Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

Guide to Original Usui Reiki

This in an incredibly exciting time to be involved with Reiki. Just a few years ago everyone thought that Reiki had died out in Japan, and that the only Reiki that was left to the world was Mrs Takata's. The discovery that Reiki had still continued in Japan, and was being practiced in a way that was very different from Takata Reiki, has led to a flood of new information coming from the East. Unfortunately it has all ended up quite confusing now, with information coming from what is said to be Usui's Association in Japan (the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai), from what is said to be Usui's training manual, and from what are claimed to be long-forgotten Usui documents found in an old Japanese casket in someone's garage in the States.

Usui's Surviving Students

The most exciting development in all this confusion is the discovery that some of Mikao Usui's students lived on into the 21st century. There were about a dozen of them, they are all very old (the youngest was about 107 in 2000) and they are were in contact with only one or two people in the West. Since we cannot speak to the man himself directly, it would seem that these students are the best source of reliable information about what Usui's system was all about, and the message coming from these students contradicts many of the things that we are used to in Western Reiki, and many of the things that are being promoted as 'original Usui Reiki'! In this article I want to run through the basic message that is coming from Usui's surviving students, to show the simplicity of the original system, and to show which of the many techniques currently being taught as 'Usui originals' are in fact original Usui techniques.

The 'Gakkai' Myth

A lot of what are claimed to be 'original' techniques are coming from an Association in Japan called the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Association for Usui's Reiki Healing Method), a society that certainly carries Usui's name. But Usui Sensei did not set up 'the Gakkai'; it was set up after his death by some of his less experienced students, Dr Hayashi and the two other Imperial officers, rather like a memorial society. They were all fairly

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Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

inexperienced Masters, because they had trained with Usui for a very short time, had been taught a limited form of Reiki, and had only started on their Master training, not completed it. Dr Hayashi left the 'Gakkai' quite soon; it seems because of the many changes that the other Masters were making to their practice of Reiki. So most of the practices of the 'Gakkai' that have been passed to us do not represent Reiki in its original form. The 'Gakkai' have not 'opened their doors' to the West, but some of their methods have been passed to the West via Frank Arjava Petter, and through Hiroshi Doi as 'Usui Reiki Ryoho'.

Dr Usui's Handbook?
There is an 'Usui Manual' available in the West, based on a manual that is given to students of the 'Gakkai'. It contains a long list of different medical conditions with suggested hand positions for each condition. This is being called the 'Usui Healing Guide'. In fact, rather than being Usui's work, this is the work of Dr Hayashi, and the guide was included in the 'Usui' manual given to 'Gakkai' students. Dr Hayashi's medical background seems to have led him to try and push Reiki into fitting the medical model: you diagnose a condition and 'prescribe' a set of hand positions. Usui's way was much simpler, though Hayashi was doing this research with Usui's knowledge and approval, it seems.

Two Big Revelations

So what was Usui's Reiki like? Well, the first revelation about original Usui Reiki is that it was not called 'Reiki'! The system had no name, though it has been described by one of Usui's students as "Method to Achieve Personal Perfection". The word Reiki does appear in the Reiki precepts, but the word 'Reiki' seems there to mean 'a gift of satori. The name 'Reiki' came later, probably introduced by the Gakkai's founders. The next revelation is that the purpose of Usui's method was to achieve satori, to find one's spiritual path, to heal oneself. Usui's system was not really about treating others. Treating others was not emphasised; it was not focused upon; it was a side-issue.

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Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

Origins of Usui's System

The system was rooted in Tendai Buddhism and Shintoism. Tendai Buddhism (a form of mystical Buddhism) provided spiritual teachings, and Shintoism contributed methods of controlling and working with the energies. Usui had a strong background in both kiko (energy cultivation) and a martial art with a strong Zen flavour (Yagyu Shinkage Ryu), and he also took Zen training, and these studies may have contributed in some way to the system that he developed. There also seems to be a strong connection between Usui's system and Shugendo (mountain asceticism). The system was based on living and practising the Reiki principles; that was the hub of the whole thing. The vast majority of Usui's students started out as his clients, people who came to him because they wanted something treated. He would routinely give people empowerments (connect them to Reiki) so that they could treat themselves in between appointments with him, and if they wanted to take things further then they could start formal training. The training was rather like martial arts training: you had an open-ended commitment to study with Usui, not a fixed-length training course, and it was only when you had developed sufficiently that you were invited to move on to higher levels.

First Degree Training

First Degree (Shoden) was very simple, and it seems that Usui taught hundreds of people at this level. Shoden was all about opening to the energy through receiving many Reiju empowerments (simple connection rituals), it was about cleansing and selfhealing. The student would practice different forms of selfhealing, including self-healing meditations, they would live their lives in accordance with Mikao Usui's precepts, and they would practice a couple of energy exercises.

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Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

The exercises taught at first-degree level were Kenyoku and Joshin Kokkyu Ho, which are taught in the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai as part of a longer sequence of exercises called 'Hatsurei Ho'. Students would be introduced to the concept of mindfulness, they would focus on developing their awareness of their hara, and that would lead to second-degree level. Students would not treat others at first-degree level.

