Reiki… The eye-opening story of the great healing art can offer us a profound insight into our lives and the nature of healing. The great story of Reiki is often left untold, left to the courses and seminars that are held by Reiki teachers around the world. Leaving most people out of the loop of the eye-opening story of Reiki.
Before we get into any story however we need to understand how Reiki has come to be known in modern times.
So what even is Reiki in the first place?
Reiki is a healing art used by many people across the world to heal others and themselves. It typically involves a session between a Reiki Master and the receiver of Reiki (client, student etc). The sessions are a hands on based healing modality that transfers the ‘universal life-force energy’ from one person to another or in the case of a self healing, from the palms of your hands to yourself.
Reiki have evolved over the years and modified into the modern times. However lets take ourselves right back to the very beginning of Reiki. Travelling through time back to the origins of this great healing art.
THE BEGINNING
The origins of Reiki healing dates back to the 1920’s. However, the man who discovered Reiki went by the name of Mikoa Usui who was born in 1865. He grew up in a small village known as Taniai, in Japan. His life story is largely unknown. However there are some important details that we do know. We know that Mikoa was an avid reader and student. He was into many different intellectual subjects such as philosophy, religious studies, spirituality and the healing arts. He was particularly passionate about the healing arts. He would travel around and meet all the famous healers of the time. He would try to gain insights into there way of looking at life and learn from them as much as he could. Although this helped him, ultimately he realised in the end that he needed to take his own journey of self healing and not follow the path that was laid out by others.
MOUNT KURAMA
One night Mikoa had an inspiration to travel up a mountain known as Mount Kurama in Japan. Here he would fast, meditate and abstain from society for a period of time. During the early stages of this adventure cleanse Mikoa was happy with his progress. He felt lighter, more knowledgeable and fresher. However, this didnt last long, on day 21 Mikoa felt the opposite. Heavier, Confused and stale. He became quickly frustrated with his progress and decided to give up on his cleanse. With the cleanse all but done and just as Mikoa was about to descend the mountain and head back to society. He had a vision. In this vision he was shown a very highly evolved energy. He felt this energy swirling around inside of him. In every single cell of his body. His mission became very clear to him. He had achieved what he had set out to do. The realisation of the deeper self. The universal life-force energy.
DESCENDING THE MOUNTAIN
Mikoa then descended the mountain. Upon going down the mountain he stubbed his toe on a rock. The toe began to throb and bleed. Mikoa put his hands on his toe and he felt miraculous healing happen. The pain and bleeding coming from the toe all of a sudden stopped. Upon this experience Mikoa further realised how the energy works within him. He then called the energy Reiki. ‘Rei’ meaning Universal and ‘Ki’ meaning vital energy. Put together it translates to ‘Universal Life-force Energy’ The vision and the miraculous healing became completely clear to him. Excited but yet still calm and balanced Mikoa then descended the rest of the mountain to the nearest city, Kyoto.
HIS LIFE MISSION
In Kyoto Mikoa seen many individuals in the slums. Poverty was rife and so was illness. He wanted to bring his new found healing powers to this area in order to benefit these people. He began his work by healing many people within the slums. They were very fascinated by him and thrilled to have a healer of his quality within the city. Many people were healed by Mikoa and moved out of the slums in order to find a new life for themselves in the world.
However, some people only found a short term benefit to the healing. Although they left the slums, they would come back shortly after to live there old lives once again. Mikoa would ask these people ‘Why have you come back’ and they would always answer the same way ‘It is easier to live a life here than to take responsibility in the outside world’. With this answer Mikoa then knew people had to take responsibility for there own healing and not just rely on a Reiki Master fulfilling all of there responsibilities. Mikoa proposed the 5 Reiki principles that people should live by after having a healing with him.
– Just for today, do not worry.
– Just for today, do not anger.
– Just for today, I will be kind to every living thing.
– Just for today, I will give thanks for my blessings.
– Just for today, I will do my work honestly.
These principles would be passed onto every person that Mikoa healed and taught. Mikoa believed that they would in-still values in people that would promote self healing and independence. His idea was to try and promote a sense of healing in people outside of a Reiki treatment. Allowing people to become independent and able to live life without a need to come back for another treatment.
THE PASSING ON OF REIKI
Mikoa knew that one day his time would be up on this planet and he did not want Reiki to die with him. As a result of this Mikoa developed a training system to pass Reiki on to others. One of his notable students was a man known as Chujiro Hayashi who brought Reiki to Tokyo, Japan. Here he healed many and trained up a woman known as Hawayo Takata.
Hawayo Takata who was born in Hawaii and brought Reiki to the United States of America. This was the first introduction that Reiki ever had to the western world. From America, Reiki then spread to the rest of the world, achieving the dream of Mikoa Usui’s wish for Reiki to be passed on.
Although Mikoa Usui is the original founder of Reiki, there are many different branches of Reiki today. Fundamentally they are all the same thing, coming from the one source, the universal life-force energy. Some people still question whether this force exists. They may ask with curiosity
"what exactly did Mikoa find on Mount Kurama?"
To put it simply, Mikoa found himself. He found what was already inside of him. He broke through the internal resistances that we constantly put on ourselves. When he gave up on Mount Kurama and was about to descend the mountain, he gave up on the search. He let go. When he let go fully, he received what he had wanted all along. This energy was always inside of him. The same way its always being inside of you. Its in your heart, lungs and the very atoms of your body. Its in the trees, the wind, the sea and the rivers. It is the universal life-force energy. It exists everywhere. All over the universe in an abundant and infinite form. Through the action of letting go Mikoa accessed this great power. This great healing energy. It is the same thing as ‘Chi’, It is the same thing as the ‘Toa’, It is the same thing as the ‘holy spirit’. The only thing that divides these concepts are words and different traditions. Ultimately it is all the same. No division, all whole and balanced.
If you are interested in Reiki and developing a deeper self healing practice try my very own Reiki self healing course below. I will be looking forward to seeing you there.
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Thank you for reading,
See you soon!
Nathan writes blogs on Spirituality, Philosophy and Energy healing. He is a meditation teacher and Reiki master who has a passion of helping others go deeper within themselves.
