Book summary “Reiki”: summary

Introduction

You often feel drained by physical ailments, mental stress, and spiritual disconnection in your daily life. Modern routines deplete your vital energy and leave you searching for reliable methods to restore internal balance.

Reiki is a universal life energy channeled through personal attunements and hands-on healing positions to balance the physical, mental, and spiritual body.

Joyce J. Morris explains this healing art in Reiki. The book outlines the history, professional ethics, transformation tools, and specific hand positions required for practice.

You will discover answers to several key questions as you read:

• How does universal life energy flow through your body?
• What steps are necessary to receive an attunement from a Master Teacher?
• Which hand positions target specific physical ailments effectively?

1. History and Principles of Reiki

Reiki is a universal life energy that functions as a balanced, harmonizing force. It enters through the crown chakra and flows out through your hands to enable physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self-healing.

Reiki is not your personal energy, but a cosmic force drawn in proportion to the recipient's need.

Clairvoyants observe this energy entering as white light through the crown. It expands the auric field and exits through minor chakras in your palms and fingertips.

Susan C. Imbert experienced severe second-degree burns disappear within a couple of hours after Joyce Morris took her hand and applied Reiki.

The Reiki Story

Reading books or listening to lectures cannot transmit the ability to flow Reiki. You must receive personal attunements from a qualified Reiki Master Teacher to open this channel.

The attunement process aligns your chakras and electromagnetic field. This initiation is the only way to open a person to channel the specific frequency of Reiki energy.

Dr. Mikao Usui rediscovered Reiki after a 21-day fast on Mount Kurama-yama. He used 21 stones to keep track of the time during his meditation, prayer, and fasting.

Dr. Usui eventually experienced a blinding light, bubbles with Sanskrit figures, and immediate miracles. These included healing his own stubbed toe and a young girl's toothache.

Dr. Usui later learned an important lesson through an experiment in Beggar City. He worked with beggars there for 7 years, expecting them to start new lives. When he found them back begging because they disliked hard work, he realized that healing must include spiritual gratitude. A proper exchange ensures the recipient takes responsibility for their well-being.

Reiki Masters Lineage

Pure Reiki is preserved exclusively through a direct lineage descending from Dr. Usui through Dr. Hayashi and Hawayo Takata to the original 22 Master Teachers. The author warns against unverified claims and rumors of hidden masters. Legitimacy requires tracing back to the 22 masters initiated by Takata.

Hawayo Takata sold her home to raise the $10,000 required by Dr. Hayashi for Reiki Mastership. She then brought Reiki to the United States and trained Western masters like Virginia Samdahl before her transition in 1980. Dr. Hayashi had made his transition earlier in 1941.

To maintain a healthy balance and ensure permanent healing, every Reiki treatment must involve a fair exchange of energy. Charging for treatments compensates the practitioner's time rather than the healing itself, since Reiki does the healing. Refusing any exchange can create an unhealthy karmic trap or attempt to control the recipient.

You can also use this specific mental dedication:

• I freely, and with Love, donate this treatment to the universe, activating the law of ten-fold return, accepting my good in whatever present form is best.

Reiki Principles

Dr. Usui formulated the Five Principles of Reiki as practical tools to assist in spiritual growth, gratitude, and emotional mastery. These principles help you shift your attitudes toward positivity, appropriate anger management, honesty, and kindness.

You can apply these daily precepts to actively create a positive reality:

• Just for today I will give thanks for my many blessings
• Just for today I will not worry
• Just for today I will not be angry
• Just for today I will do my work honestly
• Just for today I will be kind to my neighbor and every living thing

2. Professional Ethics and Treatment Guidelines

Practitioners must adhere to strict professional ethics, legal considerations, and precise environmental protocols during treatments.

Professional Ethics

The author lists key behavioral rules to protect both the practitioner and the client, emphasizing common sense, appropriate attire, avoiding sexual boundaries crossing, and remembering that Reiki is accepted or rejected at the soul level of the receiver.

• Never diagnose or prescribe unless you are licensed to do so
• Never go beyond the limits of what you are trained to do
• Never touch anyone inappropriately
• Never take advantage of the bond that develops between you and the person you are treating
• Respect the confidentiality of information given to you by your Reiki clients
• Never give away the Reiki
• Be honest and accurate in the way you present yourself to the public regarding your level of training
• It is not your responsibility to heal the world
• Common sense should always be used when doing Reiki
• Disrobing is NOT necessary for a Reiki treatment

Treatment Guidelines

Reiki treatments require specific environmental and physiological protocols, such as pacing the client's breathing, treating until the rise and fall of energy, and ensuring the client stays uncrossed. Reiki cannot harm or be done incorrectly, though practitioners must avoid inappropriate touching.

