Why Jikiden Reiki ?

Since we learned the Jikiden Reiki form of Usui Reiki and are now a Teacher and practitioner of this form of Usui Reiki we are dedicated to promoting communication among Jikiden pracitioners and Jikiden teachers and to providing information about the teaching and traditional practice of a simple, effective and original form of Usui Reiki taught by Dr. Chujiro Hayashi in Japan in the 1930s. Dr. Hayashi learned Reiki and the Reiki Gokai or precepts directly from Mikao Usui the founder of Reiki and was one of his 22 Reiki teachers. The Jikiden Reiki Association which I have formed with other Jikiden Reiki Teachers/Shihans has a primary purpose is of promoting the teaching and practice of the form of Reiki that Dr. Hayashi learned from Mikao Usui and taught The word "Jikiden" means directly handed down. Jikiden Reiki is closely aligned with the Reiki Gokai (Precepts) for Health and Happiness authored by Mikao Usui and its center is the Jikiden Reiki Kenkyukai or Jikiden Reiki Research Institute in Kyoto, Japan. Mrs. Chiyoko Yamaguchi, the cofounder of Jikiden Reiki took her first Reiki seminar from Chujiro Hayashi in Ishikawa, Japan, in 1938 at the age of 17 and she practiced and taught Reiki in Japan until she died in 2003. The Jikiden Reiki Kenkyukai or Jikiden Reiki Research Institute was cofounded by Chiyoko Yamaguchi and her son Tadao Yamaguchi. Mr. Yamaguchi and Jikiden teachers taught by the Yamaguchis and their students are currently teaching Jikiden Reiki seminars worldwide. Tadao Yamaguchi's highly recommended book Light on the Origins of Reiki: A Handbook for Practicing the Original Reiki of Usui and Hayashi gives a Japanese spiritual, historical and cultural context to the practice and origins of Reiki in the world today.

Why would an Usui Reiki Master or practitioner from another lineage of Reiki other than Jikiden take a Jikiden Reiki seminar? First of all: Jikiden Reiki is Usui Reiki, as this simple hand-healing and distant treatment method started with Mikao Usui in Japan in 1922. �Jikiden� means directly transmitted, and in the Japanese language and culture, is a term that refers to a traditional art form, passed on carefully from teacher to student without alteration.

Chiyoko Yamaguchi and her son Tadao decided to pass the Usui Reiki form they had learned from Dr. Hayashi after they met with many non-Japanese Reiki practitioners who came to Japan in the 1990s searching for Reiki�s Japanese roots. After meeting and talking with many of these Reiki pilgrims, the Yamaguchis quickly realized how much Reiki practice and teaching had changed since Mrs. Yamaguchi learned and taught it with so many new unfamiliar elements that originally had nothing to do with Reiki practice or teaching, and notions and knowledge of Japanese history, culture and spirituality they considered fundamental to Reiki teaching and Reiki practice either unknown at all or marginalized in the Reiki their visitors practiced and taught...

What would a Usui Reiki masters and practitioners get from taking Jikiden Reiki training? I am an Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki Master and have been a member of and am currently active in the Reiki Alliance that supports teachers of the Usui Shiki Ryoho form of Usui Reiki. Since becoming! a Jikiden Reiki Shihan Kaku (Apprentice Teacher) and later a Shihan I have taught among my other Reiki students a number of other Reiki masters, who have greatly appreciated what Jikiden Reiki offers and who found that it has clarified many questions for them. At a minimum deepened their understanding of the Reiki engergy and their practice of Usui Reiki and its deeply Japanese origins. I have also met some Reiki teachers and practitioners who said they were happier with their own way of doing things.  I have also even had conversations with some Usui Reiki mastersrs who expressed concern that the form they learned would somehow be adulterated by by taking a Jikiden Reiki seminar.

So to answer the question why Jikiden Reiki from my personal experience, as ultimately we choose what�s right for us as individuals, don't we? Having trained in non-Jikiden Reiki to the master level in 1988 first which in itself was a phenomenal experience, Reiki as a healing practice continues to be for me the center of my spiritual practice. Nevertheless, I was marginally bothered by many inconsistencies and bits of illogic. I felt uncomfortable with being told not quite believable stories about Usui sensei�s and Hayahshi-sensei's lives and times, the role of women in Reiki, and also being given tools with applications that I later came to know from experience, worked well, but were given to me without context, real explanation or ellaboration.While this lack of complete or believable information didn't affect my practice and teaching, I observed that what was left unexplained left too many openings for misinterpretations and �innovation� or belatedly articulated �rules� from others that seemed to confuse and obfuscate rather than to nurture, feed or support the form of Usui Reiki that I had learned so many years ago.

