WE’VE BEEN TAUGHT to connect with different aspects of Reiki by using certain symbols and/or kotodama; but what about our energetic condition at the time of doing this? How can we knowingly put ourselves in an optimal vibratory state for maximizing the effectiveness of Reiki?
Obviously, it’s best to be still and calm and somehow meditative….but can we be more specific than that? Can we adjust our vibratory frequency to an optimal range?
The study of brain waves (as measured by electroencephalograph) has led scientists to define 5 particular ranges of brain activity, each one associated with characteristic behaviors or effects, as follows:*
* Delta (approx. 0.5-4 cycles per second): the predominant realm of human brain activity from birth to age 2; after that time, Delta is the state of deep, dreamless sleep, in which the concept of individual/ego dissolves completely — and so do awareness and memory; Delta can also be used for deep, hypnotic programming.
* Theta (approx. 4-8 cycles per second): this is where we spend most of our time from age 2 to 6; the realm where we access intuition, instant healing, accelerated learning, and the feeling of Oneness-with-All; the shamanic state (it’s no accident that shamanic drumming is done at frequencies of 4-7 beats per second!); Theta is also used in hypnotherapy.
* Alpha (approx. 8-12 cycles per second): we move primarily into this realm from age 6 to 12; it’s a relaxed, meditative state, the awareness of “self” and consciousness.
* Beta (approx. 12-35 cycles per second): we begin to show sustained periods at this frequency around age 12; it’s the realm of the highly focused, individual ego, where most adults spend most of their time.
* Gamma (above 35 cycles per second): the realm of “peak performance”; the state of consciousness that some people have referred to as “the zone.”
* My descriptions of these are compiled from various web sources and The Biology of Belief, a book (which I greatly recommend) by Dr. Bruce Lipton. Dr. Lipton credits his descriptions of these brain states to Dr. Rima Laibow, in Introduction to Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback, by James R. Evans and Andrew Abarbanel.
IT’S OBVIOUS that a vibrational frequency in the Theta range is by far the best for doing Reiki. I feel (via muscle-testing) the Reiki itself puts us naturally in Theta vibration — and have also found that putting myself intentionally in Theta vibration helps me transmit Reiki and seems to make the Reiki more effective!
How to Achieve Theta
I discovered this quite by “accident” one night, years ago — when I was not even aware of the different brain-wave states. I had agreed to do distant Reiki with someone (my Reiki Master!) late at night….and had fallen asleep before the appointed time. I awoke in the middle of the night — not even knowing what time it was — remembering that I had to do the Reiki!
I sat up in bed, barely awake, and attempted to do it. I could not even get my eyes fully open; the lids were nearly closed, in fact. I could not even hold a mental focus for more than a minute or so. I tried a few times, and then simply mustered as much intent as I could, that Reiki be received by my teacher at the time we had agreed on. Then I lay back down in the bed and was immediately asleep.
My Reiki Master called on the phone the next day, to tell me in detail of the most wonderful Reiki she had received through me; it had been a spectacularly transforming experience for her! I was quite surprised, to say the least — and too cowardly to tell her how things had gone at my end. But it was a great lesson for me — one of the most important to date — about doing Reiki. It taught me, first of all, that intent is more effective than procedure; and that I did my best Reiki when I was half-asleep!
What had struck me most about my experience that night was my deep state of drowsiness, and the nearly-closed position of my eyes. I kept feeling there was something important in that. So I began, when doing Reiki after that time, holding my eyes intentionally in that position. I would let them close, almost-but-not-quite all the way, and I would un-focus the vision — and I noticed an immediately enhanced flow of Reiki!
Simply letting the eyes drop almost-but-not-quite closed put me immediately in a deeply meditative state. There was a slight feeling of drowsiness, but it was easy to stay right on the edge of it, on the border between consciousness and unconsciousness. I’ve been doing Reiki this way ever since, and have only recently encountered the scientific data that confirms why it works so well!
There’s great and amazing information, on the web, regarding Theta brain-waves and their effectiveness in instantaneous healing, accelerated learning, deliberate creation, and the relationship of DNA to all this.
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/.