A Japanese healing system built around the use of ki, the universal life energy, analogous to the Hindu prana and the od force described in the research of Baron von Reichenbach. Reiki can be traced to the discoveries of Mikao Usui, a Christian minister working in Kyoto in the 1880s. Challenged by his contemporaries concerning the Christian claims of biblical miracles, he began a search that led him to the United States to study at the University of Chicago, where he worked toward a Ph.D. However, he did not find answers to his questing until he investigated Buddhism.

Unable to find any Buddhists practicing healing, he learned Chinese and Sanskrit in order to read the early Buddhist sutras in their original languages. There he found a discussion of the healing power, and during a 21-day retreat he welcomed the power into himself. Soon afterward he was able to be the facilitator for several spectacular healings and he settled down in Kyoto to learn about this new power he had discovered and to perfect the techniques for using it. He eventually passed his knowledge to Chijuro Hayashi.

An event of great importance to the spread of reiki occurred in the 1930s when a young Japanese American, Hawayo Takata, ill and believing herself soon to die, returned to her native land. There she met several reiki healers and they facilitated her complete recovery. As a result she became the first woman, and first American, reiki master. She returned to Hawaii and taught quietly for many years. Then in the late 1970s she moved to the Midwest, where she began to share reiki healing with a larger audience of metaphysically-oriented Americans. Virginia Samdall of Chicago became the first of a new generation of reiki masters. In 1978 Takata initiated Barbara Ray of Atlanta, Georgia, and went on to teach her the secrets of initiating other reiki masters. She had previously taught the secrets to her granddaughter, Phillis Lei Furomoto.

Takata died in 1980. Both Ray and Furomoto, as reiki grand masters, assumed leadership for the development of the movement built around what Takata had taught them. Ray founded the American Reiki Association (later renamed the Radiance Technique Association International) and Furomoto founded the Reiki Alliance. Both have initiated further masters who formed different lineages of reiki practice.

Reiki is taught in three degrees. Students having mastered the first degree are equipped to use the reiki technique to heal others. The second degree provides a deeper knowledge of the reiki work. The third degree must be taught by a reiki grand master and allows one to become a reiki master and a teacher of reiki at the first and second levels. Today, an individual may learn reiki through classes or workshops at any number of special institutes or centers designed to teach reiki healing energy and educate the public. Each institute may teach its own unique system or interpretation of reiki based on traditional teachings. Completion of a reiki class usually leads to a certificate.

Legal requirements to practice reiki usually depend on the place where it is practiced. Regulation varies from state to state and any licenses are issued primarily by governmental bodies.

There are certain procedures and guidelines that are recommended with reiki treatments and therapy, although some reiki masters claim that reiki cannot cause harm or be performed incorrectly (it is possible to perform reiki illegally if there is inappropriate touching). Some masters also claim that it makes no difference if the person receiving treatment has Eastern or Western beliefs. Several styles of reiki are practiced around the world. Different reiki styles apply different methods to conduct the flow of energy during a treatment or therapy session. Methods or tools may include meditation, prayer, use of colors or sounds, chants, mantras, applying hot and cold sensations, elements or healing rays (fire, air, water, earth), use of crystals, astrology, tantric healing, karmic body education, chakras, breathing exercises, and attunement openings.

Sources:

Arnold, Larry, and Sandy Nevius. The Reiki Handbook. Harrisburg, Pa.: PSI Press, 1982.

Barnett, Libby. Reiki Energy Medicine: Bringing Healing Touch into Home, Hospital, and Hospice. Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press, 1996.

Henderson, Jaclyn Stein. "Insights to Reiki: Existing in a state of balance." Massage & Bodywork. June/July 1999. pp.96-99.

Ray, Barbara Weber. The Reiki Factor. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Radiance Associates, 1983.

Ray, Barbara Weber, and Nonnie Green, eds. The Official Reiki Handbook. Atlanta: The American-International Reiki Association, 1982.

Reiki Plus Institute of Natural Healing and Energetic Healing.http://www.reikiplus.com. June 15, 2000.

Stein, Diane. Essential Reiki: A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art. Freedom, Calif.: Crossing Press, 1995.

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.