Modern Reiki

We have covered the history of Reiki and we will now explain how modern Reiki has developed in the Western World.

Though Usui Mikao created the system of Reiki to help people work towards enlightenment, he also used Reiki as a treatment for health, it is the teachings of Hawayo Takata which shaped the way that Reiki is taught and used by Western Practitioners.

Where her own studies, and those of all of Usui Mikao’s students, took many months, her teachings condensed this knowledge into a much shorter workshop style of learning, taking place over a few days, which fits more easily into Western lifestyles and working patterns.

The four Reiki symbols that Usui Mikao taught are still used today – three learned at Second Degree and the fourth at Master level. Practitioners are also taught the twelve basic hand positions for healing – both of oneself and for healing others.

Her own teachings were discussed and a formalised learning programme agreed by her Master Students following her death, and her Granddaughter, Phyllis Lei Furumoto, assumed the title of Grand Master in her place.

Reiki teachings are still oral – meaning that they are taught in person, in workshops – following the traditions that Mrs Takata began with her storytelling approach to learning.

In Western teaching Reiki is a healing system, with some spiritual aspect. This differs from the traditional Japanese teachings begun by Usui Mikao, which focussed more on spiritual awakening, which physical healing was a by-product of.

Here at the Enzo Reiki Academy we focus on the more traditional Japanese methodologies. This Japanese system is less fixed than the Western approach, and trusts to a more flexible and intuitive understanding of Reiki energy, allowing practitioners to develop their innate sensitivity and awareness of Reiki, trusting to the guidance of the energy itself.

This allows for a deeper understanding of the healing energy, and to greater physical and spiritual health benefits for ourselves and for those we treat.

Our focus isn’t on physical health alone, it is on a holistic replenishment of personal, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Because of the nature of Reiki, learning isn’t meant in the way that the Western mind may understand it. Reiki isn’t knowledge based – it is, instead, experience based. It cannot be learned from books, but is passed from a Reiki Master to their students through experience and spiritual empowerments.

This means that Reiki has a linear system in which all who obtain attunement can trace their own lineage directly to Usui Mikao, much like a family tree.

Modern Reiki focusses on a number of principals or ideals, which may be worded differently depending where your Reiki Master was taught, but in essence remain the same: the principles we follow here at Enso Reiki Academy are;

For today only

• do not anger
• do not worry
• Be grateful
• Practice diligently
• Be compassionate to yourself and others

Keep in mind that the Japanese language is deep and complex, so there are many translations of the original text, so the wording of these principals may differ – but they all share similarities and all help you to live a better life, which is what was intended when Usui Mikao first set them out.