I first met Reiki master Diane Armstrong when she came from Maryland to attend a Medical Reiki seminar in New York City some years back. Here she shares her experience at the Northwest Reiki Gathering–

I’ve been home from the 27th annual Northwest Reiki Gathering in Oregon at Breitenbush Hot Springs for a couple of weeks now and I’m still feeling the exhilaration.

I attended my first gathering in 2010. I was excited to return this year, and also a bit apprehensive. Although I am of the Usui Shiki Ryoho ineage, I was unsure how closely my training was aligned with Mrs. Takata’s teaching, and her granddaughter, Phyllis Furumoto, was scheduled to attend.

The accommodations at Breitenbush are comfortable and rustic. My Reiki Master, Terry Jordan, and I were assigned to a cabin with three beds, which we shared with the incredibly wise Reiki Master Cynthia Lamb Faust. We often peppered Cynthia with questions late into the night, questions that ranged from asking about her personal Reiki experiences to what it’s like being a member of The Reiki Alliance.

As we discussed our teaching styles and how our students find us, the conversation segued into a fascinating discussion about the $10,000 fee Mrs. Takata and her lineage traditionally charge for the yearlong process of training and initiating Reiki Masters. I watched Cynthia listen for the essence beneath our words, taking care to respond in ways that helped me to see how our Reiki perspectives and practices are much more alike than different. She created an opening…

Then there was the gathering itself. Four of the 22 masters initiated by Mrs. Takata attended: Phyllis Furumoto, Paul Mitchell, Wanja Twan and Rick Bockner. I don’t know how often this happens, but I felt that I was a part of something much greater than what appeared on the surface. Each of these Masters was extremely approachable and seemed genuinely interested in hearing what I had to say as well.

Mornings began with a group Reiki session, which set a lovely tone for the day. I live in a very rural, low population area on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and I found the sight of one-hundred-plus Reiki practitioners sharing Reiki treatments four to a table to be both impressive and inspiring.

The rest of each day was segmented into three two-hour sessions, during which we explored the theme of this year’s gathering, Mrs. Takata’s familiar statement: Let Reiki teach you.

Most sessions started with Phyllis or Rick sharing a story, then the room was open for anyone to share. Every story inspired the next, and the conversations continued outside these sessions. There was much laughter, joyful tears, and comments about how connected we felt with one another. The experience revealed to me a new understanding of the words “oral tradition.”

I aspire to walk through my days feeling lovingly connected to everyone I meet. As I reflect on the theme of this year’s gathering, Let Reiki Teach You, I realize my Reiki practice has taught me that community matters if I want to be successful in this desire.

Participating in a community, especially one as welcoming and safe as this year’s gathering, expanded my ability to connect with people I meet outside the Reiki community. I’m looking forward to next year!

–Diane Armstrong

Have you been inspired by Reiki community? Click here to share your experience with us.

If you are practicing on others, especially as a hospital or hospice volunteer, and you are not practicing daily self-treatment, you may well be a Reiki martyr. (Audible gasp)

“But,” you sputter, “Reiki is safe. I was taught that Reiki is safe.”

Reiki is safe, but is the practitioner safe?

That depends.

What are you doing to make it so?

Self-care was a vital component of Usui’s practice. The necessity of self-treatment was carried through Hayashi and Takata, who famously said, First yourself.

Ethel Lombardi was a Reiki master trained by Takata. Lombardi’s student, Elaine Andres, remembers her Reiki master telling the class they weren’t allowed to give a Reiki treatment to someone else on a day they didn’t practice self-treatment.

Self-practice is the beginning and remains the foundation of Reiki practice at all levels.

Do you resonate with the universe?

Daily self-practice moves us into what Reiki masters Hyakuten Inamoto and Hiroshi Doi refer to as resonating with Reiki, meaning “we are at one with the universe.” In this state, we have transcended duality; we experience oneness and realize there is nothing to be protected from, and we are safe.

As Inamoto and Doi said,

…as long as we resonate with the universe, there is no opposite, such as good or bad. All good, so we don’t have to worry about protecting ourselves when we offer Reiki healing.

