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Seeds for Change Wellness
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A View of Reiki
A View of Reiki
by Rick Bockner March, 2008 Source
Reiki is a Japanese practice using “Ki” (life energy) to promote health and well-being. Ki is used in
various ways in many Asian arts like Akido, Tai Chi, Feng Shui, QiGong, and acupuncture. Reiki was
developed in the 1920”s, by Dr. Mikao Usui. Reiki moved to Hawaii in the 1930’s, and to North America
in the 1970’s. Today it is a world wide practice.
I was taught Reiki and initiated as a Reiki Master by Mrs. Hawayo Takata 30 years ago. She brought
Reiki out of Japan and made it available in the West. At that time there was not a large international
Reiki community as there is now. There were 22 people trained by Mrs. Takata to teach Reiki in the
world, and from that group grew the huge number of Reiki practitioners that exist today.
As Reiki has spread and grown in the world, so has the tendency to explain, embroider, and improvise
on the practice. This is a natural effect of any fast growth, and to some extent is hopeful. However, I
also see a distance forming in students’ ability to get back to the fundamentals and basic concepts of
Reiki, or to be aware of the elegance and simplicity that Mrs. Takata embodied in her life’s work with
Reiki. So it has become part of my work to offer my experience and knowledge of her teaching to
students today.
I learned Reiki as an oral tradition. The voice and stories of the teacher were an integral part of the
process. When a student forgot something or wished to hear it again, they were encouraged to
reconnect with other students or find some time with their teacher.
This is the way our community formed and grew. Takata told us to “let the Reiki teach you”. She
believed that with time, intention, and practice, the deeper levels of Reiki would reveal themselves.
There were no books about how to do Reiki and no handbooks or manuals used in the classes. When
we got too heady about it all, she would say,
”watch my hands!” This would bring our attention back to the moment and keep us present.
Mrs. Takata constantly referred us to Dr. Mikao Usui’s 5 Precepts as a way to clarify out daily life and
give us a set of guidelines to cultivate the “heart-mind”, as he referred to it. They are:
Just for today, don’t anger
Just for today, don’t worry
Honour your parents, teachers, and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show gratitude to every living thing.
They are not rules, and not judgements. They are there to help Reiki students to evaluate and align
their lives when they feel the need. It is interesting to me how they begin with the personal internal
perspective of anger and worry, and move from there to a broader view of the family and community,
then on to how we support ourselves in
the world, finally bring us to see our place in the web of life, and our dependence on everything else.
This is the soul’s journey. It is also the life of a human from the newborn to the grave.
Mrs. Takata treated herself with Reiki every day, and she applied the 5 Precepts to every action and
decision. From her initiation to Reiki as a young woman in the 1930’s as a young woman, up until her
death in 1981, she grew into a fullness and awareness that Reiki supported and instructed her. Her
response was humility and gratitude for her life
by Rick Bockner March, 2008 Source
Reiki is a Japanese practice using “Ki” (life energy) to promote health and well-being. Ki is used in
various ways in many Asian arts like Akido, Tai Chi, Feng Shui, QiGong, and acupuncture. Reiki was
developed in the 1920”s, by Dr. Mikao Usui. Reiki moved to Hawaii in the 1930’s, and to North America
in the 1970’s. Today it is a world wide practice.
I was taught Reiki and initiated as a Reiki Master by Mrs. Hawayo Takata 30 years ago. She brought
Reiki out of Japan and made it available in the West. At that time there was not a large international
Reiki community as there is now. There were 22 people trained by Mrs. Takata to teach Reiki in the
world, and from that group grew the huge number of Reiki practitioners that exist today.
As Reiki has spread and grown in the world, so has the tendency to explain, embroider, and improvise
on the practice. This is a natural effect of any fast growth, and to some extent is hopeful. However, I
also see a distance forming in students’ ability to get back to the fundamentals and basic concepts of
Reiki, or to be aware of the elegance and simplicity that Mrs. Takata embodied in her life’s work with
Reiki. So it has become part of my work to offer my experience and knowledge of her teaching to
students today.
I learned Reiki as an oral tradition. The voice and stories of the teacher were an integral part of the
process. When a student forgot something or wished to hear it again, they were encouraged to
reconnect with other students or find some time with their teacher.
This is the way our community formed and grew. Takata told us to “let the Reiki teach you”. She
believed that with time, intention, and practice, the deeper levels of Reiki would reveal themselves.
There were no books about how to do Reiki and no handbooks or manuals used in the classes. When
we got too heady about it all, she would say,
”watch my hands!” This would bring our attention back to the moment and keep us present.
Mrs. Takata constantly referred us to Dr. Mikao Usui’s 5 Precepts as a way to clarify out daily life and
give us a set of guidelines to cultivate the “heart-mind”, as he referred to it. They are:
Just for today, don’t anger
Just for today, don’t worry
Honour your parents, teachers, and elders.
Earn your living honestly.
Show gratitude to every living thing.
They are not rules, and not judgements. They are there to help Reiki students to evaluate and align
their lives when they feel the need. It is interesting to me how they begin with the personal internal
perspective of anger and worry, and move from there to a broader view of the family and community,
then on to how we support ourselves in
the world, finally bring us to see our place in the web of life, and our dependence on everything else.
This is the soul’s journey. It is also the life of a human from the newborn to the grave.
Mrs. Takata treated herself with Reiki every day, and she applied the 5 Precepts to every action and
decision. From her initiation to Reiki as a young woman in the 1930’s as a young woman, up until her
death in 1981, she grew into a fullness and awareness that Reiki supported and instructed her. Her
response was humility and gratitude for her life