Traditional Japanese Reiki
The Story of Reiki & My Lineage
Usui Shiki Ryoho, the Usui Reiki system of natural healing, and the unbroken line of Masters I belong to.
For more than 1,000 years, Mount Kurama has had the reputation of being a sacred mountain and a spiritual energy power spot. It is the birthplace of Reiki. This page is for those who, like me, love to know where a practice comes from and whose hands it has passed through. For what a session is like, see Reiki Healing.
My Reiki lineage
- 1Mikao Usui - founder of Reiki (Japan)
- 2Chujiro Hayashi - Master student of Mikao Usui (Japan)
- 3Hawayo Takata - Master student of Chujiro Hayashi (Japan / Hawaii)
- 4Wanja Twan - Master student of Hawayo Takata (British Columbia)
- 5Inger Droog - Master student of Wanja Twan and Phyllis Furumoto (British Columbia)
- 6Nicolette Ross - Master student of Inger Droog (Calgary, Alberta); conference teachings and healings with Wanja Twan
I became a Usui Shiki Ryoho Master in 2012, and I am a sixth-generation Master in the direct lineage of Mikao Usui.
The Masters I learned from
Hawayo Takata was healed in Japan in 1933 by Chujiro Hayashi, and became a Reiki Master in Japan in 1938. Wanja Twan is one of the 22 Masters initiated by Hawayo Takata. She became a Reiki Master in 1979 in British Columbia, brought Reiki to Sweden, Germany and numerous other places, and is a fourth-generation Master in the direct lineage of Mikao Usui. She is my teacher’s Reiki teacher.
Inger Droog is a Master Degree student of Wanja Twan and also learned from Hawayo Takata. She became a Reiki Master in 1984 in Stockholm, Sweden, and brought Reiki to the Netherlands, Belgium, Surinam and Curaçao. She is a fifth-generation Master in the direct lineage of Mikao Usui, and she is my teacher.
I am a Master Degree student of Inger Droog, and learned more about Reiki and our lineage from Wanja Twan and other Masters at the Masters Conference in Sidney, British Columbia, in 2015. My own Master Degree student, Jackie Dersch, was also taught by Inger Droog and joined us there. The lineage continues.
A brief Reiki story
Reiki was given to the world around 1900 by Dr. Mikao Usui, a Japanese Buddhist theologian. It is said Dr. Usui believed deeply in the healing powers of prana and ki, and was looking for the meaning of his life. He launched a search for answers, a quest that took more than 20 years of travel and the study of many languages, cultures and texts, including the Sutras.
After years of travel, study and inner seeking, he asked for advice from his good friend, a Tendai Buddhist monk living in the temple at Mount Kurama. After meditation and prayer, it was decided that Mikao would meditate on Mount Kurama, outside Kyoto, and wait 21 days for an answer. The monk told him: if he found the answers, they were for him to know; if he did not, they were not for him, and his quest should end.
On the final evening of the 21st day, as he sat in meditation, he surrendered his search. At that moment he saw a point of light in the night sky that had not been there on previous evenings. It pulsated with bright light, knocked him to the ground, and he went into a deep trance, receiving a moment of fundamental inspiration. It is said that within this light he instantly understood how to bring healing by the laying on of hands, and by the vision of sacred symbols and their use for healing. The next morning he awoke, his body vibrating with energy, and knew he had the answers to his quest. On that very day, on his way back to talk with his friend the monk, he experienced four healing miracles. This is how Mikao returned to the world with Reiki.
To this day, within our Reiki lineage, we continue to honour his teaching, as it was taught to us by Mrs. Takata. We preserve our teachers’ stories and knowledge, and share their wisdom. We continue to teach Reiki in the way Mrs. Hawayo Takata taught our teachers: as an oral tradition, with plenty of time for hands-on healing, so each student can have their own experience with Reiki. We still teach the original sacred symbols, as taught to Mrs. Takata by her Master, Chujiro Hayashi, and as he was taught by his Master, Mikao Usui. Mikao’s vision of the sacred symbols, and their use for healing and for initiations into the energy, are still the symbols we use today.
The symbolism of the Reiki kanji
Rei: soul, divine, sacred, transcendental power or spirit of a being. In the upper portion of the kanji, Rei is symbolised as follows: from the canopy of Heaven, four drops of rain fall into three containers or mouths. The rain symbolises life-giving energy from Heaven in the form of water. This energy is collected in the three containers, where it can directly revitalise the mind, body and spirit, the Reiki trinity. Below the containers, the healer prays and dances, balancing female and male duality, spiritual and material, in order to pray for rain and to act as an intermediary between Heaven above and the Earth below.
Putting the symbolism together gives a representation of the trinity found in many spiritual traditions: Heaven, Earth and humankind. The symbolism of water is significant, in that it is endlessly adaptable. Water is responsive, changes form and flows easily around obstacles, but when necessary, water also has the capacity to slowly dissolve obstacles and carry them along.
Ki: energy that can be perceived or felt; the breath of life, or atmosphere. In the lower portion of the kanji, Ki is symbolised as rice surrounded by a vapour or steam, which can also be read as air or breath: an invisible atmosphere, something that cannot be seen but can cause change and be felt. It is also interpreted as the breath of life.
Reiki as a spiritual practice
Reiki is a spiritual practice: the laying on of hands, meditation, and a conscious connection to receiving and passing on the Universal Energy. It works on every level of a person at once. The physical body, which gets your attention by manifesting discomfort. The emotional self, what you are feeling. The mental self, what you are allowing yourself to think. And the spiritual self, your capacity to love yourself and others, and your connectedness to your Higher Self, your soul, and the Divine consciousness.
What Reiki does
Reiki goes to the source of an imbalance rather than its symptoms. Deep rest is where the body does its own repair, and Reiki takes people there quickly: most fall asleep on the table. Over my years of Reiki practice I have sat with people living with cancer, cysts, injury, chronic pain, depression and long illness, and I have watched Reiki ease what they carry, soften pain, lift the weight of treatment, and leave the body calmer and better able to heal.
I want to be clear about what that means. Reiki is not a medical treatment, it does not replace your doctor, and I make no promise of a cure. It works beside your care, not instead of it. Within that, its power is real, and it is gentle: there are no side effects, nothing to believe, and nothing you have to do but receive.
Beyond healing
Healing is only one of Reiki’s gifts. It amplifies innate abilities, supports continuous personal growth, and releases the labels and expectations placed on us by others. You could say Reiki awakens us at a soul level, bringing the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual parts of ourselves into alignment.
Reiki is like a deep prayer sent to the Universal Energy. Your commitment to the energy equals the power of Reiki in your life. If you use it, it always works.