Reiki/energy medicine

Japanese Reiki is a method of healing that employs what we refer to in modern English as the "bio-energy field" or simply "life energy". The life energy has different names in different traditional healing rationales, such as prana in Ayurvedic Medicine, qi in traditional Chinese medicine and ki in Japanese Reiki healing.

Simply put, the idea is that there is an energy field that surrounds all living things. It's easy enough to understand the idea, but not so easy for some people to accept. It is hard for some people to accept the existence of anything that they cannot see with the naked eye, but modern science would not have advanced this far if there were not people who could accept the existence of things that they could not see.

History of Japanese Reiki Healing

There are many stories and legends surrounding the beginning of Japanese Reiki. The fact is that Usui Maiko operated a dojo or school in Japan in the early 1920s, at which he taught students to recognize and use the bio-energy field to heal illnesses of all types. In the West, the word dojo has come to mean a school of martial arts, but in Japan, the word is used to refer to any school and literally means "place of the way".

Usui called his system "Reiki Ryoho", a system of healing that involves the use of the Universal life force. The term "Japanese Reiki" is sometimes used in the West to refer to the system that he designed, because over time different teachers have taught different versions of the healing art.

The idea of "healing with the hands" did not begin with Usui. He simply created a system that made it easy for people to learn the art. Whether or not he was divinely inspired is a matter of personal opinion. Apparently he was "inspired" in some way and believed that it was important to teach others.

It is a fact that he taught many people, including officers of the Japanese Navy. It is a fact that he formed a society known as Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkei. The society still exists in Japan and is called Usui Kai.

One of Usui's students, Chujiro Hayashi, went on to teach the Hawaiian born Japanese American woman Hawayo Takata. Takata eventually taught Japanese Reiki healing in Hawaii.

Many of her students continue to teach. Currently there are Japanese Reiki teachers or masters in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and many parts of the world. The system is still taught in Japan, as well.

Simply and briefly stated, that is the history of Japanese Reiki healing. Several authors have written books composed almost entirely of the history of Usui Maiko and his students, probably hoping to dispel some of the myths that surround the man's life, i.e. he was a professor of Christian theology at a Japanese University and studied at the University of Chicago in the United States. There is no evidence that either of these is t