Spinal Reiki

Spinal Reiki means Reiki that focuses on the spine, from the neck down to the tailbone. In many spiritual traditions the spine is seen as the central axis of the body, in India as the channel suṣumnā, and in Japan as the center of posture and movement. In Shingon Reiki, spinal Reiki is part of the live event Muscles & Joints, which also includes the initiation into Senju Kannon. In this article I'd like to explain the background.

If you lay your hands attentively on someone's back, you often notice that it feels different from place to place. Some areas are warm, others cool, in some places the energy seems to be stuck, and in others it flows right away. In Reiki this perception through the hands is called byōsen.

The spine as an axis 脊柱

In the Indian tradition the central energy channel along the spine is called suṣumnā nāḍī. It runs from the pelvic floor up to the crown of the head. At its lower end rests the kuṇḍalinī, often described as a sleeping serpent, which rises through the suṣumnā and passes through the energy centers known as chakras.

In Shingon the emphasis is a little different. Kūkai, the founder of Japanese Shingon, stressed that awakening is possible in this very body (jap.: sokushin jōbutsu 即身成仏). Put simply, the power of the Great Sun Buddha Dainichi Nyorai 大日如来 is not something that has to rise from below, but something that is present in the whole body. And in the shamanic and Daoist roots that flowed into the Japanese traditions, you find the image of the human being as a link between heaven and earth, with the spine as the vertical axis between the two.

The five elements in the body 梵字

Shingon Buddhism speaks of five great elements (jap.: godai 五大): earth, water, fire, wind and space. Each of them has its own Siddham seed syllable, shape and color. You can see how these elements stack up in the five-ring pagodas (jap.: gorintō 五輪塔) at Japanese graves. At the bottom is a cube for earth, above it a sphere for water, then a triangle for fire, a half-sphere for wind and at the very top a kind of jewel for space. In other words, it is the human body in the form of a pagoda, and the spine is its central axis.

In Shingon meditation the five seed syllables are visualized in the body, so that the practitioner becomes a small mandala. How this works in practice belongs in the live events, though, and not in a blog article.

The back and the emotions 許し

Many practitioners describe something that is hard to grasp with anatomy alone. When they work on the back, sometimes not only tension comes up, but also memories or tears. Some people feel that they carry old resentment, sorrow or shame "on their back", a bit like the English expression that someone has a lot on their shoulders.

For me, forgiveness has a lot to do with this. I don't mean it as a moral duty, but as a process in which you let go of something you have been carrying around for a long time. That can't be forced. In Shingon Reiki there is room for such processes, and the hands can accompany them.

In Shingon there is also the term kaji 加持, "adding and holding". Kūkai explains it with the image of the Buddha's sun reflected in the water of the human heart. The power comes, and the person who receives it takes it in and holds it. I find this a very helpful image for any kind of laying on of hands.

Buddhist massage 仏身

In the Buddhist traditions of Asia, touch has long been part of spiritual practice. Thai massage, for example, belongs to the field of Buddhist massage, which is also part of Shingon Reiki. Attentive bodywork is combined with an inner attitude that goes beyond the physical. You can read more about this in the article on Buddhist massage.

In Qigong there is also a practice called the "inner smile", in which you turn friendly attention to your inner organs one after the other. Many people find that this relaxes the whole body, including the back.

Where do you feel tension in your back first when you've had a stressful day?