Tag: Reiki

To Allow Healing From Something So Simple

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Last week, a colleague of mine in the energy world said, “Are you still teaching Reiki?” The implication was that surely by now I had outgrown Reiki and gone on to bigger and better things.

Many of us have a tendency to look for the next big thing, to keep searching for something more powerful, and to assume that a simpler approach is a less effective approach.

After more than 40 years of seeking, I can say with some confidence that I have found nothing simpler or more powerful than Light.

As a client, I have experienced yoga, chi gung, tai chi, Feldenkreis, Alexander, energy psychology, lots of energy healing methods, scores of meditation techniques, and pretty much every type of counseling invented. Over the last 20 years, I have studied a wide variety of energy methods, and I have been authorized to professionally practice Reiki, Jin Shin Jyutsu, Eden Energy, and shamanism.

During all this time, I have found nothing more powerful than Light.

I have learned a vast array of techniques for balancing energy, for clearing congested energy, for bringing in needed frequencies of energy, for vitalizing energy, for circulating and reorganizing energy…

During all these studies, I have found no tool more powerful than Light.

Whether we are getting down to basics, or reaching the pinnacle of understanding, we are always faced with something brilliant: the No-thing Every-thing, the blinding Source, the continuum of rainbow frequencies….We are always faced with some form of Light.

So yes, I am still teaching Reiki. I plan to teach Reiki for as long as I can — because simpler is often better. When a client asks me for help, I choose from a wide variety of specific methods, but they are all fueled by Light. And often, the best method is simple Reiki touch, especially when someone is very vulnerable.

It’s true that sometimes we can see the bottom of the ocean because the water is shallow. But sometimes we can see the bottom of the ocean because the water is pure and illuminated. Reiki, when taught well and practiced sincerely, is a deep dive into that illuminated water.

Are we brave enough to allow healing from something so simple that it cannot be defined or controlled?

I am experienced enough now to claim some measure of wisdom. I wasn’t born yesterday. And I wasn’t born into an easy life. In all my moments — blissful moments, anguished moments, desperate moments, stubbornly hopeful moments – in all my moments, I have found nothing more powerful than Light.

The simple truth is that my greatest personal empowerment has come from surrender – surrender to a force essential to us and yet so far beyond us. When the Light moves through me, I seem to simultaneously lose and find myself.  

And when the light moves through me to another, that being has access to healing far beyond my own small human reach. I am experienced enough now to claim some measure of wisdom. I understand that my clients heal not through anything I have done, but from what they have allowed themselves to be. It is amazing what can occur when they allow themselves to be Light.

Why licensure of alternative and complementary care is a really bad idea

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Update: Through organizing and contacting our elected representatives, practitioners and clients of energy work were able to prevent the passage of a licensure bill in Massachusetts in 2021. The bill has resurfaced in July 2023 and we are advocating for our practices once again. This issue is likely to remain relevant in Massachusetts and in many other states. It’s important that we work together across the many energy work disciplines in order to keep our work accessible to those who need it.

I include below my email to the legislative committee that was considering the licensure bill in December 2021. The bill being brought forth in July 2023 is identical to this 2021 version.

Dear Senators and Representatives,

I am asking you to oppose SB 221/HB 350 for the following reasons:

  • A profession should only be regulated because of the actions of its own practitioners.
  • Alternative healing practitioners do not need to be regulated. Harm is extremely rare.
  • Licensing alternative healing practitioners would not significantly affect sex trafficking.
  • Law enforcement can already easily distinguish between genuine practitioners and prostitution establishments.
  • A court challenge on this basis of freedom of religion is nearly inevitable.
  • Requiring state licensure of traditional practices with strong ethnic roots will be seen as discriminatory and an intrusion into cultural traditions.
  • The proposed Board and Advisory Council cannot adequately establish guidelines for this extremely diverse set of practices.
  • Each individual on the advisory board will have tremendous power over the discipline that they represent – power that could easily be abused.
  • The bill would prohibit volunteering except under strict supervision or with immediate family members; cutting off this source of help seems particularly cruel.
  • Burdensome licensing fees and procedures would cause many practitioners to close their businesses.
  • Hard-working and sincere practitioners would lose their source of income.
  • Supply would drop and prices would increase. Many clients would be priced out of receiving services.
  • Licensing these practices would do far more harm than good.

Please see below for a more detailed explanation:

A profession should only be regulated because of the actions of its own practitioners, not because of the behavior of criminals who are pretending to be members of the profession.

