Mystical systems
Reiki
Direct answer
Reiki is a Japanese practice of light touch founded by Mikao Usui in 1922, in which a practitioner rests the hands on or near a person to pass on what is called universal life energy.
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At a glance
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Qi (Chi), Laying on of Hands, Biofield, Aura
Reiki is a Japanese practice of light touch founded by Mikao Usui in 1922, in which a practitioner rests the hands on or near a person to pass on what is called universal life energy.
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What does the word reiki mean?
The word joins rei, spirit or the unseen, and ki, the Japanese reading of qi. In a session the receiver lies clothed on a table while the practitioner places the hands in a series of positions on the head, trunk and limbs, holding each for a few minutes. Practitioners say they do not use their own energy but act as a channel, and that the ability is passed from teacher to student in a short rite called an attunement.
Training is usually given in three degrees, the third making a teacher, or master. Usui also taught five precepts to be recited daily, beginning with not being angry and not worrying, just for today. Some hospices and hospitals offer sessions as a comfort measure beside ordinary care.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Chakras and the breath.
What sets Reiki apart
Two features separate reiki from other laying on of hands. The first is attunement: the capacity is said to be switched on by a teacher in a brief rite, so lineage back to Usui matters more than skill. The second is that the practitioner claims no effort or intent to direct anything; the energy is held to go where it is needed. Its history is short and traceable, three generations from Usui to the Western masters, with most of the early legends supplied by one teacher, Takata.
- Founder: Mikao Usui, 1865 to 1926
- Founding: 1922, after a retreat on Mount Kurama; society set up in Tokyo
- Route west: Chujiro Hayashi to Hawayo Takata, Hawaii, 1937
- Degrees: three; the third makes a teacher, called master
- Precepts: five, recited daily, each beginning just for today
- Trial evidence: 2008 review by Lee, Pittler and Ernst: insufficient for any condition
Often mistaken for something else: Qigong healing asks the healer to build and project personal qi through long training; reiki says the practitioner is only a conduit, made so by attunement and not by cultivation.
The story behind Reiki
Mikao Usui (1865 to 1926) said the method came to him during a twenty-one-day fast on Mount Kurama near Kyoto in 1922, and he founded a society in Tokyo that year to teach it. His student Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer, opened a clinic and trained Hawayo Takata, a Hawaiian-born woman of Japanese descent, who brought the practice to Hawaii in 1937 and trained twenty-two masters before her death in 1980. Takata's story that Usui was a Christian teacher who studied in Chicago has found no support in the records.
Why Reiki matters
Reiki is among the most widely practised forms of hands-on energy work in the West, and its documented history is barely a century long.
How to read Reiki
People seek it for relaxation and comfort, often during illness or stress, and practitioners also apply the hand positions to themselves.
Reiki in practice: an example
A person receiving reiki might lie under a blanket for an hour while the practitioner's hands rest in turn on the head, shoulders and feet.
Where readings of Reiki go wrong
Systematic reviews have found no reliable evidence that it works beyond the effect of rest and attention, and it is never a substitute for medical care.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- what is reiki, reiki meaning, reiki healing, usui reiki, reiki attunement
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What does the word reiki mean?
Rei means spirit or something sacred and unseen, and ki is vital energy, the same word as the Chinese qi. It is usually translated as universal life energy or spiritually guided life energy.
What happens in a reiki attunement?
The teacher performs a brief ritual over the seated student, with set gestures and symbols, which is said to open the student as a channel. It is the mark that separates reiki from other touch practices: the ability is held to be conferred, not learned by technique.
Does reiki work?
People commonly report feeling warm and relaxed. A 2008 review of randomised trials by Lee, Pittler and Ernst concluded that the evidence was insufficient to show reiki effective for any condition, and no instrument has detected the energy it describes.
