Reiki: The Benefits of Dry Brushing Skin

Here I would like to introduce to you the benefits of dry brushing skin.  This is a Reiki method of dry bathing (“kenyoku ho”) or brushing off.

This method was first developed in Japan, and is based on a Shinto misogi (purification) technique.

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Shinto is the native tradition of Japan, and it predates the introduction of Buddhism to Japan in the mid-6^th Century by several thousand years. Gradually both elements from Buddhism and Shinto have come to be a part of the spiritual practice in Japan.

This would have also been so for Reiki Master Usui, as well as all of his Japanese students and those who traveled with them for rei-ki treatments.

The benefits of dry brushing skin has a definitive purpose. Its main end goal is to stimulate and activate the meridian channels in the torso and in the arms.

Its sub goal is to brush off and clear or “cleanse the excess energy” in the meridian channels of the torso and the arms.

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The 13 Steps for Benefits of Dry Brushing Skin

Here are the sequential 13 Steps of Dry Brushing Skin as executed by a Reiki Master:

• With your right hand, go to your left shoulder. Then gradually breathe in.
• On the out breath, gently brush cross wise over your entire torso to you left hip (passing over the left shoulder, the heart, the stomach, and the liver).
• Now with your left hand, go to your right shoulder. Once again, breathe in.  
• On the out breath, gently brush cross wise over your entire torso to you left hip (passing over the left shoulder, the heart, the stomach, and the liver).
• Once again with your right hand, go to your left shoulder and gently brush crosswise over your torso to your right hip.
• Now bend your left arm, leaving it gently in place against you torso.
• With your right hand, starting at your left shoulder, begin to breathe in.
• Now on the out breath, gently brush downward of the inside of your left arm all the way down to your fingertips (your arm and hand meridians).
• Now bend your right arm, leaving it gently in place against your torso.
• With your left hand, starting at your right shoulder, begin to breathe in.
• Now on the out breath, gently brush downward of the inside of your left arm all the way down to your fingertip (your arm and hand meridians).
• Once more with your right hand, starting at the left shoulder, begin to breathe in.
• Now on the out breath, gently brush downward of the inside of your left arm all the way down to your fingertips (your arm and hand meridians).

Purifying Breath (also known as “Joshin Kokyu Ho”)

The purpose of this exercise is to purify the body, the spirit, and the mind.

Purifying Breath or in Japanese “Joshin Kokyu Ho” is a breathing exercise that helps you to center and focus. It is also a form of meditation.

It has the beneficial effect of evening or smoothing your busy thoughts and feelings with spiritual energy to create a balance of mind, emotions, and pure spirit. This new balance then makes possible the expansion into a unified field of energy or self, or what many will call “oneness.”  

It can also be done with the application of hands on healing to increase and strengthen the flow of rei-ki through the individual person.

Japanese Kanji Characters

Japanese kanji (characters) were adopted from the Chinese system of written language with the result that a character would often have the same meaning in both the Chinese and Japanese characters.

Joshin = spirit, pure mind

Kokyu = breath, respiration

Ho = method

However, the pronunciation is different, so someone who is Japanese and someone who is Chinese could communicate with each other in writing, but would not be able to understand each other when they speak!

The character for “spirit” therefore means the same in both Japanese and Chinese. “Spirit” refers to the subtle energy beyond the physical world that would include a person’s intellectual quality, emotional nature, and that something more that we would call “spirit.”

In the English language, we would need to use at least 3 words – mental, emotional, and spiritual – to approximate the same thing that in Japanese and Chinese is one.

Master Usui’s Reiki Teachings

Here is an excerpt from Master Usui’s teachings. He placed great emphasis on the practitioner developing themselves through meditation and purification exercises as well as reiki hands-on treatment

“Spirit” is the domain of human life that defies the limitations of time and space. It is the human capacity for relationships that are not restricted by physical or temporal contact.

But “Spirit” has no necessary link with a particular religion or even religiosity. Spirit allows for such a simple but life-affirming activities such as consuming personal hobbies, honoring cultural or national traditions, the expansiveness of leisure travel, or feeling “connected” when puttering around the house.

Spirit is felt whenever human consciousness forges compelling bonds and special relationships. It is invoked by imagination, will, intention, awe, enchantment, and wonder.

“Spirit” depends on more than mind-consciousness. It is self-awareness that fosters the human experience of authenticity and personal meaning. Spirit allows self-reflection, art, morality, purpose, and values. It depends on self-relationship.

Spirit is not some “spiritual” goodness in people; it can produce both virtue and its absence, and beauty and its opposite. Spirit is the process of self-examination, not its outcome.

Spirit is the capacity that allows self-refection on volitional intentions, creativity, meaning, and moral cultivation.

It is the capacity of the human being to be an “initiator”, a participant, and a guardian of the universe. It is also what allows for humans to insert or interject their authentic self into their mundane lives and to be all participants in shaping their ultimate fate.”

Conclusion: The Benefits of Dry Brushing Skin

There are wonderful benefits of dry brushing skin (or “dry bath”) that are designed to stimulate and activate the meridian channels especially in the upper torso and the arms.

The main objective is to brush off and “cleanse” your excess energy through the meridian channels of the torso and the arms.

Couple the dry brushing skin technique with proper breathing through the purification technique of Shinto Misogi, and this will lead to greater energy, tranquility of being, and clarity of the mind.

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