Leigh, S. - Discover Reiki

Discover - Reiki
By Stephen Leigh
“Learn Reiki In 7 Days!”

www.Discover-Reiki.com
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All information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for medical advice or
treatment for specific medical conditions.
Peter Tremayne has consulted sources believed to be reliable in their efforts to provide information.
However, in view of the possibility of human error by Peter Tremayne or the sources of information
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accurate or complete, and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Legal and Copyright
Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Book
Chapter 2: The History Of Reiki
Chapter 3: Misconceptions About Reiki
Chapter 4: What Reiki Is All About
Chapter 5: Learning Reiki
Chapter 6: The Attunement Process
Chapter 7: Alternatives To Usui Reiki
Chapter 8: Conclusion
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Introduction
Hello and congratulations on making the wise decision to invest in this ebook -
'Discover-Reiki'
It takes a big leap of faith to spend ones hard earned money on something
that is mostly unknown to you. I know exactly how you're feeling and can
relate 100% to your concerns.
But let me reassure you. You need not worry - one jot! For the information you
are about to read, is the result of one man's work spanning over 10 years. It is
difficult to put a price on what you are about to learn, but the price may be
untold and far reaching...
...As it was for me!
The author - Stephen Leigh, is a very private man and certainly, extremely
modest and unassuming. He is not one for authorship, publicity or personal
gain. To be honest, it took me months of persuasion and down right harassing
to allow me to put his teachings into this ebook!
I was determined to share this incredible form of healing with as many people
as I could find. And to date, the fastest and easiest way to do this is through
the internet.
My story began in August 2004, when my entire world changed forever! Few
people live long enough to experience a life changing experience. But for
those of you that have, I'm sure you can relate to my excitement and over
brimming enthusiasm!
I don't know whether my meeting with Stephen back then was chance, luck,
fate or destiny. And I don't really care! All that matters is it happened, and I
was introduced to the world of Reiki!
I don't know how you stumbled across my website - but you did. These things
happen - and something inside you told you to take a further look.
Perhaps one day I will tell you the story of my attunement to Reiki and
exactly how it has changed my life, but this book isn't about me, and Stephen
was determined that it wouldn't be about him either!
This book was written solely for one thing and one thing only -
To learn Reiki.
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You are about to embark on a journey. What that journey holds for you, I
cannot predict. "For me it was life changing". If you are prepared to proceed
with an open heart and mind, then I must warn you: Your life as you know it,
may never be the same again.
You can change your life with Reiki.
You can become whoever it is you wish to become.
Now's the time to dream!
For everything you need to change, to heal, to overcome, is already within

you. You just need to know how to access it.
This my friend, is why I wanted to share this book with you. Please take your
time to read it. It has taken a long time to put together, and is by no means a
perfect example of literature and grammar!
We have tried to make it as easy to read as possible. We also wanted to

make the attunement to Reiki, (as described in Chapter 6) a process anyone
can follow and undertake.
After reading this book, you will have the knowledge to attune yourself to the
wonders of Usui Reiki. If you follow the process and continue your journey
with Reiki, then congratulations my friend ... for you have found
enlightenment.
Peter Tremayne
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Chapter 1
1. Why Am I Writing This Book?
2. How This Book Can Change Your Life
Why Am I Writing This Book?
Good question. There are a few reasons why, amongst all the New Age
practices, Reiki has the distinction of having a very unique and fascinating
history, and has been beset with controversies on various issues the like of
which is not to be seen elsewhere.
When Mrs. Hawayo Takata began teaching Reiki from her clinic in Hawaii
about three decades ago, what attracted people to her system of healing was
the novelty in her teaching. But more than that, it was the exorbitant fees of
US $ 10,000 – a princely sum in those days (well, it is a princely sum even
now!) – that she charged to bring Reiki learners to the third degree (Master)
level, that made big news.
The circle of Reiki practitioners was a closed circle then, with the symbols that
Mrs. Takata taught her disciples being a guarded secret. Then along came
Diane Stein with her book “Essential Reiki” that spilled the beans, and soon,
Reiki’s once closely guarded symbols were to be seen on every nook and
corner of New Age Street.
Another interesting phenomena that has taken place in Reiki World has been
that, due to there being no single standards organization that controls and
monitors the way Reiki is taught and practiced all over the world, scores of
variants (mutations, actually) of the original Reiki have sprung up .
While traditionalists decry this “dilution of purity”, as they so eloquently put it,
I, for one, welcome this development; for the simple reason that any
movement has to transform itself and keep growing, if it has to remain vibrant
and relevant.
I can go on. But its enchanting history is not the point here. The main point is
the sheer beauty of Reiki as a simple healing technique that is based on very
simple doctrines, or tenets, as I call them.
Which brings me to the original question: Why am I writing this book? What do
I have to offer you?
As a dedicated Reiki practitioner in love with the subject, I too paid a hefty
amount to become a Level III Reiki Master (RM). That was about fifteen years
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ago. Since then, I have been in the thick of things, and was fortunate enough
to witness the explosion taking place in the Reiki World in the ensuing years.
Especially interesting are the advent of the various mutations of Reiki; and the
initial accusation of the scientific establishment of Reiki being nothing more
than superstitious mumbo-jumbo.
That this contempt has now given way to a whole-hearted acceptance of Reiki
as an effective complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); is a different
issue altogether. The acceptance has firmed to the extent that q uite a few
hospitals across the United States, Europe and many other countries around
the world, now offer Reiki as part of their services to patients.
While browsing through the available literature – yes, all the manuals and
books that fill up the book shelves and the internet E-book shops – I realized
that writers have more-or-less tended to focus more on the nuts and bolts of
the technique and underplayed the fine points that make up the beauty of
Reiki.
The solemn and somber manuals and books are sometimes too bogged down
in detail on the ‘how-to’, with personal experiences of a practicing Reiki
channel somehow missing in them. Even the history of Reiki that most of
these books, if you will pardon the expression, trot out, is bland and mundane;
and don’t really capture the despair and ecstasy of the heroes and heroines
who were involved in those days when Reiki as a structured discipline was
being founded and formulated.
With this book, I intend to fill these gaps. I have written this book from the
perspective of a practicing Reiki Master, and my insights, experiences and
ground-level facts that have been culled over all these years are weaved
throughout its content.
There is another, more important reason why I have chosen to write this book.
And tha t is the topic of self-attunement.
The world of Reiki is today sharply polarized between two sets of

practitioners. On one side of the pole are traditionalists who insist that people
who wish to learn Reiki must mandatory be “attuned” into, or initiated i nto,
Reikidom by a human mediator. This human mediator may be any Reiki
Master who has already attained level III of Reiki.
The other side of the pole comprises modernists; these are practitioners who
have some other New Age practice in their background a nd view energy as
Universal Life Experience (U.L.E.).
When they come to Reiki, they find the precondition of a mediator having to
attune them to Reiki strange. For these modernists, Reiki energy is a subset
of U.L.E., which they have already been experiencing without the need for any
mediator. Why then, they ask, is there any need for a human mediator to
initiate them, when it comes to Reiki?
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I have been fortunate in getting some grounding in other New Age

movements such as reflexology, Akashic Records, yoga and Kundalini
Energy, and this exposure and experience has helped me in experimenting
with different variations of Reiki where I can improve my practice as a Reiki
Master and heal my clients better and faster.
One of the outcomes of this experimentation has been a self-attunement

method that initiates the Reiki learner into the technique. Comparison of the
success rate in healing clients by Reiki Masters who have self-attuned, as
against that by Reiki Masters who went through the traditional attunement
method; show nearly identical outcomes. Both are equally successful in
healing.
So, after you attune yourself through the procedure that I have detailed in this
method, I am sure that you will not feel the need for a human mediator. Of
course, Reiki is not a goalpost. It is an ongoing learning process, where there
is no end to learning. Even Usui Sensei, the founder of Reiki, acknowledged
that he has touched only the iceberg, and the main part is still out of his grasp.
Therefore, inputs from all and any persons who can elevate you to higher
planes of conscious are more than welcome – including Masters who are
already attuned to Reiki traditionally, and can deepen and enrich the
channeling process.
How This Book Can Change Your Life
Most, if not all of us, have to face diseases at some time or other in our life.
Some of these diseases go away after wreaking havoc on our body, our lives
and our finances, not to talk about our happiness and joy. A few others simply
stay put in our body like unwelcome guests who have overstayed their
welcome.
Almost all of us are familiar with the trudging to the doctor’s clinic to get rid of
these diseases. If the disease is severe, we have no option but to get
ourselves admitted in the hospital and let the doctors probe our body with
their needles and what have you.
Ah! You sigh. These are the hard facts of life! If only there was a better way to
heal myself! Some way that is painless, less expensive, and which heals me
to the core!
If what I have described just now, touches a chord in your heart - my

empathies are with you. Read on, for this could change your life.
Do my words make you sit on the edge of the seat? Good. That means you
are in the right frame of mind to accept and wonder about what I am about to
say now.
Here is what I write about the integration of Reiki with patient care services
offered by hospitals in Chapter 3:
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Reiki has begun gaining acceptance in the staid corridors of medical

establishment as an alternative to mainstream medicine. Hospitals across the
length and breadth of America are now including Reiki in their catalog of
patient services, as a tool for disease management as well as for maintaining
well being. These hospitals now boast of in-house Reiki-trained staff: doctors,
surgeons, nurses, and other support personnel have a special tag along their
name in the duty roster, so patients can avail of their services whenever
required.
Reiki now finds acceptance in such diverse medical settings as palliative care
centers, rehabilitation, psychiatric units, oncology, organ transplantation units,
obstetrics and neo-natal care, and so on.
I present here an excerpt of chapter 4, where I dwell in detail on what Reiki is

all about:
Dear reader, I take great pleasure in putting forth here the areas where Reiki
energy touches your body and mind, and indeed, life:
• Stress reduction and alleviation of hypertension: The most

profound and immediate effect that I have seen happening in my
clients has been an almost dramatic drop in their stress levels and
hypertension. This generates a sense of wellbeing in the client.
• Alleviation from periods of trauma, depression, and grievance:

The energy works at the level of the psyche and helps clients in coming
out of their self-imposed bouts of depression and grievance.
• Rejuvenating the body and spirit: For the tired mind and body, Reiki
energy is the most refreshing and rejuvenating tonic! After a decidedly
hectic schedule, when I administer Reiki energy on myself, I am
completely energized and thoroughly cleansed.
• Improvement in immune system: Most of the ailments that humanity

suffers from are a result of the failure of the body’s innate immunity
system to defend from outside attacks of germs and other micro-
organisms.
• Manifestation of goals and desires: Yes, this happens . Reiki energy

not only dissolves away your ailments and diseases, it also helps you
in realizing your goals and desires.
• Healing of relationships: Is there any relationship that has been

causing you distress? Reiki energy removes the negativity that might
be emanating from you and that is causing the disturbance. Even more
generally, do you discern any pattern of disturbed relationship in any
one or more areas?
• Healing the past: Was there anything in the past whose after-effects
are still felt by you? Is there any disappointment/sorrow from the
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yesterdays that still linger? Reiki helps you to attain closure and
balance in your past, so that you can move ahead.
• Balancing & healing in the future: When you allow Reiki’s energies
to flow to you on a continuous basis, either through an external channel
or self-administered, your tomorrows automatically begin to get
balanced.
As you delve into the book further, you shall discover a whole new world of
healing opening up before you. Not only will you learn about Reiki - the
technique, but also you will learn how to heal yourself as well as your near
and dear ones.
After putting in some sincere effort in learning the trade, you can even
become a full-fledged Reiki healer yourself! Best of all, Reiki does not require
any tools or instruments or medicines that have to be purchased from the mall
in order to learn it or heal yourself or others. Just your bare hands are
enough.
Your bare hands; and a pure intention in your mind about healing. These are
the only tools required. No needles, no probes, no what have you.
Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is good. And it is true!
If you are new to Reiki, I hope this book kindles in you an enduring interest in
the subject. If you are a Reiki veteran or Reiki Master yourself, then I hope
you will be fascinated by the way different aspects of Reiki have been handled
in this book; and shall find the self-attunement process that I have detailed
herein, very interesting.
Whichever group you belong to - newbie or veteran, my heartiest welcome. I

hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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Chapter 2
The History of Reiki
1. The Brass-Tacks: How Do You Define Reiki?

