Eastern & Western Reiki Differences
With Reiki, there are two lineages that go back to the Founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui - the Eastern / Japanese lineage and the Western lineage. Most people in the UK are trained in the Western lineage also known as Reiki Shikki (Natural Reiki), I was lucky enough to be trained in both lineages which is also inherited by and taught to my students. So what are some of the differences between the two?
In the East, the person receiving Reiki would usually be seated rather than lying down. Lying down was introduced by the Western lineage.
The West focus primarily on the healing of others. The focus of the Eastern practice is mainly on the spiritual development of the practitioner and not just on the healing of others. This very much follows the compassionate philosophy of Buddhism which influences Reiki (but remember Reiki is not a religion).
The West introduced the use of the Indian chakra system during healing treatments, whereas the East use the Japanese 3 Tanden points. Both Chakra and Tanden mean 'wheel', referring to the spinning energy centres around key points of the body, like the heart or solar plexus for example.
The Chakra system gives those new to Reiki an easy path to follow when giving Reiki as well as a way to interpret the colours they and their client may be seeing. Our hands can be placed on or above the chakra points for a few minutes at a time for focused healing or overall balancing. The East rely more on intuitive techniques for guidance as to where to place the hands, going straight to the origin of the problem and staying there as long as is needed.
Eastern practitioners learn how to chant the 'kotodama' (soul word / spirit word) for the 4 reiki symbols. This allows us to resonate with the symbols through the power of sound and this can be added to our personal practice. For instance, to develop more self-love, forgiveness and intuition we would chant the kotodama for the 2nd symbol, as taught in Reiki Level 2.
One lineage is not better than the other and I enjoy practicing a combination of the two. Both lineages share many similarities but I love the focus on personal spiritual development and intuition of the Eastern lineage accomplished through practices such as reiki meditation, chanting, self-reiki and trusting your intuition / spiritual guidance when giving a reiki treatment.
Mikao Usui acknowledged the importance of the practitioner's own healing journey as part of the Reiki healing system, as the more we are able to work on our own healing as a daily commitment, the more strongly we can connect to the Reiki energy for our clients.
With love and light
Gwen x
