Karuna Reiki^®

            It has been said that our understanding of any subject grows and evolves by gradually becoming ready to receive additional information.  “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”  Similarly, our knowledge of the healing power of Reiki continues to evolve as we master what we have been given and become ready to receive additional wisdom.  

            Karuna Reiki represents just such an example, and was defined and named in 1995 at the International Center for Reiki Training (ICRT) in Southfield, MI.  It evolved out of Usui and Tibetan Reiki from a desire and a knowingness that there is always something greater waiting to be uncovered, and that there is no limit to the good that can come to those who seek.

            But it was found that in order for one to gain the full benefit of Karuna Reiki, one must be ready.  This can happen only if one’s energy system has first been conditioned through the use and experience of the Reiki Master energies.  Once this conditioning has taken place, one’s energy system can more easily adjust to the higher potentials available.  In addition, the experience one gains as a Reiki Master allows them to make better use of the new healing tools that Karuna Reiki provides.  Because the energies are stronger and the potential for healing greater, Karuna Reiki is considered as the next step after Reiki Master, and is taught only to those who are already Reiki Masters, regardless of Reiki lineage.  In the same way that a student can not take Reiki II without first having taken Reiki I, Karuna Reiki is not taught to students unless they already have taken and practiced the Reiki Master level.  In this way, the student gains the greatest benefit from the training and also does not miss the benefit of the Usui Reiki Master level.

            Karuna Reiki brings in healing energies that are noticeably stronger and able to more quickly heal a wider range of difficulties.  Many experience the energy flowing not just through the body and arms, but all around their body as well, so that it completely surrounds the practitioner on its way to the client.  Karuna is a Sanskrit word that means “compassionate action,” and this is not an ordinary kind of compassion, but one that comes from an unbounded sea of unconditional love.  This is the kind of compassion that, when combined with wisdom, can take one to enlightenment.

            When taking the Karuna Reiki training, one becomes both a practitioner, able to use the energies for healing, as well as a Master who is able to teach others.  Karuna Reiki has two levels and eight symbols that are in addition to the four symbols of Usui Reiki.  Each of the eight symbols brings with it a different frequency and a different way of helping the healing process.  For example, there is a symbol to reduce pain, one to prepare for deep healing, one to heal deeply, one to work with karmic issues, one to ground, one to bring peace, and so on.  Having more specific healing symbols can be likened to a repair person.  At first, he may have only three or four tools to work with; but once he has mastered those through practice, he then can learn to work with a much larger number of tools, and is therefore able to repair a wider range of problems, and do it more efficiently.

            Karuna Reiki also opens you to work more closely with all enlightened beings.  This includes those enlightened ones who are physically present, as well as those in spirit.  Karuna is the motivating quality of all enlightened beings who are working to end suffering on Earth, and they continually send an unlimited amount of healing energy and guidance to us.  As you develop Karuna in yourself, not only are you helping others, but you also become more receptive to the Karuna that is being sent by all enlightened beings.  Thus your own healing is quickened.

            The Karuna Reiki Practitioner and Master workshops provide standardized instruction and attunements into the energies of the eight symbols, as well as instruction in how to activate and direct the healing energy.  I refer the reader to “The Book on Karuna Reiki^®” by Shanti Gaia for an excellent discussion of the Karuna Reiki system, its symbols, and the specific uses for which the Karuna healing energies can be directed.

This page last updated August 8, 2003