Reiki Is For Everybody

What Is Reiki?

Reiki (pronounced "Ray-Key") is a healing technique based on the principle that a practitioner can  channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient's body and restore physical and emotional well-being.  Reiki is a technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.  It is generally administered by laying-on hands, and it was rediscovered by Dr. Mikao Usui, at the beginning of the 20th Century.  Reiki training promotes compassion and kindness, as well as gives people a way to help each other.
Reiki was developed by, Dr. Mikao Usui, at the beginning of the 20th Century.  Dr. Usui was an advanced Buddhist practitioner from an ancient samurai family in Japan.  While versions of Reiki energy practices existed at the time, Dr. Usui's version was inspired by an experience that he had during a twenty-one day fast and meditation wherein he was prepared to remain in mediation until he died.
 Reminiscent of the moment of enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha, Dr. Usui received a direct connect to Reiki and realized that Reiki could be used by anyone.  In fact, one of the most important features of Reiki practice is that you cannot do it wrong.  The energy, being possessed of universal consciousness, does the work while the practitioner is merely the vehicle.    
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"Rei Ki"
Reiki is based on the Japanese notion of "ki" or "chi" as it is known in China.   Ki is the essential energy that puts objects into motion and animates living things.  Ki flows through every living thing and the freedom with which it flows can have a particularly important impact on health.  Stress and illness can prevent ki from moving through the human body along the natural pathways causing organs to lose functionality a impacting mental wellness as well.  
By nature, all living things live in balance as ki flows through them.  Anxiety, sickness and injury can interrupt this flow of ki, and yet, it is possible to restore it with the help of a Reiki practitioner.  The words "rei" and "ki" have no direct English translations and it helps to be able to understand what the kanji (Japanese script) is depicting.  "Rei" is the image of raindrops falling from heaven into three empty bodies or containers ultimately filling the healer. This shows a consciousness or blessing being delivered through three pathways into an intermediary who then delivers the consciousness or blessing to ordinary people.
The essential notion of "ki" is breath as in the divine breath that gives inanimate objects life.  Hence, "ki" is considered "essential energy", the energy of life itself. Together, Reiki is transference of divine energy through the practitioner into the body of another to restore the essential energy of life.

The HAC Reiki Curriculum

  • Reiki One - basic Reiki training that results in the participant being capable of delivering a basic Reiki treatment.
  • Reiki Two - this intermediate training course adds Reiki attunements, techniques and symbology to the the participant's Reiki tool kit.
  • Reiki Mastery - this is the third and final course wherein the practitioner learns to teach Reiki and becomes responsible for the entire skill set.

Reiki One
TBD
Instructor: HAC Staff
Location: Healing Arts Center
Tuition: $250
Retake Tuition: $100
CEUs: 12
*No License Required -Open to everybody

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. In this class you will learn about the history of Reiki, be guided through the hand placements, and receive the level one attunements.

Reiki Two
TBD
Location: HAC Campus
Tuition: $500
HAC Student / Graduate Tuition: $250
Retake Tuition: $100
CEUs: 12
*No License Required -Open to the public
*Prerequisite: Reiki One at The Healing Arts Center
*HAC Students & Grads and anyone retaking Reiki Two, please call (314) 647-8080 to register with the discounted tuition rate.
Continue on your Reiki journey! In this class you will receive another attunement and gain a deeper understanding of Reiki as well as learn the Reiki symbols. Click here to read about the highlights of Reiki Two.

Reiki Mastery

Location: HAC Campus
HAC Students & Grads Tuition: $500
General Tuition: $1000
Retake Tuition: $200
CEUs: 16
*No License Required - Open to everybody
*Prerequisite: Reiki One & Reiki Two at The Healing Arts Center

*HAC Students & Grads and anyone retaking Reiki Mastery, please call (314) 647-8080 to register with the discounted tuition rate.

Join us for the third and final Reiki course.
In this class you will receive another attunement, and learn the about the Master Symbol as well as how to give Reiki attunements to others.

