A Circle of Healing

Today I decided to take part in a healing circle - where people gather together and send out loving, healing thoughts and energies to those who need them. Several individuals (including me) are certified Reiki practitioners (more about Reiki in a moment) and it was nice to be able to be in a comfortable, serene setting with people of like mind who share a similar, positive goal: to offer a non-invasive healing touch therapy to help reduce stress and promote self-healing and a sense of well-being.

Here is some information on what is known about the history of Reiki and the man who is credited with discovering it.

www.petersreikipages.co.cc/history.html

This site is written by Peter Bailey, a Reiki practitioner - among other things - who lives in Great Britain. I have corrected a few typos and grammatical errors. This information matches nearly all of the texts I have read (to date) about Dr. Mikao Usui and the history of Reiki.

Reiki History Lesson

During the late 1800s in Japan, a Buddhist academic named Mikao Usui began a quest to rediscover the secret of the “Buddha’s Healing Touch.”

The writings of Buddhism said that it was possible to use techniques that would cause the Healing of Mind and Body, and Mastery of these techniques was essential to the Path Of Enlightenment.

To aid his quest Dr. Usui learned to speak Chinese and the ancient language of Sanskrit (a language of symbols). He knew that most of the ancient Suntras or teachings would be in those languages.

After years of searching and traveling, he managed to find the Suntras that described the healing techniques used by the Buddha, but as his research continued it became apparent that these ‘methods’, were exactly that, a mechanism for manipulating the Healing Energy, what was actually missing was the Energy itself!

After long discussion and deliberations with respected Buddhist scholars, he decided to take some time to meditate on the matter in the hope that he may be enlightened as to what to do. Usui retired to Mount Kuri Yama, near Kyoto in Japan and began a three-week meditation and fasting period, similar to the Native American Indians' ‘Vision Quest’.

Gathering 21 stones to act as his calendar, Usui set about to meditate, each day discarding a stone just before dawn. As he came to the end of the period he saw a strange light coming towards him. Usui records that he felt a combination of fear yet certain in the knowledge that this was what he had been waiting for. He stood on the deserted mountainside and let the light engulf his forehead (the region where the 3^rd eye is located). Over the next few minutes he ‘saw’ many strange Sanskrit symbols, with each vision remaining with him just long enough for him to remember them exactly.

When the experience had ended, he descended the mountain. He reports that in his haste to descend he stubbed his toe, causing it to bleed. Instinctively he covered the injury with his hands and within a few minutes, the toe was completely healed. At this, Usui was certain his quest was over.

Dr. Usui decided that the best use for his new-found healing ability was with those most in need, so he spent the next seven years working on the poorest people of Kyoto, in the hope of giving them a new lease of life by healing them. One story says that he spotted someone whom he had healed several years before in the beggars' quarters and asked him why he was still in this place. The beggar replied that he had indeed gone out and got himself a job, but it was too much responsibility and hard work, so he had returned to the beggars' quarters to live an easier life.

It was around this time that Usui realized that simply healing the physical aspect of a person’s life, was not enough! He realized that in order for them to respect their new-found health they had to be healed on a mental, emotional and spiritual level, too. From this understanding he defined the five principles of Reiki.

After much deliberation Dr. Usui came to realize that there was a need to look for people who would honor his teachings with their heart and soul, but also to have a desire for change. He met a remarkable man in Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer and an aristocrat. Dr. Hayashi was keen to assist in healing, having been a first-hand witness of the tragedy of wars.

He was initiated into Reiki and opened and set up the first real Reiki Clinic in Tokyo. He also structured the healing system, recommending certain hand positions.

As Usui’s life was drawing to an end, he recognized Dr. Hayashi as Master of Reiki and charged him with keeping the essence of the teachings and the attunements pure and intact.

On a particular day in 1935 a young lady of Japanese-American origin named Mrs. Hawaya Takata, came to visit Dr. Hayashi, she was riddled with various ills, one of which was a tumor for which she was scheduled to have an operation soon after. Mrs. Takata had lived in Hawaii until just recently when her husband passed away, leaving her with two children and very grief stricken. The grief had created such illness in her that it had formed into a tumor.

When she returned to Japan for the operation, a voice inside of her kept telling her: ‘There is another way!’ She was directed to Dr. Hayashi’s clinic and underwent treatment for 8 months by which time she had completely recovered.

She had become a dedicated student working in the clinic, but unable to learn Reiki as Japanese tradition meant that women were not allowed to be Masters. Over the years Mrs. Takata showed such a commitment to healing than Dr. Hayashi broke with tradition, and initiated her in to the First Degree.

As the Second World War broke out and began to mount, Dr. Hayashi realized that Japan could soon be invaded, and that meant that Reiki could once again be lost, He therefore attuned and taught Mrs. Takata in order that Reiki healing would begin to spread around the world.

Mrs. Takata’s biggest influence on Reiki was that she soon came to realize that it was virtually impossible to teach materialistic westerners the concept of understanding the respect for Energy, so she concluded as Usui had many years before, that an Energy Exchange must take place in order to maintain the respect for Reiki and to maintain the Energy Balance, i.e. what you take you must also give. To the West, the only energy transfer they would understand would be that of money!

The result of this was that she set fees for Reiki training to be: $175 for Reiki1 (about £100), $500 for Reiki2 (about £330), $10,000 for Reiki Master (about £6600). It is still possible these days to find Masters who still will not consider you a Master unless you have paid $10,000 for your Mastership. Today, however, few take this view, though the ideal still holds true; the west is now less materialistic than it was and much more spiritual, and it is therefore logical that Reiki should be available to all.

Nevertheless, both Dr. Usui and Mrs. Takata had a very valid point. Even today the view seems to be that of something given for nothing has no value. The Energy Exchange today is that of something which is of value to you personally given in exchange for healing or teaching. Today, it does not have to money anymore; the exchange can be that of knowledge and skills or anything that is of value to you personally, that you have put effort into creating.

Unfortunately in the so called “real world” of today, the energy exchanges have been somewhat tainted by our Western world, as our now natural instinct of materialistic needs and wants coupled with commercial influence and pressure have soured what was the ideal to a certain extent.

The Reiki levels are there so as one may grow in wisdom and energy level simultaneously so as to maintain balance within the healer and let them grow with each step, it is also for this reason as to why Reiki Symbols are kept secret. (It is not for the fear of people who might try and heal themselves and therefore not needing us anymore, or through ego, where those at the top want to stay there at all costs - far from it: it is done so as to not let people harm themselves).

Our goal is to purify something of invaluable worth before it is totally tainted by rampant commercialism and downright lies. They suffocate one of mankind’s greatest chances to learn to heal one another, worse still, in my understanding, also what could be our last path to enlightenment on a personal basis, away from any religious ascendancy, as Reiki neither promotes nor denotes any other path or religion.

Image: Photo by Elizabeth Carmel

One of the best books ever written about Reiki is Diane Stein's Essential Reiki. Here's the link to her web site:

www.dianestein.net

I want to share with you an affirmation that I came across today: Today I perceive the light of unity in the people I meet. I am tolerant, kind and friendly in my interactions with others today. I am a benevolent presence as I move through my day. I feel good and I am happy to be alive. Have a great week, everyone!