The Reiki Cafe 

hi everyone,
Hope you are all well.
i have just heard about the national federation of spiritual healers, i have recieved healing at a spiritualist church before years ago. is it the same as reiki ?
L&L
Wendy

Hi Twirl,

A few years ago I was at a "new age" fair and there was a group of Spiritual Healers there. This was shortly after I obtained my Reiki and I was curious about the difference as well. I approached the woman and asked her what the difference was between Spiritual Healing and Reiki. She looked at me and said that "Reiki is not a true discipline". I was shocked to say the least. I decided to investigate further and found that the specific association she belonged to had strict guidelines with their training and that you were always working with a more experienced practitioner until you achieved a certain level. This training period was a minimum committment of twice a week for two years with your trainer, then an additional 1 year period of "going solo", but reporting to your trainer. Now the work they did was also energy based work, but they did not refer to it as the Universal Life Energy, as some do in Reiki. They referred to it as God's energy. To some, both energy's are the same, yet to other's there is a seperation. Is there really any difference? It is up to you to decide for yourself. I feel she was very firm in her belief that the training she received was the only way that energy work could be performed. Which is sad in a way, as Shakespeare said "a rose by any other name, would smell just as sweet".

Recently I have been to a Spiritualist church where they offer healings. Watching them work, I pick up that it is the same energy as Reiki. And I'm happy to say these people seem more open to working with everyone with their only intent to offer what healing they can. With healing work, I can only say a true healer will do what they can to help, without judgment of any kind.

I would suggest you do your own investigation into this and form your own opinion. It may prove to be a question that others will end up in asking you, as a Reiki practitioner. Maybe Spirit is guiding you to develop your own truth and find the answers that resonate within.

In light and love,
Featherpoint

I recently acquired the book "Miracles of Mind: Exploring Non-local Consciousness and Spiritual Healing" The book was written by a metaphysical researcher with a background in physics and a spiritual healer. They (specifically the healer) claim there is a distinction between energy healing and spiritual healing and they classify Reiki as an energu healing technique - then when discussing spiritual healing, discuss many characteristics that they claim are unique to spiritual healing but also apply to Reiki (being merely a channel, not consciously trying to control the healing, etc.)

The metaphysics researcher beleives that both types of healing have the same source (a possible explanation of the source is discussed in a more recent book called "The Field") so differentiating between the two is making a distinction without a difference.

It may be that spiritual healers have a stronger need to assign the power behind the healing to a specific entity of divine being. I prefer the explanations being explored by quantum physics researchers. It's just a matter of preference - the healing still happens no matter what restrictions one places on their own sense of where the energy comes from.

Hi Wendy

Ten years ago I was a member of a Spiritualist Church and started to undergo the type NFSH healer training you described. I was also to be required to take a written exam to evidence my understanding ( or should I say 'their' understanding of Spiritual healing) When I questioned the validity of bringing Spiritual matters into the realm of accademic studies I got a very cold reception. I left due to what I sadly saw as a very dogmatic and narrow minded approach to Healing. More recently I returned to this same church and said I was a Reiki Master Healer and could I join their healing team. The reply was a definite no. Apparently they had a Reiki Healer work in the church for a while and ....wait for it !!!!!!......... they had to have the church Blessed because the Reiki healer had encouraged a manevelent spirit to haunt them. ( Can you believe that?) As a Reiki Healer they described the difference between my healing ways and theirs in this way. "You (I) wear the black hat whilst we wear the white" Need I say more. My intuition tells me that all Healing comes from the same higher power whether it is from your God or from an energy force beyond our comprehension. Its a great pity that labels create so much division among some healing associations ( a bit like religion) Wendy - GO WITH YOUR HEART to the place that is right for YOU. Trust you own judgement and intuition.

Light and Wisdom

Geoff (tree)

Dear Twirl,
We are mind, body & spirit. Some healing techniques address one or the other, some address all three. But each has a philosophy or focus or practice that differs from the other. As varied as we humans are, perhaps there is something for everyone depending where they are on their path?
Reiki is a specific energetic healing technique.
What is the source of all healing energy?

peace & joy,
holobon

I know many spiritual healers. Their approach, technique and philosophies are different. There can be some disdain of Reiki practitioners bevause they feel that they have to do a lot of training and we just 'waltz in' and become healers in just a couple of days. They also complain about the amount of money involved in Reiki - many spiritual healers do not charge.

