Reiki Healing: Part One
By Karen J. Gordon

There's a growing interest in Reiki (ray-key), a simple yet powerful hands-on healing art that originated in Japan in the late 1800s. What is Reiki? How is it used? Is it effective? This series will address those questions through a look at Reiki history and theory, Reiki as a folk art, and Reiki as a public practice. To begin to understand Reiki we must look at two things: the word itself and the system first developed in Japan by Mikao Usui, a Tendai Buddhist.

Reiki is a Japanese word which means "universal life energy." Although there's no universally recognized theory as to what Reiki is or how it works, we understand this energy as a subtle vibrational flow which has the potential to balance the biofield and offer support to the body for its own self-healing.

Pamela Miles, founding director of the Institute for the Advancement of Complementary Therapies, and a Reiki Master says, "Reiki operates on the premise that the subtle vibrational blueprint is the foundation for everything that happens on the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual levels. Even the subtlest shift on the vibrational level carries the potential to affect every level of our experience." (Pamela Miles Reiki Vibrational Healing, Interview by Bonnie Horrigan; Alternative Therapies, July/Aug 2003.)

Reiki supports those shifts and holistically encourages the person toward balance. It's a sustaining, vibrational force of the universe and, in being so, it supports the healing of various conditions. Drawn by the receiver through the non-manipulative touch of the practitioner, Reiki energy pulsates with the intelligence to go where it's needed, be that on a physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual level.

To try and define the experience of Reiki is like trying to capture the essence of love. It's uniquely personal and limitless in its description. That said, there are some benefits of a Reiki treatment which are commonly experienced. They include:

Reiki is also the word used for a system of natural healing. There are several different schools of Reiki throughout the world, but they can all be traced back to the system first developed by Mikao Usui in Japan. As a spiritual aspirant and a practitioner of Tendai Buddhism, Usui created a method of spiritual discipline which included the hands-on healing technique we teach today. Many people came to him for healing. Some became his students, learning the techniques and making a personal commitment to their own practice.

In Usui's lifetime, he initiated about 18 of his students as Reiki Masters. They went on to train and initiate others into the system of spiritual practice that Usui developed. One of those students was Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval officer. Hayashi was interested in further developing the system to expand to a community beyond that of spiritual aspirants.

As was done at the time, Hayashi approached his teacher about this idea. Usui agreed, and Hayashi went on to separate some of the hands-on healing techniques from the more strict spiritual aspects of Usui's system. It is probably at this time that the system began to be called Reiki.

Over the years, Hayashi continued to simplify the system. It was in the 1936 that Hawayo Takata, a first generation American living in Hawaii, came to Japan for surgery. Right before the operation, she had a strong impulse that there was another way to address her condition.

She was referred to Hayashi and his 8-bed clinic in Tokyo where Reiki practitioners gave treatments in pairs. After many sessions, Takata's condition improved and she was so impressed with Hayashi's system of healing that she asked if she could become his student. She was refused.

Her request was remarkable. Not only was she a woman, she was also a foreigner, and Reiki at that time was a relatively closed community. However, Takata persisted and finally she was accepted into the training. She was not treated any differently than the other students. She would learn First and Second Degree Reiki and be required to give treatments in the Reiki clinic for one year. In her training she learned self-treatment, treating others, and Usui's Five Principles of living:

Just for today do not worry.
Just for today do not anger.
Honor your parents, teachers, and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show gratitude to every living thing.

Takata's commitment to her practice and her understanding of Reiki deepened during the time she trained with Hayashi. When she was preparing to go back to Hawaii, her teacher told her to bring Reiki to the West. In 1938 Hayashi visited her in her home and trained her to be a Reiki Master-the first one outside of Japan. Takata had the task of communicating this Japanese healing art to a Western audience. She committed her life to sharing this system of natural healing, and it is directly through her efforts that today Reiki is practiced in nearly every country in the world.

The energy of Reiki is manifested according to its relationship with each individual. It might be expressed as a "dance" between the practitioner and her/his client. It could be understood as the commitment between an experienced and sincere Reiki Master and his/her student.

If a person chooses to be initiated into the system of Reiki healing, she is choosing to open herself to unlimited potential for challenge and growth, because through the self-treatment, the healing of human experience is supported. Ultimately, whether manifested through a teacher, a student, a practitioner, or a client, Reiki healing, in all its variety of form and structure, is a deeply personal experience.

As there are many different forms of Reiki being expressed and taught today, it's important that each person carefully inquire into the sincerity and experience of a Reiki practitioner or Master before embarking on his or her own Reiki journey.

Reiki, even in its simplicity and beauty, is a powerful catalyst for change.

© 2005 Karen J. Gordon