Illustration by Gaia Orion

www.reiki.org • Winter 2015 • © Reiki News Magazine 19

ITRULY BELIEVE THAT we are allReiki teachers. Whether we’ve just fin-ished our first Level I Reiki class or

have been facilitating classes for years, allhave the opportunity, and in fact, the obli-gation, to carry the message of Reiki toothers. In some cases the message is giventhrough Reiki, but in many instances it’s intalking to people about Reiki.

How we speak to others about Reiki ofcourse depends on our comfort level withit, and that comfort level deepens overtime. But even so, there is always the oddtime when you are least expecting it thatthe subject of Reiki comes up and sudden-ly you have a new face in front of you,wanting to know what Reiki is.

If you hesitate or get nervous talkingabout Reiki to others, just rememberthat you are carrying Reiki within you allthe time, so you can simply ask the wordsto flow from Reiki itself. Holy interven-tion is always what brought this person,this conversation, to you in the firstplace, and so, on a Divine level, you arethe person representing Reiki at thismoment. As one of my teachers likes tosay, “The circle is always divinelyordered.” And so it is.

this, because it brings a deep relaxationto the body, allowing it to rest and reju-venate. We all tend to have stress in ourfast-paced world!”

There are many kinds of people, andall of us think, act and feel differently.At all times we want to be respectful ofthe other person’s beliefs and ways oflooking at the world. Perhaps we are

talking to a scientist. A scientist oftendeals with linear information, facts thatcan be proven. For this person, I mayrefer to Faraday’s Law of thermo-magnet-ic induction. That sounds like a mouth-ful, but is actually a simple concept.According to Faraday’s law, the electro-magnetic field of something changeswhen it is in close proximity to a differ-ent electromagnetic field. Every organ inour body has its own electromagneticfield. It vibrates at a certain rate whenit’s healthy; for example nerve tissue is inthe 2 Hz range, bone is around 7 Hz, lig-aments around 10 Hz. A healer’s hands

If someone on the street asks you,“So... what IS Reiki?” you need to havein your toolbox several short and simplestraightforward explanations you canoffer quickly. At these times, you mayhave only a minute or two to deliver yourmessage. In the world of advertising, theycall it ‘attention economy’ or how longyou can capture a person’s attention.1 So

take a deep breath, call on the Reikienergy to fill your throat and your heart,and begin with a question of your own,such as “Are you familiar with the con-cept of energy and that we are all made ofit?” This will put the ball in that person’scourt, allowing the person to give you anidea of who he or she is. In teaching,speaking or writing about anything, ithelps to understand who your audienceis. For example, if the person is veryfamiliar with energy and has hadacupuncture treatments, you can say,“Reiki is similar in some ways toacupuncture, in that it enhances the flowof energy in the body, smoothing out itsrough edges.” Or perhaps this stranger infront of you says, “All I know about ener-gy is that I don’t have enough of it!”Then you could say, “Reiki can help with

We Are theReiki Messengers

B Y R O S E O ’ C O N N O R

1 Wikipedia, “Attention economy.” Retrieved

October 4, 2015, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Attention_economy.

It isn’t our job to worry about how others will accept Reiki; it is simply our job to

carry the message. We are but mirrors reflecting the image of Reiki, and if our mirrors

are clear and polished, people will look to us and see Reiki in us and understand.

20 © Reiki News Magazine • Winter 2015 • www.reiki.org

comes through us from God, and that itis, in and of itself, pure Divine Love. Mymother-in-law, or my other mother as Ilike to call her, didn’t understand Reiki,especially Distant Reiki, until one day Iexplained to her that it was just like aspecial prayer when I gave it to her froma distance. From that day on, she hasasked and willingly received DistantReiki from me and my husband all thetime. She tells me that she feels it, andknows that it helps her in times of stress.She even said that when things arerough in her life, she remembers that weare always sending her Reiki and it calmsher down. Do I need to worry that shemay or may not understand Reiki in thesame words as we do? Absolutely not. Isee it as one of life’s greatest gifts thatshe is so open to receiving God’s Love inthis way.

