KI is the Japanese word meaning, generally, the energy of life. Within this ki, a hierarchy of 7 particular energies has been distinguished, as follows:*
1) Kekki — the “Ki of the blood” — provides fundamental strength. It is the most powerful and most basic of the 7 energies, but the least structured and least intelligent. Associated with the Root Chakra.
2) Shioke — the “Ki of the salt” or “Ki of minerals” — provides bodily structure and connectedness, which makes possible and organizes to a degree the action of Kekki. Also associated with the Root Chakra.
3) Mizuke — the “Ki of the water” or “Ki of liquids” — makes possible relationship and communication (by allowing the flow of Kekki among various forms of Shioke). It is the basic energy of all emotions, and allows for nourishment and metabolism. Associated with the Sacral Chakra.
4) Kuki — the “Ki of the air” or “Ki of gases” — provides the motivation for self-discovery. It gives us the ability to define our own course in life, not to be overly influenced by others. Also, the energy of digestion (of ideas as well as physical food). Associated with the Solar Plexus Chakra.
5) Denki — the “Ki of the thunder” — gives the ability to balance our own ego with consideration for others. The element of Thunder implies the forces of Heaven — and Denki makes possible our trust in a Divine Creator, as well as feelings of love, empathy, fairness, tolerance and understanding toward our fellow beings. Associated with the Heart Chakra.
6) Jiki — “magnetic power” or “gathering force” — provides charisma and aligns us with our true, Divine will. It gives the qualities of truth, beauty and kindness. It attracts the perfect complement to our own being in every situation, as well as coordinating the 5 lower energies. Associated with the Throat Chakra.
7) REIKI — “soul force” or “spiritual power” — organizes and directs all the lower energies in the most holistic, synergistic way, to bring about the good of all. In the material world, this is the energy closest to the Divine Creator, the Source of all energy and life. Reiki is associated with the Brow Chakra, and acts as a bridge between the material energies and the purely spiritual, Divine energy, called Shinki, from which everything is created and to which everything eventually returns.
* This information is condensed from the writing of Walter Lübeck in The Spirit of Reiki (Lotus Press, 2001).
THESE 7 ENERGIES are also listed by Michio Kushi in Macrobiotic Home Remedies (Japan Publications, Inc., 1985). Kushi translates REI KI as ” ‘ki of spirit,’ ‘the invisible force of soul.’ ” He explains further:
All of these stages of ki came out from SHIN KI, God-ki. Out of Shin Ki (the source), Rei Ki (yin and yang) is born. Between yin and yang**, Ji Ki (magnetism) arises, and next vibration, in the form of electricity (Den Ki), is produced. Then atmosphere, water and minerals are formed. We take all these in the form of food and transform them into Kek-ki, ki of blood, which nourishes our body.
** I found it interesting that Kushi had equated Reiki with yin and yang. My own feeling was that yin and yang arose at the level of Jiki (magnetism, polarity), and that Reiki, located just above that level, was indeed, as Walter Lübeck describes, the mysterious connector between the spiritual and physical realms. My feeling when experiencing Reiki has always been one of being suddenly connected to my true Self, to my Source. I believe that’s what Reiki does for us, whether applied as a “treatment” or as an “empowerment/attunement.” It feels to me like an “extension cord” connecting me to the Source.
However, Reiki Teacher Mike Fuchs pointed out to me that yin and yang can never really be separated, that yin and yang together make up the indivisible reality of tai-chi — and that is what Kushi is referring to here, with the words “yin and yang.” “Also,” he says, “it is generally regarded that the energy/force depicted by the tai chi symbol is identical to the force/energy which is called either ‘tao’ or ‘dao.’ So, tai chi and dao are the same, just named differently….” If this is the case, then “reiki” and “dao” are also just 2 different words for the same thing: that indivisible, life force at the first level of manifestation, which brings about the dynamic balance of ever-changing energies in all things.
EVEN SO, is there only one Reiki, or is Reiki a different energy for each individual? There’s considerable evidence to suggest the latter, and I’ve come to believe that.
For one thing, the fact that different people experience Reiki so differently makes me wonder if each is connecting to a different energy. I suspect the different feelings can be explained to some degree by different levels of sensitivity in people; but the tremendous variety of experiences makes me think there is more to it than just that. This belief is strengthened also by evidence from a variety of sources:
From the website of Rick Rivard:
In the mid 1990s my associate Shen Lissa stayed for a month with Tatsumi-san who was a student of Chuujirou Hayashi from 1927 to 1931. One day she pointed to a photo of the Usui concepts in Tatsumi-san’s house. She noted the term “Reiki” and said that this was how the West referred to the hand healing system. Tatsumi-san said that the hand healing was simply referred to as te-àte, and that by using the term “reiki,” O-Sensei (Usui Sensei) had been referring to his ancestors. Usui Reiki Ryoho simply means ‘Usui system for connecting with your ancestral self’- something that is already within each one of us from the moment of conception.