2. Dr. Mikao Usui – The Founder
3. Mikao Usui – The Man
4. Mikao Usui – The Seeker
5. Mikao Usui – The Learner

6. Mikao Usui – The Enlightened
7. Mikao Usui – The Reiki Movement
8. Dr. Chujiro Hayashi
9. Mrs. Hawayo Takata
10. Reiki – Different Schools Of Thought
The History of Reiki
Contrary to popular belief, REIKI is not a proper noun in Japan’s language –

the country where this therapy for healing and treatment took its first roots.
Reiki is a very generic word that the Japanese use to describe a plethora of
healing as well as spiritual disciplines.
This, and many other interesting nuggets of information lie hidden in the
following pages waiting to be unraveled by you. So, sit back, relax, and read
on … the journey back in time to when Reiki originated …
The Brass-Tacks: How Do You Define Reiki?
You pronounce Reiki as “Ray” followed by “Key”. The Japanese dictionary

defines Reiki as “Universal life energy that is all pervading, and omnipresent.”
The “Rei” component of the term represents “spirit of transcendence”, while
the “ki” stands for “life force”.
As you have read in the previous page, Reiki in Japan stands for several
things, all of them related to different methods and therapies of healing, and
also related to spirituality.
So, which particular Reiki do people refer to, when the y speak about disease
healing and spirituality growth in the west? The operative word here is “Usui”:
it is the “Usui Reiki” that we talk about; it is this form of healing that is popular
in the west, and it is this form that we are going to dwell at length in this book.
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The Japanese, incidentally, refer to this form of Reiki as the “Usui Method of
Reiki Healing” or “usui reiki shiki ryoho”.
Dr. Mikao Usui – The Founder
Where the true origins of Reiki lie, is a mystery

shrouded in the cloudy wisps of history. However,
it is guessed that Tibetan monks used to practice
Reiki as a powerful form of therapy thousands of
years ago.
The credit to rediscovering this ancient form of

therapy goes to Dr. Mikao Usui, after which the
“Usui Reiki” derived its name.
Mikao Usui – The Man
The biography of Dr. Mikao Usui makes insightful reading. As pieced together
by numerous historians, Dr. Usui was born in a small village called “Yago” in
Japan, on August 15, 1865. Yago is in the present district of Yamagata, which
comes under the prefecture of Gifu.
He was quite fortunate to have been born in quite propitious circumstances,

for two years after he was born, the then ruler of Japan, Emperor Ninko, died
of small pox, thus paving the way for the ascension of his son, Emperor Meiji,
to the throne. It was during Emperor’s Meiji’s rule that Mikao Usui grew up.
Raised in a wealthy family, Mikao was sent to the best schools in the country
for his education. The subjects that most interested him were Medicine,
Psychology and Religion, and the heady mixture of these three disciplines
was to help him later in life to comprehend the divine gift he was to receive
later in life.
Either because the family itself was into it, or because of the surrounding
influences, Mikao embraced the Tendai school of Buddhism, which was
patronized by and extremely popular among the upper classes of the time.
The Tendai Doctrine in turn drew inspiration from the Chinese Tiantai
Buddhist Doctrine, and contained elements in it that allowed adaptation of
several outside influences.
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Indeed, the open-mindedness to look at other schools of thought, study them,

experiment with them, and merge elements from them into one’s own outlook
and lifestyle, shaped Mikao Usui’s personality. These virtues enabled Usui to
absorb the knowledge that the world had to offer, on his way towards
enlightenment and “Satori”, as the Japanese call it, and the consequent
development of Reiki.
Mikao Usui – The Seeker
The turning point in his life came when Dr. Mikao Usui was appointed Dean to
Doshisha University, a private university in Kyoto, Japan. The university was
founded by Niijima Jou, who modeled it on the lines of such western
institutions as the Andover Theological Seminary and the Amherst College,
both based in Massachusetts.
Since its inception, the Doshisha Elite School, as the university was then
known, maintained a student and faculty exchange program with the Amherst
College. By its nature, the school followed a western and Christian culture,
and imbibed Christian thoughts in its course curricula and studies.
I would consider the group of students, who engaged Dr. Mikao Usui on that
day in a lively metaphysical discussion, as the motivators for the “Usui Reiki”
system that we are now the benefactors of. It was somebody in that group –
perhaps a scholar with a deep grounding in Christianity and the Bible, no
doubt – who asked Dr. Usui whether the latter believed in the Bible.
To this, Dr. Usui - himself an erudite scholar, well-versed in the tenets of

Christianity - answered in the affirmative.
Pop came the next question: “Doctor, do you believe in the ability of Jesus to
heal the sick?” Again, the good doctor replied in the affirmative.
The students persisted. “And Jesus also said, ‘You can do this and more.’ So,
surely, doctor, when can you teach us how to heal just like Jesus did?”
I do not know whether the students were merely thinking abstractly, letting
their flights of fancy go wild that day, or whether they were serious. I believe it
was more likely the former. The students perhaps came from a background
where such intellectual jujitsu with professors was an in thing – to be indulged
in as a pastime. But, on the conservative Dr. Usui, the flow of this
conversation was having a profound impact.
The students had posed a question to him: “When can you teach us how to
heal, just like Jesus? Since you believe that Jesus could heal people by the
touch of his hand, you should be able to teach us how to do it, too?”
That night, Dr. Usui couldn’t sleep for a wink. The question posed by the
students kept him tossing and turning in his bed. What the students said
made sense to him. He believed in Jesus. He also believed fully that Jesus
had the powers to heal the sick and the ill by the touch of his hands. He also
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believed in Jesus’ words – “You can do this too, and more”. Then where was
the hitch? In order to teach the students how to heal just like Jesus could, he,
Dr. Usui, himself had to learn the technique.
Dr. Usui’s background and cultural values taught him that he had to
satisfactorily respond to the questions of his students and teach them what
they aspired for. His standing as a Guru in the eyes of his students, he
thought, was justified only when he had all the answers. In the circumstances,
therefore, it was not right for him to continue as their teacher any more, he
perceived.
The next day, Dr. Mikao Usui resigned his job as Dean of Doshisha
University. As he tendered his resignation to the President of the School and
walked out of the office, he was calm and peaceful, his inner strength shining
on his face. From there began his quest to find the solution to the problem of
healing the sick and the ill “just like Jesus could”.
I do not know the reaction of the students when they heard about Dr. Usui’s
decision. But I am sure grateful to them for the conversation they had with
their teacher that day.
The question before Dr. Usui was: Where can he find the knowledge of
healing people a la Jesus? Thinking logically, he thought that since Jesus was
a Christian, perhaps the solution lay in the lands where the religion was
predominant. With this in mind, Dr. Usui set sail to America.
In those days, the University of Chicago had acquired a name for itself in the
domain of Metaphysics. Dr. Usui enrolled himself as a student in the
university, and began his search for a solution to his question: how to heal the
sick and the ill by the touch of the hand, just like Jesus did?
Days passed into weeks, weeks passed into months. And months passed into
years. Dr. Usui spent his time absorbing the tenets of Christian religion, its
philosophy, as well as the scriptures of all the religions that he could lay his
hands on, in the vast libraries of the University. One fine morning, realization
dawned on him that he had come to Chicago almost seven years ago, and
still had gotten nowhere in his quest – he was still standing exactly where he
had started.
Mikao Usui – The Learner
It was while brooding over what to do next, that somebody suggested to him
that he visit countries such as India and Tibet. Surely there must be some
institution or individual in such ancient lands that might have the answer?
With renewed hope and optimism in his heart, Dr. Usui reached the shores of
India. Upon reaching India, he discovered that if the secret of the Indian
scriptures were to be unlocked, learning the ancient Sanskrit language was
important. Unfazed, Dr. Usui, the scholar, seeker and learner from Japan, first
took upon himself the task of learning the Sanskrit language.
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Several weeks and months passed before he could begin to read and
comprehend the Sanskrit scriptures and sutras. Like a voracious reader, he
scoured India and Tibet to read whatever he could about the ancients’ abilities
to heal the sick and the ill. But to no avail.
When he reached the birthplace of Buddha, he realized that Buddha, too, had
the power to heal the sick. And, Japan was home to some of the largest
monasteries in the world. So, without letting disappointment get through to
him even after the passage of so many years when the students from
Amherst College had posed their query to him, Dr. Usui ploughed on.
Perhaps those students must have by then passed out of Doshisha Elite
School, settled down in their respective jobs, gotten married, and generally
moved on in life, the episode with one Professor Mikao Usui firmly behind
them.
Back in Japan after so many years, Dr. Mikao Usui knocked on the doors of
all the monasteries. Somewhere along the way, he came in contact with a
monastery whose inmates directed him to undergo a twenty-one day fasting
and meditation procedure, known as the Isyu Guo, on a mountain in Kyoto,
called the Mount Kurama.
This was yet another turning point in his life; and as it turns out, this turning
point has also been a turning point for alternative therapy.
Mikao Usui – The Enlightened
A fatigued but hopeful Mikao Usui immediately embarked on this twenty-one

day course of fasting, meditation, chanting and prayers, to be carried out in
isolation from the rest of humanity. At the end of the twenty-first day, Mikao
achieved enlightenment. He came face-to-face with the ultimate source that
transferred the knowledge of healing - “just like Jesus did” - into his mind.
And this transfer of knowledge is what has made all the difference to my life,
which I am now recounting to you.
Exactly what transpired on that beautiful, tranquil mountain? Who or what was
it that Mikao Usui came face-to-face with, that eventful day? There are several
theories. One theory says that in the pre-dawn morning on the twenty-first
day, Usui saw a flicker of light coming towards him, and this light hit him in the
third eye. The hit made Usui go into a trance-like state, whence the
knowledge of healing was transferred to him.
Another theory says that as part of the Isyu Guo training, Usui was required to
stand under a waterfall on the mountain, and allow the water to strike and flow
over the top of the head. This practice is supposed to activate the crown
chakra or the “Sahasrara” (thousand petals in the metaphysical plane of
mind). It was on the twenty-first day of his meditation that the Reiki energy
activated his Sahasrara while under the waterfall, and he achieved his
enlightenment.
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Whatever be the method, Mikao Usui the enlightened was a much happy man
when he descended Mount Kurama. The Japanese call this “touch from the
heavens” as “Satori”.
Mikao Usui – The Reiki Movement
Dr. Mikao Usui’s fame as a healer, who could heal the sick and the ill with his
hands, “just as Jesus could”, soon spread far and wide.
The next step for him was to set up a healing clinic in Kyoto, and he went on
to found a society – the “Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkei” (Usui Healing Method
Society). The earthquake in Tokyo in the year 1923 brought him to the
limelight at the national level, and he started receiving requests to visit
different cities to heal the masses there.
People began coming to him not only for a cure to their illness, but also to
learn the technique of healing. In his lifetime, Dr. Usui trained sixteen
disciples, all of whom branched forth to spread the knowledge all over the
world.
It was during one of his visits to the city of Fukuyama in Hiroshima, that he
achieved Nirvana on the ninth of March, 1926.
Dr. Chujiro Hayashi
The most capable disciple of Dr. Mikao Usui, or

Usui Sensei as he came to be known in Japan,
was Dr. Chujiro Hayashi.
A naval officer serving the Japanese Imperial

Army, Dr. Chujiro Hayashi was searching for a
meaningful life after retirement, when he chanced
upon a meeting with Usui Sensei. This meeting
changed his life forever. His stiff military gait and
stern outlook was transformed into a gentle,
loving healer, as he followed the Sensei around,
assisting the Guru during his healing sessions.
Impressed by his dedication and devotion to

serving humanity; the Sensei bestowed upon him
the title of “Reiki Grand Master”.
Dr. Hayashi is credited to open the first Reiki Clinic in Tokyo. He is also
credited with refining Usui Sensei’s technique further, and developing the
twelve basic hand positions that we still use today.
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Besides the hand positions, Dr. Hayashi also refined the attunement process
by dividing it into three separate levels called degrees. This is a concept that
we shall be dwelling upon further in a later chapter.
Later in life, Dr. Hayashi initiated two women into the Reiki movement: his
own wife, and Mrs. Hawayo Takata. He initiated a total of thirteen disciples
into the Reiki movement during his lifetime.
Mrs. Hawayo Takata
Fortunate are those, who get to learn the secrets

of this universe at the feet of the masters.
Amongst the elite circle of such human beings,
one name that stands out is that of Mrs. Hawayo
Takata.
Mrs. Takata was the offspring of Japanese

immigrants who had migrated to Hawaii. Her
father, Otogoro Kawamura, was employed with a
sugar plantation at Kauai in Hawaii, and it was
here that Hawayo was born on December 24,
1900.
Growing up amidst the lush fields of the

plantation, young Hawayo fell in love with and
married Saichi Takata, a bookkeeper employed at
the plantation. Hawayo’s parents meanwhile moved back to Japan.
Calamity struck the Takata family when Saichi Takata died at the young age
of thirty-four in 1930. Financial penury compelled Hawayo Takata to return to
her parents in Japan along with her two children.
The travel from Hawaii to Japan, and the hardship she had been facing in the
days before and after her husband’s death, took a toll on Hawayo Takata’s
health. While she was being wheeled into the operating room of a hospital for
a surgical procedure, she enquired about possible and painless alternatives to
surgery. The surgeon, who was getting ready to operate on her, was a
compassionate man. He had heard of the work done by Dr. Hayashi and his
Reiki clinic, and directed her there.
When Mrs. Takata began her treatment at the Reiki Clinic in Tokyo, she was
surprised to see no equipment installed in the clinic. Yet, whenever the Reiki
practitioners, assistants of Dr. Hayashi, treated her everyday, she could feel
an invisible heat entering her body. Within four months, her appendicitis, her
gall stones and her tumor were cured completely, and Mrs. Takata was
walking happily again.
17
Impressed with the effect that this apparently simple technique had on
diseases (“curing the sick and ill with the touch of the hand, just like Jesus
did”), Mrs. Takata wanted to be initiated into Reiki herself. Despite the
convention of the times that frowned upon women being taught any arts other
than culinary and domestic housekeeping, as well as the close-door policy for
any Japanese art training to aliens, she persisted with her request to be
trained in Reiki.
Dr. Hayashi finally relented, and Mrs. Takata received her First Degree Reiki
in 1936. After working for a period of one year in Dr. Hayashi’s clinic, she
received her Second Degree Reiki. The next year, in 1937, Mrs. Takata
returned to Hawaii and set up the first Reiki clinic there, the first outside
Japan.
In 1938, Mrs. Hawayo Takata was initiated as a Reiki Master by Dr. Hayashi
in Hawaii.
In the years since then, right up to he r Nirvana on December 11, 1980, Mrs.
Takata trained and initiated twenty-two people into the movement.
Reiki – Different Schools Of Thought
There are essentially two different schools of thought on Reiki. One school,
called the Traditionalist School, advocates adherence to the practices that
Usui taught as is, and shuns any variations from the basic tenets laid down by
the founder.
The other school of thought, called the Independent School, encompasses the
different streams of disciplines that have as their base the Usui teachings, but
add new elements to the traditional Reiki system. These new elements seek
to fuse the Reiki core with the thinking of the New Age which respects
alternative spiritual subcultures also, and has deep interest and belief in
concepts such as meditation, channeling , occultism, shamanism and so forth.
If you are a newbie in Reiki, I would suggest that you start off with the basic
teachings of Usui, or the traditional system laid down by the founder of Reiki,
first. This is how I got initiated into Reiki. Once you have mastered the basics
and have begun enjoying the fruits of this great technique of healing, you shall
then be ready to savor the other forms and flavors of Reiki available out there,
and benefit from them, too. I have touched upon a few alternate forms of Reiki
in chapter 7, for your benefit.
Enjoy! Heal thyself!
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Chapter 3
1. Misconceptions About Reiki
2. What Reiki Is Not About
3. Reiki is NOT a religion
4. Dr. Mikao Usui Was Not A Christian
5. Reiki is not a one-shot affair
6. Reiki Is Not For The Spiritually Evolved, Only!
7. Medical Opinion About Reiki
8. Integration Of Reiki Within Hospital Procedure
9. What Makes Reiki A Favorite?
Misconceptions About Reiki
When I was new to Reiki myself, I used to harbor lots of notions about this
great healing technique. These notions were picked up by me from the
internet, from the newspaper articles that I used to voraciously read up on; as
well as from the other people who I thought were more knowledgeable than I.
(I still think they are! More knowledgeable, I mean.)
As I gradually began walking on the road to self-realization (now, that’s a

