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Because we are both Reiki Masters, we are often asked Reiki questions like what are the 5 principles of Reiki? You might be wondering how Reiki can help you. Well, let’s start with what Reiki is.
Reiki is a Japanese healing modality that promotes calm, balanced healing along with pain and stress reduction. It is used in many large hospitals and is found in cancer facilities to help with the side effects of chemo and radiation. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
It is also used by children’s hospitals like Kosairs and long-established medical facilities like Mayo Clinic. It is even used by Hospice to help patients pass quietly and comfortably. In addition, it is being deeply researched by many Universities like Harvard, Yale, and UCLA.
The exciting thing is that it can easily be learned by anyone. So thousands of lay people learn how to use Reiki on themselves and their families every year.
Reiki was established in Kyoto, Japan, in the early 1900s in modern times. Still, history tells us Reiki has been practiced for centuries. It was introduced to the United States in the mid-1930s.
You will find the 5 Principles of Reiki in any book about Reiki or Reiki website. Because these 5 principles have been translated into many languages, you will often find them worded a little differently.
However, they have the same meaning. So don’t get hung up on literal words. Focus on the compatible intentions of the words. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
What Do The 5 Reiki Principles Mean?
Another place you will find The 5 Principles of Reiki is engraved on a large monument in Tokyo, Japan. It honors the modern-day father of Reiki, Dr. Mikao Usui. The memorial commemorates his healing work and teaching throughout Japan.
So what are the 5 Principles of Reiki, and what do they mean? Why do they matter, and why are they important to those practicing Reiki? Why could they be important to even those not studying Reiki?
The 5 Principles of Reiki are considered simple, inspiring, and healthy ways to live life. They would put a pleasant tilt on anyone’s life, Reiki practitioner or not.
We once taught Reiki to a minister who later asked if sharing the principles with his congregation would be appropriate. Of course, we told him that would be a lovely thing to do. He later printed them on the church bulletin, given to each congregation member as they walked in the door on Sunday morning.
Hardly anyone asked who Dr. Usui was, but many commented that the calm way of approaching life felt like quite a blessing and a lovely change in perspective. That’s exactly what he was hoping. He wanted them to ask, “What are the 5 principles of Reiki?” so he could share more.
Reiki is not a religion; you need not subscribe to any particular belief system or viewpoint to practice it. The 5 Principles of Reiki are not rules but suggestions of how to view life in a way that will balance your personal Energy Field. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
What Is The Purpose of The 5 Reiki Principles?
Once anyone asks, “What are the 5 principles of Reiki?” Their next question is “What is their purpose?” These 5 Principles are meant to create more ease and flow in day-to-day life and can be used by anyone. The first two involve not depleting your energy. The following three are ways to enhance your vitality and fill up your Energy Field.
They are less something to do and more of a perspective to hold. So let’s try them on. What are the 5 Principles of Reiki, and can Reiki help you?
What Are The 5 Principles Of Reiki? Principle #1: Just For Today Do Not Worry.
It is hard to function when truly worried about something. It’s hard to even get out of bed. Worry makes us feel weak because it takes up so much of our Energy Field.
The emotion of worry takes over every thought and makes it hard to focus on anything, especially the good things in life. Worry can feel like it is eating us alive. So what can you do about it if you are a chronic worrier?
The first thing to do is realize that worry is not love. We live in a culture that has taught us that if you care about someone or something, you have to worry about it, or you don’t really love it.
But worry doesn’t serve or help anyone. It also doesn’t make any situation go by faster or come out better. So leadership coach Donna Stoneham Ph.D. coined the phrase, “Worry is a prayer for what you don’t want.”
So what do you do instead? If you are a person who believes in any sense of a spiritual presence, you get quiet in that presence, breathe and say a different prayer.
If you look at things in a more literal sense, then keep busy and think about something else. Worry depletes you and helps nothing and no one. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
What Are The 5 Principles Of Reiki? Principle #2: Just For Today Do Not Anger.
Anger, on the other hand feels like it gives you energy. It’s easy in a fit of anger to feel six foot tall and bulletproof, able to take on everyone and anything.
In reality, it’s just a little chemical milkshake of cortisol, adrenalin, and testosterone (yep, even in us girls). The blast of chemical courage also burns quickly and leaves us exhausted and frustrated afterward.
Anger is a healthy emotion, and this Reiki Principle doesn’t mean to feel it but don’t show it. It also doesn’t mean to feel it and push it down. It means watching for other ways to see a situation.
What if you took a breath, a moment, a walk, and gave other awareness and feelings room to speak up? Maybe what feels like anger is really fear of losing something. Maybe what feels like anger is really embarrassment or feeling not good enough.