From Taggart King, on the subject of Reiju, Usui’s empowerment procedure:
The empowerment kotodama represented creative energy, regenerative energy, the energy of rebirth. The idea here is that when Reiju is carried out it connects the recipient to the energy, allowing them to be “reborn”: reborn in the sense of creating a place within that is “what we originally were”, the state within the ovum when we were Divine essence in complete connection to the universe. The energy was the essence of earth and heavenly energy, white light, source, ultimate being.
This confirms my own feeling that Reiki is connecting me to my true, original Self. Taggart’s description seems to go beyond the ancestral connection, but also to include it (by referring to the fertilized ovum in the womb).
Rick Rivard, on another page of his site, says he believes that the energy transmitted by Usui, which people eventually came to call “Reiki,” was merely Usui’s own, personal, “highest ki” — and that each of us has a different “highest ki.” I agree with this, only I believe that Usui’s method connects us not to Usui’s own “highest ki” but to our own “highest ki,” our own ancestral and Source energy. In other words, the genius of what Usui discovered is that it opens the connection in each one of us to our own particular vibration of Reiki (which is indeed our “highest ki”).
THE IDEA of such a connection between the personal self and a greater Self (sometimes perceived as the Soul, or a Guardian Angel, Guardian Spirit, or even a God) certainly appears in many cultures and teachings. Here in Hawai’i, there was an ancient tradition of spiritual understanding, which has come to be called Huna. It’s generally accepted that many of its secrets (the word Huna itself means “secret”) have been lost, though various researchers have attempted to reconstruct and understand the ancient teachings as much as possible.
One of the best known of these researchers was Max Freedom Long — known especially for his books The Secret Science Behind Miracles (1948) and The Secret Science At Work (1953).** He described the Huna understanding of a human being as comprised of 3 individual spirits, which Max called the “low self,” “middle self,” and “High Self.” The “low self,” he said, was the childlike one, in charge of the physical and auric bodies, and of memory; the “middle self” — “the one who speaks” — was the rational (more or less!) being that we most often think of as our self; and the “High Self” was comparable to what many people would call a Guardian Angel. The “High Self” was completely separate from the “middle self,” and connected to the “low self” only by an auric cord. This cord extended, apparently without limit, allowing the “High Self” to be either very near the physical body or at any distance from it, at any given moment.
Max attempted to discover how the ancient Kahunas (”keepers of the secrets”) had accomplished miraculous things through prayer (the last real Kahuna having passed away hundreds of years previously). He came to believe that the process involved the “middle self” communicating its desire, telepathically, to the “low self”; then the “low self” passing on this request to the “High Self,” via the auric cord connecting the two! “As for the High Self,” he said, “which has no limitations [emphasis mine] except as imposed by the low and middle selves through failing to do their part, we will find practical proof of its powers, once we have learned to make and sustain working contact with it.”
To me, this “High Self” sounds very much like what Reiki connects us to; and Max’s description of the auric cord brings to mind immediately my own feeling of Reiki as an “extension cord” to my real Self. His perception of the Huna prayer procedure is strikingly similar to the procedure of doing Reiki: we get the rational, “middle self” out of the picture for a while, and let the childlike, “low self” connect with the unlimited, “High Self” — and miraculous things tend to happen!
There is corroboration of this general theme in the teachings of Johrei also; the idea that we are each watched over by a higher self called the Yukon, who exists in the spirit world and is always connected to us, and to whom we can (very beneficially) send Johrei energy.
** Some writers have claimed that Max misinterpreted the ancient teachings. The word aumakua, for instance, which Max said referred to the “High Self,” others have translated as “ghost of your ancestors.” According to them, the aumakua is an ancestral spirit who agrees to come back to Earth and help us with advice and protection — a concept that sounds remarkably similar to Tatsumi’s belief about Usui’s use of the word Reiki! In any case, “ghost of your ancestors” is clearly the exoteric meaning of aumakua; Max believed “High Self” to be the esoteric meaning, which he had arrived at by deep and careful study of the many-layered Hawai’ian language. Considering that the whole realm of Huna is of things that are secret or hidden, it hardly makes sense that the exoteric, everyday meanings of words would be the ones involved! I feel (confirmed by muscle-testing) that, at least concerning the concept of the 3 human selves, Max’s understanding was indeed correct.
Don Beckett is a practitioner and teacher of Usui Reiki on the island of Hawai’i. His comprehensive e-book, An Exploration of Usui Reiki and Beyond, can be downloaded at
http://new-reiki-books.johreiki.net/.