research is not done by groups that already have determined the outcome in order to prove the efficacy of thier biased approach.
Chad
06/14/08 @ 12:51pm
It’s to bad that some of you can’t get passed the idea of the reality of what’s in front of your face and think of possibilities that there is SO much more to this world the what you see with your two eyes. I have experienced healing through Reiki and if you would let go of your simple minded beliefs that have been pounded into your head by a simple minded society you just might able experience life to it’s fullest.
Also, I don’t think that he was saying that chakras are part of Reiki but that he works with the chakras during his sessions. Besides Common Sense, the belief of chakras and your esoteric being dates back long before the Indian names were given. Those were the names that stuck. The beliefs of chakras and your esoteric body did not originate in India.
Chad
06/14/08 @ 1:13pm
Beau, actually alternative medicine was the primary treatment up until the 1920’s and 1930’s when modern science became huge and began pushing out these alternative ways. Which in those days weren’t considered alternative. Alternative medicine is becoming more main stream because people realize that modern medicine just isn’t quite working as well. Thats why people are turning back to the old ways. Not that modern medicine isn’t great! It has done a lot, but people are starting to realize that medicine just masks the illness and does not heal on all levels. It is proven that the way we live our lives greatly impacts our lives. Those that live happy go lucky, laid back, and easy going suffer from less sickness & disease then those that live negative, angry, and resentful lives. Those people are found to be a lot more prone to sickness.
To achieve a TOTAL HEALING, one must get to the root of their illness, otherwise you will continue to experience illness.
One last thing, to those of you that say that alternative healing is hogwash. If it is such bull crap, then why is it that todays doctors are referring more and more people to alternative healing such as Reiki, Acupuncture, etc.? If it doesn’t not actually work, then why is it that more and more nurses are getting Reiki training? If it alternative healing does NOT work then why are hospitals actually creating Wellness Centers within the hospital dedicated to Alternative healing? Hmmmmm seems to me that modern medicine IS beginning to recognize the benefits and the healing properties of alternative medicine. Here is a link to the Wellness Center at Sparrow just to show that alternative healing does exist within the walls todays hospitals. Sparrow is just one among hundreds! http://www.sparrow.org/wellbeing/default.asp
Reiki knowledgable
06/15/08 @ 3:14am
Dear common sense, in response to your 6/12 comment regarding chakras and how it’s japanese. Originally, when usui sensei was teaching reiki, it dealt with the japanese hara system (Base, mid, upper). Since the reiki technique has gone through so many different people, being passed down to the west from usui sensei to Chujiro Hayashi and then to Hawayo takata, This is when the chakra system got introduced. It has not always been in play, but was introduced by the new age movement and has made it easier for some to think of 7 chakras rather than just 3 haras. Hope this was helpful :)
Reiki Knowledgable
06/15/08 @ 3:18am
P.S.
if anyone needs any additional information, http://reikidigest.blogspot.com/
is a good site, and there is now a reiki wiki that is INCREDIBLY informitive and will be sure to answer any questions that come up.
http://www.reiki-wiki.com/?t=anon
the above is a link to the wiki.
Fredrik
06/15/08 @ 6:10pm
There’s a lot of criticism on here by people who haven’t experienced nor let alone heard of Reiki and Chakras. I can understand skepticism of an alternative medicine, especially in Pharmaceutical America, but blind dismissal is just plain harmful to this kind of coverage of a practice that’s gaining popularity. Do you people really don’t want to hear about anything besides what you’re familiar with and agree with? Try opening your minds, and please be considerate.
Marie
06/19/08 @ 7:53am
I can’t believe people will pay you to wave your hands over them. The tone of the article is embarrassing. No skeptical opinion included, no critical thinking at all. You rubes are paying for an expensive placebo. Chad, Fredrik, Ian: I have some snake oil I think you’d be interested in…
Saia
06/19/08 @ 9:27pm
This article discusses research on the effects of reiki on lab rats (double blind by it’s very nature). It includes people doing nothing, those practicing reiki, and those practicing ‘sham’ reiki (just waving their hands over the rats). There was a reduction in the size and severity of vascular leaks in the rats who received reiki. No change in the other groups. Also, change in the physiology of the hands of the practitioner. The scientists speculate that the effect may be achieved by a change in the electro-magnetic energy (physics 101) in the healer’s body affecting that of the rat’s bodies at a sub-microscopic (quantum) level.
http://uanews.org/node/17537
and this from a scientist’s presentation at an ethnopharmacology conference :
The effect of non-contact therapeutic touch on the healing rate of full thickness dermal wounds was examined in a double-blind, placebo controlled study by Wirth et al. (1993). Active and control treatments were comprised of daily sessions of 5 min of exposure to a hidden practitioner or control exposure. In addition, the subjects and the experimenter were blinded to both group assignment and to the fact that a healing study was being conducted. Four independent physicians assessed the wounds for the rate of epithelization at day 5 and day 10. The treated group subjects experienced a statistical significant acceleration of wound healing (full re-epithelization rate was 50% at day 5 and 83% at day 10) as compared to the control group (0% and 33%, respectively).......
and ….
Infrared spectra of sterile water samples were altered by the hands of energy healers in an experiment performed by Schwartz et al. (1991). The authors suggest that the healers could affect hydrogen bonding, either by changing the strength of the bond, or by affecting change in the proportion of hydrogen bonded molecules. In other words, the treatment changed the configurational pattern of the water molecules.
These and other study results led to this scientist’s conclusions, “Must we try to reach a rational understanding of these phenomena, or can we remain in the wonderful and fascinating world of esotericism? As scientists we are damned to search for an explanation. In order to serve our sentence, let us take a close look at the very essence of life and at its interrelations with the environment.”
No, there’s not tons of qualitative, double blind research on the effects of Reiki, but it’s out there if you look. More than that offered by some FDA approved drugs.