In the late 1800s, dr. Mikao Usui rediscovered this system of natural healing which he called REIKI. He was a Christian minister and the dean of Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Once during an interaction with his students, they asked him if he had ever seen any miracles mentioned in the Bible, like healing by touch and walking on water. He answered that he believed it may have happened but denied ever seeing such events taking place.

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However a seed had been sown and this occasion changed the focus of Dr. Usui's life. He resigned from the University and devoted all his time to uncover the secret of how Jesus Chris and his disciples healed the sick.

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His research tool him to many places and he soon realized that Buddha too had similar power to heal. However his research into Christian scriptures and Buddhist texts, that were available to him, bore no fruit. Ultimately he learnt Sanskrit to access Buddhist writings that had never been translated into another language. In one such ancient text he found the Sutras containing teachings of the Buddha written down by some disciple as Buddha spoke. He found the method, the symbols and description of how Buddha healed.

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Though at the end of seven years of research Dr. Usui uncovered the knowledge he was looking for, he did not have the power to heal. He then decided to retreat to a mountain and mediate for twenty one days, to seek the power to heal. On the twenty-first day he was struck by a beam of light that knocked hi, down. In rapid succession he saw the symbols he had discovered I his study, the key to the healing powers of Buddha and Jesus.

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After the trance was over Dr. Usui began walking down the mountain, when he stubbed his toe tearing back the toenail. Jumping with pain he grabbed his injured foot in his hand. To his utter amazement in a few minutes the pain subsided, bleeding stopped and the toe started healing. He soon stopped at a roadside inn and ordered breakfast. A young girl brought his tray of food to him and he noticed she had been crying. When asked the reason the replied she had a toothache and showed her face swollen and red on one side.

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With her permission, Dr. Usui cupped her cheeks in his hands and in a few minutes the pain left her and the swelling began to recede.

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And so having discovered the power of healing, for the next seven years Dr. Usui continued to heal the sick and infirm mainly worlomg in a beggar camp where he would heal the younger lot and send them out to earn a living once again. When he found a few such people returning to camp he realized he had healed their physical body not how to appreciate life. He then began teaching others how to heal themselves and gave them the five Principles of REIKI:

. Just for today I will live the attitude of gratitude

. Just for today I will not worry

. Just for today I will not Anger

. Just for today I will do my work honestly

. Just for today I will show love and respect for every living thing

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As Usui's life was drawing to a close, he chose one of his students Chujiro Hayashi, a retired naval doctor, as the next master of REIKI in order to keep the essence of these teachings intact. Dr. Hayashi took his new role very seriously and went on to open a REIKI hospital in Tokyo where people could come for treatment and also learn REIKI. Practitioners would also go out and heal those who could not come to the clinic.

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Hayashi clearly demonstrated how Life Force Energy finds the source of physical problems falls the energy needed and restores the body of wholeness.

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One day in 1935 a young woman Mrs. Hawayo was brought to Hayashi's clinic. She had opted to try out REIKI to cure her stomach tumor rather than go in for a regular operation. With the treatment she received at Hayashi's clinic, her problem disappeared and she herself trained in this form of healing under Dr. Hayashi. A year later she returned to her home in Hawaii and became a flourishing REIKI practitioner.

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In February 1938, Mrs, Takata was initiated as the next Master of the Usui System of Natural Healing by Dr. Hayashi. He also told her of a terrible was the world would be involved in and what she must do for her own protection and the protection of Reiki. When the second world was broke out and Japan and the United States got involved, Dr. Hayashi knew his time had come. Being a Reiki Master, he could not reconcile to serving again in the Navy, recognizing Mrs. Takata as his successor and saying his final good-byes to his family, he sat in a meditation pose, dressed in formal Japanese clothing, closed his eyes and left his body.

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Following his guidance Mrs. Takata sailed to The United States and demonstrated her commitment throughout life teaching and practicing Reiki. She became a powerful healer and a great teacher, introducing Reiki to the West. She made twenty-two masters during her lifetime before her death in 1980.

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Today, thanks to her, the Usui System of Natural Healing is practiced all over the world.

I am thankful to be part of this history, thanks to my Master Reiki Teacher, Farzeen Shroff.