The Top 5 Ways to Raise Your Reiki Energy and One Cool Gift

Do We Need to Make Our Reiki Stronger?

A few weeks ago in my Shinpiden (Reiki 3) class, I proposed the discussion topic of how to make your Reiki energy stronger. Everyone spoke eloquently on how the Reiki energy comes not from us but from Source, the client only draws what they need, our perception of the energy is not relevant because the recipient will get what is right for them, letting go of ego is the only thing we need to do, etc. etc. Several even said that it never occurred to them that their Reiki energy might not be strong enough. Well, at least I knew they were drinking the Kool-Aid! Perhaps instead of asking how to raise your Reiki energy, I should be asking a different question.

Be the Best Reiki Practitioner You Can Be

I have to admit, I often think my Reiki energy is weak and wish I could make it stronger. I know that’s ego-based. And you could even argue that it’s ego-based to want my clients to have the best experience possible, as altruistic as that sounds, because ultimately their healing is their responsibility. I could tell myself that if 90+% of my Reiki clients book multiple sessions with me, then they are getting what they need. So clearly I’m the one missing something. As I thought about this I realized, yes, I’m misdirecting with that question. The question is not, is my Reiki strong enough, or can I give a better Reiki session than I do. The question is, am I doing everything that I can to be a good Reiki practitioner.

I teach two styles of traditional Japanese Reiki, and in both lineages we are taught how to make our Reiki stronger. In the Usui Reiki Ryôhô/International House of Reiki style, we are taught the five pillars of Reiki: the precepts, the meditations, the palm healing, the symbols and mantras, and the reiju (spiritual blessing given by a teacher). These are the five things that raise our spiritual energy. The first three we can do for ourselves starting in Level 1, the next on the list is something we add to our practice in Level 2, the reiju we receive whenever we meet with our teacher.

In Komyo Reiki, it is even simpler. Our jin kaku is our quality of being, which determines our Reiki energy level. To raise our jin kaku, we need a spiritual practice, and in Reiki, that practice is the precepts. In addition to cultivating spiritual growth, we are asked to receive reiju as often as possible and to meditate twice a day. That’s it. Nothing more.

Drum roll, please.

The Top Five Ways to Make Your Reiki Energy Stronger

1. Recite the five precepts three times, twice a day.
2. Meditate daily.
3. Do palm-healing sessions on yourself daily.
4. Meditate with the symbols and jumon (mantras) daily.
5. Receive reiju as often as you can.

I do these things. So there’s nothing else to do, right? My Reiki energy is my Reiki energy. Let go of ego.

Well, except for that pesky fourth precept. “Do your work honestly,” is one translation. “Work diligently,” is another. The Japanese word for work used here has a spiritual connotation. Am I diligent in my practice, or am I just getting it out of the way every day?

Whah, whah, whah. (You know that sound they make on Car Talk when the chumps have been stumped?)

Really, there is only one way to raise your energy, and we remind ourselves of this every day, morning and evening.

The Number One Way to Raise Your Reiki Energy

1. Be Honest In Your Work.

The question really isn’t how can I raise my Reiki energy. The question is, how can I be more diligent in my daily practice? Here are some ideas.

Be honest with the Precepts

Recite the five precepts three times, twice a day, with your hands in gasshô (prayer position). This is called gokai sansho and means “five precepts three times.” How to be more diligent:

• Say the precepts mindfully, be present and don’t multi-task.
• Bring the precepts with you throughout your day, mentally reminding yourself of them during the normal course of your day, or as the things that trigger them come up.
• When you say them in the morning, you are setting the intention for the day. When you say them in the evening, you are reviewing your day and asking yourself if you were honest in keeping them.
• Speak them from the hara (energy center in the abdomen). Allow each precept to come slowly, following the energetic impulse from the hara to stimulate each recitation.

Be Honest with Meditation

Meditate daily. How to be more diligent:

• Are you doing your meds every day? Track it. Apps like Insight Timer will track your meditations for you. One of my students quipped that those apps are peer pressure to meditate. Alternately, track your meditations on a calendar—I like recording my practice on a wall calendar. It’s easy to see at a glance if I have done my work every day.
• Don’t just sit there, breathe. Reiki meditations are usually energetically based. Stillness is good, but the basic Reiki meditation involves breathing energy down into the hara.
• Add to your daily practice–the basic breathing meditation, joshin kokyu hô, can be just one part of a larger meditative practice called hatsurei hô (method of generating energy). This longer practice combines several of the basic pillars of Reiki, with additional contemplative and energetic meditations. I offer a monthly hatsurei hô practice group for my students.
• Besides having a daily sitting practice at a specific time, add a few minutes of meditation whenever you have extra time during the day. The goal is ultimately to bring our meditative and heightened energetic state with us throughout the day.

Be Honest with Self-Healing

Do palm-healing sessions on yourself daily. How to be more diligent:

• As with the precepts, set aside a special time for just doing healing; be present, don’t multi-task. Doing tenohira (hands-on healing) while doing other things is fine, but don’t omit giving it quality time each day.
• Turn your awareness to the hibiki (sensations) in your hands.
• Keep your focus. Your daily meditation practice should help with this. But if you aren’t trained in traditional Japanese Reiki, there are still things that you can do to keep your focus on your work: I used to recite the precepts over and over in my head while doing hands-on healing if I felt my mind wandering.
• If you practice traditional Reiki, find oneness with Source. If you are a Western practitioner, remind yourself that you are just a channel. Either way we are releasing expectations and keeping the ego out of our practice.

Be Honest with the Reiki Symbols

If you are Level 2 or above, augment your meditation practice with jumon work or meditating on the symbols. How to be more diligent:

• Can you draw each symbol on paper, correctly?
• Do you know the characteristic or quality associated with each symbol?
• Do you know which energy center each symbol stimulates?
• Do you know the translation of the jumon?

Be Honest When You Receive Reiju

Receive reiju as often as you can. How to be more diligent:

• Take a Reiki class (see my website for the ones I offer)
• Do self-reiju if you are Level 3
• Reiju is offered at Reiki Shares on the first and third Sundays of the month, and everyone is invited.

One Cool Gift

Your cool gift: Click here to download a frameable copy of the Reiki precepts.

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Joy Vernon specializes in Traditional Japanese Reiki and is a certified Komyo Reiki Shihan (Teacher). She studied with Komyo Reiki Kai Founder Hyakuten Inamoto in 2011 and 2013. She is also a Reiki Practitioner and Teacher in the Usui Reiki Ryôhô lineage through IHR. Joy was first trained in Usui Shiki Ryôhô/Usui Tibetan Reiki in 2003 and started teaching Western Reiki in 2007, but has been teaching the more spiritually focused traditional Japanese Reiki since 2008. She is the Organizer of the Denver Traditional Reiki Meetup and is a member of Shibumi International Reiki Association and the Healing Touch Professional Association. Joy is also a Certified Professional Tarot Reader. Learn more at JoyVernon.com.

© 2014 by Joy Vernon. All rights reserved.