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My Reiki exploration continues.... wanted to put down a few quick thoughts about the various histories of Reiki. The Takata story is clearly bullshit, about the only thing it gets right is that Usui is the founder of Reiki. The story behind Usui Reiki Ryoho feels closer to the truth, as it matches many of my own observations, but there are still elements that feel off.
1. It says Usui practiced Kiko (Qi Gong)... this makes sense, as the connections between Reiki and Qi Gong are very clear to anyone who has studied the two systems even a little. However, it goes on to say that he wanted to learn to heal others without depleting his personal energy, as one does in Qi Gong. At first this makes sense... till one takes into account the fact that Qi Gong contains many techniques for drawing fresh energy into oneself to use for healing, which is in fact all that is happening in Reiki... the energy still enters you from an outside source, and then goes into the person you are healing, it does not bypass your own energy system. You remain a conduit, and can even store up surcharges of Reiki Energy (as in the violet breath) before releasing the energy from your body's energetic systems. So why was a new system needed? There is something to this aspect of the story that feels off, and warrants further investigation.
2. It claims that Usui attained Satori (an experience of enlightenment) while meditating, and at this time received Reiki "in the form of an attunement"... this is clearly a Western interpretation of what happened, as Usui's Reiki did not even contain the concept of attunements. Also, he never said he achieved Satori, he said he accidentally realized he had been given the power to heal when he felt the air in a mysterious way while fasting. Of course, he also said that he never studied to attain psychic power to heal, and yet he was a Kiko practitioner... perhaps he was studying it as a spiritual path, and never considered its potential for healing before then? Not everyone who practices Qi Gong applies it externally, to heal.... more points to investigate further. This may actually lead to the truth behind the first discrepancy.
3. Some versions of the timeline claim that Reiki was not a term used by Usui... his method was originally "Usui Teate" or "Usui-do" according to these versions of the timeline, and Reiki was a term coined by those who would become the founding members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, a group which was founded by Usui's students rather than by Usui himself. This may or may not be true, but the discrepancy between the eastern timelines gives me pause. More investigation will be needed to find out the truth of that. I do see in the Hikkei that he used the term Ki for the energy. He seems to have also referred to the system as Usui Reiki Ryoho, but I am not certain yet how much I trust the Hikkei.
I feel as though I am studying an internal martial art... it is old, its founder was born in 1865, and died in 1926. Only four years after he discovered his healing system. I feel like much has been misinterpreted since his passing, and much lost as well, without him to guide its evolution. Certainly, the west has lost much of the original material... I feel I can say that with some certainty as I have tried the eastern techniques and can feel the results. I've also been adding some Qi Gong techniques to my practices, thanks to Thato and Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (we do some Qi Gong exercises as warmups, a fact I find very gratifying) and the results of this has been incredibly powerful for me. Using Qi Gong breathing techniques to focus energy in my Hara (Tan Tien/Dan Tien) has a powerful effect on me that feels very similar to receiving a Reiki attunement. My capacity to channel energy is enhanced, I feel clearer and refreshed and energized.
One last thought: a lot of really absurd theories have popped up as to where Reiki is "really from" as people have remembered Reiki-like systems at other times, on other worlds, and from other lives. Atlantis, Lemuria, and many other places have been posited as the origin of Reiki based on such memories. I would like to offer an alternative theory.
Could it be that something like Reiki has been present in all of those places, not because Reiki originated elsewhere and was rediscovered by Usui, but simply because beings with innate life-energy (ki) are bound over time to find ways to work with it, and heal with it, and these ways are almost certain to have innate similarities simply due to working with the same energy operating under the same rules, in very similar bio-energetic systems? In other words, wouldn't practices similar to Reiki and Qi Gong evolve separately on many many different worlds? Especially worlds with people inclined to practice magic and work with natural forces/energies? I believe this explains why I too remember "Reiki" (or at least something related to it) on other worlds, in other lives.
Edit: would anyone reading this who knows of good online sources of information on Qi Gong and related systems to work with the energies of the body please pass along those links? I am pursuing the connections.
