What is Reiki?
By Ranjana Dutta and Suparna Gibbs

Non-Traditional and other forms of Reiki

Reiki is a Japanese word that means Divine conscious energy.  Which means that once you receive an initiation or attunement from a Reiki master you are connected to God’s energy, to use for healing yourself and others on all levels and in every area of life. Reiki is a very popular healing system and by no means the only one. However, it is one of the simplest systems to learn and apply in our lives.

Reiki is one of the most adaptable healing systems that I have come across. Since Usui’s time not only have our living conditions changed but the level of awareness among the masses has increased as well. Just as our knowledge of science, geography, etc. has not remained static and unchanging so it is with Reiki. Traditional Reiki is that branch of Reiki that remains bound by the precepts and teachings laid down by Usui and his followers. They also follow a strict hierarchical system. Nontraditional Reiki, especially as we teach it, is the branch that has moved beyond and adapted itself to the fast paced rate of change in the world today. The stresses and pressures that we face in our world today are very different from the kind witnessed in Usui’s time and to limit ourselves to a system geared to facing challenges of those times is to be unfair to ourselves and to the prime principle of the Reiki system.

There are many branches of Reiki available to learn from today and all of them are valuable and valid tools to study and apply in our lives. To name a few, there is Tera-mai Reiki, Sia-chem Reiki, Karuna Reiki, Essential Reiki, Nontraditional Reiki, etc. These systems of Reiki differ in the method, attunement process, the symbols used and in some of their principles. We, ourselves, teach two forms of Reiki - Nontraditional and Karuna Reiki.