“loaded” word!), and began delving into Reiki, fine -tuning myself with the
universe around me, I began to shed, layer by thin layer, the misconceptions
that I had wrapped around the subject. Now, it is I who am guiding people on
the road to Reiki.
There are people who now view me as more knowledgeable than they are on
this subject; and approach me with their doubts and queries on Reiki. Every
such question immediately brings to mind past memories when I was
struggling with the same point myself, and the effort I took to get them
answered, partly through the training that I underwent, and partly through my
own personal experience. And, to tell you the truth, at the end of it all, Reiki
*is* a profound personal experience, both as the healer and as the healed.
I now try to satisfy their doubts and answer their queries to the best of my
abilities – uh, humbly speaking.
In this section, I have endeavored to list the misconceptions that people very
commonly have about Reiki. Hopefully you will find your own list of doubts
and queries in this list.
Read on, and enjoy!
19
What Reiki Is Not About
There are so many myths and false notions about what Reiki is … and it is not
surprising, considering the different flavors of Reiki that are doing the rounds,
as well as the techno-babble and spiritual mumbo-jumbo that leaps out at you
the moment you open your mouth to say “R e i k i”. So I will draw up a list of
what Reiki is most definitely NOT.
Here goes:
Reiki Is NOT A Religion
Reiki is definitely not a religion. It is incidental that the first people to be

inducted into this therapy were Japanese Buddhists; as the therapy first
originated in Buddhism-dominated Japan. Though Dr. Mikao Usui, or Usui
Sensei, himself was learned in multiple religions, his roots lay in the Tendai
sect of Buddhism that his parents were a part of.
Very interestingly, this particular sect itself draws from the Chinese Tiantai
Buddhist doctrine, and inherently has a broad outlook and open attitude
towards other philosophies and ways of thinking. The personality of Usui
Sensei that got moulded as a result of the underlying tenets of the religion he
was following, must have guided him into constructing Reiki so methodically
and scientifically.
Reiki as an alternative healing therapy left Japan’s shores for the first time in
1937/38, and the first Reiki Clinic outside Japan was set up in Hawaii. The
person behind this event, Mrs. Hawayo Takata, was a Hawaii-born second-
degree Reiki practitioner who was instrumental in the first wave of awareness
about Reiki as a powerful mechanism for healing around the world.
Today, people all over the world practice Reiki, not as religion, but with a
religious zeal. So you can say your prayers and bow before your favorite God
and spirit guide, and practice Reiki at the same time – the two are mutually
exclusive. Yet, the end result is the same: in both the cases, you are
connected with the source that has brought forth both you and me and all of
us here.
Dr. Mikao Usui Was Not A Christian
This is again another religion-related myth or misconception. As I have

mentioned above, as well as expanded upon in Chapter II of this book, Dr.
Mikao Usui was a Buddhist, and he embraced the Tendai Buddhist sect which
was popular in those heady days of the Meiji regime around 1890.
As a scholar, Dr. Usui did learn all the major religions of those days, including
Christianity. And he took up the position of Dean with Doshisha Elite School in
Kyoto, which conducted courses on western religions. This brought him face-
to-face with students who had come to Japan under the exchange program
that the School had with the Amherst College of Massachusetts.
20
In his quest for the technique to heal the sick and the ill by the touch of the
hand, “just like Jesus did”, Dr. Usui traveled to the U.S. and also enrolled in
the University of Chicago in order to pursue his search. From there, he
traveled to India and Tibet, before returning back to his homeland.
When he conceptualized Reiki as a discipline, the symbols and drawings that

he produced have all the hallmarks of Buddhist teachings that he was at
home with.
So, I hope this notion is now at rest. Dr. Usui was a Japanese Buddhist,
through and through. Not that this matters, one jot!
Reiki Is Not A One-Shot Affair
Most people, who come to me with some sickness or illness, expect to return
home hale and hearty after just one sitting. To them, it is like an injection,
some sort of a universal remedy, which I just have to punch into their body,
and voila! They are cured!
Truth be told, I haven’t quite reached the milestone where just one touch of
my hand will draw the negative energies from you and cure you. Jesus Christ
could do it, “and more”. I am walking on the same road, and God willing, shall
reach that stage one day! For now, I, and to my knowledge, all the
practitioners of Reiki doing their bit all around the world, require their patients
to undergo a specific number of sittings before results begin to manifest.
The reason for certain amount of time required to heal is not too hard to
fathom. Just imagine the current ailment that you suffer from. The ailment did
not pop up, like an uninvited guest, all of a sudden, one bright morning. While
you were going about life’s motions, these ailments were lying hidden in your
body … latent, perhaps seeded by some negative habit that you began
indulging in at some point of time.
Gradually, these ailments built up their strength, and when they were ready to
launch their attack, they did so with a vengeance. And how! You had to drop
everything and attend to them, first thing. So, removing these ingrained
ailments is gradual, as the energies have to gently prod them out of the
individual cells that comprise you.
There are instances when the patient before me got cured in just one sitting.
And I had to take pains to assure them that I was not the next avatar of
Jesus! The only reason that I perceive they were cured in that single sitting is
that their body was fully open to the energy flowing from my hands into their
body. And I also detected in them a conviction that Reiki will heal them. They
had come to me in just the right frame of mind. Their absolute faith in the
system, coupled with their openness and acceptance of the healing powers
swirling around them, did the trick. An open mind and an open body, inviting
the healing energy to enter and cleanse, is what is required for accelerated
cure.
21
There is a subtle variation to this “Reiki is a one -shot affair” line of thinking.
And that is, that once you have been cured of a particular problem through
Reiki, the problem is gone forever. That is far from true. Reiki is like the wash
that your car gets in the garage. When the car emerges from the doors of the
garage, it gleams a nd sparkles and shines as if new. But once on the road, it
will depend on where and how you drive the vehicle! Depending on the quality
of roads that you drive, plus your style of driving as well as the care and love
and maintenance you keep giving your beautiful machine, you might find
yourself knocking at the doors of the garage more frequently than should have
been the case! And the same holds with healing your body and mind through
Reiki. You need to be in touch with the healing process all along, so that the
negativities and the impurities do not get the chance to build their evil
strengths inside you.
Okay, so am I now trying to say that you keep paying your fees to the nearest
Reiki practitioner for your entire lifetime? Nah. Far from that. What I am saying
is that you clean and maintain your own car. What I am saying is that you
learn the process yourself, so that your cleansing and healing can be carried
out by you. And since we are talking about your body and your mind here, you
are the best person – better than the Reiki practitioner, I would go so far to
say – to heal thyself! Learn the art of Reiki, and heal thyself! Do it in the
privacy of your home everyday, and elevate yourself to higher planes of
consciousness. Yes, it is a continuous process, and it is possible.
In fact, we as Reiki practitioners encourage people to learn the art of Reiki

healing themselves. Ours must be the only therapy where there are no trade
secrets. We actively conduct training sessions for the faithful and the
converts, who would like to use this divine technique not only to cure
themselves, but also their friends and family members. The adage “An apple
a day …” should be changed to “A Reiki session every day …”!
Reiki Is Not For The Spiritually Evolved, Only!
Yes, this was a very strong notion that I too had, before I actually started
learning it. Somehow the spiritual element around Reiki has become stronger
with time. This is partly because the words that we use while describing the
process of healing border on the metaphysical and indeed the spiritual; so the
indifferent listener, not directly involved with the exercise, comes away
thinking that Reiki is all spiritual mumbo-jumbo that goes over one’s head.
It took me some conscious effort to curb my tendency to wax e loquent on the

spiritual aspect of Reiki. For, if you cut out all the so-called “spiritual mumbo-
jumbo”, Reiki still heals! We are, all of us, connected to the central source just
like our homes are connected to the central power station. Energy flows into
our houses and light up our four walls; similarly our source transmits energy
into our body and lights up our souls … Oops, here I go again … I should
have said “… and heals it of sickness and ailments …”
22
On a more serious note, Reiki is for all kinds of people – from hard-nosed,
grounded-to-the-earth individuals, to the sporty types, to the exuberant
extroverts … to the silent introverts, the armchair types, to the spiritually-
inclined … everybody, without exception, can be healed and have been
healed by Reiki. The energy behind Reiki does not recognize the nature of the
individual it is poised to flow in – it simply flows. And the Reiki practitioner acts
only as a medium – or the physical wire – to bring the energy to you.
And here I come again to the point that I had touched upon earlier: Be your
own powerhouse. Generate your own power. Harness the energy available so
abundantly in nature around you. And, heal thyself.
Medical Opinion About Reiki
The busy medics dashing from one emergency unit to another, wearing their
trademark white coat and a stethoscope permanently around their neck, that
glazed look in the eyes … the flurry of nurses in their spotless whites,
wheeling patients in and out of operation theaters, checking temperatures,
blood pressures, and generally monitoring the health of patients under their
charge … the rows upon rows of beds with patients neatly bundled up in them
… when you bring this picture in your mind, Reiki and hospitals do appear a
study in contrast.
Integration Of Reiki Within Hospital Procedure
Yet, this combination of contrasts is precisely what is happening in the

hospitals nowadays. Medical science, specifically, and science in general,
works on the tenet – “You will believe it when you can see it”; and if they
cannot see or measure phenomena with their eyes, they use complex
instrumentation to carry out their observations and measurements. And if their
complex equipment fails, they simply throw up their hands!
The healing process of Reiki happens to be in a realm that is beyond

science’s present capabilities of observation and measurements. One day,
science shall be able to measure the energies objectively with its precise
instruments. However, that Reiki heals, and patients walk out of the clinic of
Reiki healers after leaving behind their ailments and diseases, is an irrefutable
phenomenon, too.
Step 1: Patient’s condition of health is recorded before they start Reiki.

Readings are taken.
Step 2: No modern medicine treatment is given to them.
Step 3: Patient begins Reiki treatment.
Step 4: At end of Reiki treatment, patient walks out of the Reiki clinic.
Step 5: Their condition of health is again recorded. Readings are taken.
23
Step 6: Comparing the two records, it is observed that patient has been
healed. The patient says so, themselves. The cheer and happiness on their
face at having rid themselves of whatever bothered them, is proof enough.
Step 7: Hence proved.
So, albeit grudgingly, the effect of Reiki on health and healing has been
acknowledged. Reiki has begun gaining acceptance in the staid corridors of
medical establishment as an alternative to mainstream medicine. Hospitals
across the length and breadth of America are now including Reiki in their
catalog of patient services, as a tool for disease management as well as for
maintaining well-being.
These hospitals now boast of in-house Reiki-trained staff: doctors, surgeons,

nurses, and other support personnel have a special tag along their name in
the duty roster, so patients can avail of their services whenever required.
Reiki now finds acceptance in such diverse medical settings as palliative care
centers, rehabilitation, psychiatric units, oncology, organ transplantation units,
obstetrics and neo-natal care, and so on.
Integration of the practice of Reiki with the rest of the infrastructure in

hospitals is now elaborately carried out. Hospitals make sure that Reiki
volunteers, who are not part of their own staff, understand the interaction
process with hospital staff and patients in a hospital setting, and also that they
become tuned to the hospital’s working style. Usually greenhorn Reiki healers
are assigned to veteran volunteers so that they understand the ropes of the
trade well, and learn how to handle various issues that might arise.
Some hospitals ha ve even prescribed specific dress code for Reiki volunteers
and laid down guidelines on conduct. For a Reiki healer, the interaction with
patients in a hospital - quite a few of them with diseases that have no known
cure, and a few of them perhaps on the verge of death - is a moving spiritual
experience. Despite the commonality of the problem being faced, patients
respond to their condition differently, in their own unique ways. And so the
Reiki healer has to approach every patient with an open mind, and be open to
the experience.
And Reiki is finding acceptance in private clinics too. Doctors have discovered
that a degree (or level of specialization, we shall come to this point later in the
book) in Reiki along with their certificate of super-specialization helps a lot.
Patients discover that they are healing faster and better through this multi-
dimensional process of pills and Reiki. There is an immediate sense of
reduction in stress, which is a prerequisite most of the times for modern
medicine to show its effect. When anxiety is lowered, recovery improves.
When stress is alleviated, the patient gets to sleep better, without having to
resort to sedatives. This is the subtle and powerful impact of Reiki on the
healing process that doctors are deploying on their patients.
24
What Makes Reiki A Favorite?
The beauty of Reiki is its cost-effectiveness in comparison to the sometimes

exorbitant bills that patient care generates. Unlike modern health care, Reiki
does not require any equipment, other than the trained hands of the Reiki
healer. Increasingly, hospitals are now deploying Reiki at different stages of
the patients’ progress. Experiments are being carried out to monitor the
results of Reiki on their patients, right from the point when a patient is
admitted, to inside the operating room, to postoperative pains and
depressions. And, the results have, expectedly, been very, very promising.
Another beauty of Reiki worth noting in the context of modern medicine is that
it does not interfere with the medical treatment that the patient is undergoing
under the care of the doctors. Doctors need not pause to reflect the impact of
Reiki on the prescriptions they are issuing. There are no side-effects
whatsoever. This makes Reiki complementary to modern medicine. Reiki
does not have any preconditions – it simply channels positive, healing energy
into the disturbed part of the patient’s body through the hands of the Reiki
practitioner.
Yet another characteristic of this treatment is that it is non-invasive. Even

when I say “touch”, there may actually be no human “touch” required on the
body of the patient. The hands can be at a distance of about six inches too:
what matters here is the focus of the healer and the acceptance of the patient
towards Reiki’s healing. (Remote healing is possible too, where you may be
located at the other end of the world, far away from the patient. This is a
concept that we touch upon later …)
Finally, while modern medicine appears cold and impersonal, with its Spartan
and clinical settings, Reiki comes across as warm and very personal, and
deeply reflects a person’s values and beliefs. It is no surprise, therefore, that
Reiki is now gaining wider acceptance in all conventional streams of
medicine.
25
Chapter 4
1. Now, What Reiki Is All About
2. Tenents Of Reiki
3. The Process Of Healing
4. Areas That Reiki Touches
5. A Session With A Reiki Healer
6. Distance Healing
Now, What Reiki Is All About
The principles – (I call them tenets) to distinguish from Usui Sensei’s

principles - on which Reiki is based are totally different from that of modern
medicine. And as I pen the pages that follow on what Reiki can do to your
health and how it goes about doing it, you will have to bear in mind this
difference.
In one phrase: shift your point of reference. Change the direction of looking at
disease and cure. Open up your mind and don’t jump to conclusions. If you
are a newbie to alternate therapies, this message is especially for you: keep
an open mind; for you are about to discover a totally different way of healing. I
would even ambitiously say that you are about to discover a totally different
way of living, too!
When I approached Reiki for the first time, I did so with my preconceived
notions. I viewed Reiki wearing color-tinted glasses that had pre-biases built
in it. As I struggled to understand what I was being taught, and tried to impose
the structure and rationale of modern logic on it, I became confused. But once
I removed them and allowed the pure light of knowledge to come to me …
without any glasses or prisms … everything fell in place.
Dear reader, I would request you to first put down your glasses
(metaphorically, I mean) and prisms, close your eyes, relax, take a deep
breath, and suggest to yourself to be open and free for the experience that
you are going to encounter in the pages that follow. And discover a wholly
new way of healing yourself and others.
A word before I proceed. Because of the inherent characteristics of Reiki

