The action to put your hands on yours or other people's or animal's
body to heal is in our nature. When we feel pain the first thing we
do is to bring our hands where we have pain. When we have fever we
put our hands on our forehead to reduce suffer. The touch brings
heat, serenity and healing. Animals do almost the same when they leak
a wounded part of their body. In the animal world a mother leaks her
kids when they are sick and human beings touch their babies with
their hands.
The human or animal body irradiates heat and energy, which is vital
force. This concept is well known and mentioned in all the human
cultures, and this energy has different names according to each of
these cultures. For example in India it is called Prana and because
of this name we today talk about prana healing. Chinese call it Chi
and for this reason today we know about Chi Kung, an ancient healing
discipline.
In Reiki the healers have to open the energetic channels and to
remove the blocks through harmonisations. The healers receive the
energy to heal them and connect to the source of the universal
energy, also called universal Ki. Reiki is not a religion; neither is
connected to a religion. It is the source of life. It is an entity
and as a concept is even older than religious philosophy. Every
living thing has Ki inside. Who or what receives a harmonisation or
attenuement is in direct contact with its illuminated source. There
is more than one level of this. With the first level the living
entity becomes a channel that drives the energy. When the first one
is received, in the future the entity has to put its hands on its or
other entities body to connect to the universal Ki. The energy will
flow automatically....

More About Reiki: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/reikijenf