Alternative healing practitioners do not need to be regulated. Harm to clients is extremely unusual, as is made obvious by very low liability insurance rates (approximately $150 per year).

Licensing alternative healing practitioners would not significantly affect sex trafficking. Traffickers still attempt to use “massage” as camouflage, despite the fact that massage is licensed.

Law enforcement can already easily distinguish between genuine practitioners and prostitution establishments. There are clear signs that an establishment is providing sex (name, photos used in advertisement, descriptions used in advertisement, listings on sex-work websites, etc).

These disciplines are holistic. They address the whole person — body, mind and spirit. Many disciplines consider their work to be spiritual or even religious in nature (for example Christian laying on of hands or pagan healing ceremony). Because of this, attempts at regulation may very well cross a line into limiting freedom of religion. If this legislation passes, a court challenge on this basis of freedom of religion is nearly inevitable.

Some of these disciplines are specific to particular cultural groups. Requiring state licensure will be seen as discriminatory and an intrusion into cultural traditions (for example, Native American shamanic healing, Cuban Santeria, Roma divination and prayer). Claims of discrimination and a court challenge are likely.

These disciplines are numerous and diverse. Even within methods that call themselves by the same name, there is much diversity. A Board and Advisory Council cannot adequately establish guidelines for this extremely diverse set of practices. Also, each individual on the advisory board will have tremendous power over the discipline that they represent – power that could easily be abused.

The bill would prohibit volunteering except under supervision or with immediate family members. Many practitioners provide free treatment to friends or neighbors, and these treatments can be very beneficial. They are especially important to those who can’t afford to pay for treatment. Cutting off this source of help seems particularly cruel.

Burdensome licensing fees and procedures would cause many practitioners and especially practitioner/teachers to close their businesses. This would reduce supply and increase prices. Those who do continue practicing would need to pass the cost along to their clients/students – which would again raise prices.

Many hard-working practitioners who provide valuable services and reap only modest financial rewards would lose their source of income. The majority of practitioners are women, many of whom are supporting families.

Many people depend upon the help they receive from alternative healing practitioners. We are currently in a crisis of exorbitant healthcare costs and inadequate insurance coverage. We are also in the middle of a pandemic. There would never be a good time for this bill, but now is a particularly bad time.

Licensing these practices would do far more harm than good. This bill has been under consideration for quite a while. At every step of the way, there has been an outcry from clients and practitioners. Please listen to those of us who truly understand the field of alternative health. Please oppose SB221/HB350.

On Sparsity of Mind

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We are so accustomed to accumulation. We live in houses full of objects that are supposed to take our discomforts away. We live in bodies full of junk and disarray. We exist in minds full of input and reactions, worries and desperate dramatic hope.

Life is not so bad. It is painful, inherently. It is challenging or why else would we be here? It is apparently the gravel upon which we hone our essence. It is essentially what it is meant to be – a school for soul(s), a way for the universe to learn and expand.

The universal mind seems to be sparse and expanding, and expanding in its sparsity. Our essential minds are sparse and expanding. My essential mind watches and listens. It does not clap or complain. It is not particularly wise – no more wise than any other being’s essential mind, and no less wise than the essence of the universe.

All around us in our human world, accumulation beckons. We should have and we should want. Marketers of all sorts push us toward desires that will line their pockets and fuel their own accumulation. Even much of what passes for spirituality turns out to be a means to someone’s gain, or a promise to teach us how to “get what we want.”

But what about the deeper want? What about the desire within, what about the desire of the great without? Our essential selves sit watching us struggle, aware that all we could ever have is here now. We have always been just our selves, complete in the universe, sparse and expanding, stamped with the essential desire to Be.

It is when we allow this sparsity of mind – in those moments between our suffering – that we begin to understand.

Going Overseas: Reiki Beyond Japan

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The third webinar in Dr. Justin Stein’s 2020 series on the history of Reiki examined the beginnings of Reiki’s movement beyond Japan, including the nature of Takata’s training, how Reiki spread in Hawaii, and what changes occurred in that process. Dr. Stein is a well-known Reiki scholar and has researched and written extensively on Reiki and the cultural context in which it arose. This blog is a summary of Dr. Stein’s third webinar, posted with permission.

Hayashi Reiki Kenkyukai

In 1938, there were 4-5,000 members in Hayashi’s Reiki organization in Japan. The headquarters were in Tokyo, with branches in Kyoto, Nagoya, Daishoji, Chichibu, Sendai Morioka, and Aomori. There were 13 teachers (shihan), and there may have been additional assistant teachers (shihan-kaku) certified to teach level 1 only (shoden).