(there being no rigid standardization of its methods and practices, etc.), over
the past two and a half decades, quite a few variants or mutations of Reiki
have evolved and are available as healing techniques alternative to the one
propagated by Usui Sensei.
26
These techniques are at their core identical to the original system; and they
differ only in some symbols and add-on practices. I touch upon them in
Chapter 7. For the time being, I focus on the original Usui System of Natural
Healing.
Read on, meditate on what you have read, make notes. And enjoy this
experience.
Tenets Of Reiki
In the following pages, I have taken great care to present the tenets of Reiki in
a very simple and no-nonsense fashion, stripping away all the mumbo-jumbo
that presently surrounds it. Understanding these tenets shall help you to
understand the entire process as they should really be understood.
Here they are, first, the few tenets upon which Reiki is based:
• The First Tenet
The first fundamental tenet of Reiki is that this universe is made up of pure
energy. You and I, and this entire world that we can perceive with our five
senses, are tangible manifestations of this energy. Energy vibrates at specific
frequencies, and we can detect certain frequency bands. Now, there are
energies that are beyond what we can perceive and experience with our
“normal” senses and scientific instruments. These are the frequency bands
that we cannot detect, and they simply drop off our radar. This energy flows
freely in ether, swirls around us, and even passes through our bodies without
our being able to detect it.
The air that we breathe in is yet another manifestation of this universal

energy. As long as we are alive, it is the air that we breathe in and breathe out
that connects our soul to the universe. Our mouth, windpipe, and the lungs
are all elaborate mechanisms meant to channel this one form of energy to our
soul. When we exit our body (you know what I mean by “exit”, I am sure!), the
elaborate mechanism of breathing through lungs becomes redundant, for this
mechanism is relevant only for the body.
Sounds very obvious? Indeed it is. Now read further ahead.
Without the limitations of our body, we are nothing but pure energy ourselves.
Yes, we are that same energy that flows freely in ether, is swirling around us,
and passing through our body perpetually. Only, we are not conscious about
it.
Now, so long as we are living within our body, we have to follow the body’s
orders, and obey its rules and regulations. And very simple rules and
regulations they are. For example, breathe normally. Drink clean water. Eat
healthy food. Take exercise regularly. Lead a healthy lifestyle. Avoid risky
behavior and lifestyle. Be rooted in happiness.
27
When we follow these rules, the energy that flows within us and through us,
does so freely. Especially the energy that flows within us. The physical body’s
physical pathways are always open and always available for this energy
within. There is perfect balance between us and the universe. The
communion between the soul and the rest of the energy is total. And we are a
happy, healthy human being.
And when we default on any of these rules, what happens? You know the
answer to this already. The physical body’s physical pathways become
blocked and become obstructive, and the free flow of the divine energy within
us is blocked and obstructed. An imbalance is created between us and the
universe. The communion between the soul and the rest of the energy is
disrupted. And we are an unhappy, diseased human being.
The next, obvious, question is: how do get back from disease :-( to health
:-)? If we can somehow get the help of the energy that is outside the body to
assist the energy inside, in removing the blockages and the obstructions, we
shall be able to progress from :-( to :-) in double-quick time. Considering that
there is such an infinite abundance of energy around us, and available free,
too, this shouldn’t be a difficult job!
See, I told you, there is no medical mumbo-jumbo here! Just simple common
sense…
Coming back to the procedure for soliciting the assistance of the energy that
is outside the physical body, despite the energy available all around us, we
still need some way to “channel” this outside energy through to us, in order for
it to be effective. Imagine that your hand has been dirtied, and you need to
wash the dirt away. If you go jump in the swimming tank, how long do you
think it will take for the dirt to dissolve itself on its own, while you are lying
patiently in the water?
And, if somebody directs a hose pipe of pure, clean water towards your
hands, and the water is falling on your hands with a high force, how fast do
you think your hands shall clean themselves?
You get the point?
Reiki does just this.
The “somebody” who directed the hose pipe of high-force water on your dirty
hands in our example is the Reiki practitioner. This practitioner is the
“channel”. The “dirty hands” in our example is the general area where the
disease in our body is the most predominant. (If the general area is the entire
body, then so be it.)
The problem with us is that our hands keep getting dirtied every now and
then! So, instead of relying on the “somebody”, if it were possible to pick up
the hose pipe ourselves; and direct the high-force water towards the “dirty
hands” on our own, whenever we feel like it? And, after having cleansed
28
ourselves thus, direct the same divine force to our near and dear ones? It
would be so good, isn’t it? To not rely on anybody, and do our own cleansing
ourselves?
And this is the theme that you will find recurrently in this book. Be your own
cleanser. Be your own healer. It is so easy and simple, once you understand it
well.
• The Second Tenet
Brick upon brick, these tenets build upon each other.
The second most fundamental tenet that Reiki is based on is that the energy
channeled by the practitioner into the body of the recipient is an “intelligent”
energy.
After flowing into the body of the recipient, the energy possesses the
knowledge of what needs to be done. It also knows exactly where it is needed
in the body.
The mind, belief and intentions of the two participants in the healing process -
the healer and the recipient – decide how qualitatively beneficial the Reiki
session is going to pan out for the recipient. There is a very delicate interplay
of the following two thought processes here:
When the channel sits before the recipient, who needs to be healed, it is the
intention and belief that the channel holds in their thought processes of the
mind that decides what kind of energy is going to flow into the person’s body.
A belief in themselves, and the pure intention to heal the person who has
approached them for cure of their ailment, creates the right setting in their
mind and body for the energy to channel through.
Further, as a Reiki practitioner, the channel trains themselves to concentrate

on specific symbols (which we shall be covering later), and these symbols
bring forth in their mind the desired thought patterns and frequencies that
synchronize with the energy flowing through them. Which symbol from the set
of symbols do they pick up? This depends on the specific problem of the
recipient.
The belief and the intention of the recipient that they bring with them to the
practitioner’s clinic make a lot of difference. A strong belief in oneself, the
belief that one deserves to be healed and cured of the ailment, the belief that
Reiki is the right approach for healing, and the level of healing that one
desires – all these together determine the speed with which the ailment can
be resolved.
More often than not, there are pre-biases and prejudices harbored by the
recipient, coupled with negative blockages at the psychological level, which
prevent the recipient from accepting the energy to the depth that it should
29
reach in their body and mind in order to heal completely. The catharsis, thus,
is incomplete, and therefore takes longer.
The implication of the above is that Reiki involves both the channel and the
receiver. It is not just the channel who is doing the sending of energy, as is
the case with “spiritual healing” (another subject altogether). In Reiki, the
receiver has to accept it also. And, the purer the intentions and beliefs of the
two people involved, and the clearer the identification of the problem, the
faster is the healing process.
An immediate recollection that I wish to record here is of clients who were

healed of their chronic diseases in one and the very first sitting! I, on my part,
had performed my duties for these clients as a channel, as meticulously and
methodically, as I used to with my other clients. What was it that had
happened *extra* in their particular case? After chatting with them, I
discovered the following aspects of personality that hold consistent across all
such clients:
One, they had, without exception, a deep belief in their own destiny. They
shared an optimistic outlook towards life, and looked at everything that was
going on in their world positively. They *knew* that their ailment shall be
cured, even though modern medicine as yet didn’t have any cure.
Two, they had read up on Reiki before they had come to me; or at least had
heard about it from their friends and relatives who had gone through similar
experiences. So, belief i n the process was absolute. There was no doubt or
any skepticism about the efficacy of this healing therapy in their mind. This
means that both the channel and the recipient were in perfect resonance with
each other, and the energy flow to them was smooth.
Finally, the recipients accepted and welcomed the energy in their heart and
mind. This element of welcome to the energy allowed the energy reaching
them to touch their core, and thus their catharsis was instant.
Yes, for the recipient, who is in need of healing, will of course want their body
to be healed, you would say. But what about the “belief and intention” of the
channel? How does one safeguard oneself against any negative or wrong
“beliefs and intentions” of the channel, due to whatever reasons, you would
ask. Good question.
The answer to this question lies in the third tenet. So, without further ado, we
move on to the next tenet …
• The third tenet
The third fundamental tenet, on which Reiki is based, is that it is always

benevolent. Any intention o n the part of either the practitioner/channel to harm
others, or even the recipient’s intention to harm or hurt themselves (self-
inflicted), automatically blocks the flow of energy.
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In fact, one of the symbols in the set that we practitioners make use of is
called the Master Symbol. Christened “Dai-ko-myo”, the exact meaning of this
term is given by a reputed and respected encyclopedia as “the treasure
house”, which is the source of light. The sequence that we go through while
initiating the process of healing requires the Master Symbol to be invoked;
without it, the sequence isn’t complete. This Symbol, as well as the others,
invokes thought patterns that cannot be anything but pure, pious thoughts and
intentions.
After working in this field for so many years, I have come to believe that Reiki
develops in you the power to heal, and also develops in you a sense of
profound responsibility towards mankind in general. It is an automatic
process, happening in the background continuously. Anything that is not
benevolent, has no place in Reiki’s scheme of things.
• The fourth tenet
This is the final tenet that, to my mind, Reiki is based on. This is that the use
of Reiki is independent of one’s intellectual capacity or level of spirituality –
either of the channel or of the recipient.
Irrespective of your academic qualifications, irrespective of your E.Q. or I.Q.

scores, irrespective of whether you can walk on the terra firma or levitate four
inches above the ground, irrespective of whether you have never stepped out
of your town or you have had a round trip of the planet Mars … you can use it
to heal yourself as well as to heal others.
The energy is not taxable (thank god for small mercies!). It is as abundant as
air and water and sunshine. It is pristine and omnipresent. This divine energy
is simply waiting for you to tap into it and use it for your own benefit and for
the benefit of others.
The Process Of Healing
As you would have realized by now, the core, basic purpose of Reiki is not to
“cure” you of diseases. In its basic form, Reiki – the energy – reinforces the
body’s innate capability to heal itself.
This section takes you through the different areas where Reiki performs its
magic on the ailments, and the process by which we practitioners carry it out.
After going through this section, you shall hopefully be mentally better
prepared when you visit your local Reiki practitioner next.
Areas that Reiki touches
We have already seen the benefits of Reiki in the field of medicine in Chapter
3. The beauty of Reiki is that it is not, unlike modern medicine, limited only to
the biological matter that you know as your body. It goes much beyond that.
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Dear reader, I take great pleasure in putting forth here the areas where Reiki
energy touches your body and mind, and indeed, life:
Stress reduction and alleviation of hypertension: The most profound and

immediate effect that I have seen happening in my clients has been an almost
dramatic drop in their stress levels and hypertension. This generates a sense
of wellbeing in the client, which is almost half the job ϑalready done for us
practitioners!
Alleviation from periods of trauma, depression, grievance: The energy

works at the level of the psyche and helps clients in coming out of their self-
imposed bouts of depression and grievance. In case of persons undergoing
post-trauma treatments, Reiki has been found to have a soothing effect,
pulling them out of the past and developing in them an optimistic outlook for
the future.
Rejuvenating the body and spirit: For the tired mind and body, Reiki energy
is the most refreshing and rejuvenating “tonic”! After a decidedly hectic
schedule, when I administer Reiki energy on myself, I am completely
energized and thoroughly cleansed. If you are a jet-setting executive or
somebody whose workday is a whirlwind of frenzy; Reiki is the best antidote
to ground you.
Improvement in immune system: Most of the ailments that humanity suffers