As long as we resonate with the universe.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be permanently established in this state in order to treat others safely. But you do need a steady mind, especially when you are treating others. It’s easier to have a steady mind when you have confidence in your Reiki practice.

When you have confidence in your Reiki practice–the true, grounded confidence that only comes with practice experience–you are more likely to remain resonating with the universe when treating others, and to avoid ruminating about the client afterwards. As Takata said, Do your best and walk away.

How can you know if you are safe?

You are safe when you are calm, mindful, and present. You may not be safe if:

• you are worried about what’s happening with the recipient
• you are trying to fix the recipient
• you are trying to have a specific outcome
• you have an emotional need to impress the recipient
• you feel sorry for the recipient
• you cannot witness another’s suffering with a placid mind
• you are insecure in your practice, perhaps due to inexperience
• you don’t know the difference between compassion and sympathy.

These are just some of the scenarios in which you may be in danger. But not from Reiki; from your mind.

How can you know if you are safe? By the state of your mind. Is your mind steady and peaceful?

How can you keep your mind steady and peaceful? Daily Reiki self-practice.

Do you have a story to share about Reiki and safety? Please share it in a comment below.

Read more of my conversation with Japanese Reiki masters Hyakuten Inamoto and Hiroshi Doi.

The TALKING REIKI: Communication series is designed to improve your effectiveness and comfort when talking about Reiki, and you can access the recordings online anytime you want, as many times as you want. Click here to  learn more.

“Ask, ask, ask.” The word reverberated in my mind like a mantra as I walked briskly in the spring-is-coming-but-not-yet-here weather.

“Ask, ask, ask.” As insistent as dandelions in a lawn, the word invaded my awareness, but why? I dropped inside to listen. What was this “Ask” about?

Conversations from the past week came to mind:

Ask. A seasoned Reiki professional felt ready to become a Reiki master, but was sure his preferred path was not available to him and didn’t Ask; he settled elsewhere. Now it’s done, and he’s dissatisfied.

Ask. A young woman in pain needed treatment but was convinced no practitioner had an appointment she could make. “Don’t be so sure,” I suggested. “Ask.” “No, it’s impossible,” she insisted.

“Ask. Ask. Ask.” Hawayo Takata* lay on a gurney awaiting surgery. “Ask. There is another way. Ask.”

She asked. And aren’t we glad she did?

Aren’t we so grateful Mrs. Takata didn’t decide she already knew it was impossible, that she had already been to so many doctors in Hawaii and Japan, that here she was already on the gurney, too late to change course, no sense embarrassing herself…

Aren’t we so grateful that instead of settling for an assumption, Mrs. Takata bothered to inquire what might be possible, to Ask.

Mrs. Takata wasn’t big on questions in class, where the priority was to listen and learn to practice, and learn to rely on practice.

But when it was time for information, she wasn’t shy to Ask.

Need understanding? Practice.

Need information? Ask.

When did asking for information get you past an imagined dead end? What assumption might you question today?

Related Reading:
Earn Your Reiki Training
Reiki and Money

*Hawayo Takata and her Reiki master Chujiro Hayashi brought Reiki practice from Japan to Hawaii in the late 1930s.

Hawayo Takata and her Reiki master, Chujiro Hayashi, brought Reiki practice from Japan to Hawaii in the 1930s. Takata later brought the practice to the mainland United States. Susan Mitchell and her husband Paul Mitchell were students of Mrs. Takata starting with their First degree class in San Francisco in 1978. We are privileged to have Susan share with us Mrs. Takata’s nerve stroke.

TAKATA’S FINISHING TOUCH by Susan Mitchell

Hawayo Takata ended all of her treatments with a brief massage and nerve stroke down the spine. The most memorable demonstration of this closing stroke that I witnessed was during a class Paul and I organized for her at our San Francisco home in October 1979.

