Threshold Notes -- Has Your Reiki Energy Changed?
A simple Re-Attunement method

Some time ago I wrote an article on “Reiki Lineage” and how it does not guarantee that the Reiki you received from your teacher is the same energy that was shared somewhere else in your lineage.  Part of this has to do with the belief some have that all Reiki is the same, or that all healing energy is the same.  Some of it has to do with the fact that many teachers, when giving attunements, are unconsciously combining their natural healing energies with their Reiki energy.  In some cases, they are professing to give you a certain style of Reiki (like Karuna or Gendai) yet they are also unknowingly adding in all of their other Reiki (and healing) energy received from other teachers, plus their own natural energy.

The latter case tends to cause students and teachers down the lineage to work with and pass on, something that is quite different from what the originator of the style uses.  I’ve noticed this myself in the case of re-attuning other teachers’ Gendai students. I’ve even noticed it in my own students when it has been some time since their previous class with me.  And the case of combining Reiki with your natural energy in an attunement can cause your Reiki to change and even become more and more non-Reiki. 

Is the Reiki energy changing with each teacher down the lineage?

However, this is not to suggest that this is not a good thing.  Any of this can also improve the healing energy you are sharing with students and others.  But you need to decide if what you are sharing is what you “advertise” you are giving out.  Imagine yourself taking a class in a certain style of Reiki only to discover afterwards it wasn’t Reiki at all, or it was a combination of several styles of Reiki.  Would you be happy about that?  Especially if you had since then taught classes in this style of Reiki.

Is it Actually Reiki Energy, or the Same Reiki?

So the first thing to consider is whether you actually are still using the same Reiki energy as that which your teacher had attuned you to, and of course whether it really matters to you.  If you are a Reiki teacher and telling your students you are passing a certain (or any) Reiki energy to them, then you might want to ensure you are actually doing as you advertise. 

If you are unsure of what you are using, I suppose you could return to your original teacher and ask to feel his or her Reiki energy of that same style you received.  Or you could check with other students of this style, especially those close to the original teacher or even contact that person yourself.  You could then ask for a re-attunement.  (Note that you may have to pay a fee for this.)

In most cases this is actually a good idea anyway as it can boost your  ability with your own overall Reiki and healing.  If the teacher is not conveniently nearby, you might ask the person to send a distant transmission so you can gauge their Reiki versus yours, or simply ask that they send you a distant re-attunement.  (Even the schools that don’t normally use distant attunements for a class, may allow distant re-attunements.)

Are you able to get more Reiki energy out of your teacher’s original attunement with you, or even a more refined energy?

However, I know that many Reiki practitioners are unable to sense the differences in energies to this degree, even in person.  So they will have to simply trust what they are using.  Intention plays a big part here, especially when using their Reiki for healing, energy work or for attunements.  After any attunement they probably should go through a validation process to check what they received.

Re-attunements An Important Part of Traditional Reiki

Even if you feel you are using the exact Reiki energy you received from your teacher, you may have increased your potential to experience even more of it, or to flow it more exactly as your teacher.   In the original Japanese Reiki society re-attunements were part of the monthly branch meetings, or whenever you met with your teacher.  This assisted the student in developing stronger healing energies.

If you have not had re-attunements since your original class with your teacher, or if it has been some time since you had one, you might want to consider receiving another one anyway.  

As far as getting that re-attunement, there is a much simpler way to do this, one that I have explored for many years with my own students.  Part of my method is explained in my article “Perfecting Reiki Attunements and Reiju.”   It involves the idea of imagining and intending to receive once again, the original attunement you had received from your Reiki Master.   

A Simple Re-attunement Method:

Imagine that you are once again sitting in that teacher’s Reiki class, preparing to receive the attunement from your teacher.  You can go through the preparations the teacher had you do first, like relaxing yourself, listening to a meditation to quiet your thoughts, or whatever. 

You don’t need to know what ceremony was used for the attunement or reiju.  Just allow yourself to become quiet and in a kind of meditative state.  Then imagine that the teacher is now working directly with you.  If you were instructed to move your hands in a certain fashion (e.g. in place them in Gassho or prayer position). 

Next, imagine that all the energies you received are flowing to you, just like the first time.  Except, this time you are now able to receive or experience even more of them since you have been working with them for some time.  

Sit on this energy for as long as you wish, just enjoying the experience and the relaxation.

When you feel you are finished, test this Reiki on yourself, and later on a familiar healing subject.  My article on “Validating Attunement Energies” has some thoughts on this.

A Sample Experience

In 2009 while having dinner locally with Japanese Reiki teacher Hyakuten Inamoto (Komyo Reiki), I suggested this was one way he might get in touch with his original teacher’s energy once again.  Beginning in 1997, he attended weekly meetings with up to 4 others, conducted by the late Mrs. Chiyoku Yamaguchi, a Hayashi student from the late 1930’s.  While this was not a formal Reiki class, Mrs. Yamaguchi would still give reiju to each student each time they met. (Her ceremony was almost the same as the initial Takata and Hayashi version.)  So just like in the original URR Gakkai, they  were getting weekly re-attunements.  This went on for 60 weeks before the meetings were cancelled.

I walked Hyakuten through a simple meditation as explained above, but had him imagine he was once again received the reiju from Mrs. Yamaguchi during the last meeting.  I was very surprised. The energy that Hyakuten began to radiate was far stronger than what he normally used for Reiki, and it was even stronger than other Japanese Reiki styles I had trained in, including his Komyo Reiki.  Afterwards I suggested he might hold this image whenever he gave attunements or reiju in his classes and Reiki shares. 

I hope you find this a useful skill to develop.