The Japanese word Reiki (pronounced ray-key) derives from "Rei," universal energy, and "Ki," the vital life force that energizes each of us. Ki is similar to Chi, Qi, and Prana in other natural healing modalities.
When our life force energy is low, we are more susceptible to physical illness, as well as mental, emotional, and spiritual difficulties. Reiki can help to restore one's natural healthy balance.
In a Reiki session, the practitioner serves as an open channel to allow energy to intensify and flow through and around the client. There is often an immediate feeling of relaxation and rejuvenation. And Reiki continues to support the healing process well after a session is over.
Reiki is love manifest.
It reconnects our awareness of the divine.
And grounds us in Mother Earth.
Origins of Modern Reiki
Scholar and Buddhist monk, Dr. Mikao Usui (1865-1926), studied many spiritual practices and strove for years to deepen his own. In 1922, on the advice of his Zen teacher, he climbed Mount Kurama in Japan to fast and meditate alone for 21 days and nights, in the hope of receiving enlightenment. On the final night, physically weakened and despairing of ever finding a stronger connection to his life’s purpose, a powerful light from the sky struck him. According to the Usui Memorial in Tokyo, inscribed in 1927, Dr. Usui “felt a great Reiki over his head, and at the same time as he was spiritually awakened he acquired the Reiki cure. When he tried it on his own body and members of his family also, it brought an immediate result on them.”
At the time, at least four other Reiki healing styles existed in Japan, and the energy itself had been recognized for thousands of years. Today, however, because of various historical circumstances, almost all Reiki practices are traced back to Usui. He immediately set out to help others with his discovery, and soon opened an institute in Tokyo, where long lines of hopeful patients formed. The Great Kanto earthquake and fire of 1923 only increased the demand for the various types of relief Reiki could bring.
Dr. Usui initiated a training system and “attunement” of new practitioners, establishing a lineage that continues unbroken to this day. With Usui’s guidance, Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a medical doctor trained in the Navy, opened his own school and clinic, and is credited with greatly expanding and documenting Reiki healing and teaching systems. The third early key figure was Mrs. Hawayo Takata, a native Hawaiian, who visited Dr. Hayashi’s clinic for help with longstanding lung and abdominal ailments. Her health improved over the course of four months and she chose to learn Reiki herself.
After returning to Hawaii, Mrs. Takata established several clinics, and became a well-known healer and worldwide promoter of Reiki. Mrs. Takata taught 22 new Reiki Masters and because of her efforts, Reiki spread far past the confines of Japan to its widely established position of today.
Above photo: Mount Kurama, Japan, May 2015.