Please welcome our new sponsors

Our sponsors make it possible for us to keep The Reiki Digest available free online. Thanks for supporting us by supporting them! This week we welcome:

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The emWave meditation, prayer, and self-help assistant:

Tea Forté Gourmet Teas:



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PiYo Fitness:



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And -- this just in -- iTunes! If you get your music from iTunes, do us a favor next time you're shopping. Click on our iTunes link, and it will automically open iTunes on your computer. We'll get a few pennies on your purchase, and it won't cost you a penny more.



We'll also be featuring one artist each week in the category of Music We Love to Practice Reiki By. This week's artist is pipa player Shao Rong. Click here to find out more:

Coming soon: The Reiki Digest iMix!

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Music we love to write waka by: The koto

The koto -- 13-stringed Japanese lute -- dates back more than 1,300 years, and its sound was a popular accompaniment to waka-writing parties and other social gatherings of the Heian court. In the world's first novel, the title character falls in love with an unseen woman after hearing her play the koto. An instrument so important to Japanese history seems the perfect accompaniment to our 21st-century Waka Fest.

Though it had survived for hundreds of years, however, the art of the koto was almost lost when Japan was opened to the world about the time Reiki founder Mikao Usui was born in 1865. As Western culture flooded into the once-isolated Japanese society, traditional Japanese arts, including the koto, fell out of fashion. It was saved largely thanks to one man, Michio Miyagi, a composer who was the first to combine western music with traditional koto music. Miyagi was one of Japan's first recording artists and he performed on the nation's first radio broadcast (coincidentally, Usui's former employer Shimpei Goto was also heard on that same 1925 broadcast).

While we couldn't find any recordings of Miyagi himself on iTunes, we did find a lot of his music performed by others, including the Yamato Ensemble. Click on the button to listen and find out more.

Thanks as always to iTunes for being one of our sponsors. Remember, every iTunes purchase you make via our links helps support The Reiki Digest.

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Kitaro

This week's featured artist is Japanese healing music pioneer Kitaro. Click on the button to find out more. Thanks to iTunes for being a sponsor of The Reiki Digest! Remember, every purchase you make at iTunes by clicking on our links helps support this publication. (And you can listen to samples for free.)

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Parijat

This week's featured music is Reiki Healing Waves by Parijat. Click on the button to find out more. Thanks to iTunes for being a sponsor of The Reiki Digest! Remember, every purchase you make at iTunes by clicking on our links helps support this publication. (And you can listen to samples for free.)

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Deuter

This week's featured artist is Deuter, who's been making Reiki music for more than a decade and recording meditation music for much longer than that. Click on the button to find out more. Thanks to iTunes for being a sponsor of The Reiki Digest! Remember, every purchase you make at iTunes by clicking on our links helps support this publication. (And you can listen to samples for free.)

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Jia Peng-Fang

This week's featured artist is erhu player Jia Peng-Fang. The erhu, or Chinese two-string violin, dates back more than a thousand years, although it didn't become a solo instrument until the 20th century. If you travel the New York City subway system, you may frequently hear the erhu being played by buskers in between trains. The plaintive yet hopeful sound of the erhu can work well for a client with a lot of sadness to be released, so keep the tissues handy and leave a little extra time at the end of the session in case your client wants to talk.

Click on the button to listen for free, and remember that every purchase you make at iTunes via our links helps support The Reiki Digest. Thanks, iTunes!

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Anuvida & Nik Tyndall

This week's featured artists are Anuvida & Nik Tyndall. Click on the button to find out more. Thanks to iTunes for being a sponsor of The Reiki Digest! Remember, every purchase you make at iTunes by clicking on our links helps support this publication. (And you can listen to samples for free.)

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Shakuhachi flute

Is there any more appropriate music for Reiki -- and waka writing -- than the shakuhachi flute?

The plaintive sound of the shakuhachi originated in Japan hundreds of years ago, and can now be heard all over the world. Here are two of the best-known and most respected masters of this distinctive instrument:

Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin -- click on the button to listen.

Riley Lee -- click on the button to listen.

All purchases you make at iTunes via our links help support The Reiki Digest. Many thanks to iTunes for being one of our sponsors.

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Reiki Healing Music Ensemble

We can't tell you much about the Reiki Healing Music Ensemble except that their album, Reiki Music, has just been released on iTunes. With tracks such as "Palm Healing," "Do Not Worry," "The Flow" and "In Your Hands," it's clear that whoever they are, they're definitely familiar with Reiki. Click on the button to listen and find out more.

Thanks as always to our sponsor, iTunes, for helping us keep the music, and the enegy, flowing.

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Sambodhi Prem

Our first featured artist this year is Sambodhi Prem, whose relaxation music includes three albums with the word "Reiki" in the titles: Reiki Ocean, Reiki Forest, and Reiki Mountains. Click on the button to find out more. Many thanks to iTunes for being one of our sponsors. When you buy music at iTunes via out links, we receive a small portion of each purchase to help cover some of our costs.

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Missa Johnouichi

This week's featured artist is Missa Johnouichi. Click on the button to find out more. Thanks to iTunes for being a sponsor of The Reiki Digest! Remember, every purchase you make at iTunes by clicking on our links helps support this publication. (And you can listen to samples for free.)

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Tingstad & Rumbel

He plays fingerstyle acoustic guitar, she plays the flute*, and they're celebrating their 25th year as a musical combo this year. We love listening to the music of Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel while working with a client, practicing Reiki self-care, or doing most anything else, for that matter. Click on the button to listen for yourself. And many thanks to iTunes -- a share of each purchase you make via our links goes to help cover some of the cost of bringing you this publication.