Why HAC Wants Everyone To Have Reiki

Reiki practice, first and foremost is about compassion.  The act of touching another with the intention of channeling universal healing energy into them not only helps heal the patient, it helps heal the healer.  It is a simple way to practice a very real and meaningful act of compassion on any living thing.  Reiki can be practiced on animals and plants as well as human beings.
Furthermore, Reiki is the act of using the human consciousness to intentionally link compassionate universal consciousness to the human race.  It is not just talk.  It is not a Facebook "like".  It is very real conscious action.  Imagine a human race preoccupied with using touch as vehicle of healing, loving kindness and compassion.  Imagine living in world where people care enough to put healing hands upon one another to create benefit instead of harm.   It is not a dream.  Millions of people around the world do it every day and this is your chance to join them.
HAC is committed to putting a Reiki practitioner in every home.  We are committed to gathering whole communities of Reiki practitioner to help cancer patients and those suffering from anxiety, sickness and depression to make a difference in their quality of life.
Reiki is not a substitute for traditional medical care, but it can be safely added to the care of anyone.  As such, it is has helped people overcome drug addiction, fight the negative effects of chemotherapy, and restore well-being.

Reiki History

(Excerpt From What Is The History of Reiki ?, www.reiki.org.)  

Mikao Usui, or Usui Sensei as he is called by Reiki students in Japan, was born August 15, 1865 in the village of Taniai in the Yamagata district of Gifu prefecture, which is located near present-day Nagoya, Japan.(8)

He had an avid interest in learning and worked hard at his studies. As he grew older, he traveled to Europe and China to further his education. His curriculum included medicine, psychology and religion as well as the art of divination, which Asians have long considered to be a worthy skill.(9) Usui Sensei also became a member of the Rei Jyutu Ka, a metaphysical group dedicated to developing psychic abilities.(10) He had many jobs including civil servant, company employee and journalist, and he helped rehabilitate prisoners.(11) Eventually he became the secretary to Shinpei Goto, head of the department of health and welfare who later became the mayor of Tokyo. The connections Usui Sensei made at this job helped him to also become a successful businessman.(12)
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Dr. Mikao Usui
The depth and breadth of his experiences inspired him to direct his attention toward discovering the purpose of life. In his search he came across the description of a special state of consciousness that once achieved would not only provide an understanding of one’s life purpose, but would also guide one to achieve it. This special state is called An-shin Ritus-mei (pronounced on sheen dit sue may). In this special state, one is always at peace regardless of what is taking place in the outer world. And it is from this place of peace that one completes one’s life purpose. One of the special features of this state is that it maintains itself without any effort on the part of the individual; the experience of peace simply wells up spontaneously from within and is a type of enlightenment.

Usui Sensei understood this concept on an intellectual level and dedicated his life to achieving it; this is considered to be an important step on Usui Sensei’s spiritual path. He discovered that one path to An-shin Ritsu-mei is through the practice of Zazen meditation. So he found a Zen teacher who accepted him as a student and began to practice Zazen. After three years practice, he had not been successful and sought further guidance. His teacher suggested a more severe practice in which the student must be willing to die in order to achieve An-shin Ritsu-meiwhich.(13)(14)

So with this in mind he prepared for death and in February, 1922, he went to Mt. Kurama to fast and meditate until he passed to the next world. In addition, we know there is a small waterfall on Mt. Kurama where even today people go to meditate. This meditation involves standing under the waterfall and allowing the water to strike and flow over the top of the head, a practice that is said to activate the crown chakra. Japanese Reiki Masters think that Usui Sensei may have used this meditation as part of his practice. In any case, as time passed he became weaker and weaker. It was now March, 1922 and at midnight of the twenty-first day, a powerful light suddenly entered his mind through the top of his head and he felt as if he had been struck by lightning; this caused him to fall unconscious.

As the sun rose, he awoke and realized that whereas before he had felt very weak and near death, he was now filled with an extremely enjoyable state of vitality that he had never experienced before; a miraculous type of high frequency spiritual energy had displaced his normal consciousness and replaced it with an amazingly new level of awareness. He experienced himself as being the energy and consciousness of the Universe and that the special state of enlightenment he had sought had been given to him as a gift. He was overjoyed by this realization.

