Did you know that Japan is one of the top countries where people live the longest?

The average national life expectancy of Japan is 85 years old according to the World Economic Forum and the Blue Zones Project. That’s almost a decade and a half more than the global life expectancy average of 71 years old. 

This is the country where the strongest forms of energy healing have originated and been practiced for thousands of years. It is amazing to see how old Japanese people who practice some form of energy healing are able to walk around without a cane like they are 20 years younger and live a happy life without pain or stress.

Today we are going to explore the differences between Reiki and Jin Shin Jyutsu, the two biggest forms of energy healing practiced in Japan to see which one is most beneficial for your life situation.

What Is Reiki?

Reiki is the most popular form of energy healing around the world which was rediscovered by a Buddhist called Mikao Usui in the late 1800s while he was searching for the answer on how Jesus healed people with his hands. This quest led him to meditate on a mountain with no food for 21 days and reach enlightenment by feeling the universal life force energy channeling through his body.

It works by having a Reiki practitioner channel the universal life force energy that surrounds all living beings through the laying of hands over a recipient. This will induce deep relaxation and unblock all energy pathways (chakras) to provide balance in the body which will stimulate the body’s ability to heal itself.

What Is Jin Shin Jyutsu?

Jin Shin Jyutsu is the art of the creator’s through the person of knowing and compassion. It was rediscovered by Master Jiro Murai who was born into a family that had a long lineage of medical professionals but decided not to follow the family tradition and began his search for the true meaning of life.

In 1912 he became terminally ill of an unknown disease that medical professionals could not figure out how to heal. He requested his family to carry him on a stretcher to their mountain cabin where he meditated, fasted, practiced various mudras, and placed his hands on his body making extreme temperatures of cold and heat move through his body until eventually, he healed himself. Afterward, he walked down the mountain and dedicated the rest of his life to the study and practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu. 

It works by harmonizing the body’s energetic system through light touch on specific places of the body and increasing life energy through breathwork. This will then allow proper circulation of fluids and energy inside the body and stimulate the body’s ability to heal itself.

The 7 Differences Between Reiki And Jin Shin Jyutsu

By using any of these two amazing energy healing modalities you will be able to heal your body, mind, and spirit as a whole in each session. But sometimes you require to heal something specific like childhood traumas, mental issues, or physical ailments.

Depending on your condition, which healing modality will suit you best? Can they both heal the same issues? And are you even able to practice both healing modalities?

Let’s dive into the 7 main differences that will answer these questions and provide a better understanding of how these energy healing techniques work!

1. The Type Of Energy Used

Reiki works with the universal life force energy (external) that surrounds all living beings. It’s known as the energy that connects the entire universe. When Reiki practitioners channel universal life force energy into a recipient, they are actually accessing the energy around them and use their body as a vessel to channel that energy into the recipient through their hands. 

Jin Shin Jyutsu works with a different kind of energy called life energy (internal) which is the personal energy of a person, otherwise known as Chi. When a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner or yourself applies light touch on specific points in your meridian system, it will allow your life energy to flow properly in your body. This life energy can be fortified with breathwork, as breathing brings energy into the body.

2. The Hand Placements

Reiki uses simple hand positions to channel the universal life force energy into a recipient effectively through touch or by hovering over the recipient’s body. These hand positions allow practitioners to channel the energy effectively towards the required area and unblock the chakras.

Jin Shin Jyutsu works in a different way with finger holds and mudras (finger poses) instead of actual hand placements. Each finger is connected to an organ and an emotion simultaneously, allowing you to heal each organ directly and control your emotions by using the finger holds. This is what makes Jin Shin Jyutsu amazing to improve your health as you can focus on strengthening your immune system and gut health with simple finger holds. 

3. The Energy Path

Reiki sessions are usually all the same with a Reiki practitioner channeling universal life force energy to unblock all your chakras and provide balance in your body. They always begin through your crown chakra and end in your root chakra in order to bring healing from the spiritual world into the physical world. In some cases experienced Reiki practitioners can also channel energy through the meridian system when they are healing a specific ailment. 

Jin Shin Jyutsu sessions can vary depending on your ailment and practitioners only use the meridian system to remove blocks and provide healing. Chakras are not used in Jin Shin Jyutsu and there is not a specific path to follow, making it a very direct form of healing.

4. The Difficulty Level

Reiki has 3 levels of training and each level requires an attunement that increases your personal vibration to a higher frequency and makes your connection stronger with the universal life force energy. You cannot practice Reiki without an attunement as even self-reiki requires a level 1 attunement which is the process where a Reiki master shows you how to access the universal life force energy.

Jin Shin Jyutsu on the other hand does not have an extensive training process or any attunement process, making it completely beginner-friendly and easy to practice. Unlike Reiki, you don’t really need a practitioner to provide healing because Jin Shin Jyutsu is mostly self-help. You can learn it and practice it in one day by yourself. 

5. The Session Duration & Availability

Reiki sessions usually last from 20 minutes to 90 minutes depending on how experienced the practitioner is. The great thing about Reiki is that it’s a very popular energy healing modality with tons of practitioners around the world offering their services, making the availability for a session extremely easy to find and book.

Jin Shin Jyutsu usually lasts for 1 hour with a practitioner or just a couple of minutes as self-help. Unfortunately, Jin Shin Jyutsu is not that popular around the world, making the availability of a session very hard to find as very few practitioners can be found offering their services near you. However, you don’t really need a practitioner because this energy healing modality is mostly self-help.

6. The Energy Keys Used

Energy keys are energy healing tools used by practitioners to access energy channels on different frequencies or different areas of the energetic body and allow them to focus that energy where it is needed.

Reiki is all about setting the intention on what you need the universal life force energy to heal or do. But in order to focus the energy on a certain part of the body or on a certain issue, Reiki practitioners use different sacred symbols that allow them to access a specific type of energy on a higher frequency and focus it where it’s needed. There are different symbols with different purposes such as protection, distance healing, emotional balance, enlightenment, etc

Jin Shin Jyutsu is quite effortless to practice and its energy keys are very simple to use, even as a complete beginner. It uses 26 safety energy locks that allow continuous energy flow around your body. Each safety energy lock can act as an energy fuse where energy can stagnate and cause disharmony. But you can release the tension and congestion when 2 energy sites are held simultaneously.

7. Distance Healing & Protection

As mentioned before Reiki works with the universal life force energy that can be accessed anytime you need it and anywhere you want it. This provides a huge advantage for being able to send distance healing and protection to someone else across the room or in an entirely different country on the other side of the world. 

Jin Shin Jyutsu cannot send distance healing because it only works with internal life energy and touch is required to remove blockages. However, you can feel secure by applying different safety energy locks and finger holds that will drastically reduce your fear or anxiety.

Conclusion

Both energy healing modalities work great for overall healing and stress reduction. If you want an easy and fast self-help method that makes a great impact on your physical and emotional health, then Jin Shin Jyutsu is perfect for you.

But if you want to raise your level of consciousness and take a more spiritual path to heal even the deepest of emotional traumas, then Reiki is the way to go. Either way, you will greatly benefit from both healing modalities as they will definitely improve your life and happiness.

Comment below if you found this article helpful and let us know which energy healing modality you are going to try!

Disclaimer: The information on this website is intended for educational purposes only, and is not a substitute for advice or treatment from your physician or health-care provider. You should consult your licensed physician for any medical treatment before trying alternative medicine.