Reiki is one of the more widely known forms of energy healing. Energy Healing involves direct application of Chi for the purpose of strengthening the clients energy system (aura).  Chi is the term used by the Chinese mystics and martial artists for the underlying force the Universe is made of.  Mystics in all cultures have talked about the physical universe being made of an underlying form of something, much as modern physics research is now coming to understand the Universe is made of energy which is subject to (or affected by) thought.  Just as modern physics says this energy is affected by thought the mystics also say this underlying form is affected by thought, going so far as to claim we create our own reality from our thinking and the thoughts we share between each of us every day.

Reiki is capable of healing anything because it works at very fundamental levels of reality.  Even though the capability is there, this is not what always happens.  The limits to Reiki seem to be in the recipients willingness to cast off old habits and patters, to accept change and to accept healing. The level of reality where Reiki operates is the underlying energy structure of matter, as the physical matter we see around us is a solidified form of energy (Remember Einsteins famous equation which says that each unit of mass is equivalent to a certain amount of energy).  At the level where Reiki functions, anything can be changed because all is fluidlike and is very malleable. Or so is the theory and so is the experience of Reiki practitioners.  Emotional difficulties are just as healable as physical ones since emotional issues are even more directly present in the energy structures.

In this context, the word Healing has a somewhat different meaning from the widely accepted meaning.   The widely accepted meaning for healing seems to be curing of symptoms, for that seems to be what medical doctors and the like look to do in their practice.  The other meaning for healing, used in the practice of Reiki as well as other related areas, is the return to greater wholeness.  There is an ideal form each of us has, this ideal form being the highest and clearest expression of who we are.  Pain or disease comes from any deviation between the persons current form in the 3D physical world and this ideal form.  Healing, then, is to bring this physical form into closer alignment with the ideal form.

The way we aquire deviations from our ideal form is to accept limitations into our life.  Most of this comes from early childhood because that is the phase of life where we are the most open and inquisitive about life.  A limitation may be a parent yelling "BE QUIET!!" enough times that the child learns to not speak.  Another limitation may be a limp that continues longer after the physical injury has healed, maybe with phantom pains.  These limitations are behavior patterns, eating patterns, physical limitations, imagined physical limitations, psychological, mental, or emotional ways of being, living, expressing or loving that is not in alignment with our personal highest expression.

In any healing the goal is to find the limitation, recognize the pattern, recognize where it came from, and let it go.  Reiki accomplishes this by providing the recipient enough energy to step above (metaphorically) to see all that and have the courage to let go.  This usually does not happen consciously as a result of Reiki, but sometimes it does happen that Reiki gives the recipient the conscious awareness of the pattern and recognizing where it came from. Our lives are a constant flow of patterns of activity (such as the pattern used to accomplish eating breakfast) and it is our choice to have these patterns remain stuck in limited expression, or to release the old patterns and try on new and shinier ones.

Reiki is also a gateway shining pure love into the universe.  It is this love which allows us to transcend our wounds and help us remember our true nature.

Traditionally the Reiki symbols have been kept secret and only shown to those attuned for Reiki Level II and higher. Keeping the symbols secret has been done to prevent misuse (people claiming to know Reiki when in fact they haven't been trained in Reiki). This was also because Mrs. Takata insisted that the symbols were kept secret by the practitioners in Japan.

Consider whether Reiki is only the symbols, the drawn pictures. It's my experience that drawing the symbols creates a flow of energy (Chi) having different characteristics for each symbol, and that it's the flow of energy which is important. Without the flow of energy, the symbols themselves are just pictures, yes? What makes Reiki interesting is the source of energy from which Reiki springs, and the high degree of intelligence, wisdom and divinity behind that energy source.

When teaching Reiki a few times I conducted an experiment with the students. The Chi energy is not unique to Reiki, in fact Chi is in everything and around everything. Think Yoda here, in Star Wars, lecturing young Skywalker on the Force; that lecture was not far from the truth. There are many systems of Energy Healing, of which Reiki is only one, and it is quite easy for people to access and channel Chi without knowing Reiki. The experiment was, before they received any Reiki attunement, to lead them through a simple method of accessing Chi from the earth (earth energy), and then after their first attunement to have them compare the energy which came to the earth energy they had accessed just a few moments before. Every one of them were able to access earth energy with ease. In addition, each of them had dramatically stronger and different energy come, just a few minutes later, after their first Reiki attunement.

This indicates someone could call themselves Reiki Practitioners simply because they've seen the symbols in a book. This is analogous to someone calling themselves a Tarot Reader simply because they've memorized a book of Tarot card meanings. Just as reading tarot is much more than memorizing a set of predetermined meanings (namely, being intuitive about what the cards mean in this reading), there is more to using Reiki than drawing symbols (namely accessing the energy). Even a fully attuned Reiki practitioner can fail to access the energy if s/he gets confused here.

