Reiki, although typically silent, shares a surprising number of features with music. Reiki works energetically on the chakras, key areas of the body that each resonate with a different tone or vibrational frequency. A reiki practitioner might carefully choose music to accompany a reiki treatment and aid healing and relaxation. She might also use musical tones as a form of reiki to clear away stale energy and allow healing to take place.
Uses
The music a reiki practitioner plays during a session can make or break a client's ability to relax, notes the website Reiki Courses and Training. Mellow classical or new age music are good choices. A practitioner might recommend recorded music you can play at home after a session in order to maintain the effects of a reiki treatment. If the practitioner is musically inclined, she might use musical instruments to augment your session by playing them in and around your energy field.
Chakra Theory
A reiki practitioner works by projecting energy through her hands and into your chakras, seven major energy points that sit at the base of the spine, just below the navel, at the solar plexus, heart, throat, forehead, and crown, according to the website Chakra Energy. Because each chakra vibrates at a different frequency, it will respond more or less strongly to different tones. Music used to open the chakras won't necessarily sound melodious---a practitioner might use an instrument to play the same note repeatedly in order to energize the corresponding chakra.
Sound Therapy
The key to using sound as reiki is the idea of resonance. All sound is vibration, and will cause objects within its range to vibrate or resonate. Different parts of the body resonate to different tones, according to Burton Goldberg, publisher of "Alternative Medicine Magazine" and alternative health lecturer. In his book "Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide," Goldberg notes that lower tones resonate the lower parts of the body, while higher tones resonate the higher parts. Researchers have found that sound has a significant impact on brain function, corticosteroid levels, and emotions.
Expert Insight
Some reiki practitioners come to sound therapy after working with reiki energy and the chakras for a while. "Sound therapy and reiki can integrate seamlessly," notes Laurie Peel, sound therapist and reiki practitioner at the Wellwood Resource Centre for cancer patients in Hamilton, Ontario. Peel uses singing bowls, chimes, drums and rattles to clear energy blocks and revitalize a client's energy. "Now that I've been doing reiki for a while, and I understand how reiki energy heals, I can use my love of playing musical instruments to make treatments even more effective," she says.
Try This
To heal and relax yourself through sound, use your voice to activate your chakras---a practice called "toning." Toning regularly will open your chakras in a similar manner to traditional reiki. Sit in a chair with your feet on the floor and your spine straight. Take in a deep breath. As you exhale, vocalize the vowel "uh." Inhale fully, then tone "oo" as you breathe out. Follow this with "oh," "ah," "eye," "ay," as in "hay," and "ee." Each of these vowel sounds corresponds with a different chakra, from the root to the crown, notes The Energy Healing Site. For a more intense experience, tone each vowel sound seven times before moving on to the next one, for a total of 49 tones.
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