What is Reiki really?

I have been reading so many posts and emails lately that purport to argue what exactly is Reiki ..... there are so many differing "shiki" or methods .... which one's are really authentic?

Sometimes, Reiki is decribed as "enhanced" and sometimes it is described as exactly as taught by .........., sometimes it is "pure" and sometimes other modalities are added in ..... how do i know what is "right" or "correct?"

I have taken to explaining to groups of physicians - when i attempt to demonstrate Reiki that - there are many people more well trained than i am .... and that whatever method i use is simply a method that resonates for me .... it isn't the only method and i cannot even say it is the best method.

And sometimes in trying to understand what exactly i am doing, in adding Reiki as a complementary technique to care near the end of mortal life, where conventional medicine has failed to cure people, and i am still struggling to care for them, i am moved to realize that simply being present and being caring is important. And strangely we find that some techniques existed prior to Usui ..... and that while perhaps all Reiki comes from Usui not all that is useful exactly does ......

Recently i was in Alaska and visited a Heritage Museum ..... here are some native wisdoms that i found personally moving.

1 - Ten Universal Values - from the Alaska native knowledge network

Show Respect to others - each person has a special gift
Share what you have - giving makes you better
Know who you are - you are a reflection on your family
Accept what life brings - you cannot control many things
Have Patience - some things cannot be pushed
Live Carefully - what you do will come back to you
Take Care of Others - you cannot live without them
Honor your Elders - they show you the way in life
Pray for guidance - many things are not known
See Connections - all things are related

2. Michel Perrin wrote a book in 1976 about the Wayuu Indians and the Guajiro culture "Guajiro Myths and Symbols." He likely did not know of Usui or Takata. The Guajiro are one of the largest Indian ethnic groups in the lowlands of S America. He wrote, "reclining in their hammocks in the evening, a time that lends itself to the excavation of memories, men and women repeated the words of their ancestors. Day after day they became engrossed in painting a picture of the world they had created, the heritage they had received from their forebears, which to their sorrow, they dimly felt was in the process of disappearing. The originality of that world was immediately apparent in every one of those stories, which were the result of centuries of community life and shared thoughts."

3. At the Native Heritage Museum outside Anchorage, with Bear and Moose still wild in the land near the museum, there is a quote from Dolly Komakhuk, Inupiaq, White Mountain : "My grandmother was raised before there was any contact with the outside world. She taught me in the old traditional ways and those traditional ways are caring, sharing, and loving.... today it helps me to know who i am and where i stand."

When conventional science cannot help us, we have the right to seek human wisdom found not only in what we are taught exactly by a teacher, but in originality and stories that bring us to caring, sharing and loving. When we remember the Inupiaq, or the Guajiro, we enrich our own lives - which we are still living even with an incurable illness.

Takata told stories ..... whether they were precisely true or not, they remind us of ancient wisdoms that we can access. Do not worry and do not anger might also be said as pray for gudiance, many things are not known, see connections - all things are related. And for the Guajiro, the Pulowi of the seas and the Pulowi of the land still live. For the Inuit there is a magic mountain and they called it Denali, and for the Guajiro there is a magic mountain that still lives in spirit called Yaulama. Kurama seems to me not just a "physical place," but a magic mountain - when we keep the stories alive, it seems authentic to me.

Hopefully the stories that remind us of caring, and sharing and loving will not disappear - so that - when conventional methods fail us we can still be present and still heal when we cannot cure.....