Harnessing the Stars: Navigating Life Transitions with Astrology
Origin and Root of Reiki
Reiki is a conventional process of meditation that targets the reduction of stress and providing an atmosphere of serenity and comfort. Spiritual in nature, it aims to heal and establish the physical, emotional, as well as the spiritual balance and well-being of the body, by siphoning the ultimate energy force and fabricating a positive aura, thus revitalizing the complete process.
The origin of roots of this kind of energy therapy can be dated back to the time of Christ. The Bible claims that Jesus was able to heal the sick, cure the lame and the deaf and at instances, even raise the dead. It is believed that he depended on God for all his help, which clearly shows that he used spirituality and the lifeforce energy in his approach.
The Reiki practice was rediscovered by Mikao Usui, a Buddhist monk, back in the 1900s in Japan, while he was meditating in order to attain a new state of spirituality for 21 days in the sacred mountain of Kurama Yama. His teachings and beliefs form the basis of the reiki culture practiced today. The Reiki ideals were constructed on the five principles laid by the Meiji Emperor, whom Usui valued, to add a spiritual balance to the practice of Reiki. The five principles were:
- Not to get angry today
- Not to be grievous
- To continually express gratitude and thankfulness
- To be generous to other beings
- To be meticulous in one's business
The teachings of Mikao Usui comprised of six divisions. Shoden, meaning student was the beginning having 4 levels, in which the individual had to be strenuous in developing their own spirituality before being able to move on to the next level. Okuden, denoting inner teachings, consisted of two phases. Shinpi-den, meaning mystery teachings, is the last stage which only a few people are able to attain and thus be called a Reiki master.
Life of Mikao Usui and Reiki
Mikao Usui, also commonly named Usui Sensei, was born to a wealthy Buddhist family on 15th August 1865, with an ancestral lineage of the Hatamoto Samurai in Taniai, a district of Gifu in Japan. He received his education in a Buddhist monastery and mastered the skills of martial arts and swordsmanship. Although it lacks proof, it is believed that he had obtained a doctorate in theology from the University of Chicago. His subjects of interest were medicine, religion, psychology, and divination.
In the early 1920s, Usui went to a cave in Mount Kurama where he meditated and fasted for over a span of twenty-one days to attain the knowledge of the ultimate state of spirituality. When he was nearly about to give up, he was enlightened and was spiritually reborn with the understanding of Reiki. Ever since he taught this practice to approximately 2000 people in his lifetime and treated and cured innumerable patients. He trained sixteen reiki masters, one of them being Chujiro Hayashi, who opened a Reiki clinic in Tokyo and led forward Usui’s teachings. Mikao Usui died in March 1926 at the age of 60 in Fukuyama, Japan. One of the teachings and original writings of Mikao Usui is shown.
The secret art of inviting happiness
The miraculous medicine of all diseases
Just for today, do not anger
Do not worry and be filled with gratitude
Devote yourself to your work. Be kind to people.
Every morning and evening, join your hands in prayer.
Pray these words to your heart
and chant these words with your mouth
Usui Reiki Treatment for the improvement of body and mind
The founder,
Usui Mikao.
The spread of Reiki to the West:
Reiki was a verbal institution in the West with no inscribed record of the antiquity of its teachings. The credit of spreading the culture of Reiki to the west goes to Hawayo Takata, a woman of Japanese-American descent born and raised in Hawaii in 1900. At the age of 35, she was taken ill and had to undertake surgery to go back to her general well-being, for which she went to Tokyo and learned about the Reiki practice. Under the treatment of the Reiki Master, Chujiro Hayashi, she was healed within the span of four months. Subsequently from this revitalizing experience, she intended to acquire the mastery of reiki under the supervision of Chujiro Hayashi, which she mastered by 1940.
Takata practiced and treated several patients in Hawaii and opened various Reiki clinics. She basically focused to establish a connection of Reiki with Christianity to spread it across the Western countries.