No criticism of Mrs. Takata is either appropriate or useful. One can only be deeply grateful to her for having found a universal format although essentially devoid of its original Japanese historical, cultural and spiritual context that allowed Reiki teaching and practice to flourish and spread successfully, one could say like wildfire all over the world. But today in different historic circumstances from those Takata-sensei found herself in Hawaii, Canada and America just after the World War II, we can now through thorough exploration of Jikiden Reiki gain access to the specific Japanese cultural , historical and spiritual roots of Reiki practice and Reiki teaching. This is an immense opportunity to make Usui Reiki practice and teaching intelligible and trustworthy, and allows for deeper understanding of Reiki. I'd urge you not to pass up this chance. Consider taking a good look at Jikiden Reiki. Take a Shoden seminar or a lecture about the Jikiden concept of byosen which I believe is essential to understanding how Usui Reiki works.

Although Jikiden Reiki training is not the only Usui Reiki form that allows for a deep understanding of Reiki practice, and teaching, I have seen many practitioners grow deeper roots and insight into the nature of Reiki simply from Jikiden Reiki�s simple and straightforward no-nonsense intuitive form and consistent practice which was after all the path that Takata-sensei herself recommended. I have been following that recommendation by Takata sensei�s for 23+ years both before and now after I have trained in.Jikiden Reiki. And as I�ve told anyone who�d listen many times the Reiki I learned 23+ years ago got me through stage IVA ovarian cancer. During my cancer treatment I received an uncountable number of distant Reiki treatment from devoted members of the Reiki Alliance, and prayers from churches and from friends and strangers. I know for certain I would not be here 7 years out from that grave stage of cancer now cancer-free without all that compassionate help. Words can�t fully express my gratitude for all the compassion I have been shown. And my persistent practice of Reiki lead me over those 23+ years to an intrinsically intuitive practice of Reiki very closer to the approach of Jikiden Reiki .

I encountered Jikiden Reiki through a Jikiden treatment from a fellow Usui Reiki Master who took the first two Jikiden Reiki seminars: Shoden and Okuden. At the time in early 2009, I �d had a lung infection for over a month that wouldn�t seem to budge despite allopathic, naturopathic, and Reiki treatment. After an hour long Reiki Treatment that seemed to continue on even through an hour lunch, my lung infection simply disappeared. That motivated me look into Jikiden Reiki and ultimately to take Jikiden Shoden and Okuden seminars with Tadao Yamaguchi in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the fall of 2009, the Shihan Kaku seminar in March 2010, and finally the Shihan seminar in October 2010. In looking closely at both forms of Usui Reiki that I have learned I think that many of the differences between Usui Shiki Ryoho and Jikiden Reiki can be explained by the simple fact that the Reiki I learned originally was passed on without its Japanese roots. That omission although in the post-war West perhaps necessary and practical opened the door widely to misunderstandings and to Reiki becoming! amalgamated and confused with so many other diverse ways of thinking about and doing energy work mixed in. Instead of blending everything with everything else until we end up with grey, why not simply accept that there are many paths to healing, and different windows to truth and try to keep our Reiki window clear and unconfused?

I am not saying that combining Reiki practice with other healing modalities or other thought systems is necessarily wrong and should never happen, but I suggest that more is not necessarily better and that clear-headed discretion is essential. In Reiki we are now in a situation where Reiki has become amorphous and in many cases largely ineffective, seen as airy-fairy, if not a bit disreputable. I can easily understand why anyone with their critical faculties intact might dismiss this wonderfully simple and accessible healing modality after a 20 minute browse on the internet. Jikiden Reiki is very much about keeping Usui Reiki practice as much as possible to how it was conceived of by its founder Mikao Usui and practiced and taught in Japan in the 1920�s and 1930�s. There�s an attention, rigor and discipline in Jikiden Reiki that I see as a mark of respect to its original teachers. Reiki was born out of an experience of enlightenment and crafted as a healing method from a broad knowledge base of different Japanese and other Asian healing traditions. Mikao Usui reportedly prided himself in the simplicity of the method he had created, and that is for me one of its incredible strengths. Adding in anything else creates clutter where there once was clarity, Once its original context and intention has been re-inserted into Reiki practice, we simply don�t need to worry about many of the complicated debates found in non-Jikiden Reiki on, for example, issues such as grounding or protection, when we realize that the answer has already been built right into the core of Reiki practice. �In the Western mind everything seems so complicated�, Chiyoko sensei once said. One cannot help but love the elegance of a system that deals with complexity in the simplest possible way.

