Usui Reiki (RAY Kee) is a hands-on healing
art. It is the transference of the universal life energy (Ki or
light energy) through an attuned Reiki practitioner to a person
needing to regain health or well being.
A Reiki practitioner must be attuned to the
Ki energy by a Reiki Master. The attunement process involves training
in the history and proper use of Reiki, along with a traditional
ceremony conducted by the Reiki Master to pass on the Ki energy
to their student. Some spiritual healers have associated this attunement
to the healing energy with the awakening of the Holy Spirit in Jesus's
disciples, when he passed on to them the ability to heal the sick.
John 20: 21 and 22, "Again Jesus said, 'Peace be with you!
As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.' And with that he breathed
on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'."
There are three levels of Reiki attunements:
Reiki 1, Reiki 2 and Reiki Master. Reiki 1 and 2 are practitioner
levels and Reiki Master is an instructor level. The Reiki Master
is intrusted with the passing on and upholding the Reiki lineage.
The tradition of Reiki dates back to the mid 1800s, although it's
essence and use date much further back, most likely to the dawn
of time. Reiki, as we know it today, found its start with Dr. Mikao
Usui, a philosopher and businessman. He was fluent in many languages
and was an instructor of religion in Kyoto, Japan.
It has been said that while Dr. Usui was
teaching a class in the Christian faith, a student challenged him,
questioning him for evidence of the miracles of hands-on healing.
Dr. Usui's inability to provide the student of such proof led him
on a quest to find the hard evidence of miraculous healings that
permeated not only Christian but also Buddhist traditions as well.
He searched the Christian ministries and
found little information on how to do spiritual healing. He searched
ancient Chinese mysteries and found no answer there either. Dr.
Usui did find some answers from the ancient Sanskrit provided by
the Buddhist Sutras--promising information describing various words
and symbols. However, to prove the existence of hands-on healing,
he himself must be able to perform it, and he could not.
Dr. Usui's searching drew near to its conclusion with the discovery
of a set of Tibetan scrolls found in the Himalayas of India. The
scrolls documented the travels of St. Isa, who many scholars feel
was actually the historic Jesus of Nazareth. Whether he found these
same scrolls or others recording information on healing is not certain.
It is known, however, upon completion of his studies of the Tibetan
Lotus Sutras, Dr. Usui felt he had found the answers solving the
mystery of the healing powers of Christ.
Dr. Usui, with his newly found information,
journeyed to the top of the holy mountain of Kuiyama. It is here
he would meditate and gain consciousness and understanding of the
ancient scrolls. On the holy mountain he decided to fast and meditate
for 21 days. To make a calendar, he gathered 21 stones, and with
the passing of each day Dr. Usui would throw away one stone.
On the 21st day, just before dawn, he threw
away his last stone. Looking after the stone he had just thrown,
he noticed a small bright light on the horizon rapidly closing and
heading directly toward him. As the light hurled toward him, his
fears urged him to run, yet something else encouraged him to stay.
The light struck him unconscious, hitting him in the forehead. While
unconscious, Dr. Usui saw the symbols of which we now know as Reiki,
each one floating in a brilliantly colored bubble before him, golden
and glowing. Then a great white light entered through his brow,
and he heard the words 'remember, remember, remember'. Later, 'Yes,
I remember', would be the first words Dr. Usui would say when regaining
consciousness.
In this way Dr. Usui, now Master Usui, gained
the understanding of the symbols, mantras, and attunement process
of Reiki. He himself became attuned through this experience and
brought back this wisdom for others. Master Usui knew his searching
was complete and that he would continue his life as a great hands-on
healer, with the first three miracles of Reiki.
These were: Dr. Usui was strong and vital
the morning of his attunement, after fasting for so many days; he
stubbed his toe on the way down the mountain and stopped the bleeding
and pain by placing his hands on the injury; he healed the infected
tooth of the man's daughter who first gave him food after leaving
the mountain. Reiki is an example of the wonderful gifts that our
Creator is willing to share with all of us.
History is full of the miraculous, yet only
a handful of people have seemed devoted and truly willing to accept
this special form of love. Luke 11:13: "If you then, though
you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask him!"
Michael Bennett is Reiki Master,
and a master practitioner and trainer of NLP and Hypnotherapy, licensed
and certified through the Society of NLP. He operates a school for
teaching these disciplines to health professionals and persons interested
in improving the quality of their lives.
