Usui Reiki

The word "Reiki" translates as "universal life energy" and denotes an ancient Japanese healing art, which is centred on five main principles:

1. Just for today I will let go of anger.

2. Just for today I will let go of worry.

3. Just for today I will give thanks for my many blessings.

4. Just for today I will do my work honestly.

5. Just for today I will be kind to my neighbour and every living thing.

Of all the Reiki traditions, Usui is the most widespread in practice across the world today. Created by Dr Mikao Usui more than a century ago, the Usui System is a way of working with this life energy to bring about the restoration of health and balance (ie ‘healing’) in both the self and others. Usui Reiki views the individual holistically, from the perspective that we exist as physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual beings and that none of these elements can be treated effectively in isolation.

The full name for the practice of Usui Reiki is Usui Shiki Ryoho and it consists of Four Aspects:

1. Healing practice

2. Personal development

3. Spiritual discipline

4. Mystic order.

These Four Aspects are further interwoven around Nine Elements:

Initiation -  the ritual for passing on the discipline from master to student.

Symbols - there are three symbols used as sacred tools in the practice, which are kept secret.

Treatment - the hands-on practice of the healing itself.

Oral Tradition - the manner in which the Usui System is taught to students of the art, rejecting the conventional use of books, manuals and even note-taking.

Spiritual Lineage - there have been five lineage bearers responsible for passing the Usui tradition down through the generations.

History - each lineage bearer’s life makes up the overall history of the art.

Money - how money links the material and non-material, and how its function in our daily lives can be reconciled with spiritual practice.

Precepts - ethical guidelines for living that were devised by one of the lineage bearers.

Form of Teaching - there are two degrees (or levels) of training in Usui Reiki teaching practice: First and Second Degree. 

All the above Elements and Aspects together form the "system", the importance and meaning of which is mainly unspoken and can be profound, gradually unfolding through personal experience.