Hi Steven,
Thank you for your input...
Shakti is indeed the primordial energy, the source of the universe but Shakti is 'Chaitanya' (Caitanya) a conscious, intelligent, living energy, the life force that underpins all sentience wherever it is – it is the sentience of life in all its manifestations. It lies involute (dormant) and evolute (active), whatever is seen, sentient or insentient is Shakti. Prana or chi are life forces but they are insentient and incapable of sentient activity in itself. Prana does indeed sustain life, it is the basic energy component of the five manifestations of the breath and prana is the life-energy in the food we eat.
Reiki and chi use prana, not shakti to effect changes in the practitioner. They are excellent tools to perform the necessary functions required in yoga but as a mere force prana is incapable of initiating an intelligent 'self-guidance' system. Prana needs to be manually initiated for a required outcome, learning from one who has learned how to manipulate his/her own prana is highly desirable.
Shakti, as in Shaktipat Diksha is wholly autonomous. Because it is a living force it only needs to be activated for its desired outcome to take effect. A person with his/her Shakti awakened may affect others by using his/her shakti to awaken the process in others. This of course is Diksha or initiation. Prana or chi cannot do this.
Any 'kundalini awakenings' that are begun by any means (ecstasy, devotion, drugs, even yoga practice) are merely temporary occurrences, they may of course develop into permnent experience with the right yoga training but as long as one is reliant on prana and not Shakti they are to be manually induced until the yogi can stabilize his prana on a permanent basis. The assistance the Shaktipat Initiate receives is not in any way dependent on his/her efforts but only on the proviso that such an initiate makes him/her-self available for the requisite manifestations to occur.
All the best
k