Myths & Facts About Reiki

Last week a new Reiki client called me out of the blue to schedule a session. The result of that session left me with the notion that I really need to focus more on what is working in my professional life rather than on what is not. I guess you could call this writing a continuation of my previous post entitled "The 'Other' Calling," in which I describe how being autistic leads to a natural flair for being a minister. The one thing that my menus of health care services and ministerial services have in common is Reiki healing. Thus, it is the Reiki that will be my primary focus for promotion and advertisement from now on.

While many people reading this article may wonder what Reiki is, I will explain it in a nutshell for now. Hawayo Takata explained that Reiki means Universal Life Energy, and we are all composed of this energy. It is that force behind the flow of everything – healing of wounds, the circulating of blood, the flowing of water, the blowing of wind, etc. This energy can be used for healing. During a Reiki session, hands are placed in various areas on or over the body, front and back. There is no manipulation. The Universal Life Energy simply flows on its own accord to the areas where healing is needed. We all have this ability to some degree. With Reiki attunement and training, this ability is magnified immensely to where the results can actually be quantified and measured.

My deep appreciation and excitement for Reiki healing goes far beyond what can be experienced in the purely physical sense. Because of that connection that exists with the Universe, I feel obligated to be true to the original methods, teachings, and practices of what Reiki really is. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there, including Reiki practitioners themselves, that DON'T know what it is, just like that new Reiki client who came to see me last week who said that he was a trained practitioner himself. The "knowing" isn't based on ideas about techniques and teachings -- it is based on the experience of what Reiki can do for you. Those who abide by the founding principles and teachings are not only more knowledgeable, they are also more respectful of the energy and of the Reiki Masters (teachers) who originally developed this great healing art. The true Reiki healer does not let his/her ego get in the way. A high degree of respect automatically takes ego out of the equation. Lastly, and most importantly to the client or patient, the one receiving the Reiki healing will experience something far greater than anything they've ever felt before. The Reiki session ends up being an unforgettable, life-changing experience!

To continue, I need to make it clear that I am not a Reiki Master at this point in time. I hope to be someday. There are three different “levels” of Reiki practice. The 1^st Degree practitioner performs hands-on healing for physical illness and injury, and the 2^nd Degree practitioner is able to use Reiki for psychological and spiritual healing as well as being able to perform in-absentia healing and other metaphysical/paranormal applications. As far as being a healer goes, one is complete in their abilities at the 2^nd Degree level. The Master is one who is trained to attune and teach other practitioners. In the traditional method of Reiki, there are no other levels. The 2^nd Degree practitioner is given three symbols, or “keys”, to work with in their healing practice. The Master is given a fourth symbol which empowers them to empower others. In the traditional method of Reiki, there are no other symbols, and these symbols are NEVER revealed, never shared, and never discussed. To do otherwise, such as posting the symbols on a website or displaying them blatantly during a session, is an abomination to the tradition. Reverence for the energy is paramount.

I’ve been writing “the traditional method” quite a bit in this article. That is so that I can set it apart from the non-traditional, and often less effective, methods that have been, rather egoistically, developed since Reiki came to the United States. In that light, one who practices and respects the traditional method will be intimately knowledgeable of Reiki’s history. I am not going to tell the entire history here. That is for a true Master to teach. Reiki is NOT an ancient healing art that was “invented” more than 2,000 years ago. It was discovered, and gifted to, a monk named Mikao Usui in Japan in April of 1921. Because of the great work of developing and perfecting it, done by Chujiro Hayashi and Hawayo Takata, the original Usui System Of Natural Healing According To Hawayo Takata was born. It was not originally called “Reiki”. “Leiki”, later called “Reiki”, is the word that Usui used to refer to the actual energy. When Takata brought the teachings to the West in 1970, much to the dismay of the traditionalists in Japan, she trained 22 Reiki Masters in this traditional system of healing. Unfortunately, not all 22 of them kept true to the original teachings. They instilled their own egoistic ideas, creating their own methods, and mixed Reiki with other healing arts. THIS is what exists in grossly large amounts in this day and age. I once talked to a Reiki “Master” here in Minnesota who said to me that she “heard of” Hawayo Takata. I was appalled at the lack of knowledge and respect, which translates into less effective ability as well. I consider myself blessed to have been taught by the student of one of those original 22 Masters of the West who kept the teachings pure, unwavering from their origins. Because of the utmost degree of respect that I have for Reiki, I follow in their footsteps with great honor.

