Usui Reiki Level 1
Lesson 1
Welcome

Level 1 - Lesson 1

Welcome new student to the Correllian Order of Reiki. You are about to embark on a journey of the mind body and spirit, a journey of self-discovery; and one of enlightenment. You have taken your first step to becoming a Reiki practitioner. In this manual you will begin to learn the basics of a level one practitioner of Usui Reiki Ryoho. You will begin to see a transformation take place within your very being and you will also begin to see changes within the people you come in contact with and the world around you.

This manual and subsequent manuals will give you the information you need to advance to become certified as a Reiki practitioner, but the learning does not stop there. There are so many disciplines or modalities of Reiki, that to master every single one of them; may take a lifetime, if not several life times.

From this point forward we will be touching on many topics that will assist you in your learning and development. If at any time you run into any problems or need assistance, please contact your teacher or mentor. You will also have access to the forums where you can ask your questions and also interact with other students and teachers if you so wish. While forum participation is not required, it is encouraged as this will help both you and others. You may ask a question, or even have an answer that others may benefit from but may not feel comfortable asking.

As a student there are a few things that will be expected of you. First, and most important, is all students should show respect for not only the Master’s and Teacher’s, but also for one another. We all, as a whole, are taking this journey together, and there is much we can learn from one another. Regardless of how long we have been practicing, learning never stops and respect for one another helps us grow, as individuals and as a group.

Second, each manual must be read thoroughly prior to taking your first test. Making sure you have grasped the basics is very important in your development. There is no time limit so please do not feel you need to rush through the manual just so you can take the test. The more information that you retain and the more the information is engrained into your subconscious the easier it will be to progress and also lessen the effects of the detox process.

Finally, have fun. If you start to feel overwhelmed then take a couple days off from your studies. Enjoy life; enjoy your family and friends. Your studies should never make you feel like they are a burden.

History of Reiki


 Mikao Usui

August 15, l864 - March 9, 1926

The information comes mainly from the still living students of Mikao Usui and Chujiro Hayashi.

Some people might say that the history and background is really not so important and what matters is what you yourself are doing with their Reiki. For many of us feel, however, that a number of pieces of the puzzle come into place. Of knowledge, one can never have too much and to have access to accurate information about both the history and the spiritual background gives both more credibility and a more solid foundation for those who teach and want to share the wonderful gift that we call Reiki.

Japanese history

Four years after Usui was born - in 1868 - was a pivotal year in the Japanese history. Japan had more than 200 years, ruled by a strong Shogun regime. All foreigners were expelled and the Japanese themselves were forbidden to travel abroad. Only the Dutch and Chinese had limited permission to visit shopping malls in the city of Nagasaki.

Christianity was declared illegal and all Japanese were forced to register at a Buddhist Temple. Those who refused to renounce their Christian faith were executed. This also affected the European missionaries who did not want to leave Japan. Such was the situation even before Usui's birth. In 1868 the empire was re-established, and this was the beginning of the so-called "Meiki era". The newly installed Emperor Mutsuhito began his reign would be right up to 1912. Now the doors opened to the outside world and the Emperor urged people to visit other countries and to study and learn as much as possible about life in the West.

To further emphasize the new order in the country, the capital was moved from Kyoto as for more than thousand years (since 794) was Japan's capital city, to the city of Edo, which became the new capital - it was then renamed Tokyo.

Mikao Usui was born August 15, 1864 in the village Taniai mura (now Miyama Cho) in the Yamagata district of Gifu prefecture, Kyoto. He had three siblings, sister and brothers Tsuru Sanya and Kuniji.

He was married to Sadako Suquki and they had two children, the son named Fuji and the daughter Toshiko. The family moved in 1922 to Tokyo, where they settled in the suburb Harajaku.

At a young age he studied kiko. Kiko is the Japanese version of qigong, a discipline designed to improve health through meditation, breathing exercises and slow movement exercises. It focuses on the use and development of Ki, or life energy, and includes methods of healing by laying on of hands. Kiko requires building up an asset to the healing energy through the exercises before you use it for healing. When using the kiko method it is always easy to become exhausted, as it also can pull out one's own personal energy. The young Usui wondered if there was a way to heal without having to store up healing energy and that it didn’t make you exhausted. This was an important issue and it was like an order in his mind during development, a seed that would grow unnoticed. Until later in his life, it was realized in the most inscrutable ways.

