Healing Practices in the Main World Religions & Reiki

I. Introduction

With a renewed interest in healing and wellbeing, I sought to explore the possibilities available to someone like me who wanted to help others through healing practices. As a practising Catholic, I was familiar with the charismatic movement, and being educated in an international environment, I was also aware of other healing traditions. This motivated me to dive deeper into the available options.

After researching the various options, I decided that learning reiki would be a good starting point. But reiki is a generalist word used by different methodologies, so I further explored reiki, reading some books to ensure I chose the technique that did not conflict with religious beliefs and the best-fit learning centre. Feeling happy and confident with my decision, I was surprised by some of the reactions and comments I received and the worries and concerns expressed by others.

Taking these concerns seriously, I decided to deepen my understanding of the healing traditions and the energy source behind the healing. After this deeper exploration, my conclusion was even more convincing, so writing a paper to explain my findings would be a good way to share my understanding with those with concerns.

Usui Reiki (reiki going forward) is an energy healing practice developed in Japan in the 1920s by Mikao Usui. It involves the transfer of energy through a practitioner to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. Reiki is a method that does not seek to indoctrinate its practitioners into any belief system. Instead, it teaches and explains what needs to be done to practice the healing. This practice shares similarities with various healing traditions found in many religions.

This paper analyses the similarities among the healing traditions within the five major world religions. Those curious about the source of this energy may find that despite some differences, the energy used for healing must come from the same source. Understanding these similarities and techniques expands the knowledge of other practices, broadening their understanding. It is challenging to think that there are many different sources of higher energy around us; we must all be accessing the same higher divine energy, though we have arrived at it from other paths (though in similar ways). I am referring to positive, good energy.

None of the described possibilities consider anything that is not good, positive, and for the greater good. Hands are used to channel healing energy, but they are not the only way to effect healing. The connection to the divine energy, with the practitioner as a vessel for the healing, can occur through physical touch or distance, even with differences in time. The commonality lies in the spirituality of the practitioner, the ability to connect with divine energy, and the ability to intercede to make the healing happen. There are more commonalities than differences.

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