What is the difference between Reiki and energy healing

The core difference is actually the affiliation - energy healing is the collective name for all healing methods that focus on regulating subtle life energy, while Reiki is just a subdivision of the broad category of energy healing with a fixed origin and fixed operating system.

A while ago, a girl who just quit her high-pressure job to relieve her mood came to the studio and asked, "Is your energy healing like Reiki?" When she walked in, she was actually not the only one. Many people who are new to the physical, mental and spiritual fields tend to equate the two. After all, the core logic of "energy regulation" cannot be circumvented. The broad scope of energy healing is particularly wide. Qigong Qi regulation passed down by our ancestors, emotional regulation methods in traditional medicine, crystal healing, singing bowl healing, flower essence healing popular in the West, and even parts of shamanic healing that many people are familiar with, can all be included in the category of energy healing. Here, the core consensus is that in addition to the visible body, people also have an invisible subtle energy field. Emotional depression, long-term stress or sudden trauma will first affect the balance of this energy field, and then manifest it on the physical or emotional level. The logic of healing is to bring the imbalanced energy field back to a stable state. Of course, there is currently no reproducible verification result of the existence of subtle energy fields in mainstream academic circles. Many studies believe that the effect of energy healing is essentially a placebo effect. There are also small-scale double-blind experiments showing that it has a certain positive effect on relieving chronic pain and postoperative anxiety. There is no unified conclusion yet.

Speaking of Reiki, its origin is much clearer. It is a specific healing system founded by Japan's Usui Onao at the beginning of the last century. It has very strict inheritance requirements. If you want to become a Reiki healer, you must go through the "initiation" ceremony of the corresponding level, and a qualified Reiki master will open up the so-called Different levels of "energy channels" have corresponding exclusive symbols and handprints, and there is a relatively fixed sequence of hand positions during operation. There is no need to use external tools such as crystals and singing bowls. Even level 2 or above of reiki can be used for remote healing without being in the same space as the visitor. Of course, there are many controversies in Reiki. In addition to the controversy over "whether energy exists" that is common to other energy healing methods, many people also question the threshold of "initiation". There are many so-called Reiki training courses on the market that can obtain certification in one or two days. Whether they can really complete a qualified inheritance is also a point of constant debate in the circle.

I have experienced both. When doing ordinary crystal energy therapy, the therapist will first ask me if I have been feeling uncomfortable recently. Then, he will place crystals of different materials at the positions of my seven chakras. In the middle, he will also use a singing bowl to knock around my body. During the process, he will ask me from time to time if I feel any physical sensations. I adjusted the position of the crystal and the frequency of the singing bowl from time to time; later when I did Reiki, the therapist just put his hands gently on fixed positions such as my shoulders and top of my head. He didn’t say anything or change other tools during the whole process. My body feeling throughout the process was that of slowly relaxing, which was different from the occasional tingling experience during crystal therapy.

Nowadays, many healers will combine Reiki with other energy healing methods. For example, when doing crystal healing, they will be guided by Reiki symbols, so it is normal for people to get confused. If you are really interested, don’t worry about the name. Find a reliable healer and experience it for ten minutes. Your own feelings will be more accurate than any definition.