Reiki in Ireland

by Angela Gorman – Copyright 2005-2010

It was in New York city that my love affair with Reiki began. I continued to teach this amazing healing art on my return to my native Dublin 1996.

At that time there were very few Reiki teachers  in Ireland. Not many people had heard of Reiki and it was a challenge to bend peoples’ minds to a point where they would even entertain an explanation of the word.

I noticed a major shift in peoples perceptions to Reiki after RTE aired a TV programme on Reiki in 2000  . Reiki has since received much favourable coverage in many national magazines and newspapers.

When I got involved with Reiki in Ireland most of those teaching Reiki taught Traditional Usui Reiki. Today Tera Mai Reiki has become very popular and is often taught in conjunction with Seichem.

 Reiki is now a household name in Ireland. There are Reiki practitioners and Reiki masters nationwide. Reiki can be found  in hotels, health spas, hospitals, nursing homes, gyms and the corporate world.

With the growing popularity of Reiki in Ireland I saw the need for a national organization to represent the Reiki community. To ensure that Reiki would remain a credible healing art I was also anxious to ensure high standards of Reiki training and practice. A fellow Reiki Master/Teacher, Mary Tuohy had the same concerns. We decided to organize a national meeting for Reiki practitioners and Master/Teachers to discuss the need for such an organization. This meeting was held in Portlaoise in  Oct. 2002. Mary chaired this meeting .The support for a new Reiki organization was strong.  Reiki Federation Ireland(RFI) was born and a volunteer committee was formed .We worked for a year to create a constitution and framework for Reiki Federation Ireland. In November 2003 , Reiki Federation Ireland(RFI) was officially formed at the first AGM held in Mullingar and it has gone from strength to strength since.

The future of Reiki in Ireland lies is in the minds of the Reiki community. It is important that we are a strong and cohesive force in the face of regulations. RFI are represented on FICTA (Federation of Irish Complementary Therapy Associations) It is with FICTA that the government is communicating with regarding regulation. RFI  committee members current and past are to be commended for their work and effort in ensuring that Reiki stays in the hands of the Reiki community. If you would like to join RFI visit www.reikifederationieland.com for more information.