Perhaps the greatest myth that exists today about Reiki is that you can learn all levels in one weekend for only about a hundred dollars. This is far from the truth. It cost me $650 and more than three months of apprenticeship under my Master, Rev. Betty McKeon, to learn the intimacies of how Reiki works. You get what you pay for, and you receive what you are capable of handling. True Masters will have spent at least $10,000 and several years of apprenticeship under their Masters before becoming Masters themselves. True traditionalists will also know what their Reiki lineage is. Mine is posted on my website.

Shortly after I was trained in the 2^nd Degree, I had performed a successful spiritual cleansing of someone’s home which was haunted. When I was talking to a fellow member of a healing circle about the experience, she asked me how on earth I did it. Another person who was listening in on the conversation advised me that the person I was talking to was a Reiki “Master”. I figured that if she really WAS a Reiki Master she would have no need to ask. That just showed me that my Master was right about most people out there not practicing, and not even knowing about, the traditional method of Reiki, even though they staunchly think that they do. As for the new client that I performed a session on last week, his ego quickly disappeared when he experienced something profound during his session – a session that his own Reiki “Master” was never able to give him. He learned the depth and intensity of my respect for traditional Reiki. As I found out later from the person who had taken over the practice of my Reiki Master’s Master (Rev. Fran Brown) after her passing in 2009, my client’s “Master” was one of Takata’s 22 Masters that did NOT keep the teachings pure and destroyed what she was given with her own ego-driven ideas.

Another myth is that since all energy is the same one should not charge for their healing services. One of my Spiritual Teachers, Swami Muktananda, once said that it is not a bad thing if one’s healing practice is their livelihood as long as they are honest in their work. Yes, there are those like me who do this as a profession. In addition, those who are WILLING to pay for the service are the ones who know the true VALUE of what they are receiving. Therefore, they will certainly gain more from it. For people who have never experienced real Reiki before, and to give people a sample of my style, I will certainly offer a five-minute session at no charge. It is interesting to observe that people quite often experience something profound just during the sample! It is even more amazing what they walk away with after a full session. With me, a full session lasts an average of 75 minutes. On numerous occasions during the 13 years I’ve been practicing Reiki, I’ve had people say to me that even though they’ve had Reiki done to them before, they never felt the magnitude of powerful energy that they felt with me. That usually leads to a discussion about the difference between the nontraditional “Westernized” methods and the pure, unadulterated, traditional method, “the way it was taught and practiced in Japan,” that I use. There definitely IS a difference!

Two other myths about Reiki that make it out to be some kind of New Age hokey pokey game are the ideas that the practitioner is “clearing” the client’s chakras and that Spirit Guides are communicating with them and guiding them. The energy actually flows on its own accord, and its effects cannot be directed or predicted. Intuitive information does arise, unattributable to any kind of angelic or garish entities. On that note, I will share a personal view. It’s not just that the traditional teachings are more pure and potent. My Reiki Master told me that I was so connected to the energy that I was a natural. People who are autistic do seem to have a natural ability to be connected to the universe, the inspiration, that surrounds them. This is what I attribute my “natural” ability to. There is something transcendental about placing my hands on someone and experiencing the flow of energy. During the course of the 75-minute (average) session, intuition itself “speaks”, and I share the information with my client. Oftentimes it ends up being an Edgar Cayce-like experience. They learn something about themselves that helps them along in their quest for healing and positive life change. They walk away with something tangible they can use.

