Reiki for Beginners: Enhance Your Life Using the Power of Universal Energy. Fusae William

for holding onto anger. Because Reiki is all about the today, it says that for today, do not anger because tomorrow is not something to worry about because it has not happened yet. People who have trouble letting go of the past often have trouble letting go of anger and it can pollute their mind with negativity, Reiki says to let the anger go.

      •Just for today do not worry – The future is unknown and cannot be predicted and so worrying about what has not happened yet and what cannot be known is a waste of energy. Reiki tells you to focus on the present and to shed your worry of the future because it is the “now” that matters.

      •Honor your parents, teachers, elders, and yourself – According to Reiki, everything is connected and our actions are guided by karma and the actions of our past. Therefore, if we make honorable choices, we will have good karma. Appreciate yourself and the people in your life and be grateful for them and for all that you do have in the present. When you honor yourself, you make wiser and better choices, and when you honor others then you bring about good karma.

      •Earn your living honestly – Live your life with respect for yourself and for others. Karma is related to universal energy and so what you do affects your energy, by living honestly you promote good karma in your own life.

      •Show gratefulness to every living thing and being – Universal energy connects us all and therefore we should all be nothing but kind and compassionate towards all living things.

      Reiki Traditions

      Reiki has several branches but there are two main traditions for Reiki, Traditional Japanese Reiki, and Western Reiki.

      Traditional Japanese Reiki

      Traditional Japanese Reiki is the term used to describe the Reiki system that was developed under Usui, the teachings that developed in Japan and was traditionally only practiced and taught in Japan.

      According to traditional Japanese Reiki, the universal energy is referred to as the Three Diamonds, Earth Ki, Heaven KI, and Heart KI; remember that Ki means energy. Traditional Reiki has a focus that is more on meditation, self-treatment, and self-awareness with the treatment of others through the use of Reiki as a secondary approach to healing.

      Reiki is used primarily for one’s self in traditional Japanese Reiki and for healing and helping others as secondary, but still very important.

      The hand positions developed by Usui that are taught in Traditional Japanese Reiki are more extensive than the hand positions that Western Reiki use, in other words, the Traditional Reiki methods involve more palm healing and more hand-on healing.

      Traditional Japanese Reiki relies more on intuitive hand placement instead of set hand patterns; although they rely less on set hand patterns, the number of hand patterns developed by Usui is more extensive than those used in Western Reiki

      Traditional Japanese Reiki can be broken down into a few traditions; the major ones are listed below.

      •Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai – This tradition is named after the Reiki master’s society that was founded by Mikao Usui and is considered to be the oldest Reiki tradition. This society remained secret for many years, guarding their secrets closely and although the society is now known to exist, little information about them or their teachings has been available to the public.

      •Reido Reiki Gakkai – This tradition’s name translates as “spiritual Occurrence and spiritual energy society” and was developed by masters of the Ryoho Gakki. There is not much difference between this Reiki tradition and Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai.

      •Komyo Reiki Kai – This tradition’s name means “enlightened spiritual energy association” and was established by Huyakuten Inamoto, a Reiki master who actually had great knowledge of Western Reiki traditions.

      •Jikiden Reiki – This tradition’s name means “the direct teaching of spiritual energy” and was taught by Dr. Hayashi.

      Western Reiki

      Western Reiki was developed by Hawayo Takata and was trained by Dr. Hayashi, who developed Jikiden Reiki, a traditional Japanese Reiki tradition. Hawayo Takata was trained in Japan and then moved to Hawaii, taking her knowledge of Reiki with her and began to practice it and teach it there; she modified some of the traditional Japanese Reiki teachings to make Reiki more compatible with the Western traditions and it worked because Reiki began to gain popularity in the Western world.

      Western Reiki does not rely on using the traditional method of intuitive placement of the hands to heal, but rather it relies on having set hand patterns for various treatments.

      Depending on what the practitioner wants to achieve through the use of Reiki, the placement of the hands differs.

      The Western traditions of Reiki include ideas taken from traditional Indian healing, such as the aura and chakras.

      Chakras and auras are not used in traditional Japanese Reiki but they are important to Western Reiki, along with the use of meridian energy lines, which are natural energy lines that exist on the earth.

      Western Reiki focuses more on treating others first and self-treatment second, which is the opposite of traditional Japanese Reiki.

      The chakras used are as follows (starting from the top of the head and going down the body)

      Crown Chakra

      Third Eye Chakra

      Throat Chakra

      Heart Chakra

      Solar Plexus Chakra

      Sacral Chakra

      Base/Root Chakra

      Western Reiki is also further broken down into different traditions as well.

      •Usui Reiki Shiki Ryoho – The translation for this is usually “Usui’s spiritual energy style of medical treatment/therapy.” This Western tradition of Reiki is the one that is closest to the system developed by Hawayo Takata and is still taught to this day by her granddaughter. There are three levels in this tradition and the four symbols passed down from traditional Reiki are used. This is the most popular tradition of Reiki used in the Western world.

      •Usui/Tibetan Reiki – This tradition, developed by Arthur Robertson, developed out of the Usui Reiki Shiki Ryoho tradition includes some techniques that are from the original Reiki teachings, developed by Usui such as the scanning methods, dry bathing method, and the healing eyes method. This tradition pulls ideas from Tibetan traditional medicine and has four levels.

      •Gendai Reiki Ho – The name of this tradition translates to “modern spiritual energy method” and is a blend of both Western Reiki and traditional Japanese Reiki and it was developed by Hiroshi Doi, who was trained in Western Reiki and then became a member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, where he blended what he learned from both into this tradition.