Usui travelled throughout Japan, China and Europe in search of knowledge. He was intent on learning more and studied a wide range of subjects such as medicine, psychology, religion and spiritual development. Thanks to its elevated spiritual abilities, he could join a metaphysical group called Rei Jyutu Ka, where his education in the spiritual world continued.

His intense and sustained interest in the knowledge created the foundation that made him understood the significance of the unexpected blessings that came to him several years later. His education and well-organized mind, helped him get a job first as Minister of Shinpei Goto, then Head of the Department of Health and Welfare and finally Mayor of Tokyo. One of the benefits of his job as minister is that he got to know many influential people throughout Japan. These contacts helped him to start his own firm and he eventually became a successful businessman.

His business career was going well for quite some time, but in 1914 it slowed down and got worse in spite of his broad experience, so he asked himself this question: "Which is the true meaning of life?"

As he studied history, medicine, Buddhism, Christianity, psychology, asceticism and to divine, to name a few, Usui reached the conclusion: "The true meaning of life is to experience full inner peace or complete silence."

It led him to study Zen Buddhism in an attempt to achieve this state. But despite that Usui practiced asceticism for three years he had not reached the enlightened state. He became desperate and asked his Zen master for advice. The Zen master replied: "Maybe you should experience death."

It was a great surprise to Usui, who now began to wonder if it was to be done - perhaps his life was over. In March 1922 Mikao Usui went to Mount Kurama, outside Kyoto.

He fasted, prayed and chanted meditation. One of the meditations that he could have done, was to stand under an artificial waterfall so that the water-stream falls on your head. This meditation is practiced today on Mount Kurama. Its purpose is to purify and open the crown chakra.

At the end of his third fasting week Usui suddenly felt a strong shock in the middle of his head, as if lightning struck down. He lost consciousness for several hours, he woke up and noticed that the sun had begun to decline. To his surprise he felt rejuvenated in a way he never before experienced. During the incident had Reiki energy penetrated his body and soul. Mikao Usui understood: "The universe is me - and I am the universe." He had experienced enlightenment he so long sought.

Illuminated Usui ran joyfully down the mountain. On the way he tripped on a rock and broke a toenail. He put his hand over the toe and to his surprise, the pain, the bleeding stopped and the toe healed. Overwhelmed he hurried back to the Zen-temple to talk about the events to the Zen master who told him to experience death. The Zen master confirmed that Usui achieved the enlightened state and asked him to use the healing ability that he had on the mountain to heal others and lead them to enlightenment.

Back home, Usui tried to heal his family and the result convinced him to share the gift with others. He developed a method that could pass on as the gift to others. This method is now called: The Usui Reiki Treatment Method for Improvement of Body and Mind.

In April 1922 Usui moved to Tokyo and founded the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, which means Usui-Reiki - healing association. He also opened a clinic in Harajuku, Aoyama near the Meiji Shrine in central Tokyo and began to have courses and provide Reiki treatments.

He then developed six levels, or degrees, of their teaching. He termed their levels of count to what we do in the West: The first level was the number 6 and the highest level was number 1. The first four levels, as the levels were six to three, taught Mrs. Takata as Reiki 1. She combined all four to one degree. That's why she gave four attunements for the first level, an initialization for each level.

The first four levels are called Shoden or beginner level, the fifth level called Okuden or internal teaching and was divided into Okuden Zenki (first half) and Okuden Koki (second half) and graduate level called Shinpiden or mystery education.
 
It was Hawayo Takata who created the Master title when she began teaching at Shinpiden level.

In 1923 Japan was shaken by the great Kanto earthquake, one of the worst and most devastating earthquakes that hit Japan. Over 140 000 people were killed. Many were injured, buildings collapsed, thousands were left homeless. All were shocked and emotionally damaged. The demand for Reiki was enormous and Usui and his students worked day and night to help as many as they could. 1925 he opened a much larger clinic in Nakano in Tokyo, and began to travel throughout Japan to spread Reiki. The need for healing after the earthquake were sustained for many years, and during that time taught Usui more than two thousand students Reiki and taught it to sixteen teachers.