For more information about my Reiki healing services, please see my website at http://www.DrPatSuglia.com/reiki .

The Prediction

It was the summer of 1994. I had just moved into my new apartment in Smyrna, Georgia. I was about to begin my final quarter of undergraduate prerequisite studies. In just another three months I was to begin chiropractic school. I sat down to write a letter to an old friend of mine, a Catholic priest that I had known since I was nine years old. Father Stephen Halabura was a part of my growing years, and he and I spent a lot of time together. He was always my go-to person when I was feeling out of place around my peers during junior high school and high school. In the letter, I told him how excited I was about studying to become a chiropractor. Much to my own surprise, I had written to him, “Becoming a chiropractor is merely the next step toward my real calling in life.” I had no idea what the next step was. In that moment, I knew that there would be something beyond. I have been a chiropractor now for over ten years. I feel that by the end of 2010 I will finally discover what the real calling is.


Almost nine months after writing that letter, my struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome began. Three years after that, my most amazing Spiritual journey began. In April of 1998 I joined a meditation group hosted by one of my teachers. In July I learned Reiki, and in August I was introduced to my Guruji, Swami Chidvilasananda, more lovingly known as Gurumayi. On October 3, at about 8:00 PM, I received the gift of Shaktipat, the awakening of the Kundalini energy. That firmly grounded me in the knowledge and the experience of the entire universe, manifest and unmanifest, being God. This event, along with all the healing arts I have learned, are key to what my real calling will be. The pain and suffering I endured, and continue to endure of sorts, from my own health challenges are also key to whatever my real calling is. Something amazing lurks in the not-too-distant future.

This past weekend, my wife Bianca and I spent a weekend in Chicago at the Celebrate Your Life conference which is hosted by Mishka Productions. It was a life-enhancing event. It was good to be around so many people who held the Spiritual path in high esteem. Not since visiting the Siddha Yoga ashram in South Fallsburg, New York (which I last did in 2002) did I feel so fulfilled. Although there were many famous speakers there, the three that I got the most from were Caroline Myss, Neale Donald Walsh, and Deepak Chopra. What these three people had to say pretty much summed up what I have been experiencing on the spiritual path for the past twelve years. Caroline Myss said, “Imagine that…” and she went on to describe EXACTLY what I had experienced the moment I received Shaktipat in 1998. Neale Donald Walsh explained in a very practical way not only how we can have our own conversation with God but also the fact that everything that is IS God. And Deepak Chopra really reeled me in with a scientific look at how everything that appears to “exist” is actually a waveform, God’s Consciousness, or, as Swami Muktananda would say, a “Play Of Consciousness”. None of these things were new to me. It was all profound because everything I had contemplated, meditated on, and read about in the words of Muktananda during the past twelve years was re-divulged in a most awe-inspiring way.

So, what is the “next step”? What is my real calling? Many people over the years have said that my greatest strength is my gift of writing. My Reiki Master just reminded me of that again today. In a recent blog post, I wrote that I can only write well, if at all, when inspired, and that this doesn’t happen more than about once a month. I am feeling, though, that this past weekend put a charge into my motivation to write more. That’s a good thing. Professionally, things are being rearranged. Today is the day I will be closing my office in St. Louis Park, MN. It doesn’t mean that I will no longer practice as a chiropractor. Instead, I will see people in my own home and will focus even more on holistic practice. I am also working more on bringing my ministerial work to the forefront. I think that if I contemplate things long and hard enough, I could find a way to be an avid writer. Making a living at it would certainly be a challenge, just as everything else I ever tried had been. One nice note to make is that I’m being invited more to speak about living with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. I received three invites just in the past week! Only one of them will be a paid gig though, and it’s not even for sure that it will take place. Perhaps I can challenge myself a bit more and advertise again for The Wellness Interfaith Church and for doing health talks in my “new” home office setting? Yes, I have so much to say and so much to offer in the realm of healing. I don’t want to give myself false hope, as I’ve done so often, but I do feel that some positive changes are about to take place. The real calling, whatever it is, is near.

