and may have included them in their teachings). I include this information here because many in Western Reiki find it useful when performing Reiki treatments.
Describing Subtle Energy
The classical definition of energy is from Physics 101: the ability to perform work. Energy comes in different forms, including chemical, electrical, light, magnetic, mechanical, and nuclear energy.
The energy associated with Reiki or the body’s energy fields is sometimes called subtle energy. The word subtle on its own means faint or difficult to grasp, as in a subtle aroma. The energy field that surrounds the human body is also called a biomagnetic or electromagnetic energy.
Even though the subtle energies may be faint, you still notice them. Here are a few ways you may be aware of your subtle energy:
You’ve sensed that someone was staring at you.
You’ve walked into a room and known that something wasn’t quite right.
You’ve felt that someone was standing too close to you even though you weren’t touching.
You’ve put your hand on your heart upon hearing bad news.
1 Hold your hands out from your body, palms facing each other.
2 Try putting your hands together — slowly.As your hands get closer but without touching, can you feel different sensations?
3 Try moving your hands closer together and then apart.As you move back and forth, you can feel the energy sensations.
Hands-on, shamanic, and energy-based healing has been used globally since ancient times. Asian cultures have long-standing traditions in yoga, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and acupuncture that are still in practice today. These systems do not necessarily take the place of Western medicine but are used alongside each other as complementary medicine.
Perhaps your own family healed you as a child by placing their hands on your cuts or bruises. Many people intuitively put their hands on themselves or others as a way of calming, soothing, and healing.
Cultures have different names for subtle life-force energy in the body, as described in Table 2-1.
TABLE 2-1 Naming the Subtle Energy in Different Cultures
| Healing Culture | Subtle Energy Name |
|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) | Chi or Qi |
| Japanese Kampo system | Ki |
| Yoga | Prana |
How Reiki works is not exactly known. Various terms have been used to explain Reiki, including energy healing, spiritual healing, vibrational healing, or biofield therapy. All of these methods are based on the premise that Reiki healing occurs at multiple levels: the mind, body, emotions, and spirit.
Energy healing is based on the idea that everything is energy, everything is connected, and deep healing occurs at the energetic level underlying the body.
Vibrational healing is similar to sound healing, where the vibration of an energy or sound stimulates and balances the body.
Spiritual healing occurs on the level of the spirit or soul.
Biofield therapy works at the level of the biofield: the total energy field that supports the body’s function.
Discovering Your Body’s Energy Anatomy
Modern-day science and medicine focus on the body as a complex machine composed of interacting parts. Maybe you’ve heard the old childhood song with the lyrics “The thigh bone’s connected to the hipbone. The hipbone’s connected to the backbone.” It tells one piece of our bodies’ interconnectness.
You can see your body with your eyes, but imagine that there’s an energy in and around your body that you can’t see. Maybe you’re quite comfortable believing and talking about energy you can’t see with your eyes. Perhaps you’re in tune with your sixth sense or just “know” with your intuition that this energy exists.
Or maybe you’re more skeptical or suspicious of anything you can’t see. Admittedly, even though I’m scientifically trained, I’m one of those people who just “senses” that the body is really made of and is surrounded by energy. I don’t need scientific proof to know about energy. But it’s good to know that scientific research backs up the theory that the body is made of energy.
I’ll leave the details of Einstein’s equation to physicists, but what this profound equation says is that matter and energy are the same thing. In other words, your body, which you can touch and feel, is matter. It’s also energy.
Knowing the body’s physical and energetic anatomy
Because Reiki is concerned with treating the energy of the body, it helps to know both the body’s physical anatomy (see Figure 2-1) and how its energy anatomy has been described. Even without the information present in Figure 2-1, you’re probably already familiar with the location and workings of your body’s organs, so this section focuses mainly on your body’s energy fields. But do make sure you have a basic familiarity with the organs of the body. That way, if you have a Reiki recipient who tells you he’s healing from hepatitis C, you’ll know that you should spend some time treating the person’s right abdomen just below the ribs.
