Reiki is a Japanese word and it means universal life force energy.
Now, universal life force energy, that’s a really big word. There’s so much meaning there, and what that means to each person can offshoot into all kinds of different discussions and ideas.
In a more simple explanation, we are talking about a feeling; a knowing if you will of life coursing through us. This is energy.
Ultimately Reiki is a way of standing back and allowing life to flow.
This is life flowing through me, and it’s an allowing. It’s a trust in what cannot be understood or explained. It’s a peeling away into a nothingness that is so inexplicably pure, that all you can do is trust it and let it be what it is, which is life; what some might call love, what some might call God, or what others would call energy.
Energy is, life is, I am, I exist.
Interested in exploring Reiki?
A Reiki session is when an experienced practitioner reads your energy and taps into the frequency imbalances in each Chakra and how they interact. This reading, allows me to get a sense of what’s going on and what your body might need, or what steps are needed to move you forward.
Full Transcript
Hi, welcome back to Awakening with Angela. Today, I want to talk about this question that the video is titled, is Reiki religious? And to be perfectly honest, this is a very complex question, and I’m going to do my best to give a succinct response. And the reason why it seems complex is because this idea of what is religion, what is spirituality, where do these spiritual practices come from, and then how is it that we ascribe that to a set of beliefs, maybe even rituals or practices that could be seen as religious.
So if we were to just break this down into the understanding of what is the meaning of this word, Reiki is a Japanese word and it means universal life force energy. Now, universal life force energy, that’s a really big word. There’s so much meaning there, and what that means to each person can offshoot into all kinds of different discussions and ideas.
So what we’re really getting at here is actually the power of belief and what some might say is faith. And so universal life force energy, what if we just peel that down into just energy, okay? So energy itself is something that we as humans have been trying to understand forever. And this feeling, this knowing of life coursing through us, this is energy.
This is something that some might call God. This understanding that there are ways to break down anything around us or ourselves into the most base form. And we know that everything is just atoms and that science has told us that if we keep peeling away those parts, we come to a place where 99.99999% of the space that’s being looked at is actually space.
It’s nothingness. And so this particle of understanding, if you will, is in essence belief. It is what you make it.
And so you can see how this is already going off into these really big concepts and I’m almost leaning into them and then pulling it back because I’m not necessarily trying to answer all of these questions. And the reason for that is because no one can really answer that for us. That’s something that we have to decide for ourselves.
And so where does energy come from? What is it made of? What is its purpose? Wow, really big thoughts if you allow yourself to ponder them. And so if we are to just say, okay, everything’s made up of energy and everything is alive and vibrating around us from the chair that I’m sitting in, from the body that I am being in. So the short answer to the question is no, Reiki is not religious because Reiki is not necessarily ascribed to any particular set of beliefs or ideas.
However, in order to practice Reiki, there is an internal observation that is taking place in order to channel this universal life force energy. Now, there’s lots of different forms of Reiki because there are lots of different ways that that can be worked with or intended to be directed. I will say that Reiki is not in any way evil.
It’s not anything that can be used for negative means. Just as everything that is alive around us is just naturally occurring, we can’t say that because a tree grows and then perhaps a fungus gets to that tree that that’s inherently evil. It’s just life moving.
So we, when we come into conception, we are a collection of cells we gather into and grow into a human form. And then we are born and we grow in an ecosystem and we become what we’ve been fed. And the ability to choose who am I, what do I choose to do with this life, that’s something that there is choice and there also isn’t.
We need to be able to really investigate ourselves and have a real understanding of where we are in the world to be able to create choice, conscious choice. Now, we’re always making choices. We make choices of what to eat and who to interact with and it’s kind of like a no place though because you could also argue that we really don’t have choice.
What is, is, is basically what I’m getting at. Energy is, life is, I am, I exist. And believing that my life has a purpose, that, that energy is meant for some sort of reason that I can choose in some schools of thought, we might say that’s an illusion.
The experience of life and living is really something that we observe. It’s something that we witness. And so we have this amazing ability of consciousness and consciousness, this knowing, knowing is really not knowing.
