Reiki involves the transfer of energy from practitioner to patient to enhance the body's natural ability to heal itself through the balancing of energy. It utilizes specific techniques for restoring and balancing the natural life force energy within the body.
Reiki (pronounced ray-key) is a Japanese word representing universal life energy, the energy which is all around us.
It is derived from rei, meaning "free passage" or "transcendental spirit" and ki, meaning "vital life force energy" or " universal life energy".
A Japanese Tendai Buddhist named Mikao Usui claimed to have "rediscovered" Reiki. After long meditation, fasting, and prayer, Usui claimed that, through a mystical revelation, he had gained the knowledge and spiritual power to apply and attune others to "Reiki's" healing energy. Mikao Usui claimed that he could enable his students to enlarge their access to the energy through certain initiations. Usui taught that attunement to the energy enhances and refines a person's ability to connect with this already occurring natural healing energy. Through such initiations, students are said to become clearer channels for Reiki, and this theoretically enhances the quality of treatments that student (or practitioner) provides.
More Details
http://www.holistic-online.com/Reiki/hol_Reiki_home.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reiki&oldid=40062443