from are a result of the failure of the body’s innate immunity system to defend
from outside attacks of germs and other microorganisms. Reiki energy shores
up your body’s defenses and helps you overcome these ailments.
Manifestation of goals and desires: Yes, this happens. Reiki energy not
only dissolves away your ailments and diseases, it also helps you in realizing
your goals and desires. The key phrase is: “What is the greatest good for
you?” Reiki knows the answer to this question, and all the goals and desires
that you harbor and that are in alignment with this answer … you shall find
them fulfilled.
Healing of relationships: Is there any relationship that has been causing you
distress? Reiki energy removes the negativity that might be emanating from
you and that is causing the disturbance. Even more generally, do you discern
any pattern of disturbed relations hip in any one or more areas of your life?
Say, for instance, you always have experienced problematic relationship with
people senior to you – may be your principal when you were in the school,
your parent when you were living with them, and your boss in job after job? Or
you are lurching from one marriage to another, each separation more
devastating than the earlier one? Reiki is the answer. Reiki reinstates order
and stability in the different dimensions of relationships where you are not
comfortable.
Healing the past: Was there anything in the past whose aftereffects are still
felt by you? Is there any disappointment/sorrow from the yesterdays that still
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linger in your mind? Reiki helps you to attain closure and balance in your past,
so that you can move ahead.
Balancing & healing in the future: When you allow Reiki’s energies to flow
to you on a continuous basis, either through an external channel or self-
administered, your tomorrows automatically begin to get balanced. The
energy’s guidance moves you in directions that are for your highest good.
Phew. I can go on and on. But I am sure the points that I have listed above
gives you the picture. Reiki is also used for world peace. The energy,
abundantly available in this universe, is being used for the greatest good of
the largest number.
A Session With A Reiki Healer
When you walk into the clinic of your local Reiki practitioner, I would advice
you to, in order to derive the maximum benefit, be totally open-minded. Leave
your skepticism at the door. When you leave, you can pick it up on the way
back home. Your skepticism, I mean. Chances are; you will forget to pick it
up, since it will have become redundant.
I have also discovered that maximum benefits from a session with the Reiki
healer are best derived when, besides a more open attitude, you also observe
the following:
Wear loose clothes. Tight-fitting clothes are not an impediment for Reiki, but
you will be more in tune with the environment around you when you are
wearing clothes that are comfortably loose.
Avoid smoking, alcohol and non-vegetarian food on the day of your

appointment. It is not an absolute must, but your body shall really be
prepared for accepting Reiki energy rather than remaining busy in assimilating
your intake.
Spend some quality time with yourself. See if you can switch off the
regular blare of the television and radio, and also wean yourself away from
the computer for a while. This stilling of the mind makes you sensitive to what
is going on around you, makes you aware of the present, and grounds you for
what follows.
Ensure that you are fully relaxed, and your colon and bladder are
relatively empty. Refresh yourself, after you have reached the clinic, if
necessary.
Just my insights on preparing yourself! So that you come away from the
session with an enriching experience …
When you have finally sat before the practitioner, you explain to them the
condition or ailment being faced by you, just like you do to your regular family
medico. They record your description in their folder in order to prepare a case
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history. (I have begun using my laptop; it helps in easy searching and also in
compiling statistics. Everybody’s methods differ, of course.)
Now the healing process begins. Depending on the ailment, you may be
asked to either lie down or to sit in a different chair. There is no requirement of
removal of any clothing. The practitioner begins their laying on of hands. They
need not touch you anywhere. Their hands are usually from five to six
centimeters to about a foot above your body. The practitioner then
concentrates on the specific Reiki symbols that bring just the desired
frequency of energy into their body, for onward channeling into you. Their
hands hover over specific areas of your body for certain period of time.
Depending on your particular condition, you may begin to feel different kinds
of sensations in those specific areas. You may feel certain warmth being
generated there, for instance. Or you might find it becoming cool. Or perhaps
you feel a subtle pressure being exerted there. Or it is also possible that you
do not feel any sensation at all. Which is okay, too.
Unbeknown to you, Reiki would have begun its work. Depending on the stress
and strain that you were in when you walked into the clinic, you will
immediately begin to relax, and begin feeling de-stressed. A few of my clients
even began snoring in their first sitting, to the utter surprise of their family
members accompanying them, who claimed that the client had had difficulty
sleeping earlier!
Gradually, those energies that are deficient in your body begin to get filled up.
Your body automatically begins accepting the energies that are deficient.
(This intensity of acceptance depends on your belief and intention, which I
have alluded to, earlier.) Negativities and impurities automatically begin to get
pulled away. Blockages created by stale energy begin to get dissolved.
There are, depending on the school of Reiki the practitioner has trained in,
anywhere from seven to twenty hand positions that they may apply on you.
The entire session lasts anywhere from half an hour to an hour or two,
depending on the judgment of the practitioner.
As I mentioned earlier, it is entirely possible that you do not get any sensation.
It is also entirely possible that when you leave, you might leave with a feeling
that all that has happened is that you got a pair of ears that gave a
sympathetic listening to your woes – and nothing much of consequence
occurred. This is perfectly okay. All that this means is – your tuning with your
environment needs further work. And that is not a problem at all. What is
important here is trust and patience. The more you develop confidence in
yourself and in the belief that you deserve the very best from the universe that
has created you – the more you begin to tune in. You are, after all, a work in
progress. Just as I am. Just as we all are.
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Distance Healing
Of all the aspects of Reiki, the most fascinating of this beautiful healing
technique is the ability of the Reiki practitioner to heal their clients e ven when
they are not physically face-to-face with each other in the same room. This
means that you may be sitting in one place; while the Reiki healer you trust is
sitting on a different continent altogether, halfway around the world. And, still,
Reiki energy can be channeled to you.
Really, really, fascinating and intriguing, isn’t it? Tell me, can modern
medicine, with all its internet-driven, robotic-arm surgery yet manage it? Reiki
doesn’t need internet to reach to you. It relies on the omnipresent ether that is
the biggest and the best medium of all for communication.
The set of symbols that comprise Reiki contains one symbol exclusively for
distance healing. This is called the “Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen” symbol, and is
associated with the color yellow. (Don’t worry; these are technical tidbits that
hold meaning only when you want to practice Reiki yourself. When you do
decide to learn Reiki yourself, these things will automatically fall in place.)
Though we traditionally use the phrase “distance ‘healing’”, the purpose of

remote energy channeling may be anything: it could be to make you feel
energetic, or it could be to send you lots of positive vibes during the time
when you are writing an important exam or appearing in court, or when you
are negotiating that crucial, make-or-break deal in business or personal life.
Perhaps you are about to now make the homerun in the stadium ground,
watched by millions of spectators. Or you are giving a presentation to the
board of directors who are about to decide the fate of your proposal, or even
your career. At the same time, you may perhaps be getting wheeled into the
operating room of a hospital for a surgical procedure on a specific date and
time. Think creatively of instances when you require positive energy
channeled towards you the most. Distance ‘healing’ helps you in all these
instances, and more.
What all is required for this process to occur? First, you need to get in touch
with your favorite Reiki practitioner. Provide them with background
information: the purpose of healing, along with the general details of your
location. If it is an event that you are participating - like the ones that I have
listed above – then you may also provide some details of the event too, along
with the date and time. (In case the date and time changes later, don’t worry.
Once begun, the Reiki energy channeled to you at that point of time remains
with you, forever.) If you require healing for your ailment and where you can
set the date and time for the healing, then you and the healer may decide a
mutually convenient date and time.
On the appointed time, you just have to keep doing whatever it is that you are
supposed to be doing. When distance healing begins, and you are properly
tuned into the process, you will begin to feel the positive vibes reaching you.
In case it is an ailment that you wish to cure, you may keep yourself free at
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that particular point of time, and may follow the tips that I have listed in the
earlier section (A session with A Reiki healer).
Nowadays, thanks to the burgeoning internet and communication technology,

distance healing has really begun to spread its reach across all continents. It
is now possible for people to keep in closer touch with their favorite healer via
chat sessions as well as audio-video live sessions. Any change in the date /
time from either side – recipient or channel – is immediately communicated
through Email or the cell phone.
By positioning the web camera on yourself, you are visible and viewable to
the healer, and so can you too view them on your screen. Plus, you can also
listen to their instructions, if any, on your position; and you can also
communicate with them your thought processes that occur while the
channeling is in progress.
Yes, Reiki energy does not mind leveraging the best of technology for the
benefit of mankind. After all, the basic aim of this beautiful therapy is – “the
greatest good of all”!
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Chapter 5
1. Learning Reiki To Heal Yourself And Others
2. Symbols Of Reiki
3. Levels Of Attainment In Reiki
4. Hand Positions
Learning Reiki To Heal Yourself And Others
The process of learning Reiki is, as you would have guessed by now, not
based on reading tones of books, attending lectures, and passing exams –
although there are different “degrees” of advancement on the ladder of
evolution. There is no single “Reiki University” or “Reiki College of Healing”
that disburses certificates to successful candidates after their attending a
“Reiki Course” of fixed duration.
Reiki is actually taught to newcomers by the practitioners themselves. This

“decentralized” system of training has one benefit upfront: people can
undergo the course at a local Reiki training center; and at their own pace and
speed. (I am coming to the subject of self-learning in a later chapter.) Since
there are no prerequisites expected from the learner in terms of educational
achievements or spiritual attainment, just about anybody can learn.
A natural side-effect of there not being one single, “centralized” system of

training is that there is no one “uniquely” single method of Reiki that prevails,
and there is nobody to monitor and ensure that there is just “one” Reiki
method that is followed all over the world. For any other therapy, this might
have been a negative side-effect. Not so with Reiki.
The very fact that Reiki works at the mind level and deploys the invisible
energy omnipresent throughout the ether, lends itself to other schools of
thought for healing being added to the Reiki domain. This means that besides
the original “Usui System of Natural Healing”, first propagated by Dr. Mikao
Usui, there are now several systems that are variants of the original Reiki.
Since the basic foundation of Reiki: working at the mind level, and deploying
the invisible energy omnipresent in ether; remains the same, all these variants
remain equally useful. Where these variants differ is the way the symbols
(described ahead) get handled, the different hand positions, and the style in
which “attunement” (initiation into Reiki) takes place.
In this chapter, we take a look at the process by which Reiki has been
traditionally learnt. We first start off with a basic introduction of the symbols,
something that I have touched upon in the earlier chapters as well. Next, we
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look at the different levels of attainment that Reiki practitioners are required to
go through in the Usui system. Finally, I describe the hand positions.
Symbols of Reiki
The symbols of Reiki are amongst its most important features. Every
practitioner worth their salt is required to understand the symbols, understand
their usage and where they are required, and be able to draw them, and
channel the Reiki energy that correspond to them correctly. A major part of
Reiki training comprises understanding of these symbols.
Each symbol represents a certain state of mind. What this state of mind is,
becomes known as you delve deeper into this discipline. Without this
knowledge, these symbols are nothing but the artwork of a child on paper.
In fact, there was a time, before the free-spirit renaissance brought on by the
internet, when symbols were sought to be revealed only to learners of Reiki
after they had been attuned into it through a proper ceremony. At least, that
was how Mrs. Takata (see chapter I) ordained it to be to her first batch of
disciples outside Japan. But the internet has changed all that. These symbols
are now available on the web. Also, a temple on Mount Kurama (Japan) –
where Dr. Mikao Usui attained enlightenment – too exhibits the Usui Reiki
symbols quite prominently.
So, as you read on, do remember the powers that lie behind these symbols
that are still hidden from you.
The Usui System of Natural Healing recognizes the following 4 symbols:
The Power Symbol or the Body Symbol:
Dr. Usui called this symbol – “Cho-ku-Rei”. It literally means – “Put the power
here”, or “God is here”.
As the name suggests, the purpose of this symbol is to increase the power
element in the recipient.
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The Mental / Emotional Symbol or the Mind Symbol:
This symbol was called “Sei-He-Ki” by Sensei Usui. Literally, it means – “Key
to the universe”, or “Man and God becoming one”.
As the name of the symbol suggests, it represents energies required at the

emotional and mental level; and its functions are purification, clearing and
protection.
The Distance Symbol or Spirit Symbol:
Originally known as the “Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen” symbol, which literally means

– “The Buddha in me reaches out to the Buddha in you to promote
enlightenment and peace”.
This symbol is used for healing at a distance, as well as for healing in the past
and the future.
The Usui Master Symbol:
This is the symbol that learners of Reiki strive to acquire knowledge of, since
it represents the ultimate in Reiki evolution.
The original name of this symbol is “Dai-ko-Myo”, which means – “man-

woman-universe = whole energy”.
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This symbol is used to pass attunements during the Initiation process from
Guru to disciple.
Levels of Attainment in Reiki
There are three “levels of attainment” as taught in the traditional Usui System
of Natural Healing. Each level is like a grade – you study in one grade, pass it,
and go to the higher grade. The important difference between the levels in
Reiki and the school grades is that there are no exams that some external
agency conducts for you. You are your own student; you are your own
examiner. Whenever you feel you are ready for the next level, you begin
learning it.
Following are the levels along with their brief description.
Level I:
This is the basic level. Here, the learner develops the ability to heal oneself as
well as heal others. Hand positions that are used when the client is physically
present before the practitioner are discussed.
Level II:
This level involves teaching three of the four symbols: the Power Symbol, the
Mental / Emotional Symbol, and the Distance Symbol. It becomes possible for
the practitioner to heal clients at a distance.
Level III:
This level teaches the practitioner to heal add the fourth symbol – the Master
Symbol – to their repertoire. It is at this stage that you really become a
“Master”!
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Some schools of thought break “level III” further to create a “level IV” too,
where the Master practitioner becomes equipped to train and initiate other
Reiki practitioners in this therapy.
Each of these levels has an inbuilt procedure known as “Attunement”, which is

discussed in the next chapter.
Hand Positions
Traditionally, there is a series of hand positions that learners first get to learn
in Level I of Reiki. As discussed in the preceding section, these hand
positions remain the same throughout the further levels. In the further levels,
the emphasis is on new Reiki Symbols.
After understanding the ailment that the client is suffe ring from, the
appropriate symbols that will best alleviate the problem is brought to the mind.
A minute or two of meditation before beginning the session helps in
grounding. During this meditation, focus is constantly kept on the symbol or
set of symbols to be applied. This meditation also helps the channel in
connecting to the Source. When the hand positions begin to be applied over
the body, energy automatically begins to flow; from the Source, through the
healer or channel, into the body of the client.
These hand positions are spaced longitudinally throughout the client’s body.
As a whole, when a healing session is completed, the entire area of the body
is well covered by these hand positions. There are two styles of hand-
positioning: “stationary”, in which you hold the hands steadily over a part of
the body; and “sweeping”, in which you sweep “in” or sweep “out” the hands
over the body part. You may initially work with both the methods, at all the
different locations of the body (described below), in order to get a feel of the
difference it makes in the sensation.
When the practitioner places their hands on one particular place, the energy
frequently stays in that very place for a long time, and takes its own time to
dissipate. This will very likely happen in cases where the client’s body is
resistant to accepting energy at some level of their psyche. And, believe me,
this resistance is to be found in the best amongst us!
We, as a species, develop a mindset that is wary and cynical and always on
our guard at all times, and are very, very wary of letting down our guard and
open ourselves to welcome outside energy in us, even when it is meant to
heal us. In such cases, therefore, I find it quite useful to cover all the parts of
the body for best results.
(A tip: for clients with problems related to amnesia / insufficient sleep, try
applying the entire set of hand positions all over the body. It works!)
When I was a learner, humbly undergoing my course as a Level I student, I