Having said all that - I have exchanged Reiki with some of them and once they have experienced Reiki for themselves, they are usually accepting of it. Spiritual healing does seem different to me. It's as if it is of a different frequency - though complementary to Reiki. It usually makes me feel a little nauseas for a while, but it's very powerful and effective. Getting a shot of both modalities at once is awesome!

Love and light from
Celestina

all spirits of healing come from the same spirit.[that is actually in the bible,when paul is speaking to the churches in 1st and 2nd corinthians]

and also i will say . It is not the positive or negative of an action that determines the right or wrong outcome.it is the intention behind the action that determines the right or wrong of the outcome.

Hi There
My understanding is that a spiritual healer directs the healing energy and are more likely to be affected by the person they are treating. Reiki on the other hand is drawn by the recipient, not the reiki practitioner and a reiki practitioner is not affected by any negative symptoms present in the recipient. My reiki master once described spritual healing as a thread in the web of healing energies and reiki as the whole blanket! In any case, it is wonderful that there are people willing to healing work, in whatever form isnt it? I try hard not to judge one way over another - I am happy with my reiki and wish everyone else well with what they do - live and let live is what I say :)

Love, Light & Reiki Rainbows
Namaste
Eaglestar

Hi again.

Whoooops this subect is getting deep; so interesting. When I started to 'train' as a healer with the NFSH I was told that the healer was merely the vehicle or instrument through which the Spiritual Healing Guides were to perform their healing work. The less the healer involved themselves mentally - like visualisation - the better the result. This way the ego could not get in the way of higher things. The hand positions were the same as the basic Reiki hand positions which were in any case copied from Spiritual Healing by Mrs Takata when she brought Reiki to the West. The highest Spiritual Healing healed the sick persons soul. This would in turn would heal any other areas ie. the mind and/ or the body. This is what all Spiritual Healers hoped to assist with as the healing'instrument.' Very few in fact do so but all do some good. Directing healing from yourself was not seen as Spiritual Healing but 'Magnetic Healing' and so short lived because it drew its energy from the healer and not Spirit. When I read with great interest the letters from many in our Cafe I often wonder how many realise that they are i fact using Spiritual Healing techniques. But does it matter?? I think not as any reliable Spirit Guide will tell you all healing comes from the Great Divine which has many labels such as - as God, Great Spirit, Universal Energy etc.

Light and Wisdom

Geoff ( tree)

Hi Eveyone,
Thanks for all your replies.
just recieved some info through the post from the NFSH this morning after reading the leaflet it sounds the same
heres a little passage
spiritual healing is the channelling of healing energies through the healer to the patient. it re energises and relaxes the patients to enable their own natural resources to deal with illness or injury in the best possible way. by attunement - perhaps best described as a combination of empathy and intent - either in the presence of the patient or at a distance - and by directing energy, usually through the hands, the healer seeks to supplement the depleated energy of the recipient, dealing with stress at whatever level it exists and releasing the bodies own recuperative abilities to deal with the problem in the most effective way for that individual.
patients recieving healing tend to experience sensations of being re energised or relaxed, pins and needles, heat or coolness and pain coming to the surface and dispersing indicating that the energies are indeed going to work etc...

when i last went for spiritual healing at the church i was having terrible problems with my back i could hardly walk i went to the chiropracter in the day and for healing at night sweat just rolled off me while recieving healing.
my back was wet through, after i felt great. this was many years ago.
ive sorted out my back problems now.
during self healing with reiki iam so relaxed its lovely.
when recieving reiki still nice , but this massive overwhelming urge to cry my heart out like a massive pull on that "lump in your throat" i dont know how i managed to keep it in.

i think ive answered my own question now.

with my past experience before i was wondering if
spiritual healing and reiki worked on different levels - maybe spiritual helped more with ailments and reiki with the whole picture.
but now i know it isnt so.

love to you all
Wendy xxxxx

Hi Wendy

You say 'I think I've answered my own question now' Thats REAL LEARNING! A great educationalist and psychotherapist called Carl Rogers once said " No one can teach anybody anything - people have to decide to learn."

Light and Wisdom

tree (Geoff)