For Christians with strong religiousfaith, I also let them know that there is awebsite that talks about Reiki in relationto Christianity,5 that Reiki alwaysrespects free will and that their bestguide to knowing whether to receiveReiki or not is to connect with Godthemselves and just ask!

If you are speaking to someone in amedical setting, a short and simpleexplanation of Reiki usually works best,such as “Reiki is a form of stress reduc-tion and relaxation that promotes heal-ing.” There is much evidence to supportReiki in medical settings, such as thatfound on the International Center forReiki Training’s website, where you canalso get a very useful DVD on the subjectof Reiki in hospitals.6

If you have time at a party or an eventof some sort, and the person you are talk-ing with about Reiki seems interested,you can offer him or her a short session.Most people will be fascinated and wantto try it. As my Reiki husband would tellyou, explaining how Reiki feels is like

produce strong, pulsing electromagneticfields, generally between 7 and 30 Hz, sowhen those hands come into contactwith an organ of the body that isunhealthy or unbalanced, the hands nat-urally induce the healthier frequencyinto the magnetic field of that organ,entraining it to raise its vibration to ahealthier level.2

To understand entrainment, we canlook at many things in our world. A sev-enteenth century Dutch mathematicianand scientist named Christaan Huygensidentified the phenomenon we know asentrainment as a result of his inventionof the pendulum clock. He noticed thattwo such clocks, when placed on a com-mon support, would synchronize witheach other. Even when one of the pendu-lums was deliberately disturbed, theclocks would regain perfect synchronywithin a half hour or so. Huygensdescribed it as the ‘sympathy of theclocks’ otherwise known as the theory ofentrainment.3

Beyond the scientific explanation ofReiki, there are so many other ways toexplain Reiki to someone. William Randoffers us a beautiful philosophic explana-tion: “Reiki is the primal energy of theuniverse being guided by the highest wis-dom of the universe.”4

When we are ‘soaked’ in the Light ofReiki, it is our Divine job to know asmuch about explaining it as we can—therefore learning to talk about Reiki in away that makes sense for the person listen-ing. We don’t always know what will makesense, which is why we need a few tools inour toolbox, in case the first explanationdoes not reach its target.

For example, if someone has deepreligious convictions, he or she can oftenbe scared off by Reiki because the personthinks that it may interfere with theirbeliefs. To this person, we can offer agentle explanation, clarifying that Reiki

explaining what sunshine feels like onyour face. You can talk about it forever,but if you just go outside and feel it for afew minutes, then you’ll know. Similarlywith Reiki, once a person experiences it,they inevitably begin to understand.Once I was explaining Reiki to a devout-ly religious woman at a fair. I talked toher a little about it, then asked her if shewould like to try receiving a ten minutesession. We were in a very noisy, crowd-ed gymnasium at a high school. Wemoved a chair behind the tables to min-imize the distractions. But as soon as Itouched her head and Reiki was flowing,we were both transported to anotherplace entirely. When I finished and gen-tly touched her shoulder, she looked upat me from her chair and said, “I sawAngels all around. This is just like whatwe do in church when we perform handson healing.”

This sort of experience is why Iremain firmly rooted in the belief thatEVERYONE can understand Reiki andbe open to it. It doesn’t mean everyonewill be open; sometimes it takes time fora person to be ready and let go of his orher judgments, but nonetheless it isalways possible for a person to be open toReiki. We must be careful not to allowour own preconceived notions of whatpeople might be thinking get in the wayof Reiki speaking to them. Once Reikibegins to speak through you, trulythrough you, you will see it energeticallyconnect with anyone, and you will‘know’ without a doubt that Reiki isspeaking directly to people’s hearts.

