Reiki
Levels I & II Training
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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What is Reiki?
“Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that
also promotes healing.” (Reiki.org)
Reiki is a form of energy transfer or healing through your hands or palms.
The principle behind it being that through attunement by a “Master” (Level III or
Shinpiden) one becomes a conduit for universal energy to flow through. Thus, when
one “heals” you are just letting the energy flow through you into the person for the
person’s body to use as it sees fit. Reiki is not a religion, it is a folk art.
In quite a few books and websites the meaning of the word Reiki is said to be
“Universal Life Energy”, which I have found not to be quite right. Rei means, “ghost,
spirit, soul; supernatural, miraculous, divine; ethereal body” and ki means, “as, air;
breath; energy; force; atmosphere; mood; intention; emotion; attention”, thus coming
together to loosely mean in English: “mysterious atmosphere; spiritual power”.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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History of Reiki
"Usui did not see himself as a teacher. He made no claims for what he practiced - others
approached him and asked to learn. That is how he was free to do as he did."
The history of how Reiki came to be starts with
its creator, Dr. Mikao Usui. He was born on the 15th of
August 1865 in the village of Taniai (now called Miyama cho)
in the Yamagata county of the Gifu Prefecture in Japan.
He was a Buddhist Priest and spiritualist. Being a
descendent of the famous samurai warlord Toshitane
Chiba, his family practiced martial arts, thus he too
studied Aiki Jutsu. Not only being Buddhist, he was also
influenced by his martial arts training, Shinto, Taoism, and
Shugendo. In the early 1920’s he did a 21 day practice
called ‘kushu shinren’ on Mt. Kurama Yama and it was
during this process it is said he developed the Reiki
system.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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History of Reiki (cont.)
Thus, Reiki was born, but it wasn’t really called ‘Reiki’ originally, Reiki was
just a term Dr. Usui used. What Usui Mikao taught was called 'Usui do' - 'the way of
Usui', and what he practiced on people would most likely have been called 'Usui
teate'- meaning 'hands-on'.
Afterward he opened a clinic/school called the Gakkai and helped and
healed many of the poor. He even aided Earthquake victims in 1923 and because of
this word spread of his abilities as a healer. He was even awarded the Kun San To
award by the Japanese government for his work with the earthquake victims. He died
of a stroke in 1926 at the age of 62. He had two children with his wife Sadako Suzuki,
Fuji and Toshiko. After his death, Mr. J. Ushida took over as president of the Usui
Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and erected a memorial stone at his grave site.
Contrary to versions of the Reiki mythos, Chujiro Hayashi was not Dr.
Usui’s successor to his school, but was a student of Usui’s and opened up a Reiki
clinic in Tokyo and along came a woman named Hawayo Takata…
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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History of Reiki (cont.)
Hawayo Takata was visiting Japan from Hawaii to
attend her sister’s funeral and had just been recently diagnosed
with a series of health issues. Doctors had advised her she needed
surgery to resolve them, but she had heard of Dr. Hayashi’s clinic
and decided to get treated there instead. Over time she switched
from patient to student and in 1938 she was initiated as a Master.
She then went back to Hawaii and set up her own Reiki clinic with
Dr. Hayashi and his daughter’s help.
However, she didn’t initiate other Masters until 1970.
From here she did several curious things in that she charged
$10,000 for Master’s training, she didn’t allow her students to take
notes or tape her as they had to memorize everything. Also after
Dr. Hayashi died, she stated she was the only Reiki Master left in
the world. She died in 1980. No one really knows why she did
these things, but for a long time she was the West’s only source of
information about Reiki and almost every Master from the West
can trace their lineage back to her.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Reiki Attunement: Level 1
• I am now going to attune you to Reiki level 1.
• Please just sit quietly with your palms resting on
your knees. You may meditate if you wish.
• I will be touching you, moving your arms and lightly
slapping your palms during this procedure, so do
not be alarmed when this happens.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 1: Hand Positions
Congratulations! You’ve been initiated into level one of the Reiki system. You
can now use Reiki energy to heal yourself and others. Also, I’ll teach you the first Reiki
Symbol, Cho Ku Rei. First – How to self heal in Reiki:
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 1: Hand Positions
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 1: Hand Positions
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 1: Hand Positions
Hand positions for healing others:
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 1: Hand Positions
After the last position (the bottoms of the feet) one then “smoothes” the
energy by making a wiping motion above the patient from the head to the feet.
Then help the person slowly get up after their healing.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 1: Cho Ku Rei
• Cho Ku Rei is a power symbol when you need an
extra boost in power. It is also a protective symbol.
Out of all of the Reiki symbols, Cho Ku Rei is one
of the most versatile and powerful of the symbols,
even rivaling the Master’s symbol.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 1: Cho Ku Rei
• It can be used at any time during a treatment,
used over certain body parts if you need a
boost there, or you draw the symbol on your
palms before you start a healing session.
