Knowledge of chakras comes from ancient Vedic text in India. Whereas reiki originated in the late 19th century in Japan.
As reiki is a method to heal, balance and unblock chakras - it is a wonder how they are so connected when their respective knowledge pre-dates air travel or ease of exchanging international knowledge.
Understanding of the chakra system dates back thousands of years and was passed by word of mouth training of esteemed yogis. Its first evidence in written form dates back to1500 –1000 BC – a long time ago - in the Vedic scriptures.
Reiki was founded by Dr Mikao Usui. He was born in 1865 in Japan to a wealthy Buddhist family. Inspired by the question of how Jesus was able to perform healing miracles he set about to understand how that was possible.
As well as academic pursuit (he was very well read) he embarked upon a spiritual journey that included becoming a Buddhist monk, learning Sanskrit – (the language of Buddha), studying Vedic scriptures and undertaking a 21 day fast and meditation on the holy mountain of Kurama, north of the city of Kyoto. On his final day of meditation he was initiated into the knowledge of the chakra symbols, colours and sounds and absorbed the knowledge to heal through energy.
He spread the knowledge of reiki, A Japanese word, rei meaning ‘universal life’ and Ki meaning ‘energy’. A parallel to the sanskrit word prana meaning ‘Vital life energy’.
Despite the fact that Reiki has a deep connection with ancient Indian wisdom, it is not as popular in India as you would have thought. Traditionally reiki healing is administered by a reiki master to another, whereas in India the Vedic scriptures makes chakra healing a personal responsibility which advises use of the inherent powers of the mind, body and soul to cleanse, purify and balance your own chakras through the principles of Yoga.
Everything has its place in the world and reiki is a magnificent healing process to give you a push start until you are on self start and can heal your own chakras through conscious thought, meditation, yoga and holistic living as well as using tools of mother nature to energise, balance and dissolve blocks in the flow of the 'universal life energy,' reiki or prana 'vital life energy' within you.