Is Cutting Energy Cords a Reiki Practice?

Is Cutting Energy Cords a Reiki Practice?

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In the latest round of Reiki Master class, a student emailed me to ask:

“I’ve seen reiki practioners offer services to cut/remove cords…I get what it is but sense we haven’t talked about it I am wondering if it is a reiki practice?”

Great question! My short answer is, “Technically, no”. The longer answer is more complex and involves a lengthy response from me.

You see, in the original form of Reiki that Usui Sensei taught, the concept of “cutting energy chords” didn’t exist. There was no sense of removing “bad” energy via Reiki. This is still understood to be true through some current Reiki styles like Jikiden. However, as you will read, that is not the end of the answer…

As Reiki moved West and took hold, in the 1980’s, it mingled with energy concepts coming from the new age movement. Stars like Seth, channeled via Jane Roberts in the 1970’s, opened up new understandings of how our energy fields co-mingle, attract and stick to each other. At the same time, Shamanic practices were becoming more popular in Western society. There is an understanding in Shamanism that the body contains many different energy bodies; physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and etheric. The many parts that make up an energy body concept is also understood through Ayurvedic practice.

Speed up 20 years… in the 2000’s energy awareness became mainstreamed in the West. Acupuncture, chiropractic, qi gong, ti chi, Reiki, etc. co-mingled. There are now many practitioners of what I call “energy medicine” that are trained professionally in many different therapies. This leads to several techniques from different systems being practiced together in one session. For example, I recently had a massage with a traditionally trained massage therapist who also treated me with craniosacral therapy.

Take this into perspective, along with the understanding that there are many new styles of Reiki being birthed into the world at this time, help to mix many different energy techniques in one session. For example, there is a style of Reiki called Karuna Reiki that was brought into the world by Western Usui master William Rand, and is generally learned after first learning Western Usui. This system, and many others, are valid forms of Reiki and yet, they included concepts of energy practice that Usui Sensei did not teach or practice himself.

So, when we see Reiki practitioners who offer the service of cutting energy chords as part of their Reiki practice, we have to ask them what style of Reiki they are practicing. Most likely they are practicing a Western style of Reiki that was birthed into the world recently and/or they are incorporating different energy techniques from other systems of healing into their practice.