Second Degree Training

Second Degree (Okuden) was split into two levels (Zenki and Kouki). Maybe 70 students reached Zenki, and maybe 30 reached Kouki level. Second-degree was all about strengthening your ability as a channel, becoming familiar with some specific energies and a particular state of mind, and receiving spiritual teachings. You became a stronger channel for Reiki by receiving Reiju empowerments on a regular basis, and by practising energy exercises. Reiju continually reinforced your connection to the source and allowed you to grow spiritually. You would work on that renewed connection by doing daily energy exercises which took a different form from those carried out at first-degree. At this level you spent many months working with one energy after another, using meditations, or working with sacred sounds called kotodama, or working with both. This process was not rushed, since you had to learn to 'become' the energies fully. Spiritual teachings were introduced at Second Degree level, which involved studying Buddhist sutras, specifically the Lotus sutra, the Heart sutra and the Diamond sutra. The Lotus sutra is the foundation document of Tendai Buddhism. Though one source of 'original' information claims that Usui became a Shingon Buddhist, his surviving students insist that he was 'Tendai to the end'. The fact that he was Tendai did not stop him from drawing from other spiritual traditions in Japan though, and for example Usui Sensei followed Soto Zen Buddhism for a while. It was quite normal for someone to follow more than one tradition at a time.

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Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

Kotodama, or Jumon
The sacred sounds that you used to further your self-healing and spiritual development could also be used to treat others, and students might do some treatments at this level, though it was a bit of a sideline to the main thrust of the system. These 'kotodama' (also called 'Jumon' from a Buddhist perspective) come from Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan. This is really ancient stuff. This takes us back to the mists of ancient Japanese history, to a time when the sound of the human voice was said to be able to stop armies, to kill, to heal and to control the weather. There were three kotodama, or jumon, taught at second degree, representing that which we in the West we use the symbols to represent. Two energies were introduced at Okuden Zenki and had to be fully integrated before you moved on to Okuden Kouki, where you worked with a state of mind that would allow you to carry out distance healing if you wanted to. Again this was not emphasised.

Meditations
The interesting thing here is that Usui would give his students a series of meditations to work with over a long period of time. They used these meditations to experience - to become - the three energies again and again and again. It was only when the students had become completely familiar with the energies that they were given a 'trigger' to connect to what they already had strongly within them. In the West we use a symbol to connect to an energy that is unfamiliar to us; in Usui's system you became familiar with an energy and then were give a way of triggering it. No symbols entered into Usui's system for most of his students, and thus the empowerments (connection rituals) do not use symbols either; why would they, since Usui's system was up and running long before he introduced symbols for the benefit of Dr Hayashi and the other naval officers in 1923. Usui seems to have taught his spiritual system as early as 1915.

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Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

'Techniques'
Most of the various 'Usui' treatment methods that are practised by the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai are in fact not Usui originals, but are Japanese QiGong healing techniques. No doubt Usui knew of these techniques, because he practiced kiko, but they were not part of his system. So far we have a picture of an elegant system where the focus is firmly on the individual: you are travelling a path to enlightenment, you have committed yourself to carrying out daily exercises and meditations, and you receive spiritual empowerments regularly. You are focusing on selfhealing and spiritual development, you followed Mikao Usui's precepts, and if you worked on others you would work intuitively. So rather than using a set of 'standard' hand positions, you let the energy guide you to the right place to treat, and let the energy guide you in terms of what aspect of the energy - if any you might emphasise.

Master Level Training

The Master levels (Shinpiden and Shihan) involved receiving further spiritual teachings, receiving Reiju and other 'higher' empowerments, and learning how to empower yourself. You worked with a further kotodama, and you practised a whole series of meditations which built on each other and were designed to move you closer and closer to your own satori. The goal here was to travel further along your spiritual path and bring you closer to enlightenment. Eventually you learned how to perform Reiju and other 'higher ' empowerments, though this was near the end of your training.

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Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

A Few Words about Reiki Evolution

Each month Reiki Evolution offers First and Second Degree courses from bases throughout the UK. Glasgow Northern Ireland Tyne & wear North Yorks Leicestershire Suffolk Cambridgeshire Essex Hertfordshire London Kent Surrey Somerset Wiltshire Cornwall

Plus Equine Reiki courses in Lincolnshire

We only teach small groups (no more than six people at a time, and at a lot of our venues the maximum is four). We do this so that we can deal with your individual questions and needs, giving you one-to-one attention and support. We provide comprehensive study packs for all of our courses: professionally printed manuals, Handouts and Audio CDs We also offer regular Reiki Master courses for people wanting to take Mastership for the first time, and also for people wanting to retrain with us

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Guide to Original Usui Reiki from Reiki Evolution

at this level, which many Masters want to do. We support our students long-term in various ways: we host an online support network that all our students are invited to join, we publish regular newsletters, our students host Reiki shares various different parts of the UK, and we support our students when they need it via telephone and e-mail. We even offer our students weekly distant empowerments! What makes Reiki training with Reiki Evolution special is the quality of our training materials, the small class-sizes, the free ongoing support and advice that we provide, and the content of our courses, which are a lot closer to the original Japanese system that Mikao Usui taught than are most Reiki courses in the West. Our courses are free from dogma and silly rules and regulations about what you should and shouldnt do and they dont drift off into New Age crystals and spirit guides. Reiki Evolution courses present a simple and intuitive approach to Reiki, focused on using Reiki as a self-development, self-healing and spiritual development system first and foremost, while also dealing comprehensively with the treatment of others. We have also pioneered the use of multimedia home study courses for the benefit of those who cannot attend a live course or who wish to learn their Reiki at more of a leisurely pace, with unlimited practice time. These courses are very high quality, just as good as our live training courses, and students are guided step-by-step through the practical exercises they need to get to grips with, with one-to-one e-mail support. To find out more about all these courses, to see how we support our students, and to read a whole range of articles about Reiki, please visit our web site here: http://www.reiki-evolution.co.uk

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