In looking at how Hayashi-trained practitioners conducted sessions, we have a few sources. One is an article by Matsui Shoo, a student of Hayashi. From this source, it appears that practitioners sometimes treated with one hand at a time, or even just a few fingers. Treatments were often quite long, and might involve multiple practitioners. Especially for serious illness, treatments might be given every day for several days. Matsui recounts treating a woman who seemed near death for six consecutive days, 7-8 hours per day. In a testimonial, a Reiki recipient describes an initial session of 2-3 hours, conducted by Matsui and 2 assistants.

Sessions were generally given with the recipients lying down, on futons or mats. Hayashi’s treatment manual describes sets of hand positions for treating particular conditions; his manual is similar to the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai’s handbook. Some describe recipients disrobing and receiving treatment under a quilt, but there are also indications that recipients were treated while clothed.

We have access to brief notes that Takata took during her Reiki 1 class with Hayashi. She writes that “in order to concentrate” the Reiki, the practitioner “must purify one’s thought…and to let the energy come out from within.” These concepts are very consistent with Buddhist theories of emanation of healing energy being linked to moral development. She adds that the energy is stored in the abdomen “about 2 inches below the navel,” which is consistent with Japanese Buddhist beliefs about the energy body.

Mrs. Takata writes to “sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, concentrate on your thoughts and relax, close your hand together and wait for the sign. Kindly and gently apply the hand starting from [either the heart or the head – writing not legible] downward.” This echoes a practice that Usui apparently taught, of sitting in Gassho (hands in prayer position), purifying one’s thoughts, and then waiting for a sign to begin treatment.

Mrs. Takata mentions, “the patient could be diagnosed just by the touch of hand,” which is apparently a reference to “byosen” – indications of the location of the source of disease by sensing energetic stimuli in the hands. She also addresses the mindset of the recipient. “The patient…must first purify one’s thoughts, feel comfortable and [have] a desire to get well…Gratitude is a great cure for the mind.” This emphasis on gratitude is consistent with the Reiki precepts.

Usui’s teaching system was apparently gradual, with various ranks and with practical examinations given to determine advancement, similar to a martial arts school. There were 3 main levels—shoden, okuden, and shinpiden—with sublevels in each. Hayashi seems to have had a similar system, although probably not as graduated. Classes were apparently 4-5 days long, with daily reiju (attunements). Hayashi may have taught the first two levels together under certain circumstances. Some students apprenticed at his clinics; during her initial training with Hayashi, Takata was a clinic apprentice.

Reiki in Hawaii

After her initial training, Takata returned to Hawaii in 1936. She treated clients in the afternoons and evenings, perhaps after her work day. She seems to have charged a fee for her treatments, but also offered free clinics. She was apparently teaching, perhaps only Reiki 1 as a shihan-kaku (assistant teacher). She returned to Japan in 1937 for further training. Takata seems to have been among the top students of Hayashi. She lived in Hayashi’s home, and traditionally in Japan, this would be the case if she were in the inner circle.

Hayashi travelled to Hawaii, arriving in October of 1937. From then until February 1938, he and Takata travelled throughout Hawaii teaching Reiki. This period was a continuation of her apprenticeship. Their classes seemed to have varied from 3 days to 5 days, with some of the five-day classes involving 2 hours of instruction per day. Class size was approximately 20 students, mostly women. They were taught in Japanese, and there were very few students who were not of Japanese origin. After Hayashi’s Hawaii trip, Mrs. Takata was apparently considered a fully-trained teacher by Hayashi, who gave her a certificate to that effect. Takata then regularly taught Reiki 1 and Reiki 2, mostly in Buddhist meeting spaces. She also ran a Reiki clinic.

Changes

Reiki practice apparently changed somewhat in the process of coming to Hawaii. It is difficult to discern exactly which changes Hayashi made prior to this period, which occurred during Hayashi’s time in Hawaii, and which Takata made afterwards.

That being said, overall, Takata’s way of practicing and teaching Reiki was quite similar to Japanese practice, particularly at first. Her early students were taught to use byosen (sensations in the hands) to determine the location of the cause of disease. They gave long treatments for no specific fee. Distance treatments were given by placing fingertips on a person’s photograph.

