Most of the readers of RCGW News have already received their Reiki I training. For those of you who have not, I will explain about the three Reiki Masters who are the “lineage bearers” of Reiki, i.e. those whose work resulted in its being brought to the West from Japan.
Mikao Usui aka Dr. Usui
Dr. Usui was born in 1865 in a town near Kyoto, Japan. He was a teacher in a boy’s school. One day, one of his students asked him whether he believed that the hands-on healing that Jesus and Buddha had been able to do still existed. He replied that he did. The student next asked him to heal him. Dr. Usui replied that he did not know how to do this. This single question formed the next six or seven years of Usui’s life. He researched all over Japan and the countries he could travel to nearby to find out if there was some way to do hands-on healing that was described in treatises and articles located in libraries and monasteries. When he did not have success after all that time, he resolved to do a 21-day meditation and fast at the top of a local sacred mountain, called Mt. Kurama. He took a large container of water with him and gathered 21 stones to keep track of the days. After 21 days of fasting, on the morning of the 21st day, Dr. Usui had an initiatory experience that changed his life. He was struck with an energy that he later called Rei-ki, meaning, universal or guided or spirit or conscious life force energy. This experience occurred in June 1921. Dr. Usui lived until 1926 and taught eleven teachers of Reiki during this five-year period. Dr. Usui is very helpful to communicate with when discussing the history of Reiki or when you need to confirm a spiritual truth for yourself. Dr. Usui is very gentle and helpful and wants Reiki to succeed, so may be contacted when you are trying to formulate your Reiki classes or healing sessions, you can ask him where to place your hands or how to handle a difficult client healing. Chujiro Hayashi aka Dr. Hayashi Among the teachers that Usui taught was a retired Admiral named Chujiro Hayashi. Dr. Hayashi was also an engineer and naturopathic doctor. He had a clinic in Tokyo and a successful Reiki practice with his students practicing to earn their training along with the professional practitioners. Hayashi taught and practiced until 1940 when he is said to have invited all of his students to his home where he used his natural KI or energy to burst several blood vessels in his brain to avoid participating as a military officer in the Second World War. Dr. Hayashi is very helpful in questions regarding details or planning since his expertise as a businessman and engineer has stayed with him. Hawayo Takata aka Mrs. Takata In 1935, Hayashi’s clinic was visited by Mrs. Hawayo Takata, a widow from Hawaii, who had a serious gall bladder condition. She was in great pain and had previously visited the local hospital, but after hearing her dead husband’s voice in the operating room telling her that the operation was not necessary and that there was another way, she was directed to Hayashi’s clinic for Reiki. Mrs. Takata stayed with the Hayashis for several months and was healed. After her healing, she inquired whether she would be able to learn Reiki from Dr. Hayashi. While he initially refused, he later changed his mind when Mrs. Takata presented him with a hand-calligraphed request from a family friend. He told Mrs. Takata that he would teach her on the condition that she stayed with him to work in the clinic for a period of one year at no pay. Even though this was a difficult bargain, Mrs. Takata agreed and sold her house in Hawaii to pay for the time in Japan. When later asked why she did this, she said, “I could always get another house, but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to study with someone who was only available at this time and this place.” Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii in 1936 and opened a clinic in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Two years later, she invited, Hayashi to come to her daughter’s wedding and did her Reiki Master training with him while he was visiting the island. From that year, 1938, until 1975, she taught only elementary and intermediate Reiki classes. In 1975, when her some of her students contacted her about Reiki Master training, she agreed to begin training them for a fee of $10,000 each. She eventually trained 22 Reiki Masters between 1975 and her death in December 1979 at the age of 79. Since 1979, the roots of Reiki that were established by these “Big Three” have helped the healing system that is also known as the Usui System of Natural Healing to flourish. I have found that the spirits of these Reiki Masters are still involved in the crafting of the system. You can call on them in meditation for advice on your healing practice, when doing healings, or when doing classes yourself.Mrs. Takata is very helpful when you need a supportive, grandmotherly presence that has done Reiki for over 40 years. You may also notice that the presence is also a bit firm, like a grandmother, sometimes pointing her finger at you when she wants to emphasize a point.
One way to do this is as follows:- Get into a meditative state in whatever way that feels comfortable for you. You may do the Gassho meditation for this, or see yourself in a small hut with another chair for the Master(s) you are calling on.
- State the problem that you are trying to solve or the help you need.
- Invite the Reiki Masters (or the one Reiki Master) you wish help from to join you. If you aren’t sure which one to invite, then invite all three. I have found that Dr. Usui is helpful with life mission questions and self-healing issues. Dr. Hayashi is helpful with logistics and hand-position issues. Mrs. Takata is helpful with practice development issues and gives grandmotherly advice about your path as well.
- Once you have completed your questions which it may help you to write down as well, thank the Master(s) you have worked with and close the connection by placing your hands together, one on top of the other.