As Reiki calls you more deeply into itas part of your life, you may begin towant to offer Reiki circles or an intro-ductory Reiki talk. These talks can be aninformal gathering of friends or relativesor a more formal event at a communitycenter in your town or city or in yourReiki center, if you have one. You might

W E A R E T H E R E I K I M E S S E N G E R S

www.reiki.org • Winter 2015 • © Reiki News Magazine 21

who are attuned to Reiki to attend andhelp give mini-sessions to others.Although we never know how manypeople will turn up, or how many Reiki‘hands’ we will have, I trust in Reiki thatit will always work out perfectly. This isa great way for students who are new toReiki, or don’t get much chance to prac-tice at home, to gain confidence and askquestions. As most of us who teach Reikiknow, developing and nurturing our stu-dents is a continual process throughoutour lives.

I recently spoke with a fellow ReikiMaster who said she appreciates havingthese guidelines, because sometimes shestumbles and pulls back when speakingabout Reiki to others who she perceivesas spiritually different. My answer wouldbe that today is a new day. We can nolonger go by our perceptions and judg-ments of the past, for what is in the pastno longer works in the present. We areofficially in a New Age of learning andlistening to each other. There may bethose who still resist the awakenings thatare happening on the planet, but our jobis simply to love them, not judge them,and speak to them with our Reiki hearts.As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Whatothers think of me is none of my busi-ness.” That statement has never beentruer than it is today. It isn’t our job toworry about how others will accept Reiki;it is simply our job to carry the message.We are but mirrors reflecting the image

of Reiki, and if our mirrors are clear andpolished, people will look to us and seeReiki in us and understand. As teachersand practitioners, we carry this messagewith us at all times and in all ways. It iswith us at a party, in the grocery store, ata restaurant, in a house of worship, at aboard meeting or wherever we are. Peo-ple we have never met may see or sensethe Reiki energy in us and be drawn to itand want to know about it. Our purposein carrying it is to simply be the Reikimessengers. Let Reiki shine. 1

Rose is an Usui/Holy Fire®Karuna Reiki® MasterTeacher. She and her hus-band Joe currently teachclasses in Colorado andPennsylvania and theirmission involves teaching

and talking about Reiki the world over. To fol-low their travels with Reiki, follow their blog atwww.rockymountainreiki.com. Contact Roseby email at rose@rockymountainreiki.com.

advertise this event (usually free or bydonation) and invite members of yourcommunity. At a Reiki Intro session, Igive a handout with general informationabout Reiki and my contact information.I usually join the group together with ashort meditation, followed by introduc-tions all around the circle. I ask peopleto say their name and what broughtthem there that evening. This keeps theconversation centered in Reiki. As theyexpress themselves in this way, there arealways questions about Reiki that I cananswer then and there. This creates anatural flow, with Reiki guiding us. Thenwhen the circle comes around to me, Iintroduce myself and talk a little aboutReiki. Sometimes I bring a pack of indexcards with me. The index cards eachhave one of many explanations ordescriptions of what Reiki is, or one ofthe uses or benefits of Reiki. I pass thepack of cards around to the group, andeach person takes two or three, depend-ing on the size of the group. Then theytake turns reading them aloud one at atime, and I can offer a broader explana-tion for each one if I feel guided by Reikito do so. This opens up a lot of conversa-tion about Reiki. This same techniquecan be used in a Level I class as well.Once we’ve talked about Reiki for a bit,each person receives a ten-minute Reikisession. This is where building a Reikicommunity comes in, as I usually invitesome of our students or family members

W E A R E T H E R E I K I M E S S E N G E R S

2 William Lee Rand, The Reiki Touch (Louisville,

CO: Sounds True, Inc, 2006), 9,10.3 Wikipedia, Christiaan Huygens, accessed October

3, 2015, wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Huygens.4 Rand, The Reiki Touch, 7.5 www.christianreiki.org/.6 William Lee Rand, “Reiki in Hospitals,”accessed

October 7, 2015, www.reiki.org/reikinews/reiki_

in_hospitals.html.