*Correction: Nancy Rumbel plays the ocarina, oboe and English horn, not the flute. Thanks, Nancy, for enlightening us, and apologies for the error! (see comment)

Music we love to practice Reiki by: "Compassion"

With each note this lovely piano composition takes the listener deeper into a quiet inner space. Composed and performed by Peter Kater, "Compassion" begins with the melodious reverberation of a gong. Ancient gongs and bowls, saxophone, cellos, voice, and flutes punctuate the lush musical pathways of Kater's piano. Intended specifically to accompany healing work, the music evokes the heart of true compassion, for oneself and others. I especially like that the album is one continuous piece, 75 minutes in length.

Kater became one of a handful of instrumental artists spearheading a new music genre, now known as New Age, with the release of his 1983 album, “Spirit.” He has scored more than 100 television and film productions and eleven Broadway productions. Nominated six times in the last seven years for Grammy awards, among Kater’s numerous awards are the 1992 Indie award for “Best New Age Album” for “Migration” with Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai, and the Environmental Leadership Award given by the United Nations for his commitment to the well-being of the environment. To learn more and purchase this music, visit Kater's web site or click below to find "Compassion" on iTunes and Amazon:

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Al Conti

Born to a family of artists in Argentina, award-winning composer and musician Al Conti traveled the world and also worked as an actor before settling in Vermont, where he records in his home studio. His latest CD is Northern Seas, in which he has woven the sounds of ancient and modern instruments together to create mythical landscapes based on ancient Norse mythology -- now that's world music! It's also ideal for Reiki treatment sessions, meditations, or just relaxing.

For the first time, we're offering three different options for listening and purchasing this week's featured music: you can buy individual tracks or the whole album on iTunes OR Amazon.com, or if you're in the United States, you can go to Pandora.com and choose Al Conti's music as one of you stations. Pandora is free, but it does have the occasional ad, which would be a jarring interruption to a Reiki session. It does, however, give you a chance to check out this and other music we love to practice Reiki by...







Is there an artist, song, or CD that you recommend as the perfect accompaniment to a Reiki session? Let us know by adding a comment to this post or emailing editor @ thereikidigest.com

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Brian Eno

Brian Eno is "best known as one of the principle innovators of ambient music," says the Wikipedia, but he's also famous for the music he made with such artists as Roxy Music, David Byrne, Robert Fripp, U2, Laurie Anderson and Coldplay. While it's all great music, it's not all appropriate for use during Reiki sessions, so listen and choose carefully.

His "Ambient 1/Music for Airports" is a classic, and very nice for Reiki. Click here for a list of his other ambient music, and click on the button to listen and find out more.

Many thanks to iTunes for being one of our sponsors -- a small percentage of each purchase you make via our links goes to help cover our costs.

Music we love to practice Reiki by: A review of Reiki Gold by Llewellyn

By Beth Lowell, Managing Editor

Reiki Gold by prolific recording artist Llewellyn is an uplifting collection clearly influenced by nature that includes twelve tracks perfect for listening to while practicing Reiki or meditating. (In fact, I’m listening to it yet again while writing this review!)

Llewellyn, a Reiki practitioner himself, whose mainstream work with singing partner, Juliana, has been compared to that of Enya, worked with Reiki Masters to compose this album, which is both relaxing and healing for all who experience it. There is a consistency among tracks, yet subtle differences give each its own distinctive healing quality.

The first track, White Light, immediately puts the listener at ease, and is followed by four tracks whose titles combine colors associated with the chakra system and elements of Reiki practice, for instance, Green Gassho and Violet Contemplation. There’s a selection for each of the precepts as well, and the album concludes with Healing Waterfall and a reprise of White Light to signal the end of the peaceful journey.

This was my first exposure to Llewellyn’s work but after listening, it’s no wonder that his original Reiki album achieved Silver status in the UK and has remained a best selling healing album ever since. Listening time is one hour.

You can order Reiki Gold directly from The Reiki Digest here:

Or click here to purchase individual tracks or the whole album on iTunes.

Music we love to practice Reiki by. . .

This week's featured artist is Jiang Xiao-Qing All purchases you make at iTunes via links on this site help support The Reiki Digest.

Coming soon: The Reiki Digest iMix!

Music we love to practice Reiki by: “In a Distant Place”

I first heard R. Carlos Nakai playing with Tibetan flutist Nawang Kechog in Tucson, Arizona. I was attending teachings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. One of the sessions included an offering of dance and music for His Holiness.


It was a warm evening and we sat outside under a full moon. Nakai and Kechog played this ethereal, haunting music incorporating Tibetan bells, horn and chant and backlit by rock outcroppings soaked in moonlight. Unforgettable. Pure enchantment.


“In a Distant Place” from R. Carlos Nakai and Nawang Kechog captures some of that magic with flute, drum, horn and Tibetan chant.


Editor’s note: If you look for this album on iTunes, search for “In a Distance Place.” They misspelled the title. Or you can just click on the button to listen and find out more.

Also available on Amazon:

Music we love to practice Reiki by: Ben Tavera King and the Native Flute Ensemble

Native American flute meets 12-string guitar in Visions and Healing, a collection of music often used in healing rituals and ceremonies from Ben Tavera King and the Native Flute Ensemble. Click the button to listen and find out more. Many thanks to iTunes for being one of our sponsors!