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About Reiki

Reiki has gained in popularity over the last 10 years, and is now practised worldwide.  It is a “hands-on” healing technique that also carries with it five principles for living just each day.

Just for today:

These five principles form a grounded philosophy for every day living, and form part of the healing system of Reiki.

The word Reiki is made up of “Rei” meaning universal in Japanese, and “Ki” meaning “life force”.  Therefore Reiki is thought to have it’s own wisdom, intelligence – the Universe contains its own mechanism for survival.  It is this ancient energy that Reiki practitioners believe they are connecting to when using Reiki.  An energy that has sustained a life force for billions of years, that enables plants, trees, and grass to grow.   Universal Energy – therefore Reiki energy is as simple as that.

Reiki began in 1862 in the city of Kyoto Japan, Dr. Mikao Usui was giving a sermon at the University of Kyoto, after this sermon he was questioned by two students, and found that he could not answer these questions, and so set out on a quest to find his own answers.

He left Japan for America and studied at the University of Chicago.  During his 7 years in America he took a doctorate degree in theology.  He went to visit the Monks in a Zen monastery, and studied various Sanskrit writings and teachings.

Finally he gathered his few belongings and made his pilgrimage from Tokyo to Kurama, he climbed the mountain and found a location facing east.  Every morning before the sun rose he would throw away one of the 21 stones he had gathered, to keep account of his days.  On the 21st day he awoke to a darkened morning, as he threw the stone a light appeared in the east, and began getting brighter and brighter coming close to him, he knew that the light had the healing power he had been searching for, and if he was to receive what the light had to offer, he must allow this to strike him.

The beam struck him in the forehead knocking him unconscious, and as he came round he was aware that his entire field of vision was a rainbow of colour, and out of the rainbow came bubbles of gold, white, blue and violet.  Each bubble contained holographic Sanskrit characters that he had uncovered on his journey.  It was in this way that he was initiated into the use of the Reiki healing power.

Dr. Usui then practised and taught Reiki around Japan for the remainder of his life.  Before his death around 1926 he gave master attunements to 16 teachers, one of whom was Dr. Chujiro Hayashi.

It was in 1938 that Dr. Hayashi then initiated Hawayo Takata into Reiki, who was then responsible for preserving Reiki and bringing it as we know it to be today in the West. There are many variations of this foundation story, and at the present time the Grand Master of the Usui system of healing is Phyllis Lei Furumoto.