The ancient art of Reiki has been around in many forms, almost since the beginning of time itself.
This form that you are learning is Usui Reiki which was RE-discovered by Dr Mikao Usui, who was born on the 18th August 1865 in Japan. He founded this Usui System of Reiki or Usui Shiki Ryoho. He is also often referred to as Usui Sensei, (Sensei meaning one who teaches).
He came from a fairly wealthy Buddhist family, who encouraged him to study. Whilst finishing his studies at a traditional Japanese Tendai Buddhist Monastery, Usui also mastered Samurai swordsmanship and Kiko, the Japanese form of Chi Kung. Usui was interested in different types of medicine, energy movement and religions, reading and researching widely on all subjects.
He was looking to find a way to heal himself and others that didn’t deplete his own energy levels and he devoted many years searching for a system of physical healing. His open minded approach towards other belief systems and religions in his search, is why Reiki is accessible to everyone. It has no religious attachments.
As part of his search, Usui traveled to China and the West to study their medicines and disciplines doing many different kinds of work on the way. Eventually he became a Tendai Buddhist monk and lived in a monastery near Mount Kurama, where he continued his studies.
It was whilst he was living at the monastery, in his search for enlightenment, that Usui decided to attend a 21 day training course called Isyu Guo. This involved living for the 21 days.in a cave on Mount Kurama – fasting, meditating and praying.
It is said that it passed uneventfully until the last day, the morning of the 21st day, when he experienced a mystical event with a shining light that he felt had consciousness and “saw” ancient Sanskrit symbols in the light, which gave him the healing system that he had been looking for on his previous travels.
There’s many healing stories – how he first healed his own stubbed toe on his way down the mountain, then healed the granddaughter of the innkeeper’s toothache at the bottom of the mountain, the beggars in the slums (that’s where he learned the responsibility of the “healee” in the healing process) – even healing people who were injured in an earthquake.
He had a clinic in Kyoto and later travelled all over Japan, healing and teaching. As well as teaching others how to heal themselves, he also offered healing sessions at a relatively cheap price or even for free, which meant anyone could receive the healing they needed.
Usui’s teachings were very focused on how to heal yourself first and foremost, which continues today in the First Degree of Reiki (Reiki One). His belief being that to be able to heal others, you first need to have healed yourself.
By the time of his death on the 9th March 1926, Usui had trained over 2000 people in Reiki and around 16 Reiki Masters. This guaranteed that his healing system would live on.
If you’re looking for some good books around Reiki, these come highly recommended, specially the first one Essential Reiki in the brown cover