Background and Rediscovery The art of touching a human or animal body to comfort or reduce pain is an old human instinct. When we feel pain, the first thing we do is to instinctively place our hands on the area that hurts. The human touch distributes warmth, serenity and healing. When an animal licks a wound, it is acting with the same instincts as the human being. This force received different names in different cultures. The Polynesians call it “mana”, the American Iroquois Indians call it an “Orenda”. In India it is called “prana”, “Ruach” in Hebrew, “barraka” in Islamic countries, “chi” in China, in Japan it is called “ki”, and in Russia it is called bioplasmic energy. In Tibet there are records of healing techniques through the hands for more than 8,000 years. These techniques have expanded in Greece, Egypt, India and other countries, although they have been lost in the last two millennia. There are people with personal skills, who may use their hands – or not – for the practice (so-called paranormal). I recommend these people to get to know Reiki in order to potentialize and direct energy, adding power to what nature has already given them.
Mikao Usui – “Rediscoverer” of the method Mikao was born in Japan in the mid-nineteenth century. As he grew up, he heard many stories about Buddha, and was fascinated by Buddha’s ability to help others, his metaphysical skills and by the fact that many of his disciples also had similar capacities. Looking around, Mikao realized that most people did not have a happy life due to depressive and sick states. He wished to have Buddha’s healing capacity, and, after long reflection, he concluded that if such a cure was possible in the past, it remained possible in his time and became determined to find it. By speaking to various teachers and Masters, he had the proof that Buddha’s healing technique was part of Tibetan, Zen, and other Buddhist currents. However, they had been lost by disuse, and only partial knowledge in traditional Tibetan medicine had been preserved. The monks, a priory, replied that this knowledge had been forgotten from the moment the main concern came to be exclusively about the spirit of the being. Mikao persisted in his quest by undertaking long journeys through Japan and going to various monasteries. He learned Chinese and Sanskrit so that he could read the original Buddhist texts. It was through one of these texts on Tibetan rites that he discovered formulas to capture a very powerful energy that could lead to unlimited healing power. However, a simple formula without the ability to activate energy did not bring him the ability to heal. Trying to find solutions and thinking about practicing the newly discovered formula, Mikao Usui travelled to Mount Kurama, where he stayed for 21 days, fasting and meditating. On the twenty-first day, at night, not having obtained knowledge he sought, he remained observing the horizon, absorbed, wondering what he would do next. Then he caught a glimpse of a point of light coming towards him, and as he gazed at that light attentively, he felt a deep communication within his mental self. Once he decided to allow himself to be invaded, this awareness soon became available, physically and spiritually, for the contact. When Mikao Usui opened his consciousness completely, he projected himself out of his body and could see many lights, in the shape of coloured bubbles, containing sacred symbols. By the contemplation of each symbol, Mikao received his initiation, the knowledge on how to activate such power on other people and how to use it. By the time he left Mount Kurama, Mikao had been able to decode, restructure and rescue the millennial method of Reiki therapy. He practiced it for the rest of his life in Japan with homeless people from Kyoto and all the people marginalized by society at the time, making them happy, productive and dignified. Before his death, around 1930, he taught the Reiki Masters to 16 people, one of them being Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, to whom he passed on the responsibility of transmitting and maintaining the Reiki tradition intact. Mikao Usui practiced the Reiki method using only kind loving ideas. Reiki consisted of the use of energy, symbols and the process of attunement. Dr. Hayashi developed and systematized the natural healing method he called Usui Reiki. He opened a clinic in Tokyo, kept detailed treatment records, and he used the information obtained to rethink the positions and the level systems. He then passed on the Reiki Master to his wife and to Hawayo Takata. Born on 24.12.1900 in Hawaii, Hawayo Takata was the daughter of Japanese immigrants. By the age of 35, she had developed lung problems, had severe abdominal pain and was psychologically unstable. She travelled to Japan and took the opportunity to seek medical treatment. She discovered she had an abdominal tumour and that she would need to undergo surgery. Already on the operating table, Takata heard a voice that said, “Surgery is not necessary”. It was so unusual that she felt the need to share it with the doctor who, when asked about the need of surgery, recommended the clinic of Dr. Hayashi. In Dr. Hayashi’s clinic, she began receiving Reiki treatment without knowing what it was. She only learned what it was and how it acted sometime later. Because of her healing, she was determined to learn Reiki which until then was taught only in Japan and was inaccessible to foreign people. Takata received the first level Reiki in the Spring of 1936, worked with Hayashi for one year, received level two in the winter of 1938 when Dr. Hayashi initiated her as a Reiki Master. Takata received daily treatment and in four months had her complete healing. Takata took Reiki to the West, especially to the United States, and after more than 30 years of teaching courses and healing people, she felt the need to pass on all the teachings of Reiki and then trained 26 Masters.