According to traditional Usui Shiki Ryoho teachings, Dr. Mikao Usui is the man who discovered Reiki.

How Did The Reiki Process Come About?

As mentioned earlier, Dr. Mikao Usui considered the founder of Reiki.

The original structure and format of Reiki as developed by Dr. Usui is Traditional Usui Reiki.

However, the original structure has gone through many changes and adaptations as it spread through America.

Ms. Hawayo Takata is the Hawaiian-born Japanese lady who introduced Reiki to the United States and the Western World.

Ms. Takata formalized the system of Usui Reiki and instituted many of the early changes.

Since then, many non-traditional forms of Reiki have appeared.

Most forms of Reiki teach the same basic format, but the variety of ways and methods can be confusing.

The Reiki courses I teach are based on traditional concepts.

Traditional Reiki teachers never wrote or printed lessons, but taught using oral tradition stretched over years of practice.

Realistically, the old way doesn’t work in our fast-paced world.

And, because the world needs Reiki more than ever, I teach lessons and exercises not traditionally available until students reached a more advanced status.

I teach them early onso healing can happen more quickly and be more widespread.

Who is Dr. Mikao Usui and How is He The Father of Modern Reiki?

In reality, the Reiki story begins at the dawn of time.

The reason being we are all born with the innate ability to heal using Reiki energy.

But, over time and through our evolution, we somehow forgot how.

Luckily, in the late 1800’s, Dr. Mikao Usui rediscovered the Reiki energy healing method.

Dr. Mikao Usui was a Japanese scholar and Christian minister.

As the story goes, a student of Dr. Usui’s asked him “what method did Jesus use to heal the masses?”

Stumped and intrigued, Dr. Usui began a 10-year quest to find the answer to that question.

He came to the United States where he pursued a Doctorate in theology but found no answers there, other than vague references to healing.

Next, he turned to Buddhist texts and learned to read Sanskrit.

Eventually, Dr. Usui returned to Japan and went to live in a Zen Buddhist monastery spending his time pouring through ancient scrolls.

After all his travels and studies, Dr. Usui felt that he found enough fragmented information to put most of Jesus’s method together.

But, something was still missing.

Dr. Usui’s Miracles

Dr. Usui felt that he had to go through an initiation or transformation process in order to be an accomplished healer.

So, Dr. Usui decided to climb to the top of one of Japan’s highest mountains to fast and meditate on all he had discovered so far.

As the story goes, he took with him 21 river stones.

At the end of each day, he discarded stone as a way to keep track of his time on the mountain.

On the 21st day, something amazing happened.

A pillar of white light surrounded Dr. Usui and he had visions showing him the sacred symbols.

At this time he also received his attunement, the key element to Reiki.

Then, Dr. Usui got up and went down the mountain, resolving to go forth and spread this wonderful gift.

On his way down, he performed the four miracles.

The first miracle occurred when he stumbled and injured his foot.

He grabbed his injured foot, applied his newfound knowledge, and instantly healed.

Usui then came upon a farm and the farmer invited him to eat.

The second miracle occurred with his consumption of a large quantity of food.

He suffered no ill effects even though he had undergone a lengthy fast.

For the third miracle, he healed the farmer’s wife of a toothache.

On his return to the monastery, he performed the fourth and final miracle by healing a bedridden elderly monk suffering severe arthritis.

Dr. Usui’s Lesson from the Beggars

Dr. Usui went on to become a missionary. He set out to heal the world, starting with large numbers of beggars in the city.

He healed the beggars of all their ailments and told them to leave the streets and resume a normal life.

But, Usui soon noticed that the same beggars were returning time after time.

He was distraught. Suddenly, he realized his error was in healing the beggars physically without teaching them anything.

Dr. Usui concluded that it was necessary for an exchange to happen in order for the beggars to value the healing and do something with it.

He insisted on this value exchange and on teaching them to heal themselves.

He soon noted that those he healed in this manner were successful and making new lives for themselves.

Dr. Usui’s story has changed many times through the years and nobody really knows the truth of it, but you can learn some valuable information from the story.

Just remember that the true value in Reiki is the Reiki itself.