My mother-in-law, Millie, and her quirky, dramatic friend, Jeannie* had signed up for the class. After Mrs. Takata finished teaching the positions on the back, she was ready to demonstrate how to conclude a treatment. Her model was Millie’s friend.  Takata asked Jeannie to raise her shirt and unhook her bra. It was instantly clear that the only massage Jeannie had ever heard about involved “parlours.” What ensued was a very funny interchange that had everyone, including Jeannie and Takata, in stitches.

But how did Reiki treatments end, back in the day? Mrs. Takata briefly massaged the back, squeezing the skin, and then began the nerve stroke at the top of the spine, placing the index and middle fingers of one hand in the two hollows along the sides of the spine. (The side of the table you are on determines the hand you use.) The free hand rested on top of that hand to add weight. She drew the fingers down the spine to the tailbone. The motion was brisk and the stroke was repeated seven times or more.

When treating someone with diabetes, Mrs. Takata reversed the direction, moving from the tailbone toward the heart, rather than from the top of the spine to the tailbone.

She also applied this stroke to the arms and legs. Takata briefly massaged the arms and legs and stroked each extremity three times, moving from shoulders to fingertips and from the top of legs to the feet. Now she used all the fingers of the hand weighted by the free hand. For a person with diabetes, she reversed the direction—fingertips to shoulder/foot to top of leg—so that these finishing strokes again moved toward the heart. She massaged and stroked first the spine, then the arms and legs.

Applying the nerve stroke stimulates circulation and allows you to see on a lighter-skinned person where the blood flow is impaired—areas along the spine remain white while everything else turns pink.  It’s also a simple way to bring closure to the treatment, supporting that shift from deep internal awareness to ordinary consciousness.

Today, the nerve stroke is often not part of the First Degree class. Individual teachers have sometimes changed the practice. Professional health care licensing in many states has precluded manipulation of the body by anyone without an appropriate license. Hospital and research protocols may also prescribe specific limits in how the client’s body is touched. If we’re practicing professionally, we want and need to work within the scope of protocols and regulations. And, it’s worthwhile knowing where we’ve come from.**

*Not her real name.
**The nerve stroke is also mentioned in Mikao Usui’s handbook as part of Second Degree training.

Related Reading–more stories about Mrs. Takata:
Reiki and Money
Earn Your Reiki Training

GUEST BLOGGER Susan Mitchell learned First and Second degree Reiki healing from Hawayo Takata, the Reiki master who brought Reiki to the US from Japan with her Reiki master, Chujiro Hayashi, in the 1930s. Susan became a Reiki master in 1985. She and her husband Paul Mitchell are based in Idaho.

A LIGHT HEART by Susan Mitchell

Lately, I’ve been hearing Hawayo Takata’s voice in my ear. She always said, “Reiki brings us health, success, happiness, and long life.” When she talked about these qualities, her voice held a wonderful lightness and wisdom. Part of the “success” she talked about certainly had to do with money.

But how do you find or maintain a light heart in the midst of dramatic economic change—change that may be affecting you very personally?

You may have struggled with money all your life—how to earn it, how to manage it, how to work with your feelings about it—so the present situation isn’t making things any easier. Although people talk about money as energy (which is undeniable!), it’s also a basic fact that money is physical and only has use and meaning in the physical world. At the moment of our death, money will be of no help to us at all.  Seeking money to provide meaning in life is a dead end.

We know we can get pretty stuck around money—and relationships, and health, and other things, too.  You can feel undeserving, guilty, greedy, fearful, mystified, or resentful, to name a few. But all of these emotions are not actually about money, they are about what you’ve been taught, assumptions you’ve made, beliefs, patterns and habits. Money is neutral. When you step back and look at your attitudes about money, you have an opportunity to see what’s driving you—where you’re out of balance.

It is never about money. It’s about love and thus about fear and lack of connection with Source, however you define that. It’s not a question of whether I value myself, of “how much am I worth,” or what I deserve. And it is certainly not a measure of spiritual attainment.