These principles speak to not allowing anger and fear to be your go-to emotions. It suggests pausing and checking in with your other senses and feelings to see if another feeling might work, like compassion or grace. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
What Are The 5 Principles Of Reiki? Principle #3: Honor Your Parents, Teachers, And Elders.
Regardless of your upbringing, there was someone who you looked up to that possibly showed you the ropes to the jungle gym of life.
This third Reiki Principle speaks to the feeling that honoring those people brings to us. It fills us with sweet, gentle, feel-good energy.
Sometimes students will say, “I can’t honor my parents!” They then tell us a story that speaks to why. The question we ask is, “Can you honor the fact that without the man and/or woman who created the embryo that became you, you wouldn’t be here?
Can you observe that they were your teleportation device? They got you to this life from wherever you believe the baby spirits reside before your birth. Honor them for that.
What Are The 5 Principles Of Reiki? Principle #4: Earn Your Living Honestly.
You will sometimes see this simply as “Be Honest.” This speaks to the fact that keeping secrets and not being of integrity takes up a great deal of energy. The thing to know is that dishonesty is wasted energy as it seldom brings us what we want. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
We often ask Reiki students if they know the difference between honesty and integrity. The difference is that honesty is what you do when people are looking. Integrity shows up in the moments that someone says, “No one will know.” But your genuine response is….” I will know.”
What Are The 5 Principles Of Reiki? Principle #5: Show Gratitude To Every Living Thing.
Science is now telling us that every emotion can be quantified in megahertz. Gratitude is one of the highest-ranking emotions. It is right up there with love and joy.
What this means is that anytime you can recognize gratitude, your Energy Field is raised and filled. Even in times of turmoil and insecurity, thinking of even a few things you are thankful for instantly changes the heaviness you may feel in your body. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
Many people throughout history, in terrible situations, have shared that part of how they survived was to be grateful for any little thing that showed up for them. This gratitude fills your Energy Field and gives hope and resilience for survival. So imagine what a little bit of gratitude can do for your day-to-day.
How Can Reiki Help You?
So there is your answer to “What are the 5 Principles of Reiki?” Now, how can Reiki help you?
Twenty years ago, when offering Reiki to clients, there was a confused look like this might involve swinging a chicken over their head. If the face wasn’t confused, it was often just indifferent.
Now Reiki is established as a practice of well-being and stress, and pain relief by many scientists and doctors. If nothing else, it will often put you in a mellow feeling and a good mood.
Fortunately, there are Reiki practitioners worldwide and even in the smallest town. Reiki is also something that many people learn just to help themselves and their family and friends.
Reiki students might be professional people, stay-at-home moms, grandparents, college students, and farmers. They are ministers, social workers, bus drivers, and those who just want to know what all this energy stuff is about now. How To Improve My Energy Field? 5 Fabulous Ways To Really Feel Better
Albert Einstein said, “Everything is energy.” When you know how to manage your energy and your environment, life begins to make more sense. When you practice the 5 Principles of Reiki, things can get simpler.
How Can The 5 Principles Help You?
Reiki’s practice helps one understand that there is an energy to a color, a song, and a conversation. There is an energy to a room, and that is what we mean when we say, “Read the room.” Understanding what you feel when you feel that energy, is a blessing in understanding yourself.
The 5 Principles of Reiki can be helpful even if you don’t want to know anything else about the practice. Follow the first two to conserve energy as you manage worry and fear. The following 3 will fill you up as you are someone who honors, lives with integrity and is grateful.
You will find that The 5 Principles of Reiki will serve you and so could Reiki. Whether as a recipient or a practitioner, it is a beautiful practice for calm, balance, and connection. Isn’t that what we are all looking for?
Pixi-Pebbles For Discovering and Exploring What Are The 5 Principles of Reiki?
Pixi-Pebbles are songs, quotes, videos, interviews, movie references, and books that we each personally pick for you.
We’ve used these little Pixi-Pebbles to move ourselves from a feeling we’re not enjoying very much…to a feeling that helps us discover our vision of intention, awareness, and direction.
They lead us to hope, possibilities, and a fire under our butt to live life by design instead of default. In our blog What Are The 5 Principles Of Reiki, And How Can Reiki Help You?, these are the Pixi-Pebbles that came to mind.
Just a little inspiration to get you from here to there.
Living by the 5 Reiki Principles, whether you are learn Reiki yourself or not, can empower you and can help bring a calm and ease to your life. As you are reflecting on the principles and how Reiki may be of help to you, we wanted to share one of our favorite meditative flute channels, Relaxing Flute Music on YouTube.
