Reiki teaches people to allow their heart to give them inner peace
Reiki teaches people to allow their heart to give them inner peace
Karen Stingemore, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Reiki is an ancient technique that channels universal energy for the purpose of healing and is becoming increasingly popular around the world as more people make the shift from traditional medicine to alternative therapies.
Grand master of a strand of Reiki, Reiki TUMMO, Irmansyah Effendi, has dedicated his life to its teaching, traveling to 33 different cities in Indonesia, other Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and the United States. He has healed many people and more importantly taught people how to heal themselves.
The most widely known tradition of Reiki is Reiki Usui and was rediscovered by Usui from Japan at the end of the eighteenth century.
Irmansyah, however, points out that there are some Reiki traditions from Tibet that date back well before the eighteenth century.
Effendi explained the art of Reiki as being very natural.
"The basic principle of Reiki channeling is placing your palms above a part of your body that is experiencing pain or has had previous problems and if the problem or pain is light it will be reduced or removed. In Reiki the participant will receive attunement," Irmansyah said.
"Attunement is a process where a Reiki master (instructor) uses Reiki energy to cleanse and open the person's energy gates (called chakra), including on both palms, so that more energy can be channeled each time," he said.
"The special energy gate on the top of your head called the crown chakra will also be opened.
"The crown chakra is a special energy gate because it is the only chakra that can receive and channel a higher quality energy from both palms."
There are more than 100 different traditions of Reiki in the world, with most originating from Reiki Usui and some from the Tibetan traditions of Reiki.
The form of Reiki that Irmansyah teaches is Reiki TUMMO.
"In Reiki Tummo people are learning about the heart and realizing there are abundant blessings from the creator for every being," Irmansyah said.
"If people can live more within the heart they will be able to embrace the blessings and let the blessings work through them.
"If people live more within their heart they will be calm, peaceful and joyful and many negative emotions can be removed automatically."
Irmansyah's spiritual journey began 10 years ago when he started to learn different types of energy channeling but at the end of 1997 he decided to forego other methods to focus entirely on Reiki.
"When I realized there were so many different benefits from Reiki compared to other channeling methods, I decided to focus purely on Reiki," he said.
"Some of the benefits of Reiki as compared to other methods are you don't need to focus when channeling energy.
"On the contrary if you are relaxed you will get better results."
Irmansyah grew up in Padang, West Sumatra, and left his hometown to attend university in the United States at California State University.
His early career completely contradicts his current one. He achieved a bachelor of science in computer science and mathematics but the calling to do something unique was too strong and following intense daily mediations he learnt Reiki Usui from an American master.
"I have learned various methods from different people but I learnt Reiki TUMMO from my spiritual guides," he said.
"I am now at level 3B (highest level), with most Reiki traditions having three levels with the levels being 3A and 3B.
"Level 3B is meant for giving attunement to others only."
The normal Reiki training process will guide students with individual and group exercises for a few hours for level 1. Further exercises will be taught for students of level 2 and they have to practice for at least 21 days before they proceed to level 3.
Students are then evaluated before they are allowed to reach level 3.
Irmansyah is the founder of a series of foundations, some of which include the Padmajaya Foundation (Indonesian based Reiki organization), the Padma Sejati Foundation (organization that emphasizes workshops on 'the heart'), Padmacahaya Foundation (International based Reiki organization), Lotus Licht (Germany), Reiki TUMMO Association of Singapore and Heart Awakening, in the United States.
He supports the notion that Reiki is gaining a worldwide appeal and believes this is due to the fact Reiki is so easy; you can learn one level of Reiki in a few hours (normally a one day workshop).
He lists the other reasons for its popularity as being Reiki practitioners are healthier and can help others including those with serious illnesses and TUMMO practitioners tend to feel more peaceful, calmer, happier and joyful.
He said those who liked to pray felt the improvement in their connection to the creator and enjoyed the time they were praying better.
"More people are turning toward alternative therapies because general medicine has side effects for the body while most alternative therapies don't," he said.
"Some of the larger hospitals in various countries are offering patients Reiki treatment in addition to their normal medical treatment."
He lists healing people as one of the highlights of his involvement with Reiki.
He elaborated on a particular healing experience.
"At the end of a Reiki TUMMO level 1 workshop, one of the participants told us that she had bad asthma and had to take medicine six times a day but throughout the day's workshop she didn't feel the need to take any medicine and she said she felt a lot better," he said.
"About five months later she joined the Reiki TUMMO level 2 workshop and testified that since her first workshop she had stopped taking medication to aid her breathing."
Irmansyah said people with ailments such as migraines could take three to five sessions to be healed whereas people with more serious illnesses normally require three sessions a day and the teachers suggest to them that they learn how to administer healing to themselves.
"I believe we should share good things with others, especially if we are able to help improve the health of others, so we currently run almost 40 social clinics throughout Indonesia," he said.
"By operating these social clinics we are not only helping others but also providing our alumni with an avenue to practice what they have learned.
"We have also started social clinics in different countries."
Irmansyah's workshops on Reiki are run in cities all over the world every weekend.
The workshops have 20 to 60 participants for Reiki TUMMO workshops but for intermediate level Reiki workshops there are normally 120 to 200 participants.
Irmansyah is also an author of 11 books about Reiki, written in both English and Indonesian.
Living between Jakarta and Perth, Australia, and traveling the world teaching Reiki would appear to be an exhausting feat but not for Irmansyah.
"The more you channel energy, the more energy you will have and the fresher your whole being will become," Irmansyah said.