What is the difference between Reiki and energy healing?

Many people tend to confuse the two. In fact, the core difference is that energy healing is a collective name for all healing methods that improve physical and mental health by adjusting the human energy field and clearing energy blockages, while Reiki is one of the earliest and most widely spread standardized branches of the energy healing system. To use a less rigorous analogy, energy healing is like the entire Chinese cuisine, including Shandong, Sichuan and Huaiyang cuisine, and Reiki is the Sichuan cuisine with the most standardized recipes and the largest audience. You cannot say that all Chinese food is Sichuan food, nor can you say that Sichuan food does not belong to the category of Chinese food.

The broad scope of energy healing is particularly wide. Crystal healing, singing bowl healing, quantum touch healing, color healing, and even some Taoist energy conditioning methods that you usually hear about can all be included in the broad scope of energy healing. There is no unified learning standard or fixed operating procedures. It all depends on the settings of different schools. I once met a little girl who taught herself energy perception. She never took any systematic classes. She relied on herself to regulate menstrual cramps for her friends. She was able to relieve most of her dysmenorrhea in ten minutes each time. Do you think she was doing Reiki? Definitely not, this can only be considered a broad energy healing practice.

There are many more orthodox Reiki rules. Ever since the system was founded by Usui Ong'o more than a hundred years ago, it has been stipulated that a certified Reiki master must do "initiation" and open up the energy channels of students before they can officially get started. Learning is divided into three levels: first level, second level, and master level. Each level has corresponding exclusive symbols and usage rules. You don't need to use any tools when operating. You just need to place or hang your hand on the position of the corresponding chakra. The process is very fixed. When I was helping at a healing market in Hangzhou last year, I encountered a customer who confused the two. At that time, I was using crystals to clear the blockage of the throat chakra. The customer came up and asked me if what I was doing was Reiki. I pointed at the teacher at the corner who only rested his hands on the customer’s shoulders and neck the whole time and laughed, saying that that person was a serious practitioner of the Usui Reiki master class. I was a generalized energy healer who mixed crystal methods.

Nowadays, there are actually different views on the boundary between the two. Old-school Reiki inheritors believe that Usui’s inheritance system must be strictly followed. Operations without enlightenment and orthodox Reiki symbols cannot be called Reiki. At most, they can be regarded as general energy healing.； However, many new-school healing practitioners feel that the new branches such as Karuna Reiki and Purple Fire Reiki have long been separated from the original Usui system. In essence, they are no different from everyone's own energy healing methods, and there is no need to impose hard boundaries.

To be honest, when we usually do therapy, we rarely bother with names. For clients, whether it is Reiki or other energy healing methods, it is enough that they can relax and relieve the backlog of emotions or physical discomfort. The only thing to remind is that if someone says a few hundred dollars If you can learn Reiki by selling a recorded class, it is most likely a lie. The initiation process of orthodox Reiki must be completed by the master and the student at the same time. Even online synchronization is fine, but it must not be pre-recorded content. Without this link, no matter how many hand positions you learn, it will not be considered an orthodox Reiki operation.