Practitioners should pace their breathing with the client to induce relaxation, treat each position until the rise and fall of energy occurs, or for 5 minutes. You should give full treatments on 3 or 4 consecutive days or a series of 10 in the first month. Clients should remove tight clothing, belts, and jewelry, and keep legs uncrossed.

• Treat yourself DAILY, covering all positions within a 24-hour period.
• Use Pacing and Leading by matching and then slowing down your breathing to match the client's.
• Treat each position until you feel the rise and fall of energy, or for 5 minutes.
• Remove rubber-soled shoes, tight belts, glasses, shoes, and jewelry from the client.
• Place a pillow under the client's knees and head for comfort.
• Keep a blanket handy since body temperature drops.
• Place a tissue over the client's eyes, folded as a triangle pointing toward the head.
• Wash hands before and after, or place fingertips together for a few seconds to break the energy flow.
• Keep fingers gently together during treatment.
• Rest hands lightly without placing pressure on eyes or throat.
• Touch on the midline of the body to treat endocrine glands and spinal cord nerves.
• Cleanse the room before and after using incense, sage, or essential oils.
• Drink lots of water after treatment to flush out toxins.

Legal Considerations

Practitioners must separate receiving a Reiki certificate from obtaining a government-issued business license and avoid illegal hand placements. While a certificate proves completion of a class, practicing on the public and charging a fee requires adherence to local government laws, which vary by city, county, and state.

Traditional hand positions involving bare skin on breasts and genitals are illegal in the United States, making legal compliance more important than replicating historical hand positions.

3. Transformation Tools and Scientific Research

Combining transformation tools like meditation and breathing with Reiki accelerates healing, while scientific studies validate its physiological effects.

Transformation Tools

Detoxification during Reiki can trigger a healing crisis where old physical, mental, or emotional symptoms resurface before resolving. Reiki dislodges toxins and memories stored in cellular memory. A healing crisis takes you from a chronic phase back through an acute phase as old symptoms release. Madam Takata estimated this purging or reacting process takes 4 days to 3 weeks.

Traditional tools can accelerate purification:

• Take an Epsom salt bath using a full box of 4 pounds in a hot tub for 20 to 30 minutes, then shower off residue.
• Follow the Edgar Cayce apple fast for 3 days.

Meditation, positive affirmations, guided visualizations, and specific breathing techniques serve as powerful transformation tools when combined with Reiki. Transformational practices enhance Reiki by shifting internal negative monologues and calming the mind. Specific exercises help clear energy blocks and prepare your body for deep healing:

• Candle Meditation: Stare at a safely placed candle in a dark room until becoming one with the flame.
• Chanting: Repeat a chosen word or sacred phrase like AUM, AMEN, or OM NAMAHA SHIVAYA mentally or aloud.
• White Light Meditation: Imagine an opening cloud streaming white light around you while affirming protection and well-being.
• Growth Jar: Put a quarter, dollar, or dime into a jar whenever you say or think a negative word or thought.
• Color Breathing: Breathe in a soft healing color, visualize it melting tension, and let muddy gunk flow out your feet into a violet flame.
• Alternate Nostril Breathing: Use right thumb and ring finger to close alternate nostrils while breathing and holding on counts of 4.

Build your meditation duration from 10 minutes up to 20 minutes. Alternate nostril breathing takes approximately 10 minutes to practice.

The law of cause and effect governs karma, dictating that energy sent out returns tenfold. Prosperous thinking removes mental blocks to spiritual growth. Money and prosperity are neutral tools of exchange rather than evil forces. Light bearers must overcome beliefs in lack and limitation to afford spiritual study and support causes they believe in. Excessive working hours of 10 to 14 hours a day prevent time for study and spiritual growth.

Scientific Research

Scientific studies by nursing and college students demonstrate that Reiki significantly alters physiological markers such as hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood pressure.

Wendy Wetzel measured in-vivo hemoglobin and hematocrit levels in class volunteers before and after First Degree classes across Berkeley, San Francisco, and San Diego, comparing them to a control group that showed no changes. Her research showed statistically significant changes in human in-vivo hemoglobin and hematocrit levels after 24 hours of Reiki training, alongside normalization of blood pressure.

A separate study by Penny Devine at The Evergreen State College confirmed stress reduction through biofeedback relaxation response measurements and increased extremity temperature. Twelve out of 17 participants surpassed the low relaxed norm in biofeedback testing in an average time of 14 minutes.

4. Hand Positions and Specific Treatments

A classical Reiki treatment follows a systematic sequence of hand positions from head to back to target organs and specific ailments.

Classical treatments involve positions where fingers are kept gently together and touching at the midline of the body. While ideal treatments take one to one-and-a-half hours, treatments can be adapted for short sessions or targeted pain areas. Hand placements correspond to specific chakras, organs, and physiological systems.

Dr. George Avera stated that if there is time for nothing else, performing the Reiki finish by placing one hand on the base of the skull and one on the tailbone is the most overall effective balancer.

