Ki — the connecting force

In martial arts it is called ki, and in Reiki you find ki too. It's the same character, 氣, but that doesn't make it the same energy. Japanese has a huge number of words built with ki, and what kind of ki is meant depends on what the character is combined with. I started karate at the age of 13 in Bremen, long before I came to Reiki, and later I practiced Ninjutsu with Grandmaster Taguchi in Osaka. For me martial arts have always been a way to peace, and Reiki and martial arts belong closely together.

In Japan, martial arts and spiritual practice were never really separate. Warriors meditated, and monks practiced with weapons. Both worked with ki, and both knew that this force flows most freely when the mind becomes still.

The character 氣 氣

The old character for ki, 氣, is a small picture. The outer part stands for energy in general, for example rising steam. Inside sits the character for rice 米. A grain of rice isn't alive by itself, but it carries the seed of life, so energy and rice together mean life energy.

In modern Japanese the character has been simplified to 気, and the rice inside was replaced by a simple mark with no meaning of its own. That is why I deliberately use the old form, because only it still shows the original meaning.

One thing matters to me here. The picture of steam rising over rice explains the old character, and that's all it explains. It doesn't mean that every ki is the same energy. Without the rice, as 气, the character stands for an energy that isn't defined yet, and there are variants with other elements, such as raindrops, that mean something else again.

Ki runs through the whole Japanese language, and Japan even has a dictionary devoted just to ki words. Genki 元氣 is vitality and good health, tenki 天氣, the "ki of heaven", is the weather, yūki 勇氣 is courage, byōki 病氣, "sick ki", is illness. Written 冷気, reiki means cold, like the cold inside a refrigerator, and uwaki 浮気 is a rising force like being in love or feeling a strong attraction. The character is the same every time, but the quality of the ki isn't. In Reiki 靈氣 it's the rei 靈 that defines the kind: spiritual life energy, which is a different energy from the ki in a karate kiai or in a sword cut.

Kiai, when ki meets in the voice 氣合

If you have ever watched a kendō match, you know the shout: loud, piercing and coming from deep in the belly. That is kiai 氣合, literally "the meeting of ki". It isn't a shout of aggression. In the moment of the kiai there is no doubt and no hesitation, and voice, breath, intention and body come together in a single point.

The voice carries power, and the Shingon monks who work with mantras know this as well as the old martial arts masters. When a swordsman releases his kiai, he puts all his life force into one sound. In a mantra the voice carries power too, but a different one: the power of the Buddha or being of light the mantra calls on. Put simply, breath shapes the sound and the sound carries the intention, while what it moves depends on the practice. If you have ever heard Shingon monks reciting a mantra together with full power, you probably know the feeling that the whole room changes.

Mushin, the empty mind 無心

Perhaps the deepest parallel between martial arts and Reiki is a state the Japanese call mushin 無心. Mu means "without" or "nothing", and shin means heart or mind. So mushin is the mind without attachment, a state in which the inner commentary falls silent and only open perception remains.

In swordsmanship there is no time for analysis in the moment of a fight. That is why martial artists practice the same movements for years, until they no longer have to think about them. Only then can the movement happen by itself, and ki flows through it instead of being slowed down by thinking.

In Reiki it is very similar. If you keep asking yourself during a session whether you're doing it right or whether you feel enough, you get in your own way. When you stop trying so hard and simply let your hands rest with a calm mind, the session usually becomes much deeper. Mushin doesn't mean an empty head, but an awake mind that is free of self-interest.

Zanshin, the awareness that remains 残心

Zanshin 残心 literally means "the remaining mind". It describes the awareness that doesn't end when the action ends. In kyūdō, Japanese archery, you can see this very clearly. The arrow has left the bow, but the archer doesn't move. The arms stay open, the gaze clear and the breath deep, as if the shot weren't over yet.

For Reiki this means that a session doesn't simply end when you take your hands away. How you spend the last minutes, how slowly you release your hands and how long you stay present, has a lot to do with how the experience continues to resonate afterwards.

The cut and the laying on of hands 氣

A swordsman doesn't cut with his arm alone. The movement starts from the ground, rises through the legs, the hips and the trunk and flows through the arms into the blade. When a master does it, it looks effortless. That isn't because it is weak, but because there is no unnecessary tension in the body.

In Reiki the attitude is quite similar, only without a sword. The less you get in the way with willpower, the more freely Reiki flows through your hands. The energy, though, is a different one. Through the initiation you take in spiritual life energy through the crown of your head, it is channeled through you and comes out of your hands.

Reiki came about in a culture in which martial arts and spiritual practice were closely connected. According to his memorial stone, Mikao Usui's family descended from the samurai Chiba Tsunetane. You can read more about this in the article on Usui as a samurai.

What this means for your practice

When you practice Reiki, you work with the spiritual life energy that the rei 靈 in its name describes. What connects you with Japanese martial artists is less the energy than the attitude. For me this means that Reiki is not only a relaxation method, but a practice that calls for alertness and regularity. You can try mushin when you lay your hands on, zanshin when you take them away, and remember the kiai when you use your voice in a mantra. Have you ever felt ki in a martial art or in sports?