It’s letting go of the idea of knowing. And these sorts of ideas that I’m teaching about right now is actually a lot to do with the way that the Buddha spoke, but some might say that Buddhism is a religion, but some might also say that Buddhism is a philosophy. And you can practice Buddhism as a religion if you so choose, or you can borrow from those teachings and maybe other teachings of spirituality and maybe your own internal knowing, just arising and living your own spiritual experience.
This being human, it’s very complex if you think about it. But if you are to remove this idea of thought and we learn to be, then there’s really nothing to figure out. We just are, which that can be kind of crazy making for many people, because we want to know we have these beautiful brains in our heads and they’re collecting all kinds of data from the moment that we’re conceived.
And so this amazing computer in our head is trying to find a way to express and be human and understand who we are and why we are. So all these different topics that I’m moving into, how does this relate to Reiki? Basically, everything that I’m saying is universal life force energy. And this dropping away of needing to have some sort of outcome, that is the essence of being.
And allowing life to flow and move through us unimpeded by the machinations of the mind is how we can learn to be. And so when a person is practicing Reiki, they are allowing life to flow through them. And so if life were a river of energy just flowing, and I were to understand that I am not only a wave in that water, I am also a drop in that water.
And therefore, even though a wave is reaching out and turning over, making its own action and movement, it doesn’t separate it from that flow, from that whole. And it’s a collection of these drops of water, these pieces of what make up the body of water, the all. And so if life, this whole world, this whole universe, every thing, every one, every animal, plant, every particle is all one thing.
It’s as if we’re stepping way back and looking at it like a scientist who’s looking into a microscope and seeing that whatever is trying to be understood within that droplet under that magnetized perspective is what I am. And I can’t be apart from it. And I can’t pick it apart in any way, no matter how hard I try, and make it anything different than that.
And so I am that, and you are that, and we are all that. And we know that energy, it just is, it just makes more of itself, it just changes form, we can’t actually destroy it. So, a person who practices meditation, an internal observation of their own mind, their own state of being, and comes to understand the connection between our nervous system responses, the way that the brain responds to stimulus, the way that we have thoughts and feelings and emotions, and that these are all in some way its own chemical reaction.
It’s like we are our own alchemization, and that we can cook down the parts of who we are, and we can render gold from those understandings. And so you see this is very deep, and it’s hard to follow. And so is Reiki religious? If you want it to be, if you want to practice it that way, if you want to ascribe different beliefs to it.
But ultimately, as far as that, the concept of ultimate can reach, Reiki is a way of standing back and allowing life to flow. It’s a understanding of the self so intimately that a Reiki practitioner can be in connection and observation with another person, and be able to sense and feel and understand what is going on within that being. Because that being is me.
I can’t be apart from it. And so being able to sense where there is energy that is maybe not flowing as easefully, because there are different emotions that are kind of damning up the flow, and being able to send easeful feeling, vibration of energy into that system. But this isn’t coming from me, like I’m the holder of that energy.
This is life flowing through me, and it’s an allowing. It’s a trust in what cannot be understood or explained. It’s a peeling away into a nothingness that is so inexplicably pure, that all you can do is trust it and let it be what it is, which is life, what some might call love, what some might call God, or what others would call energy.
So I’m sure I’ve brought forward even more questions, and I would love to explore these incredible concepts with you, and to help you to understand in your own being how these practices can be utilized within yourself, and how that can be received in a healing space for your well-being, for our well-being. And so if this video has piqued your interest, and you’d like to know more, please follow the links to check out my website, and I encourage you to read all the offerings where Reiki is the highlighted modality, and understand that Reiki is not something that can be turned on or turned off, and it’s not something that someone who is practicing Reiki is necessarily special or endowed with. This is something that we are all capable of, and it’s just a practice of coming into complete acceptance and surrender to the flow of life, and it is my honor and privilege to share that with you, and help you to awaken to the truth of who and what you really are, and for you to feel this pure truth and peace of being.
Many blessings to you. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.