As a friend of mine says: Money is not a measure of your worth, it’s an opportunity for reflection.  It gives you information that is unique to you and your situation. It’s not there to judge you or measure your value.  I find this insight very helpful and tricky and subtle. Your needs and longings deeply affect your relationship with money because they are your core challenges and aspirations.

Reiki teaches us that the deeper our connection with life energy, with Source, the more we will move into right relationship with money, family, friends, ourselves—everything. When we turn to Source to fill our deepest needs, our hearts and minds can remain happy no matter the external. Our minds can be free of worry and fear—just for today.

I’m sure this was the source of the lightness I heard in Hawayo Takata’s voice.

Read more by Susan Mitchell:
Hawayo Takata’s Nerve Stroke
A Discipline for Happiness 

Reiki master Marta Getty had been practicing Reiki less than six months when Hawayo Takata* arrived in her hometown of Eugene, Oregon in 1980.

Marta remembers the petite 79-year-old as a “remarkable woman, clear and very strong.” Marta says, “In any space, she really filled it, so you could feel her no matter what she was doing. She was a very powerful speaker in a very gentle and soft way.”

Marta arranged a talk for Mrs. Takata at a local bookstore the evening before a Reiki class was to begin. After the talk, a visibly moved attendee approached Marta with a plea for a fee reduction or payment plan. She wanted so much to practice Reiki but did not have the cash.

Marta dutifully carried the request to Mrs. Takata, but was taken aback by her response. Mrs. Takata said the lady should save her money, so that when she is ready, she will be able to pay the fee, and she will feel better about taking the class.

The woman left on the verge of tears. Marta and her bleeding-heart newbieness were nonplussed.

So nonplussed that she overcame her awe of Mrs. Takata long enough to ask Why, since the woman obviously really wanted to take the class, Mrs. Takata wouldn’t make a concession?

Marta recalls Takata saying, “When she earns the money for this class, and she’s ready to do the class, she will experience it in a completely different way. If I gave it to her I would be making a beggar out of her.”

Marta admits Takata’s point was lost to her at that moment. Mrs. Takata surprised her further by saying, “Don’t worry, I think she will be in this class anyway.”

“You do?” Marta asked.

“Yes,” Mrs. Takata said, “I have a feeling she will be in this class.” Marta was certain there was no chance of that happening.

But the next evening, as the new students were gathering, the woman arrived, cash in hand.

Are you as intrigued as I was?

Revisiting her experience, Marta realizes her sense of awe kept her from getting to know Mrs. Takata “as a human being and as a person.” Marta wishes now that she had known enough then to “ask different questions and to be with her in a different way.” But how could she, when she’d only been practicing Reiki for six months?

Marta’s memories of Takata are priceless nonetheless, meaningful not only to those of us who stay very close to Takata’s teachings and practice style, but also to the diverse Reiki community–and perhaps especially to practitioners who don’t have a continuing relationship with their Reiki master.

I treasure the stories of Mrs. Takata that are told by Reiki masters who deeply honor her. Their memories take on life in my imagination, and I contemplate them again and again to discover more Reiki pearls.

It’s tempting to take stories of great teachers and turn them into rules, but doing this stunts your growth rather than nurturing it.

Instead, give yourself the time to let these stories settle into your heart. It’s not that Mrs. Takata never discussed a fee. But she sure didn’t this time.

Click here to listen to Marta share this and a couple of other stories in the first 15 minutes of her recent interview with Phyllis Lei Furumoto, Takata’s granddaughter.

If listening and contemplating Marta’s stories brings you deeper insight, please share your understanding in a comment below. To keep this a safe space for everyone to share, I ask you to write only your personal understanding; please do not comment on someone else’s experience.

And if you enjoy Marta’s stories, you will surely enjoy Helen Haberly’s book Reiki: Hawayo Takata’s Story. Although we now understand that the story of Reiki given was not factual, the second part of the book is a series of stories from Mrs. Takata’s Reiki treatments, as told by one of her students. Click here for more information.

*Mrs. Takata brought Reiki from Japan to the US with her Reiki master, Chujiro Hayashi.

Related Reading:
Reiki and Money
Waiting for Second Degree