My teacher, Frans Stiene, posted some really interesting articles about an experiment that a researcher did on brain waves, in fact on his brain waves! That information has slowly been seeping into my brain! And I think it’s an interesting way of understanding how reiki works.
So, different wavelengths of our brain operate at different speeds, and are associated with different activities.
Delta waves are generated in deepest meditation and dreamless sleep.
Theta waves are also in deep meditation, but more a dreamlike state, a gateway to learning and memory and where we hold our ‘stuff’.
Alpha waves are found in quietly flowing thoughts. They are the thoughts in the present, in the now.
Beta waves are the normal brainwaves of our waking consciousness: mental activity and decisions; they can range from low beta waves (musing) to beta (engagement) to high beta (excitement and anxiety).
Gamma waves, the fastest, high-frequency waves, are the simultaneous processing of information from different brain areas, and researchers have discovered them active in higher states of consciousness like altruism and love.
A good summary of this (and where the above descriptions come from) is in this 2015 article from Share Reiki.
So, how does this apply to reiki? Well, the human body has electrical and magnetic energies that flow through it and around living tissues, creating a magnetic field around the body. Researcher Bernadette Doran describes that it was found that magnetic or energy fields can create healing. In this article, she says that:
Pulsing magnetic fields from the hands of Reiki therapists are in the same frequency ranges that are optimal for stimulating tissue repair. Biologically optimal levels of electromagnetic frequencies for stimulating human tissue repair are all in what’s called the extremely low frequency (ELF) range. They have been documented as 2 cycles per second (Hz) for nerve regeneration, 7 Hz for bone growth, 10 Hz for ligament repair, and 15 Hz for capillary formation.
She presents another theory that says the brain waves of energy therapists are synchronised with the earth’s magnetic field, about 7.83 Hz, which is just at the top of the Theta range, above (dreaming) and a smidge below Alpha (being in the ‘present’): ‘Some scientists call it the “tuning fork” of the planet, claiming that it generates natural healing properties when living things are entrained to its rhythm.’ Another researcher, Pennington, clarifies that while healing energy travels from 0 to 30 Hz, it tends to be concentrated at 7.8 Hz, where ‘peak meditation and healing take place in the human body, mind and spirit.’
Both Doran and Pennington describe research that says that different techniques used by reiki practitioners, such as intention, compassion and visualising symbols, can amplify the magnetic fields.
This leads me to think of what I tell my clients, “Reiki brings you what you need at the time”. So, some clients might have a need of physical healing, and the healing frequencies of reiki get targeted where they’re needed, for example, as said above, at the nerves, bones, ligaments or capillaries. Other clients, to address anxiety and worry, may need to be brought into the present moment, where there are no anxieties and worries, and so their bodies may tune into Alpha waves. And still others may need to release some issues from the sub-conscious and past, and may need stimulation with Theta waves.
In next week’s blog, I’ll explore what happened when researcher Judith Pennington tested Frans’s brainwaves!
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