The politics of Reiki

You would think in a spiritual practice such as Reiki there wouldn’t be politics.  Sigh.  Where there are people, there are politics.  From the beginning of Reiki being introduced into Western culture, there has been division amongst how it should be taught, by whom, for how much and in what way.

The Reiki Alliance was the beginning.  Founded by 3 of the first 22 Reiki masters to be taught by Hawayo Takata, who brought Reiki to the West, it created a structure for Reiki to be practiced.  If you didn’t follow that structure, you were not in the group.  So, a whole other movement started to liberate Reiki from that structure and protocol.

That freedom movement developed through different teachers, so various styles and forms evolved and are responsible for spreading Reiki around the world.

But Reiki as a practice has definitely come full circle.  More and more students want the structure the Alliance set forth.  The Reiki Training Program is modeled on a similar structure but without the high fees attached to that model.

On the opposite end, Reiki continues to be offered for free, for download, on DVD and probably across Twitter too.

What I always come back to personally, is that there is no wrong or right when it comes to Reiki.  The phenomena of Reiki just ‘is’.

How you practice, just like your political view, is your own.  I don’t make a judgement about it.  What works for one person won’t work for another, so I am glad there are so many forms out there.

My own slant leads toward the middle, not extreme.  I give lots of free Reiki through demonstrations and lectures, but I also charge for my training and individual sessions.  I prefer a slow and steady pace in learning Reiki than a rapid instant-download model.  But that’s me.

I’d like to see to Reiki community that is spread across the US come together in a more harmonious manner through conferences and the establishment of a Reiki Journal.  But I suppose there will be politics with that project as well.

As long as we come back to the basic principle that the flow and force of Reiki is greater than us, our individual egos, I think we’ll be ok.  And if not, well, that’s where I give thanks for free will and for the freedom to make your own decision on which path you feel called to travel.