A Three-Tiered Approach to Health

When I was a kid growing up, I was captivated by watching emergency scenes. All the firemen, ambulance personnel, and policemen rushing about, putting out fires and saving lives. When I was eighteen, I joined the local volunteer fire department. It was quite a thrill! Only six months later, the fire chief told me to hang it up because he discovered that I had a pretty bad heart condition. I had no idea who told him. I certainly didn’t! I just wanted to be a part of the action. Shortly after leaving the fire state for the last time, my cardiologist told me I needed to have open heart surgery to replace my failing aortic valve. Although the operation put an end to my short-lived passion for being a fireman, I was allowed to work with the ambulance crew instead. That is what opened the door for my lifelong career in health care and to where I am today.

Starting out as a Respiratory Therapist, I enjoyed caring for people in the hospital setting, particularly in lifesaving situations. At the same time, my eyes and my interests were being opened to natural healing practices. Even though I went on to study to be a chiropractor, all this time I was focused on one dimension of healing: the physical. During the latter half of my days as a chiropractic student, I learned about the other dimension of healing, the nonphysical, which involves both the mind and the Spirit.

Thus, today in my practice I address both the physical and the nonphysical realms of existence using a three-tiered approach. Using chiropractic, medical, and “alternative” methods of evaluating one’s health situation, I embrace a truly integrative system to help my patients achieve their optimum potential.

First, I ask, “Is there nerve tone imbalance?” The nerve system controls every organ and action of the body. When bones become misaligned, stress can be placed on nerves causing them to become too taut or too lax. This imbalance results in abnormal function of one or more of the body systems. How exactly this happens was studied in depth by D.D. Palmer, the founder of the chiropractic profession, during a ten year period from 1885 - 1895. D.D.’s findings were later confirmed in a study done by Henry Windsor, M.D. in 1921. Chiropractic care corrects nerve tone imbalance, thereby restoring proper function to body systems.

If a person’s condition is fairly complicated and affects multiple organ systems, I ask, “Is this a problem that is due to some type of toxic exposure or intrinsic dysfunction?” If this is suspect, then I proceed to the physical examination/functional medicine testing tier of care. If abnormalities with a particular system are identified, I refer my patients to the appropriate medical specialist for further evaluation and treatment while still retaining them as a client.

The third tier of care is what transcends the physical, and I promote this avenue sparingly. Not everyone is open to energy medicine practices. I’ve even had people say to me, “I am a devout Christian, and what you are doing is the devil’s work.” Therefore I now discern more closely who I propose this avenue of healing to. If it is rather obvious to me that this person is under a great deal of mental/emotional stress, or if I feel that their cause of anguish has an etheric source, then I will let them know that there are nonphysical issues that need to be dealt with. If I get a good sense that they are openminded, I explain the concept of chi. I explain that life force energy fills this universe. It is that power that keeps your heart beating, your lungs breathing, your blood circulating, your mind thinking. Because of physical and nonphysical forms of stress, life force energy may not flow in the manner that it should, resulting in physical, psychological, or even spiritual distress. The method of energy medicine that I use is The Usui System Of Natural Healing According To Hawayo Takata, which is the oldest and most potent form of Reiki there is.

When a person comes into my office, I am well prepared to evaluate and treat that person on any level. I usually do not announce right away that I am a chiropractor. Instead, I say that I am a Holistic Physician. Not everyone that comes to my office is there for chiropractic care. By taking an integrative approach, I can address the needs of my patients on multiple levels without having to refer them somewhere else. And, if I feel that they are openminded enough, I tell them to be prepared for anything (hinting to the third tier of care). But I don’t view each tier as taking care of a separate physical, mental, or spiritual entity. Each of these realms of existence is woven into one inseparable manifestation of the person as a whole. Each realm affects the other in some way. If I am giving somebody a chiropractic adjustment, I am allowing for a fuller expression of chi energy to take place. If I am taking somebody’s vital signs, I am measuring the flow of life force energy. If I am performing a Reiki session on someone, I am helping the body, mind, and spirit to balance each other in a state of harmony.