was told that the hand positions that I was being taught were the *only* ones
that are useful.
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Though I diligently followed this dictum in my initial days of practice, I began

to experiment more and more with different hand positions; and soon realized
that what my Reiki Master had taught were guidelines, which can always be
innovated upon and refined further, according to the personality of the
practitioner and the specific case of the client before them.
This idea of mine was reinforced when I compared notes with fellow students
who had undergone the same Level I course along with me.
The key point that I am trying to make here is:
What matters is not the rigidity about the hand positions; what matters
is the personality of the practitioner (or the channel) doing the healing,
and the specific case of the client before them.
I also began to judge the depth of the ailment being faced by the client by the
sensation that my hand would receive as it swept over their body parts.
Sometimes it would be a sensation of heat, at other times it wo uld be a
sensation of cold, at still other times there was no temperature difference felt.
There were times when I felt pressure – a push or a pull – on my hands as I

positioned them on some organ of the body. I have come to associate all
these sensations with specific ailments and even states of mind of the client
which I try to elicit by asking specific, probing questions to them before and
after the session. I am compiling statistics on these observations on my laptop
here, and one of these days I intend to bring them to light.
Another pertinent point that I wish to make here is that as a Reiki practitioner,
when a client comes to me for the first time, and it becomes apparent that a
second and further sessions shall become necessary, I spend about five
minutes in giving them a brief lecture in how to prepare themselves for the
subsequent sessions, so that they are healed faster. I have already laid down
the salient points of this lecture in Chapter 4, (A session with the Reiki healer).
Finally, before I describe the hand positions here, I would like to dwell upon
the efficacy of hand positions when they are actually touching the body,
versus when they are about a few millimeters or centimeters above the body.
While traditionalists insist that the body be actually touched, I have discovered
that I as well as the client are at ease – and the healing process is equally
effective – when my hand positions are a few millimeters *above* the body.
This is something that each practitioner needs to work out on their own, and
experience is the best teacher.
Very faithfully, I now place before you, dear reader, all the hand positions that
I was taught in level I of Reiki. The client may be sitting or lying down in a
comfortable position.
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1. Eyes:
Place both the hands on the two eyes. The palms are directly positioned over
the pupils. I ask the client to close their eyes.
2. Temples:
Place both the hands over the temples. The sensations you receive as you
sweep the hands in both the directions – from the head towards the cheeks
and back again – give you an instant indication of a host of conditions that the
client may be suffering from, *besides* their stated problem.
3. Behind the Head:
For this hand position, of course, the client has to be in a seated position,
especially if you have decided not to touch them. (If you follow the policy of
physical touch, you can cradle the head in both your hands.) Gently sweep
your hands on the small bulge at the back of the head – this is directly behind
the eyes, and medicos call it the occipital lobe.
4. Over the Throat:
Place both your hands over the throat region. An important gland – the
thymus – is present in this region, extending towards the heart especially in
prepubescent children. If the client has immunity-related ailments, your sweep
of hands here should give you important signals.
Another important position is behind the throat, that is, you place your hand
position on the collar region.
5. The Heart:
Ah, this is the region where you can get the maximum vibes related to the
emotional state and psyche of the client. I have found the clients in general
deriving maximum comfort when I spend longer duration of my hand positions
over the heart.
A related position is at the back, exactly behind the heart region.
6. The Diaphragm:
In case you didn’t know it already, the diaphragm divides the body into two –
the digestive organs, the genitalia and the pelvis and legs on one side, and
the heart, lungs, hands, the head and the brain on the other side. This is an
important junction of the body.
A related position is, you guessed it, at the back of the client, immediately
below the ribcage.
7. Abdomen:
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Place your hand position above the abdomen, just slightly below the navel
region.
A related position is the one at the back, directly behind the navel.
8. Either Side of the Genitalia:
Place your hand position above the thighs, at either side of the genitalia. This
is akin to placing one hand position above the inner side of the client’s legs.
The related position at the back is above the buttocks.
9. On the Genitalia:
Place your hand position above the genitalia.
10. Knee and Ankle:
Place one hand position above the knee joints, and the other on the ankles.
11. Soles of the Feet:
Place your hand position above the soles. When the client is lying down, this
is quite easy. When they are in sitting position, I have devised a footrest with
a very thin and broad mesh, and make the client place their feet on the
footrest at the start of the session.
This is it. These are the hand positions that first level Reiki learners are
taught. As I have said before, you are free to experiment with other hand
positions – I certainly have – and devise your own system for healing that
works best for you.
Before beginning a session with the client, based on the problem described by
them and based on my own question-and-answer session with them, I note
down the different hand positions that may be required for the session. By
default, and especially if the client describes their problem vaguely, I go for
the entire set of hand positions to get a clearer picture of the ailment. Though
it takes longer (almost an hour, longer in some cases), I am able to pinpoint
with accuracy the locations where energy needs to be channeled the most.
The same set of hand positions may be used to treat oneself, too. You just
have to position the hands over your own body. Of course, there are going to
be instances when it will be difficult to position both the hands simultaneously
in certain areas. In this case, you may use the dominant hand (the right hand
if you sign your checks with it, and the left hand if you are a southpaw).
In fact, after you have learnt the hand positions as a first degree Reiki
practitioner, I would suggest that you first begin using them on yourself, and
observe your body’s and mind’s reactions to them. This gives you an insight
into their functioning, and helps you when you begin healing others.
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In the next chapter I introduce to you the exciting concept of attunement. This
is the rite of initiation into Reiki. While traditionalists insist that initiation into
each level of Reiki must be with the help of a Master (level IV Reiki
practitioner), my own experiments and work have led me to conclude
otherwise. Accordingly, initiation into Reiki may be done on one’s own: it does
not require any media.
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Chapter 6
1. The Attunement Process
2. Attunement – The Traditional Way
3. Self-Attunement
4. Self-Attunement Step One: Preparing For Self-Attunement
5. Self-Attunement Step Two: Cleansing The Mind
6. Self-attunement Step Three: Cleansing The Chakras
7. Self-Attunement Step Four: Finally, The Attunement
8. Daily Cleansing
The Attunement Process
The preceding chapter on learning Reiki was all about the different tools and
techniques that Reiki healers use to heal themselves as well as the others.
This chapter talks about the “Attunement process”, or rites of initiation into
Reiki – a practice that has been the epicenter of a fierce debate in the Reiki
world.
Traditionally, Reiki has been taught from Master to disciple – it has passed
from “hand to hand”. This has been a ritual that has been followed by the
practitioners in the decades gone by. And as is a characteristic of rituals, this
ritual now has become rigid and inflexible insofar as the insistence – by
people who respect tradition and are conservative in nature – that the “Master
to disciple” or “Attunement” policy *must* be strictly adhered to. According to
these conservatives, any Reiki practitioner who practices Reiki is incomplete if
a human mediator does not “attune” them.
Exactly what is this attunement process? What is the magic behind this
attunement process which apparently makes it so compulsory for any Reiki
learner to undergo attunement in order to attain Reiki nirvana? What goes on
during the attunement?
We shall, in the pages ahead, take a look at the attunement process of the
Usui Natural System of Healing, and try to address the questions that we
have posed ourselves above. Then we shall take a look at an attune ment
process that I have formulated myself.
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Attunement – The Traditional Way
This is how the traditional attunement process takes place:
• At the appointed time, the Master and the attunement recipient gather
in one room. The Master spends some time in meditation that grounds
and centers them.
• The Master formally informs the recipient that the attunement is their
ceremony. It is suggested to them that they open themselves to all the
experiences that are about to commence.
• The Master stands before the recipient. The recipient sits before the
Master, with enough space around them so that the Master can walk
around the recipient easily.
• The Master raises their own hands high, to the level of the shoulders,
with their palms facing outward, towards the recipients. This is the
classic, “opening -up” pose.
• In this pose, the Master walks around the recipient and completes one
circle. The Master then stands behind the recipient.
• Part one of the ceremony begins. The Master holds the left hand palm
over the head of the recipient. The left hand is meant to receive
energy, while the right hand performs the function of giving.
• The Master draws the symbols with the right hand over the recipient’s
crown.
• Part II of the ceremony begins. The Master walks around to the front of
the recipient.
• The Master takes the hands of the recipients between their own. The
hands are held together. This is the first symbolic gesture of “taking”
the hands – the operative tools of the Reiki practitioner – of the
recipient for attunement.
• The Master draws each symbol one after the other on the dominant
hand of the recipient. Each symbol is drawn once, and the Master
silently chants the name of the symbol thrice.
• The Master touches the forehead (the third eye) of the recipient lightly
with their middle finger.
• The Master draws each symbol one after the other over the third eye of
the recipient, while chanting silently the name of the symbol thrice.
• The Master now gently separates both the hands of the recipient.
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• The Master visualizes the master symbol in the palm of their dominant
hand. This hand is held over the recipient’s less dominant hand, and
the Master gently pats it. This symbolic gesture transfers the master
symbol into the recipient.
• Now the Master visualizes the master symbol in the palm of their less
dominant hand. This hand is held over the recipient’s dominant hand,
and the Master gently pats it. This symbolic gesture transfers the
master symbol into the recipient.
• The Master now blows gently in the space between the hands of the
recipient. The Master then brings the palms of the recipient together
again.
• The Master then gently pushes the hands of the recipient towards the
latter, as a symbolic gesture of “giving back” the hands to the recipient.
The Master then touches the recipient in the heart area gently,
symbolically signifying closure of the process.
• The Master steps back and bows.
• The Master walks around the recipient, and completes the circle by
standing in front of them.
This is it. This completes the attunement process. After having gone through
this ceremony, it is deemed that the Reiki learner is now a Reiki practitioner,
and can heal themselves as well as others.
Some practitioners do talk about a twenty-one day cleansing process that

precedes Reiki attunement, but my study of the original system propagated by
Usui Sensei tells me that the cleansing process is an add-on and not part of
the original prescription.
Self-Attunement
I didnot then, and do not now, wish to enter into the debate on whether Usui
Sensei himself was self-attuned or not. That is history, and is now a moot
academic and theoretical argument that can go on endlessly. Nobody can go
back in time and verify for themselves as to what happened. Historical records
are sketchy, and you cannot work with conjectures as the foundation of your
beliefs and value system.
As a Reiki healer who has gone through the traditional system, I have attuned
others in the healing technique by following the Usui system, and have asked
others to undergo the process of self-attunement that I have designed. The
two sets of groups – one attuned through the Usui system; and the other that
was self-attuned – have reported identical results in their healing. Both the
groups have the same level of success rate when it comes to their healing
process.
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What does this prove?
That the process of attunement through a human mediator, which I have

outlined above – is just one of the processes through which you can get in
touch with the Universal Life Energy (U.L.E.) swirling around you?
As I write this, a saying by the Buddha in the “Kalama Sutra” comes to mind,
and I take pleasure in quoting it:
Rely not on the teacher / person, but on the teaching. Rely not on the words
of the teaching, but on the spirit of the words. Rely not on theory, but on
experience. Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do
not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many
generations. Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by
many. Do not believe in anything because it is written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and
elders.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with
reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then
accept it and live up to it.
While continuing with my practice as a Reiki healer, I would come across very
enthusiastic Reiki learners who wanted to be initiated into Reiki. They had
been to many masters who were established practitioners in the domain, but
had baulked at the huge fees required to be coughed up for attunement.
Ingrained into tradition as I was, I believed in Mrs. Takata’s precept that Reiki
should not be taught for free. So, after sensing the intensity and yearning for
learning the trade amongst these people, I would carry out the attunement
process on them for a small token fee.
Yet, this concept of having a mediator – some human being, who is already
attuned into Reiki – as your guide who hand-holds you into the domain of
Reiki, continued to bother me. Even if we suppose that indeed there was a
requirement, why should there be so much difference between the fees being
charged by different Masters? Why didn’t the original Masters lay down a set
of fees for each level of attainment, which could then be currency-adjusted for
different countries? Two Reiki Masters, both practicing in the same region;
one charges exorbitantly high; and the other charges ridiculously low! Both of
them would take the learner through the same process of attunement, now
wouldn’t they?
There was another dimension to this issue. The entire action of Reiki is based
on one single, fundamental point: the intention of the channel. Once the
intention of the channel is set, appropriately refined and fine-tuned by the
Reiki symbol that they visualize in their mind, Reiki energy automatically
begins to channel through them and into the body of the recipient. So, if the
channel:
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• Takes pains to understand the meaning and function of the individual

symbols;
• Has done sufficient practice and expended enough effort into

visualizing, understanding and internalizing the right symbol in their
mind;
• Works on his own psyche to cleanse themselves, and removes their

own blocks and negativities;
• Brings the right Symbol in their mind before beginning a session with
the recipient before them;
Then, the intention of the channel is sufficient for Reiki energy to flow.
Keeping this rationale in mind, I began working on methods of self-