Each system forms a spiral of growth. Wherever the spirals cross there is a seed. These are the seeds of Truth.
http://alternativeapproaches.com/magick/fire/fire10.htm
1. It says Usui practiced Kiko (Qi Gong)... this makes sense, as the connections between Reiki and Qi Gong are very clear to anyone who has studied the two systems even a little. However, it goes on to say that he wanted to learn to heal others without depleting his personal energy, as one does in Qi Gong. At first this makes sense... till one takes into account the fact that Qi Gong contains many techniques for drawing fresh energy into oneself to use for healing, which is in fact all that is happening in Reiki... the energy still enters you from an outside source, and then goes into the person you are healing, it does not bypass your own energy system. You remain a conduit, and can even store up surcharges of Reiki Energy (as in the violet breath) before releasing the energy from your body's energetic systems. So why was a new system needed? There is something to this aspect of the story that feels off, and warrants further investigation.
2. It claims that Usui attained Satori (an experience of enlightenment) while meditating, and at this time received Reiki "in the form of an attunement"... this is clearly a Western interpretation of what happened, as Usui's Reiki did not even contain the concept of attunements. Also, he never said he achieved Satori, he said he accidentally realized he had been given the power to heal when he felt the air in a mysterious way while fasting. Of course, he also said that he never studied to attain psychic power to heal, and yet he was a Kiko practitioner... perhaps he was studying it as a spiritual path, and never considered its potential for healing before then? Not everyone who practices Qi Gong applies it externally, to heal.... more points to investigate further. This may actually lead to the truth behind the first discrepancy.
3. Some versions of the timeline claim that Reiki was not a term used by Usui... his method was originally "Usui Teate" or "Usui-do" according to these versions of the timeline, and Reiki was a term coined by those who would become the founding members of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, a group which was founded by Usui's students rather than by Usui himself. This may or may not be true, but the discrepancy between the eastern timelines gives me pause. More investigation will be needed to find out the truth of that. I do see in the Hikkei that he used the term Ki for the energy. He seems to have also referred to the system as Usui Reiki Ryoho, but I am not certain yet how much I trust the Hikkei.
I feel as though I am studying an internal martial art... it is old, its founder was born in 1865, and died in 1926. Only four years after he discovered his healing system. I feel like much has been misinterpreted since his passing, and much lost as well, without him to guide its evolution. Certainly, the west has lost much of the original material... I feel I can say that with some certainty as I have tried the eastern techniques and can feel the results. I've also been adding some Qi Gong techniques to my practices, thanks to Thato and Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (we do some Qi Gong exercises as warmups, a fact I find very gratifying) and the results of this has been incredibly powerful for me. Using Qi Gong breathing techniques to focus energy in my Hara (Tan Tien/Dan Tien) has a powerful effect on me that feels very similar to receiving a Reiki attunement. My capacity to channel energy is enhanced, I feel clearer and refreshed and energized.
One last thought: a lot of really absurd theories have popped up as to where Reiki is "really from" as people have remembered Reiki-like systems at other times, on other worlds, and from other lives. Atlantis, Lemuria, and many other places have been posited as the origin of Reiki based on such memories. I would like to offer an alternative theory.
Could it be that something like Reiki has been present in all of those places, not because Reiki originated elsewhere and was rediscovered by Usui, but simply because beings with innate life-energy (ki) are bound over time to find ways to work with it, and heal with it, and these ways are almost certain to have innate similarities simply due to working with the same energy operating under the same rules, in very similar bio-energetic systems? In other words, wouldn't practices similar to Reiki and Qi Gong evolve separately on many many different worlds? Especially worlds with people inclined to practice magic and work with natural forces/energies? I believe this explains why I too remember "Reiki" (or at least something related to it) on other worlds, in other lives.
Edit: would anyone reading this who knows of good online sources of information on Qi Gong and related systems to work with the energies of the body please pass along those links? I am pursuing the connections.
Each system forms a spiral of growth. Wherever the spirals cross there is a seed. These are the seeds of Truth.
http://alternativeapproaches.com/magick/fire/fire10.htm