It is important to keep in mind that one who comes to us for help is not just a physical person who feels things, thinks, and performs actions. This person is a manifestation of the Universal Intelligence. It is what that person, because of a thing called ego, puts into their thoughts and into their body that creates illness. Our job is not to see if we can rid this person of a disease. Our job, as integrative, HOLISTIC practitioners, is to bring this great manifestation before us to a higher understanding of themself. By helping him or her to be self-sufficient, proactive and preventive, we empower them to take charge of their own destiny. In retrospect, we are truly facilitators of healing. As Thomas Edison once said, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” He said that in the past, so the NOW must be the “future” he was referring to.

Ripping Pages

I hope you have either enjoyed or hated, very much, my first few posts in this blog. I guess you could entitle what you have seen so far "My Struggle." (I will not translate that title into German, thank you.) While much of what this blog will be about in time to come is different, I wanted to share with you a bit of my history, including my state of mind. Afore October 3, 1998, I was not a very likeable person. It was easy to see my struggle. It was written on my face. What is written in words here is pretty much what came out of my mouth, moreso directed at myself in anger. But what happened on October 3, 1998 changed my life forever. A person who I mentioned in this blog before, in a brutally honest way, gave me a "second chance," so to speak. While I was boiling with inner rage over the fact that I just felt so uncomfortable in this world, Muktananda came along and burned all that away in a split second. The event was known as shaktipat. Shaktipat is the spiritual equivalent of a person who was blind since birth suddenly being able to see. I will not elaborate on the shaktipat experience here because I have written volumes, and continue to write about my experiences with this Spiritual Awakening, in an actual book I am writing.

Shaktipat does not change the human-ness of a person. It DOES change their awareness of who they are and why they are here. That alone makes a person much better at what they do and what they have to share with the world. For example, at that point in time, I was a chiropractic intern, taking care of patients in the clinic setting. Before shaktipat, I was poking around at people's spines, trying to find which bone I had to push on. After shaktipat, I just went right to the subluxation that needed correcting without even a second guess. Even the doctors who were supervising me were amazed at my insight. Things were suddenly THAT different! But like I said, I'm not going to go on and on about it here since such writings exist elsewhere. I will say that it has truly made a difference. That is why I KNOW, and it's not just a "feeling," that I have a lot to offer the world as far as being a healing practitioner goes.

Now, enter Minnesota -- the state that is the LEAST friendly toward practitioners of "alternative medicine". (Although, I must say that what I do has no semblance to "medicine" at all.) Suddenly everything has become a struggle. And, after 6-1/2 years of being here, it still is. Thus, I rely on my inner awakening, the awareness of the shaktipat gift, to keep that smile on my face and to keep going forward with what I am doing. Some people would say that since I met this Guru who gave me such a gift I should have the world on a string. Well, that's not the way a true Guru works, and it's certainly not the was shaktipat works either. Like I said, it doesn't change the fact that you are human and have struggles. If it did, it would be like God herself taking away her greatest gift to humankind -- free will.

Anyway, why did I entitle this entry "Ripping Pages"? It's because THAT is what the shaktipat experience did for me. It ripped away all the pages of self-hate and illusionary smallness that WOULD have existed to this day. It changed my life forever. This is why, as a healing practitioner, I also deal with that realm of existence -- the spirit realm itself. No, I don't call on "spirit guides" and angels when I have you on my table. That's pretty far-fetched, and I would avoid any "healer" who does that. I would also avoid self-proclaimed "healers" who do not have any formal training BECAUSE they turn healing into some blind three-ring-circus. I DO, because of my extensive training with THE unadulterated form of Reiki, with my eight years of chiropractic education, with my 26 years of healthcare experience, and with my extensive experiences with Saivite and Vedanta philosophies, have a lot to offer this world. Now it's time to fill up my clinic despite all odds.