Healing Environments

Creating a soothing environment through full spectrum lighting, healing music, and air-purifying plants greatly facilitates Reiki treatments. Standard fluorescent lighting drains energy and agitates people, whereas full spectrum lights increase productivity and help break through Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Agricultural university researchers in the 1950s found that plants exposed to light melodious classical music thrived, while plants exposed to loud rock and roll music fell over and died.

You can set up your space using specific environmental tools:

• Use full spectrum fluorescent lights or light boxes providing 10,000 lux for 20 to 30 minutes in the morning.
• Play clinically tested healing music tapes such as Helios Attunements or Brain Sync during treatments.
• Place 10 to 12 inch air-purifying houseplants, such as the spider plant, to cover every 100 square foot area.

Hand Positions

Head positions #1, #2, #3, and #4 address the eyes, sinuses, pineal and pituitary glands, right and left brain hemispheres, brain stem, and carotid arteries. The throat position addresses the thyroid and parathyroids for metabolism and calcium assimilation, regulates blood pressure, and supports emotional expression and recovery from codependency. Torso hand positions target vital internal organs including the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, and intestines to process detoxification, emotions, and immune functions.

You should follow the structured hand placement sequence:

• Start in Head Position #1 and proceed straight through to Back Position #6.
• Spend about 5 minutes in each position, keeping fingers gently together and touching at the midline of the body whenever possible.
• Finish the treatment by placing one hand on the base of the skull and one hand on the tailbone.
• Place both hands gently over the eyes for vision, sinus, and third eye activation.
• Place both hands on top of the head to balance right and left brain activity and release endorphins.
• Place hands up the center back of the head with fingertips or lower palm on the base of skull to treat the reptilian brain.
• Place both hands gently on the throat over the thyroid to balance metabolism and support communication.

Specific Treatments

The law of opposites uses neurological polarization and complementary body areas to enhance healing protocols for acute and chronic conditions.

Acupuncture principles like the Law of Opposites allow practitioners to treat corresponding areas. Students whose broken arms healed in less than ten days achieved this by spending many hours holding their broken arm daily, receiving in-person and absentee treatments, and being placed in the Center's healing basket.

You can apply targeted actions for specific physical concerns:

• Treat the lower extremities when addressing upper extremity problems like tennis elbow.
• Treat the corresponding front area of the torso when treating backaches.
• For specific ailments, give a full 15-position treatment first, then spend additional time on specific problem positions daily for three consecutive days to start the healing process.
• For abscesses, cover with a tissue, treat for 30 minutes twice daily, then treat the spleen.
• For accidents, treat directly on the wound, adrenals (Back 4), and solar plexus (Front 2 and 3).
• For asthma, give Second Degree treatments adding 30 minutes on each side of the pleura for 21 consecutive days.

Conclusion

Reiki integrates universal energy exchange, ethical professional boundaries, structured hand positions, and environmental awareness into a complete system for personal and professional healing. You connect the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of well-being when you combine daily energy practice with clear moral standards and disciplined treatment protocols.

1. Receive proper attunements from a qualified Master Teacher to open your energy channels.
2. Practice the spiritual principles daily to maintain personal balance and emotional clarity.
3. Apply structured hand positions systematically during treatments to target the whole body.
4. Maintain strict ethical boundaries, confidentiality, and environmental preparation for every client.
5. Integrate meditation, breathing, and crystal tools to deepen your transformation and accelerate healing.

10 Key Ideas

1. Reiki is a universal life energy channeled through personal attunements and hands-on healing positions to balance the physical, mental, and spiritual body.
2. Reading books or listening to lectures cannot transmit the ability to flow Reiki because you must receive personal attunements from a qualified Reiki Master Teacher to open this channel.
3. Dr. Mikao Usui rediscovered Reiki after a 21-day fast on Mount Kurama-yama during which he experienced a blinding light, bubbles with Sanskrit figures, and immediate miracles.
4. Dr. Usui formulated the Five Principles of Reiki as practical tools to assist in spiritual growth, gratitude, and emotional mastery.
5. To maintain a healthy balance and ensure permanent healing, every Reiki treatment must involve a fair exchange of energy where charging compensates the practitioner's time rather than the healing itself.
6. Practitioners must adhere to strict professional ethics, legal considerations, and precise environmental protocols during treatments.
7. Pure Reiki is preserved exclusively through a direct lineage descending from Dr. Usui through Dr. Hayashi and Hawayo Takata to the original 22 Master Teachers.
8. Reiki treatments require specific environmental and physiological protocols, such as pacing the client's breathing, treating until the rise and fall of energy, and ensuring the client stays uncrossed.
9. Scientific studies by nursing and college students demonstrate that Reiki significantly alters physiological markers such as hemoglobin, hematocrit, and blood pressure.
10. A classical Reiki treatment follows a systematic sequence of hand positions from head to back to target organs and specific ailments.