attunement. Since, in order to cleanse others of blocks and negativities, one
has to be cleansed oneself first, I gave first emphasis to this part of the self-
attunement. As I had also been introduced to the seven-chakra concept from
Buddhist and ancient Far-East spirituality, I brought in elements from chakra
healing into my method. Since the Reiki Symbols very powerfully represent
the intentions that the channel has during the session, I ensured that the
Symbols are kept in the forefront all through the attunement process.
After fusing Far-East elements with the Japanese Reiki and conceptualizing
this self-attunement process, I began offering willing self-initiation to Reiki
learners. I would make clear upfront the difference between my method of
attunement, and the Usui method of attunement to them. My method of self-
attunement was offered to them free of charge. I was fortunate that quite a
few of the learners volunteered to go through this self-attunement process.
After the self-attunement was completed and the volunteers-transformed-into-
Reiki-practitioners began practicing, they began giving me feedback on how
they fared in the healing arena.
The results were excellent. Reiki practitioners who were self-attuned reported
the same level of success as do the ones attuned through a human mediator.
While making such a forceful statement in favor of self-attunement, let me

hasten to add that I am not against mediator-induced attunement. Most
definitely, having a mediator to initiate you into Reiki energy is like wandering
in the jungle and coming across a guide who has already been there, and
knows the area quite well, at least better than you. The benefits of a mediator
inducting you into Reiki are beyond debate.
Another good analogy that people give in favor of Reiki-Master-aided

attunement is that it is like a ready-made program that you can simply
download and use; and gives you an edge over the attempt to write your own
program all over again, bugs and all.
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My point is that we prepare the learner in advance, by providing them with the
map, the torch, and all the paraphernalia required to negotiate their way in the
jungle. And give them the confidence they require to go through it.
My point is to give the ready-made program to the learner in advance. They

do not need to acquire it from a human being!
Making it mandatory for the learner to go through the process of attunement

through a mediator is what I am against.
So dear reader, I take immense pleasure now in presenting to you a method

of self-attunement that I have observed is equally proficient in initiating you
into Reiki. The method is aligned to Reiki technique by virtue of using the
symbols that Usui Sensei has handed over to us.
With full respect to Usui Sensei, Dr. Hayashi, Mrs. Takata and all the
illustrious Masters of Reiki, I present the following method of attuning oneself
to Reiki.
You may go through the entire procedure once or twice; and first understand
the spirit behind what is laid out in the text here. Once you are sure that the
procedures that I have outlined here gels with you, and you are in tune with
my thoughts as I pen them now, go ahead. Go ahead with an open heart and
mind, and remove all cynicism, “I have done this and all that” attitude, before
plunging in. Open yourself up and experience for yourself. Like Buddha said
in the Kalama Sutra.
Self-Attunement Step One:
Preparing For Self-Attunement
This is the preparatory step for self-attunement. As you go through this list,
you will find it resembles the list that I have already laid down in Chapter 4 (A
session with the Reiki healer). In those pages, you were reading from the
point of a Reiki-energy-recipient. Here, you are reading them again from the
point of view of a Reiki-energy-channel. You see, the concept continues to be
the same.
The days of preparation may vary; depending on how closely you have been
following the following dos and don’ts already. I would normally recommend
anywhere between one day to thirty days be spent in this step, since we are
talking about changing one’s lifestyle and set of habits here. Here goes:
• Wear loose clothes. Tight-fitting clothes are not an impediment for

Reiki, but you will be more in tune with the environment around you
when you are wearing clothes that are comfortably loose. If you are
pursuing a career, profession or calling where they will look at you
strangely if you arrive in baggy clothes, fine. Take on the appropriate
formalwear during such times. But change back to wearing loose
clothes as soon as possible.
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• Avoid smoking, alcohol and non-vegetarian food during the preparatory

period. It is not an absolute must, but your body shall really be
prepared for accepting Reiki energy rather than remaining busy in
assimilating your intake.
• Spend some quality time with yourself everyday. See if you can switch
off the regular blare of the television and radio, and also wean yourself
away from the computer for a while. This stilling of the mind makes you
sensitive to what is going on around you, makes you aware of the
present, and grounds you for what follows.
• Take care of your body. Understand its urges and needs. Don’t
suppress the body’s desire to cleanse itself by flushing out the contents
of the bladder and the colon whenever you get the warning signals.
Follow its signals. If there is a twitch in the muscle somewhere, take
your focus there. If your heart begins to palpitate suddenly, become
aware of it. If you observe a tingling sensation or a warming or cold
sensation anywhere on your body, shift your focus there, and simply
observe. This increases your power of tuning into yourself. You
become more and more aware of your body, as the days go by.
• Take a good sleep everyday. Abstain from anything that comes in the
way of deep, refreshing sleep.
Not very stringent conditions, are they? Very plain and simple, and I think,
mandatory, for any seeker walking on the path of healing self and others, “just
like Jesus could”.
Self-Attunement Step Two:
Cleansing The Mind
Step two need not follow step one. Both these steps may be coalesced into
one, depending on where you already are in the preparatory process. If, after
reading the dos and don’ts in step one, you feel that you already meet them,
then you may start step two immediately. On the other hand, if you feel that
there are some points in them that you need to work on further, perhaps you
may work on them first, and then proceed with step two. Feel free to go by
your own intuition. Your intuition and gut feeling is your best guide.
Your first action after getting up every morning and freshening yourself; is to
sit in meditation. (Yo u may take very light breakfast if you wish.) Designate a
place in your house where you shall be meditating everyday. This place, over
a period of time, begins to develop an energy that comes from your
continuous meditation. Ensure that nobody or nothing disturbs you during the
meditation session.
The time that you can devote to meditation really depends on your initial
stamina. I recommend a minimum of twenty-minutes of daily meditation time
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for people who have never ever meditated in a sitting position all their life.
This time may gradually be increased to about an hour or two as days go by.
You may sit cross-legged on the floor; in which case place a slightly thick
mattress made of cotton on the floor before sitting. If you are comfortable
sitting in the chair with a backrest, then use it by all means.
After ensuring that you are comfortable in your sitting position, keep your
hands on the lap or on the knees. Keep your spine straight, but do not insist
on keeping it ramrod straight all the time. The idea is to not slump while you
are meditating.
Always keep your eyes closed throughout the meditation session. Now bring
your attention on the body, beginning from the toes to the crown of your head,
quickly. Feel every inch of the body in as much detail as possible, and then
move to the next higher part all the way to the head.
Complete two cycles of attention focusing – from the toes to the head; and
from the head to the toes.
Now bring your attention to your breathing. Shift your attention to the tip of the
nostrils, and feel the breath as it goes in and comes out. As the breathing
continues, and as your body becomes increasingly relaxed, feel your thoughts
now stilling. All irrelevant thoughts – about yourself, your family, profession,
unpaid bills, piled-up work, reprimands from the boss, tiff with the spouse –
they all begin to vanish away. In fact, you see them coming and going on their
own, and you become watchful whenever any thought comes in, careful that
you do not engage in it.
Initially, and this holds especially true for the newbie, if you find yourself going
to sleep, its okay. Do not castigate yourself. It’s okay. Do it with a more alert
state of mind the next time.
Perhaps you may begin to set an alarm clock now. Time will begin to pass so
quickly in this state, that you will be surprised when the alarm rings. When you
begin to observe that you are able to slip in and out of meditative state
quickly, and achieving a state of “no-thoughtful” mind is now easy, you are
now ready to go to the next step.
The duration of this step? It really depends on you. Just observe what depth
of meditative state you are able to go to. If you feel that you already satisfy the
condition that I have indicated in the preceding paragraph, by all means move
to the next step straightaway, without much ado. Otherwise, I have seen
newbie’s achieving a deep meditative state of mind anywhere within thirty
days to three months after a daily practice of one hour. Provided they are
honest and sincere about the whole exercise, a nd provided they are able to
maintain the same tempo with which they started on day one.
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Self-attunement Step Three:
Cleansing The Chakras
After reaching a state of deep meditation in step two, step three is a relatively
easy process.
You continue with the same meditation process as you have been doing in
step two. The only difference is that, now your attention shall be focused on
the different energy centers, or “Chakras” located in the body. These are
hidden centers, not visible to the human eye or the most sophisticated
instrument (yet), but they exist.
There are six chakras and a seventh point of connection to the source that I
shall be laying out here. For each chakra, I recommend at least one day of
meditation. This meditation may be carried out for about an hour each day at
the minimum, and shall help you to really prepare your body to receive and
channel energy from around you.
So, here goes:
Day One
Chakra One: After you have slipped into the deeply meditative state that you
have achieved in step two, begin by focusing your attention on the third eye.
This is the place exactly between your two eyebrows. (You may perhaps feel
the point between your two eyebrows with your forefinger before beginning
meditation the first time.) While keeping your e yes totally relaxed; generally
take your attention inside the brain, and feel the center of the brain. This
comes with practice, so don’t worry about where the center the brain is. Just
take it easy.
Now, as you continue to focus on this center, bring to your mind three things:
- The color grayish blue. How grayish or how bluish it should be? Leave it to
your intuition. Do not analyze it at this stage.
- The Usui Master symbol. Here is the symbol:
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- Chant silently thrice the sacred name (mantra) – “Dai-ko-myo”. After

chanting silently thrice, you may stop the chant. In case you forget and
continue chanting, no problem.
As you relax yourself, continue with this focus throughout the meditation
session.
Day Two
Chakra Two: After you have slipped into the deeply meditative state that you
have achieved in step two, begin with focusing your attention on the
perineum. This is the place between your anus and the genitalia. (You may
perhaps feel the perineum with your fingers before beginning meditation the
first time.) While keeping your eyes totally relaxed; focus on the perineum,
and feel it from inside the body.
- The color red. How intense should the red be? Leave it to your intuition. Do
not analyze it at this stage.
- The Power symbol. Here is the symbol:
- Chant silently thrice the sacred name (mantra) – “Cho-Ku-Rei”. After

session.
Day Three
Chakra Three: After you have slipped into the deeply meditative state that
you have achieved in step two, focus your attention on the coccyx. This is the
place just on the tip of the vertebral column, where it ends in between the
buttocks. (You may perhaps feel the coccyx with your fingers before
beginning meditation the first time.) While keeping your eyes totally relaxed;
focus on the coccyx, and feel it from inside the body.
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- The color reddish-orange. How reddish or orangish it should be? Leave it to

- The Mental / Emotional symbol. Here is the symbol:
- Chant silently thrice the sacred name (mantra) – “Sei-He-Ki”. After chanting
silently thrice, you may stop the chant. In case you forget and continue
chanting, no problem.
session.
Day Four
Chakra Four: After you have slipped into the deeply meditative state that you
have achieved in step two, focus your attention on the navel. You know where
your belly button is, don’t you?! (You may perhaps feel the navel with your
fingers before beginning meditation the first time.) While keeping your eyes
totally relaxed; focus on the navel, and feel it from inside the body.
- The color bright yellow. How bright the yellow it should be? Leave it to your
intuition. Do not analyze it at this stage.
- The Mental / Emotional symbol. Here is the symbol:
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- Chant silently thrice the sacred name (mantra) – “Sei-He-Ki”. After chanting
silently thrice, you may stop the chant. In case you forget and continue
chanting, no problem.
session.
Day Five
Chakra Five: After you have slipped into the deeply meditative state that you
have achieved in step two, focus your attention on the heart. Of course, you
are very much aware where it is located! While keeping your eyes totally
relaxed; focus on the heart, and feel it from inside the body.
- The color yellowish blue. How yellowish or bluish it should be? Leave it to
- The Usui Master symbol. Here is the symbol:
- Chant silently thrice the sacred name (mantra) – “Dai-Ko-Myo”. After

session.
Day Six
Chakra Six: After you have slipped into the deeply meditative state that you
have achieved in step two, focus your attention on the throat, just below the
Adam’s apple. While keeping your eyes totally relaxed; focus on the throat,
and feel it from inside the body.
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As you continue to focus on this center, bring to your mind three things:
- The color blue. How intense blue it should be? Leave it to your intuition. Do
not analyze it at this stage.
- The Distance symbol. Here is the symbol:
- Chant silently thrice the sacred name (mantra) – “Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen”.

After chanting silently thrice, you may stop the chant. In case you forget and
session.
Day Seven
Crown Point: After you have slipped into the deeply meditative state that you
have achieved in step two, focus your attention on the crown. Take your
attention about a centimeter beneath the scalp of the crown, inside your brain.
While keeping your eyes totally relaxed; focus on this point, and feel it from
inside the body.
As you continue to focus on this center, bring to your mind three things:
- The color white. By this time, you will automatically know the intensity of
whiteness that comes to you.
- All the symbols, beginning from the Usui Master symbol. Here is the
sequence:
1. Master Symbol - Mantra: Dai-Ko-Myo
2. Power Symbol - Mantra: Cho -Ku-Rei
3. Mental Symbol - Mantra: Sei-He-Ki
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4. Distance Symbol - Mantra: Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen
- Chant silently thrice the sacred name (mantra) corresponding to each