• You can put it on things to “charge” them
with energy.
• You can put it on things you wish to protect.
• You can use it to help banish negative energy.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Reiki Attunement: Level 2
• I am now going to attune you to Reiki level 2.
• Please just sit quietly with your palms resting on
your knees. You may meditate if you wish.
• I will be touching you, moving your arms and lightly
slapping your palms during this procedure, so do
not be alarmed when this happens.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 2: Sei He Ki
Congratulations! You’ve been initiated into level two of the
Reiki healing system. In this level you learn two more symbols: Sei
He Ki and Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 2: Sei He Ki
• Sei He Ki is the Mental/Emotional Symbol and is
used in healing mental and emotional traumas in a
Reiki session. Most use it by drawing it on their
palms before a healing session, much like Cho Ku
Rei.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 2: Sei He Ki
• Using this symbol has been known to stop bleeding.
• If during a session, emotional issues are coming up, draw it
over the throat or heart to help the issues come forth and
heal.
• It can be used for self healing, if stressed write down what
your stressed about and draw Sei He Ki over it. Or draw the
symbol and meditate upon it.
• Draw it over a photo of someone you are getting over a
relationship with or has passed on to help you heal.
Warnings:
• Remember, just because you have received Reiki training
does not mean you are a trained psychologist now! If an
issue comes up during a healing session that you cannot or
do not know how to handle, kindly refer them to a councilor
or other clinic. Reiki cannot replace medical treatment.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 2: Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen
• Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen is the long distance
Reiki symbol and allows you to transmit or
‘beam’ Reiki energy to people not in the
room with you.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Level 2: Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen
• Use this symbol to send Reiki energy to family
members, or anyone else you know of that needs
healing but you cannot travel to for any reason.
• Imagine them in your palms (like your cupping them in
your hands) or point your palms in their direction or
use a photo of them and place your hands on it after
drawing the Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen symbol to send
them energy.
• This symbol is also unaffected by time as you can
send healing energy into your past or into the future
for an upcoming event (like a job interview for instance).
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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The Gassho Meditation
Now that you have the hand positions and symbols down, I’m going to
teach you a couple of meditations used in Reiki. The first is the Gassho meditation
(its also just called ‘Gassho’) that was practiced every morning and evening by Dr.
Usui and he called this the first pillar of Reiki. You can do it standing or sitting.
•Close your eyes and fold your hands into a prayer position with your fingers
pointing up and your thumbs touching your heart.
•Focus all of your attention on the place where your middle fingers meet.
•If thoughts arise, and they will, acknowledge them and then set them aside. If you
loose focus, go back to focusing on your middle fingers. As you keep doing this
you can keep your attention on your fingers for longer and longer without
thoughts arising.
•When finished, take a few deep breaths, bring your attention from your fingers to
your eyes and then open your eyes slowly.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Before you heal: Reiji-ho
Reiji-ho means “indication of spirit” and is the second pillar of
Reiki. You do this before you heal someone.
• Do the Gassho meditation, but only for a moment or so.
• Say a prayer giving thanks for Reiki and asking it to begin to
flow now.
• Say a prayer on behalf of your client, asking that they be
completely healed.
• Ask the spirit of Reiki to guide your hands to where they are
needed.
• Follow your inner guidance and allow your hands to be
directed by the spirit of Reiki. Notice any impressions you
may get over certain areas and use this to improve or target
your treatments.
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Reiki Ideals
•
•
•
•
•
Just for today – Do not anger,
Just for today – Do not worry,
Honor your parents, teachers and elders
Earn your living honestly
Show gratitude to every living thing
- Dr. Usui
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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A Word to the Wise:
Please keep in mind a few things:
• This is considered an alternative healing system, thus just because you are
trained in Reiki now does not mean you are a medical professional in any
way. You should ALWAYS encourage whomever you help to seek
professional medical advice from a Doctor or Nurse practitioner. Again,
Reiki is not a replacement for real medical treatment!
• Remember, as a Reiki practitioner, you are just a conduit for the energy
coming through you. Thus, technically you are not the one ‘healing’, you
are just facilitating the process. In the end, it is always the body that heals
itself.
• Like anything else that is considered ‘spiritual’ in nature, feel free to take
all of this with a grain of salt – in my book skepticism is a good thing!
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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Credits & Questions?
• Wikipedia: Reiki and Mikao Usui articles
• Reiki the Healing Touch: First and Second Degree
Manual by William Lee Rand
• Essential Reiki by Diane Stein
• Reiki.org
?
Thanks for being such a great class!
jaibyrd@gmail.com
www.pathofbalance.org
By Lauren Royal - 2010
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