Usui Reiki Ryoho
Similarly to the way the term Yoga Nidra refers to both the mind-state to be attained and the method to attain it,
the word "Reiki" has come to have two different meanings.
"Be the Light" by Michele A. Caron
The original Kanji for the word Reiki reveals much of the philosophy and practice of Reiki. These characters have their origins in Chinese script, which names China's role in the colonization of Japan as part of the timeline and development of the system of Reiki.
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The first character, at the top of the word, symbolizes rain coming down from Heaven into 3 open vessels.
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The character at the bottom of the word is the character for rice, growing up from Earth.
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Directly below the character for rain, there is a character symbolizing a human being, dancing in prayer.
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The character directly below them is a character for steam.
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What we see, then, is the energy of Heaven coming down and the energy of Earth coming up, meeting at the center in the embodied human form, dancing in prayer. These three energies together, making Universal Lifeforce or Universal Spirit Energy, produce a phenomenon of energy, like steam, that can be felt but not seen.
Throughout the course of human history, many methods and practices for working with universal spirit energy have existed, and continue to emerge. In this use of the word, all personal ancestral magics that work with Universal Life Force Energy and all branches of Reiki which have developed from the initial palm healing practices of Japan are and can call themselves, if they wish, Reiki.
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I am endlessly grateful to my teacher, Marika Hamahata Clymer, for artfully dissolving the foundations of my formalized Reiki education and opening the doors to Mystery wide, so that my Spirit Energy and my ancestral ways of working with it could emerge.
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Usui Reiki Ryoho translates to the Usui Method of Natural Healing. The concepts of Usui, Reiki, and Palm Healing have become synonymous with one another, but they did not begin this way. Usui Reiki Ryoho is a 5-pointed system of personal spiritual development, of which palm healing is one of five essential components.
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Mikao Usui, the man who synthesized Usui Reiki Ryoho, drew together elements of the Indigenous Japanese spiritualities and practices of Shinto and Shugendo with aspects of Tendai Buddhism, brought to Japan through it's colonization by China. At the time of Reiki's synthesis, palm healing methods of many kinds were seeing a renaissance in Japan, and Usui Reiki Ryoho was only one method of many which trained people in it. Usui Reiki Ryoho is a practice of practices for daily living, meditation, palm healing, sound and visual resonance magics and spiritual blessing, as an accessible path of spiritual development and enlightenment.
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Usui established the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, a society for the preservation of Usui Reiki, before his death in 1926. When Reiki made its way to the United States in the early 1930 and 40s, and then saw itself changed over its many years of mistranslation, cultural appropriation, evolution and loss, practitioners in the United States became disconnected from the roots of Reiki. (And yet, the Universal Spirit Energy perseveres through all forms.)
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Through the profound work of global Reiki teachers and Reiki researchers, including Hiroshi Doi, who served as a member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, and my teacher Frans Stiene and his co-author Bronwen Logan (Stiene), the roots of Usui Reiki Ryoho are being remembered, practiced and shared.
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I am so grateful to continue to train with Frans and to have the language and the roots of Usui Reiki Ryoho that hold me in my spiritual growth and in my practice. It is my joy to share these practices and this Spirit Energy in service of liberation for all beings.
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As a white practitioner and teacher of Reiki, I am formally trained in the Usui Reiki Ryoho lineage. This is what I teach and strive to honor in my work and my practice, while continuing to learn from and remember my own ancestral Rei-Ki spirit energy practices which live within me. It is not mine to teach what lives underneath Reiki, the Indigenous practices of Japan, and I highly suggest, if you are looking to learn Reiki from the perspective of ancestral medicine, that you work with my teacher Marika Hamahata Clymer.
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If you are looking to train in Usui Reiki Ryoho, I offer trainings local to Portland and Stockton Springs. Contact me below to request more information. My teacher Frans Stiene also teaches Usui Reiki Ryoho around the world, and it is a wonderful experience to learn from him that I highly recommend.
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Experience Reiki
Practice & Learn
Whether you are brand new to Reiki or have many years of experience, practicing and learning Usui Reiki Ryoho is a lifelong practice of spiritual development.
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Stay tuned to this space in the weeks to come, as I will be announcing monthly Usui Reiki Ryoho Community Practice Groups both on Zoom and in-person at the Celebration Tree Farm in Durham, Maine.
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If you would like to train in Usui Reiki Ryoho at any of the 3 levels (Shoden, Okuden and Shinpiden) please contact me at mea@hallowedwell.com as I am putting together classes for Summer 2024.
Reiki Sessions
Whether we are practicing palm healing, or sharing in the resonance of Reiki from a "distance", all Reiki practice is a practice of co-meditation.
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In the sharing of this resonance (my teacher Frans says, "no giver, no receiver, no gift". In truth, if I am light and you are light and everything is light, then how can I give you light? We simply remember the truth, and exist in it together.) we receive exactly what we require for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing in that moment.
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The in-person experience of Reiki can be wonderful, in that it calls in and uses the comforting human element of touch, which serves as both presence and an anchor for the mind in receiving. Distance sessions provide access to a greater number of people, and increased safety in the time of continued pandemic.
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