The symbols have been published in many books and web sites. Particularly interesting are a series of books by Frank Arjava Petter, Walter Lubeck and William Rand exploring the true history of Reiki (Reiki Fire, The Original Reiki Handbook of Dr. Mikao Usui, and The Spirit of Reiki). These three books in particular show that the Japanese practitioners had rather different practices from what Mrs. Takata taught, and in particular that the Reiki symbols (and others) are clearly shown to the public in a temple at Mt. Kurama in Japan. I can only assume that it's no longer necessary to follow the tradition of secrecy.

To be "grounded" is merely to be present here and now. It is to have your energy field securely present, in your body, in present time, connected clearly to your present identity at this time, and in awareness of what is happening in your vicinity at this time.

It is my experience that, when ungrounded, I am floating loose from all that. I am in some other time frame, unsure of who I am, unaware of what's happening around me, or some other similar effect.

The practice of grounding is actually a lifelong spiritual process of marrying the divine or soul into manifest form. This gets to many questions of the purpose of life, living, why is life "so rough", and whatnot. You, the reader, will have to find discussion of these ideas elsewhere for they are outside the scope of this page. It is my experience that a common life task everybody has is this bringing of the divine into manifest form. It may be real tough to see for many people, but I think it's there in all of us.

In any case, consider the frame of experience you have in giving a healing. You have your hands on their body, energy is running, you've drawn your symbols, and everything is safe, yes? The promise of Reiki is this safety, yes? Well, yes, there are safety checks that I witness in Reiki, and at the same time I witness that the rest of the rules of the universal energetic universe (e.g. Chi) are in force as well.

For example, if your mind wanders from the activity you are involved with, what happens? You still have your hands on the client, right? But if your mind wanders, in other words you become ungrounded and leave your body, what happens to the flow of Reiki? Are you sure that the flow of Reiki continues running? Are you sure that it still remains as Reiki energy and not some other frequency?

Another example, suppose that this client has an issue that triggers a reaction in you. Say you have had many car accidents (this is true for me), and that this client hurt themselves and you are giving healing to their trauma. Does the clients trauma remind you of your own trauma? How do you feel about your trauma? What happens to you if you reexperience your trauma? Often ones reaction to trauma is to run away from it, which involves leaving your body, or ungrounding. Getting back to the client you are giving healing to, are you going to be able to stay with the client in their trauma? If/when your past trauma is triggered by their trauma, can you deal with it, or will you too run away from your own retriggered trauma?

Why is this important? With Reiki it is good form to stay with the Reiki energy. There are many sources and frequencies of energy (Chi) in this universe, but as a Reiki practitioner, and to be practicing Reiki, and to have the safety checks that come with Reiki, you must stay with channeling Reiki. I like to think of this as a meditation where the anchor of the meditation is the staying with the Reiki energy source. If you were to unground and become unpresent with yourself, or otherwise lose focus with the activity of giving healing to your client, how can you gaurantee you will stay in contact with the Reiki energy source? Maybe you would instead begin channeling some other energy frequency than the Reiki energy source?

Grounding is taught in different ways by different teachers. In my experience there are two directions to ground to in order to be present with "now" in a full way.
Grandfather Sky
Grandmother Earth

I use the native american terms because they resonate with me. One of my teachers calls this "The Hearts of Heaven and Earth" which has a nice poetic ring to it.

Basically one can think of these as: Grandfather Sky is located above you ("the sky") and is the source of divine wisdom as well as the spaciousness of life and the world in which to play. Grandmother Earth is located below you ("the earth") and is the source of nurturance, physical life, practical wisdom, and the vitality with which to play in the world. The two go hand in hand and one is not primary over the other.

It is best to start with grounding to the earth. To ground into the earth, feel your feet, your body, your presence in now-time, and down into the ground how the ground supports and nurtures you. If you like you can reach way down and explore the molten rock far down, all the way to the crystaline core of the earth. This is obviously not to reach with your physical body down into the earth, but to bring your presence of consciousness to the earth, in the present time, and the present place. "Now-time" in other words.

To ground into the sky is somewhat similar. Start with the top of your head, reaching into higher wisdom or knowing, the guiding light if you will. As you reach to divine wisdom stay present with the earth and now-time, you can very well be communing with the divine levels while also very present and physical. Though, I recommend that you practice this at home first before trying to do this while operating heavy machinery such as your car.

If you ground into the earth, you should notice more physical sensation in your body, food should have more taste and flavor, and so forth. But that also means you will feel every ache and pain, and sometimes it is those aches or pains which might cause you to be one that often leaves your body. To be able to ground more deeply into presence with here and now will mean to heal those aches and pains, wherever they came from.