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“People are giving the practice a name, facts and rules as if it’s something new,” says Dr. Shirley Al Jabi, a British pediatrician and Reiki Master living in Jordan.  “But it’s not new. Reiki is reawakening us to these ancient connections that have always been there. It’s not within religion and it’s not without religion.” Reiki, the use of the hands to channel ‘healing energy’, is becoming wildly popular in the Middle East. Known in the Muslim world as Ruqiyah, the healing Du’a, it is practiced along with recitation of the Qura’n. Many claim that the ancient practice has even been mentioned in the Quran:  “Place thy hand on the part of the body that aches and say three times Bismilah and then repeat [a prayer] seven times.” Seemingly abstract and more like ‘magic’, Reiki has its skeptics. But many also swear it to be real and effective.  In Western definition, Reiki is believed to have been developed in 1922 by Mikao Usui, a Japanese man who discovered it after twenty-one days of meditation, fasting and prayer. Reiki healers, or ‘Masters’ use the palms of their hands, believed to be open energy channels, to balance the flow of energy around the body. They believe that humans are naturally equipped with this healing power and that one can heal one’s self as well as others. But such a practice has in fact always been known and practiced. “People are giving the practice a name, facts and rules as if it’s something new,” says Dr. Shirley Al Jabi, a British pediatrician and Reiki Master living in Jordan.  “But it’s not new. Reiki is reawakening us to these ancient connections that have always been there. It’s not within religion and it’s not without religion.” “The fact that Reiki is found in Islam as Ruqiyah does not define Reiki as a concept within religion in general and within Islam in particular,” says Laila Al Alawneh, another Muslim Reiki Master from Jordan. “But since Islam is the seal of all religions… naturally Ruqiyah can be considered an Islamic practice.” Al Alawaneh says that when a person is in the mediation process, healing happens. “Any spiritual ascension is a healing process in itself,” she says. “Prayer in Islam is a deep meditation state. The person who practices it feels the transition from the conscious worldly state into all the levels of the self. During this trance, healing takes place. I consider Reiki or Ruqiyah to be prayer, Du’a, the calling of God.” Spas and health clubs have tapped into this phenomena and one can now walk into a high-end fitness spa and receive Reiki treatment, whether it’s for curing a specific condition or just for maintaining spiritual balance. There are also centers dedicated purely to Reiki and all of its forms and levels of practice. Reiki and Ruqiyah healers come from vastly different backgrounds but they all seem to speak one language. And this language, they believe, is the most human and natural form of exchange.  http://www.elanthemag.com/index.php/reiki_as_spiritual_practice/