So without being able to reveal the details of Jikiden Reiki practice and Jikiden Reiki teaching which are only passed on directly from teacher to student in Jikiden Reiki seminars, what are some of the salient aspects of Jikiden Reiki? I value the conceptual framework for how Reiki energy interacts with the diseased or unwell body in Jikiden Reiki and think that this method of Reiki has great practical value. In Jikiden Reiki, we don�t work with set hand positions, but instead focus treatment on the areas where there are accumulations of toxins and we use Reiki to help the body break them down and eliminate them more effectively from the body. From a Jikiden Reiki point of view, a toxin free body naturally shows a quick healing response and is quite capable of looking after itself. Yet, living in the 21st century it�s almost impossible not to experience toxin overload. Training Reiki practitioners to develop sensitivity in their hands so they can find the problem areas in my opinion is an invaluable asset that works directly on the problem areas and tends to get faster results when illness is already manifested. Such sensitivity is also a skill of great value in preventative health care. Using Reiki early on, perhaps we never need to experience the more serious conditions that may develop if we don�t regularly clear the buildup of toxins. And what a blessing to have the means to do this in our own hands!

While the concept of removing toxins using Reiki can easily be taught in a week-end workshop, you will appreciate that the skill of effectively reading a client�s body comes with time and practice. Such skills of perception are usually subtle at first and only really begin to unfold with practice while treating both others and oneself. The Jikiden method of Reiki heals sometimes over time but many times right away. Once fully developed, the ability to sense body toxins gives useful insight into the natural healing process, and helps the Reiki practitioner make important treatment decisions: where to focus treatment and for how long. Are we dealing with a chronic problem or is it acute? How long to stay in the same area during a session, and how many sessions will be needed is a skill that is developed over time? With the caveat that most Reiki practitioners may not be medically trained, although some are, and if not a medical professional they cannot diagnose the nature of the problem or name a disease. Jikiden Reiki practitioners simply decide where to focus their Reiki treatment, where it will be most useful. As with all methods of Reiki, with time and practice, they can assess healing progress and deternine the recommended treatment frequency needed for best results based on the changing sensations in their hands. Some even say that the ability to sense body toxins can also help to find areas where emotional trauma maybe stored in the body, and can be safely released with Reiki treatment.

Spirituality in Jikiden Reiki is implied in everything, and is as natural as water or air or earth, and therefore need not be shouted from the roof-tops. Instead Jikiden Reiki practitioners and teachers focus on becoming! compassionate by working on others and ourselves. In our daily lives we follow and meditate on the Gokai, or 5 Simple Reiki principles for Health and Happiness that help keep us humble and in the present moment: Just for Today, Don�t be Angry, Don�t Be Worried, Be Grateful, Fulfill Duties Fully, Be Kind to Others.(translated directly from the Japanese).

In Jikiden Reiki we are particularly grateful for the insight Jikiden Reiki provides to the tools that we learn and use in Reiki practice. This is a far different experience from in other Reiki forms where students are often given drawings, words, and mantras and their application without its original Japanese context. Jikiden Reiki gives us that context in which and from which these tools were derived along with their inherent meaning and function that not only makes sense of the treatment methods we use --physical, psychological and distant-- but also allows for a unique insight into the philosophy behind Reiki practice and the world view underlying it. It is also here that we find the answers to issues that have become very complicated and involved in Western thinking about Reiki. Again, everything in Jikiden Reiki fits simply and elegantly addressing the task at hand in a straightforward way. The mental, emotional and phychological treatment, for example, accomplishes incredible results, even with long-term mental or emotional patterns or bad habits, and in Jikiden Reiki knowing the background to this treatment method, it becomes clear how this works in such a simple way. We would argue that Jikiden Reiki spiritually with its carefully explained underpinnings is trustworthy and offers a coherent system that is not vague or amorphous and can be relied upon unlike a few other forms of Reiki that can be found on the internet. Ultimately, everything we do in Jikiden Reiki practice and teaching is designed to bring us back, gently and at our own pace, to our original state of perfection and oneness that is Usui Reiki.