When this happened, he was filled with excitement and went running down the mountain. On his way down he stubbed his toe on a rock and fell down. And in the same way anyone would do, he placed his hands over the toe, which was in pain. As he did this, healing energy began flowing from his hands all by itself. The pain in his toe went away and the toe was healed. Usui Sensei was amazed by this. He realized that in addition to the illuminating experience he had received, he had also received the gift of healing.(15)

Usui Sensei practiced this new ability with his family and developed his healing system through experimentation and by using skills and information based on his previous study of religious practices, philosophy and spiritual disciplines. He called his system of healing Shin-Shin Kai-Zen Usui Reiki Ryo-Ho (The Usui Reiki Treatment Method for Improvement of Body and Mind)(16) or in its simplified form Usui Reiki Ryoho (Usui Reiki Healing Method). It is important to know that Usui Sensei didn’t create Reiki as there were other methods of Reiki healing in Japan prior to Usui Sensei creating his method and in fact one was called Reiki Ryoho.(17)

In April 1922, he moved to Tokyo and started a healing society that he named Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Usui Reiki Healing Method Society). He also opened a Reiki clinic in Harajuku, Aoyama, Tokyo. There he taught classes and gave treatments.(18)

The first degree of his training was called Shoden (First Degree) and was divided into four levels: Loku-Tou, Go-Tou, Yon-Tou, and San-Tou. (Note that when Takata Sensei taught this level, which in the West we refer to as Reiki Level I, she combined all four levels into one. This is most likely why she did four attunements for Level I.) The next degree was called Okuden (Inner Teaching) and had two levels: Okuden-Zen-ki (first part), and Okuden-Koe-ki (second part). The next degree was called Shinpiden (Mystery Teaching), which is what Western Reiki calls Master level. The Shinpiden level includes, Shihan-Kaku (assistant teacher) and Shihan (venerable teacher).(19)

Contrary to previous understanding, Usui Sensei had only three symbols, the same three we use in the West in Reiki II. He did not use a master symbol. This fact has been verified by Hiroshi Doi and by research done by Hyakuten Inamoto, Arjava Petter and Tadao Yamaguchi.(20)

In 1923, the great Kanto earthquake devastated Tokyo. More than 140,000 people died and over half of the houses and buildings were shaken down or burned. An overwhelming number of people were left homeless, injured, sick and grieving.(21) Usui Sensei felt great compassion for the people and began treating as many as he could with Reiki. This was a tremendous amount of work, and it was at this time that he began training other Shihan (teachers) so that they could help him more quickly train others to be Reiki practitioners and help the sick and injured. It was also at this time that he further developed his system of Reiki, including adding the three symbols and devising a more formal Reiju (attunement) process.(22)

The Reiju process was different than the method used now in that Usui Sensei had just one type of Reiju that was given over and over. He didn’t have a different Reiju for each level and there was no Reiju to activate the symbols. It was taught that it is important for the student to get as many Reiju as possible as this was an important way to increase and refine the quality of one’s Reiki energy.(23)

Demand for Reiki became so great that he outgrew his clinic, so in 1925 he built a bigger one in Nakano, Tokyo. Because of this, Usui Sensei’s reputation as a healer spread all over Japan. He began to travel so he could teach and treat more people. During his travels across Japan he directly taught more than 2,000 students and initiated twenty Shihan,(24) each being given the same understanding of Reiki and approved to teach and give Reiju in the same way he did.(25)

The Japanese government issued him a Kun San To award for doing honorable work to help others.(26) While traveling to Fukuyama to teach, he suffered a stroke and died March 9, 1926.(27) His grave is at Saihoji Temple, in Suginami, Tokyo, although some claim that his ashes are located elsewhere.

After Usui Sensei died, his students erected a memorial stone next to his gravestone. (See page 14.) Mr. J. Ushida, a Shihan trained by Usui Sensei, took over as president of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, and was responsible for creating and erecting the Usui Memorial stone and ensuring that the gravesite would be maintained. Mr. Ushida was followed by Mr. Ilichi Taketomi, Mr. Yoshiharu Watanabe, Mr. Toyoichi Wanami and Ms. Kimiko Koyama. The current successor to Usui Sensei is Mr. Mahayoshi Kondo, who became president in 1998.

Contrary to what we have been told in the West, there is no “lineage bearer” or “Grand Master” of the organization started by Usui Sensei—only the succession of presidents listed above.(28) Among the twenty teachers initiated by Usui Sensei are Toshihiro Eguchi, Jusaburo Guida, Kan’ichi Taketomi, Toyoichi Wanami, Yoshiharu Watanabe, Keizo Ogawa, J. Ushida, and Chujiro Hayashi.(29) Contrary to one version of the Reiki story, Chujiro Hayashi was not the Gakkai’s successor to Usui Sensei, but rather Mr. J. Ushida as previously mentioned. It is also important to note that the first four presidents of the Gakkai who followed Usui Sensei were Shihan who had been trained directly by Usui Sensei, thus assuring that the Gakkai understanding, practice and teaching methods were the same as that of Usui Sensei.