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 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 practice from Japan to the U.S. with her Reiki master, Chujiro Hayashi.
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Reiki and Money
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Hello…I live in Eugene and looking for classes…help…Karen
Karen, this will help you find a qualified Reiki master near you https://reikiinmedicine.org/popular/reiki-classes-right-for-you/
Traditionally, Reiki master training is not a course, but an individual apprenticeship. Having a year of focused time with a mentor you respect, who ideally midwifes your mastership, for only $10,000 doesn’t seem over-priced to me, especially when you consider that by the time one is ready to become a Reiki master, the candidate is already a professional Reiki practitioner.
Learning to navigate the business side of a service is an important part of becoming a Reiki master. Those who do expedited training and become masters before they have functioned successfully as Reiki professionals are skipping a critical transition.
It’s interesting to me that many people who accept that they cannot have this education or that vacation or many other things because they don’t have the money, somehow think they should be able to be a Reiki master just because they think they want it. To me, and I imagine to other Reiki masters who paid $10,000 for their master training and don’t feel that they overpaid, the decision to become a Reiki master is a major life choice, right up there with, for example, getting married. Or maybe that’s not a good example, because there is no divorce once you’ve received an initiation.
While I certainly believe Reiki classes should be paid for, the fee of $10,000 for Reiki Master training is unbelievable. I understand how important the Reiki Master course is. And I also think there are too many Masters with inappropriate training. But such an unbelievable high fee is just that, in my opinion–unbelievable. While Reiki Master training isn’t for everyone, it shouldn’t be so expensive as to shut out those who are truly called to it, but can’t afford such a high price. And while Mrs. Takata was willing to sell her home for it, did she do so? Sorry, but I just don’t think it’s a fair exchange.
I agree.If Reike really want to help the world they would not charge such an exorbitant fee.I think the story is just a cop out to charge such afee.
Vera, First degree Reiki is all most people need. That enables them to self-practice. Then they need to actually practice — every day.
That’s how they best help the world, by first helping themselves. How does having a plethora of poorly trained, inexperienced Reiki masters help the world?
Unfortunately, there are far too many accounts of people having bad experiences with Reiki practitioners who lack adequate training.
What lovely stories!
When I met my Reiki Master, I ‘knew’ that was something I needed to do! I took my first degree class a week or two later, then she moved away!
No one I knew did Reiki (I was already offering massage), then I met another MT to exchange with, & when I realized she was also a Master, began trading sessions toward my 2nd degree initiation. . . . & got a letter from ‘my’ Master, saying she’d rented a beach house, & when she was offering classes!
For $25- I could stay overnight (I live ~ an hour inland) as well, & I recall going outside & dancing the symbols under the stars late at night.
The next year, 1991, I moved to Breitenbush Hot Springs (where the annual NW Reiki Gathering is held), & contacted my Master (still living out of state) to let her know where I was, so she could contact me when she’d return to Oregon, & I could take the next step – Mastery. She told me her dau. was expecting a baby, & she’d be up in a month or two! All staff made minimum wage (worker owned co-op) plus board. The 3 other therapists on our massage team had taken 1st Degree already, & were slated for level two soon. I met with the manager/founder, & ‘petitioned’ for help with the class fee.
I commented that maybe my teacher could initiate the team members in the 2nd level, & he asked ‘won’t you be able to initiate them??’ oh – gulp – of course! So I agreed that I’d initiate other Healing Arts Team members (current & future) in exchange for my master training (& we arranged space for the class & comp. stays for the teacher in exchange)
While she was up, she taught several Mastery students, & some of her Portland stu. took their second degree training with us auditing.
Later that summer, I attended the Reiki gathering, & met Phyllis & others in the Reiki community – such a lovely time! A couple of years later, I’d begun playing harp (& ‘sending’ Reiki with music) & Phyllis invited me to play for the gathering after we’d done a meditation!
I treasure the way my ‘earning’ my Mastery played out! I initiated many of the Breitenbush staff members (I invited non Healing Arts staff to pay a small fee, or think of something to barter!), & 19 years later, several of those Reiki practitioners & a few of my Master students are still on staff, serving the springs, holding sacred space.
The more I contemplate this story, the more deeply I appreciate how many ways there are to earn one’s training.
We have no way of knowing all that was behind this woman’s tears. She might have been foolish with money or recently lost a job or just feeling hopeless–the list of possibilities is endless.
I find the power of her willingness to be present with all she was feeling so very inspiring. Instead of staying with the pain as she did, it’s easy to turn away or distract ourselves when seemingly insurmountable obstacles appear in front of what we want. And of course when we do that, the obstacles become truly insurmountable.
Thank you, Pamela. This is wonderful! It’s interesting that in the end the woman did not “earn” the fee, but she was gifted with it. One might say that her commitment to taking the Reiki and her yearning brought it to her.
The idea of energetic and financial exchange for Reiki treatment as well as teaching is so richly complex!
As a practitioner, if I find myself wanting to “give” Reiki, a misnomer in itself but bear with me, it doesn’t ever take very long to explore a little deeper and discover that I have expectations about what I may receive in return. Another discovery is that if someone is not required to pay, they may be reticent about returning for treatment for fear of imposing upon me. Appropriate payment mitigates this concern.
Mrs Takata’s perspective is very similar to the Yamaguchis’, who, like Haywayo Takata, have learnt Reiki from Chujiro Hayashi and pass this on in the same way as they have received it from their teacher, nothing added, nothing taken away. (Jikiden Reiki means ‘directly transmitted’).
Tadao Yamaguchi stresses the importance of making an ‘effort’ in exchange for the teachings, based on the idea that we value more that for which we have worked hard and have chosen to make a priority.
love
gisela
i really thought money was important in learning reiki.. my master told me its just like energy exchange .. you gotta value others time and work and money is just the thing that is chosen by the others to meet the requirements.
I really appriciate what Mrs.takata said.
Its like the master was teaching a lesson to Marta even when she wasnt in the class.. so good..
now a days when reiki learning is more of money then reiki itself.. i really appriciate Marta for sharing this!!
Thanks to the reiki in medicine too!!
I believe I’ve borrowed and read a book by Marta, last year when I wanted to fill in some of the blanks in my knowledge of Mrs. Takata’s story. This one you have shared is lovely, and gives me another way of expressing the key principle of exchange. I am most grateful for Marta’s sharing of these stories.
There has been a lot of ferment and reinvigoration of Reiki lately, with the lineages coming out of Japan and the like. Through it all, my gratitude for Mrs. Takata’s giving of her life’s work to bringing Reiki to us, grows stronger. She is present in so many ways in our healing, day to day.
Let her guide your hands.
Blessings,
Jeffrey