Some of her early students later criticized Takata for establishing a set fee for hour-long treatments. It is worth noting that Japanese cultural norms about reciprocity would likely have resulted in Japanese recipients paying practitioners a reasonable fee without the practitioners asking directly. Perhaps Takata discovered that the same reciprocity did not apply with non-Japanese or bicultural recipients. It is also worth noting that we have no information about Hayashi’s payment structure for Reiki sessions.

Takata had studied massage and naturopathy, and these apparently influenced her practice. She made nutritional recommendations, and also employed a stroke alongside the spine plus massage of feet and lower legs. However, it may be significant that a stroke alongside the spine is taught in at least one Reiki lineage that descended from Hayashi but not Takata.

At some point, recitation of poetry and the precepts in Hawaiian Reiki classes ceased. Perhaps we should note that these features might have been the most obviously Japanese elements of Reiki, and we are dealing here with Hawaii prior to and during the second world war. Takata advertised her classes prior to Pearl Harbor, but not afterwards. She also disbanded her Reiki clinics when the United States entered the war.

Takata taught in 3 levels. She reestablished a firm separation between first degree and second degree, which Hayashi apparently sometimes taught together. We don’t know why she made this change, but it might have been to make first degree more financially accessible.

Upcoming Webinars

Dr. Stein’s fifth and last webinar is on Sunday September 27: Unsolved Reiki Mysteries. All proceeds benefit the non-profit Reiki Centers of America and will be dedicated to the English translation of an important Reiki book. For more information, see https://reikicentersofamerica.org/reiki-webinar-series/

Stay tuned for my upcoming blog summarizing Dr. Stein’s fourth webinar Coming to North America: One Woman’s Mission to Spread Reiki. This lecture examines Takata’s teaching of Reiki in the mainland United States.

Teaching Reiki in the Pandemic

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When the Coronavirus arrived, I considered my situation and how I could continue to offer services to my clients and students. Energy work can be performed remotely, and so I was lucky to be able to continue working with many of my clients. I was able to meet virtually with my Reiki class graduates, so that they could continue to receive support from me and each other.

But teaching Reiki was another story. I didn’t know how well it would work to teach virtually. The group experience is so important to learning Reiki, as is the connection with the teacher. We perform attunements in Reiki classes, which involve working with the student’s energy body to create a deeper connection to sources of universal light. Could I effectively do all of this from a distance, virtually? And what would the best format be?

Luckily, I had a couple of friends who wanted to learn Reiki 1, and they were willing to try a virtual class. I sat down and planned my curriculum. I decided to teach 5 two-hour sessions, over 2-3 weeks, with practice and a bit of reading between sessions.

I was delighted to discover that the online format worked beautifully. The attunements seemed to function just the same at a distance as in-person — perhaps because I have many years of experience with distance healing. Although we missed each other’s physical presence, and we missed practicing with each other in-person, students practiced between sessions on themselves and their loved ones. From what students told me, as well as what I was able to feel emanating from them, it was clear that the attunements held. Their Reiki was strong and effective!

Based on this initial experience, I began to offer regular Reiki 1 and Reiki 2 classes virtually. At this point I have graduated quite a few people from online small-group classes. I hear from them regularly about how they are practicing Reiki and are helping themselves and others.

There are advantages to teaching and learning in this format. I am able to include students from across the country. I am able to include students with transportation challenges, with time constraints, or with disabilities that make a standard full-day format impossible. I can offer the class at a very reasonable rate because I don’t have to pay for room rental. Teaching across 2-3 weeks with practice between allows excellent, relevant questions to emerge. Students finish class with a strong understanding of Reiki and with a self-treatment routine already established.

Most importantly, students learn a powerful method for stress management, vitalizing the system, and boosting immunity — with 100% safety.

When the pandemic is over and we return to some degree of normality, I will joyfully return to teaching Reiki in person. And I will also continue my virtual Reiki classes, because now I can reach people who I couldn’t reach before.

Reiki is a gift of the Light. It has transformed my life. I am so grateful to Reiki and to the teachers who have come before me. There are those who say that Reiki should only be taught in-person, that teaching virtually is inappropriate and a distortion of Reiki. I respect their opinion. But one of my teachers wisely taught me that Reiki manifests differently through all of us, and that I need to be open to how it manifests through me.

We need the grace of Reiki now more than ever. We need peace in the midst of turmoil. Here I am, doing my best to interpret how Reiki wants to move through me, doing my best to share Mikao Usui’s beautiful gift with all those who want to receive it — including those who do not feel safe receiving it in person. I am here for anyone ready to bring themselves and others into the calming light.