Usui died March 9, 1926 after suffering a stroke. Only a few hours before his death he was still busy to give healing. Usui was buried at the Saihoji-temple cemetery outside Tokyo. Next to his family tomb is a 3.5 meter-high monument with an inscription that tells his life story. It was erected years after his death by a couple of his students

Dr. Chujiro Hayashi - 1879 - 1940
During one of his many trips, had Usui met Chujiro Hayashi, he was a Navy doctor and Commander of the Royal Japanese fleet. He practiced in both Eastern and Western medicine. Dr. Hayashi met Usui when he spoke at a town square and was impressed by Usui.

Usui asked if Hayashi wanted to accompany him on his journeys and so he did and when Usui died broke Hayashi away from the Gakkai and created their own association. He documented in detail their treatment and developed his own reiki style with the various hand positions.

Hayashi opened a Reiki clinic in Tokyo, using Usui's Reiki techniques.

To get to practice Reiki at that time, you had to be accepted by a master, and promise to practice Reiki daily and voluntary work a few hours in the Reiki clinic regularly.

Hayashi died on 10 May 1940. Japan had decided to enter the war and because he was a reserve officer, he knew that he would have to do the service and kill many people, he did not want it and decided to take his own life.
 
Mrs. Hawayo Takata - 1900 - 1980
Hawayo Takata was born on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Her parents were immigrants from Japan and worked in the sugar cane plantation, where also Hawayo worked. She got married and had two children and her husband died in the 1930th. Hawayo Takata was raising her two kids alone and worked on sugarcane plantations to support her family. The work was very hard and after five years, she developed respiratory problems and stomach pains and had a nervous breakdown. Soon after the death of her sister, she travelled to Japan to visit their parents, and to seek help for their health.

The night before the surgery would take place; she heard a voice in her head that said that the surgery was unnecessary so she asked the doctor if there was another option. The doctor had a sister who had been cured of dysentery at Hayashi's clinic, and suggested to Mrs. Takata that she would talk to his sister, and his sister took her to the Reiki clinic and her treatment began. She received two treatments per day and after four months she was completely healed. It was confirmed by testing in the regular hospital.

After Mrs. Takata was healed, she wanted to learn Reiki herself. Hayashi was not willing to let Mrs. Takata learn it, but together with her doctor, she managed to persuade Hayashi to allow her to practice at the clinic.

She learned at this time, up to Reiki 2 level.

After this year, Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii, Dr. Hayashi came shortly after her and together they travelled around Hawaii and taught Reiki and gave treatments. February 21, 1938 Dr. Hayashi  initiated Hawayo Takata to the Master level.

Takata established a clinic near Hilo, Hawaii, and also had one in Honolulu. She gave treatments and also taught students to Okuden, which she began to call Level 2. She became a renowned healer and went to the continental U.S. and to other parts of the world to teach and give treatments.

Mrs. Takata returned to Hawaii and went on to teach Reiki. Later she moved to California and she died in 11 December 1980. Between 1975 and 1980 initiated Hawayo Takata 22 Reiki Masters. These were Barbara McCullough, Gorge Araki, Beth Gray, Ursula Baylow, Paul Mitchell, Iris Ishikura, Fran Brown, Barbara Weber Ray, Ethel Lombardi, Wanja Twan, Virginia Samdahl, Phyllis Lei Furumoto, Dorothy Baba, Mary McFaden, John Gray, Rick Bockner, Bethel Phaigh, Harry Kuboi, Patricia Ewing, Shinobu Saito, Takata's sister, Barbara Brown.
 
Takata died in 1980. She got all that she had initiated to Masters to take a sacred oath to teach exactly as she had done, to preserve the Usui-system as she had once given it. Though the lineage leading back to Dr. Usui omitted her teaching and practical approach much of what Dr. Usui himself considered as important, and added many of her own rules. You might call her reiki for Takata Reiki.






Previoius
Next
Index