symbol, as it comes to your mind. After chanting silently thrice, you may stop
the chant. In case you forget and continue chanting, no problem.
session.
Seven days. Six chakras and one crown point. At the end of this exercise, you
should feel a thorough cleansing taken place in you. Your body and mind are
now fully prepared for the attunement that you are about to do next.
Self-Attunement Step Four:
Finally, The Attunement
This is the appointed day for you. All your effort shall now bear fruit today.
Relax and rejoice!
This is how you carry out the self-attunement:
Use the same place that you have been using for your meditations. Ensure
that you are sufficiently relaxed and have had a good night’s sleep.
Slip into meditation for the period that you have been assiduously following all
these weeks. This time, go through all the six chakras and the Crown Point
one after another quickly. Let the entire duration of the meditation be
completed. Repeat the cycle of chakras and the Crown Point as much as
required, within the stipulated time.
Now, after you have come out of the meditation, raise the middle finger of
your dominant hand (the hand that you use to sign) and close all the other
fingers. For simplicity, let us presume that your right hand is dominant.
(Southpaws may appropriately change the wording of what follows.) Open
your left palm and place it facing towards the ceiling.
1. Use the raised middle-finger of the right hand to draw the Usui Master
Symbol on the upward-facing left palm, just a few millimeters above the palm.
While drawing the symbol, silently chant the sacred name – “Dai-Ko-Myo”
thrice. As you are drawing the symbol, feel it actually taking shape in the air
above the palm. After you have completed drawing it, stop. Pause for a
moment. Feel the sharp drawing actually present in the air above the
outstretched palm. Now feel it slowly coming down, touching the surface of
your open palm, and merging into it.
Remain still, and simply focus on this event happening.
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Next, draw the Power Symbol on the upward-facing left palm. Silently chant
the sacred name – “Cho-Ku-Rei” thrice while doing so. Feel the drawing
taking concrete shape as your middle finger moves. After the drawing is
finished, stop. Pause for a moment. Feel the sharp drawing actually present in
the air above the outstretched palm. Now feel it slowly coming down, touching
the surface of your open palm, and merging into it.
Remain still, and simply focus on this event happening.
Now, repeat this process exactly for the Mental/Emotional Symbol. The
sacred name for this symbol is – “Sei-He-Ki”, which you have to repeat thrice.
Feel the drawing merging into the palm of your hand after a brief pause.
Finally, repeat this process exactly for the Distance Symbol. The sacred name
for this symbol is – “Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen”, which you have to repeat thrice.
Feel the drawing merging into the palm of your hand after a brief pause.
2. Repeat the entire procedure of step 1 for the other palm.
3. After you have completed step 2, bring the two palms together and near
the chest, so that you are in a prayer mode. Hold the two palms silently
against each other, and feel the sensations in them. Hold them for a brief
while, and enjoy the experience you are getting.
4. Now take the palms away from each other. Bring the right hand
(southpaws please note) to your crown, and stretching out the middle finger
while closing the other fingers, draw the Usui Master Symbol on your crown.
Chant the sacred mantra for this Symbol – “Dai-Ko-Myo” thrice. Feel the
symbol sinking into the crown region.
5. Now bring the same hand over your third eye, and draw the Usui Master
Symbol. Chant the sacred mantra for this Symbol – “Dai-Ko-Myo” thrice. Feel
the symbol sinking into the third eye.
6. Bring the same hand over your crotch, and feel the perineum in your mind.
In the general direction of the perineum, draw the Power Symbol, and chant
the sacred mantra for this symbol – “Cho-Ku-Rei” thrice. Feel the symbol
sinking into the perineum.
7. Bring the same hand to the back, slightly over the coccyx. Feel the coccyx
in your mind, and draw the Mental/Emotional Symbol, chanting the mantra –
“Sei-He-Ki” thrice. Feel the symbol sinking into the coccyx.
8. Bring the same hand to the navel. Feel the navel in your mind, and draw
the Mental/Emotional Symbol, chanting the mantra – “Sei-He-Ki” thrice. Feel
the symbol sinking into the navel.
9. Bring the same hand to the heart. Feel the heart in your mind, and draw
the Usui Master symbol, chanting the mantra – “Dai-Ko-Myo” thrice. Feel the
symbol sinking into the heart.
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10. Bring the same hand to the throat. Feel the throat in your mind, and draw
the Distance symbol, chanting the mantra – “Hon-Sha-Ze-Sho-Nen” thrice.
Feel the symbol sinking into the throat.
11. Finally, bring your hand to the crown again. Feel the center point of the
brain where you have meditated earlier for one week. Draw the power symbol
and chant its corresponding mantra. Draw the Mental/Emotional Symbol and
chant its corresponding mantra. Draw the Distance Symbol and chant the
corresponding mantra. Finally, draw the Master Symbol and chant its mantra.
That is it. Congratulations. You are now attuned into Reiki. You can now heal
yourself fully!
Celebrate! Rejoice!
Daily Cleansing
This is an add-on that I have been following ever since I began experimenting
with variations to the original Reiki. I was not taught this, and the texts that
focus on the Usui System of Natural Healing do not broach this subject. But
when I discuss it with fellow Reiki practitioners, I find them concurring with me
on it. In fact, quite a few of them have been doing it for years, just like me.
And this is the concept of daily cleansing of your own self. You see, while we
engage ourselves in cleansing the bodies and minds of our clients, we must
not forget our own spiritual hygiene too! And so everyday, I have been
carrying out my daily cleansing process without fail.
The daily cleansing technique that I have been following is actually quite
simple: You enter into the meditation state as before, and quickly complete
the cycle of the six chakras and the Crown Point for as many times as you
can within the stipulated time.
I have benefited from this daily cleansing. I am sure you shall benefit, too!
61
Chapter 7
1. Alternatives To Usui-Reiki
2. Karuna Reiki
3. Kundalini Reiki
4. Tera Mai Reiki
5. Sekhem-Seichim-Reiki (SSR)
6. My Take On Alternate Forms
Alternatives To Usui-Reiki
No book on Reiki would be complete if the alternative healing techniques that

are based on Reiki are not touched upon. And, despite the outcry of purists
who look down upon these different versions – which I have alluded to in
Chapter 1 –, I personally endorse the arrival of these versions on the
alternative therapy scene.
For it is only when new ideas and inputs keep adding to any branch of
knowledge does it keep growing and remain vibrant. When new ideas and
inputs stop, the branch stagnates and dies its natural death. It is just like the
tributaries that feed water to the main river and make it large and huge. When
there are no tributaries the river becomes a small stream; and may eventually
even dry up.
At last count, there were about thirty different forms of Reiki healing available
in the Reiki community. As I have stated somewhere else, these forms at the
core draw their inspiration from the original Usui-Reiki. Where they differ are
in the number of symbols used – some forms add new symbols, others
subtract from the original Usui set –, the application of hand positions, and the
style of attunement.
I present here a few of the more popular alternative forms of Reiki.
Karuna Reiki
“Karuna” is actually a Sanskrit word whose dictionary meaning is

“compassion”. Karuna also is a synonym of “Metta Bhavana”, meaning
“unconditional and unattached loving-kindness”, which in turn is the ninth
“perfection” of the Theravada School of Buddhism. This implies that the roots
of Karuna Reiki lie in Buddhism, just like Usui-Reiki.
62
So much for the theory. The nitty-gritty is that Karuna Reiki begins where
Usui-Reiki ends. After you have completed your Reiki Master (level III)
training, you become eligible for Karuna Reiki.
There are two levels of Karuna Reiki. Though William Rand, the originator of
Karuna Reiki, insists o n mandatory two attunement sessions, there are other
Karuna Reiki Masters who talk about self-attunement (just like I do for Usui-
Reiki). This form of Reiki has its own set of symbols: four master and eight
treatment symbols.
The entire method can be taug ht and learnt in three days.
Kundalini Reiki
This form of Reiki was founded by Ole Gabrielsen of Denmark. As the name
suggests, this Reiki variant is based on the ancient Indian system of healing
through Kundalini awakening.
There are three levels in Kundalini Reiki. Each level requires its own
attunement. Attuning the first level does not require much time. However,
attuning and learning level two takes two days, and the third level requires
three days. The emphasis is on attunement, and there are different
attunements, such as DNA Reiki, Birth trauma Reiki, Crystalline Reiki,
Diamond Reiki, etc.
Tera Mai Reiki
The Tera Mai system was founded by U.S.-based Kathleen Milner. According
to folklore, she was motivated into developing this system during her sojo urn
with Satya Sai Baba of Andhra Pradesh, India.
Tera-Mai Reiki has four levels: Level I imbibes 2 symbols, Level II 21, Level III
5 and the Master Level orients learners into 6 symbols, taking the tally of
symbols to 34.
In this form of Reiki, the learner gets to learn concepts such as Kanji,
“scanning” and “beaming” techniques, runes and Egyptian cartouche,
“microcosmic orbit”, regression therapy and so on. The course is quite
structured and well-standardized, thanks to the efforts of Ms. Milner.
Sekhem-Seichim-Reiki (SSR)
“Sekhem” means “power” in Egyptian language. “Seichim” is an ancient

Egyptian system of healing wisdom. Sekhem-Seichim-Reiki is an integration
of three related, yet unique, energies. This form of Reiki was developed by
Diane Ruth Shewmaker and Patrick Zeigler.
There are seven levels of attainment in SSR, each of them being called a
“facet”. Each level has its own attunement. There are eleven sacred symbols
in SSR, one of which is the Usui Reiki Master Symbol.
63
My Take On Alternate Forms
I have been very brief in describing these alternate forms of Reiki, in order to
steady the focus of this book on Usui-Reiki and self-attunement. Every one of
the alternate forms that I have mentioned here, besides the others that I have
not touched at all (Celtic Reiki, Reiki Tummo, Lightrarian Reiki, and so on), all
function with the same set of tenets that I have outlined in an earlier chapter.
It is:
• The concept of infinite and abundant energy swirling around us that is

harnessed by a channel.
• The concept of Symbols that the channel has to use,
• The concept of intention of the channel,
• The concept of hand positions,
• And the concept of pathways of energy in the body that should be open
and cleansed, in order for a person to be healthy
These tenets are common across all the forms of Reiki.
Practitioners of all the various forms of Reiki have reported the same level of
success in healing their clients, which again reinforces my theory that
attunement through a human mediator in Usui-Reiki is really not required. It is
useful, yes, but not mandatory.
64
Chapter 8
1. Conclusion
Conclusion
As I reach the last page of this book, it is time to see what we have achieved
thus far.
After spending so many years as a Reiki Master, teaching eager learners this
exciting and exhilarating method of cleansing and healing oneself and others,
and as a Reiki Practitioner, healing my clients and enjoying the smile on their
face as they walk out of my clinic, a fairly large stock of insights, perceptions,
and perspectives had begun to horde in me. I wished to share this stock with
others, and what better medium than a book?
There was an initial struggle in my mind about what the contours of the book
should be. What shape should the book take? There is so much to be
recounted, so much to be shared. Should I pour out all my experiences as a
Reiki Master and Practitioner in the book? Should I dwell on the different
flavors of Reiki that have come up in the past two to three decades? Should I
focus on the controversies that have dogged this particular technique of
healing? Should I compare Reiki with the other New Age techniques, or look
at how Reiki fits in with the Universal Life Experience?
Finally, I decided to take one step at a time, and initially focus on writing on
Reiki for somebody who would like to learn about Reiki on their own, and be
confident enough to practice it after going through these pages. Over these
years, I had come to empathize with people who were eager to get into Reiki
and healing, but couldn’t, due to the exorbitant fees being charged for
attunement. (I know, there are Reiki Masters who do it for free, too, but there
aren’t very many of them.)
The facilitation of a human mediator for attunement is a definite help, since

the correct energy frequencies corresponding to individual Reiki Symbols are
already established, and transferring them to the learner is a simple and quick
job. But to make it mandatory? I took it as a challenge to develop a method of
Reiki attunement that any learner can imbibe and initiate themselves on their
own, without the need for third-party human facilitation. The result is in
Chapter 6 of this book.
Throughout this writing exercise, I have kept in mind my vision of you, dear
reader. You may be a newbie to Reiki, and wonder what this is all about.
Perhaps you are confused with the techno-babble that hits you when you pick
up any Reiki book or participate in any online Reiki forum. Or, you may be a
65
veteran in Reiki, who has already “been there, done tha t”; and is looking for a
fresh new angle to the whole thing. I have kept both of you in mind while
penning this mini-opus!
Have I succeeded in my endeavor? If, after going through the book, an

interest in the subject is kindled in you, or you have gleaned some new insight
or perception that enriches your own repository of knowledge; then I think my
efforts have been worth it.
It is time to put the pen down, stretch my body and relax. It is also time to
switch off my laptop and begin my daily cleansing exercise. The sun is about
to peep over the horizon … Good luck and good health.
66

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“Learn Reiki In 7 Days!”

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Chapter 1: Introduction to the Book

Chapter 2: The History Of Reiki

Chapter 3: Misconceptions About Reiki

Chapter 4: What Reiki Is All About

Chapter 5: Learning Reiki

Chapter 6: The Attunement Process

Chapter 7: Alternatives To Usui Reiki

...As it was for me!

You can change your life with Reiki.

You can become whoever it is you wish to become.

Now's the time to dream!

For everything you need to change, to heal, to overcome, is already within

We have tried to make it as easy to read as possible. We also wanted to

Why Am I Writing This Book?

The world of Reiki is today sharply polarized between two sets of

I have been fortunate in getting some grounding in other New Age

One of the outcomes of this experimentation has been a self-attunement

How This Book Can Change Your Life

If what I have described just now, touches a chord in your heart - my

Reiki has begun gaining acceptance in the staid corridors of medical

I present here an excerpt of chapter 4, where I dwell in detail on what Reiki is

• Stress reduction and alleviation of hypertension: The most

• Alleviation from periods of trauma, depression, and grievance:

• Improvement in immune system: Most of the ailments that humanity

• Manifestation of goals and desires: Yes, this happens . Reiki energy

• Healing of relationships: Is there any relationship that has been

Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is good. And it is true!

Whichever group you belong to - newbie or veteran, my heartiest welcome. I

1. The Brass-Tacks: How Do You Define Reiki?

5. Mikao Usui – The Learner

The History of Reiki

Contrary to popular belief, REIKI is not a proper noun in Japan’s language –

The Brass-Tacks: How Do You Define Reiki?

You pronounce Reiki as “Ray” followed by “Key”. The Japanese dictionary

Dr. Mikao Usui – The Founder

Where the true origins of Reiki lie, is a mystery

The credit to rediscovering this ancient form of

Mikao Usui – The Man

He was quite fortunate to have been born in quite propitious circumstances,

Indeed, the open-mindedness to look at other schools of thought, study them,

Mikao Usui – The Seeker

To this, Dr. Usui - himself an erudite scholar, well-versed in the tenets of

Mikao Usui – The Learner

Mikao Usui – The Enlightened

A fatigued but hopeful Mikao Usui immediately embarked on this twenty-one

Mikao Usui – The Reiki Movement

Dr. Chujiro Hayashi

The most capable disciple of Dr. Mikao Usui, or

A naval officer serving the Japanese Imperial

Impressed by his dedication and devotion to

Mrs. Hawayo Takata

Fortunate are those, who get to learn the secrets

Mrs. Takata was the offspring of Japanese

Growing up amidst the lush fields of the

Reiki – Different Schools Of Thought

Enjoy! Heal thyself!

Misconceptions About Reiki

As I gradually began walking on the road to self-realization (now, that’s a