The style of Reiki that I practice and teach is Usui Holy Fire® III Reiki.
The “Usui” in “Usui Reiki” refers to Mikao Usui of Japan, who discovered his particular form of Reiki in Japan in 1922.
Mikao Usui is also referred to as Usui Sensei. Sensei is a term of respect and means “teacher” in Japanese. He is also referred to in some places as “Dr. Usui,” but I want to note that he was not a medical doctor. The “Dr.” may have been attached to Usui’s name because Sensei also refers to doctorsas well as teachers and it may have been added in the translation of Sensei.
Usui Sensei was born on August 15, 1865 near present day Nagoya, Japan. He had a wide variety of life passions, from the spiritual and mystical as well as scientific. I have heard that he was a very kind man, but also very angry prior to discovering Reiki. (I could say the same about myself! Reiki has been such a loving and transformative presence in my life)
In 1922, his existentialist crisis had come to a head and upon the recommendation of his teacher, he did an intense purification technique that he thought he was going to die. However, instead of death, he discovered the beautiful gift of Reiki in a sudden flash of downloaded enlightenment.
At the time he didn’t know what had happened, but he knew it was profound. As he walked down the mountain, he stubbed his toe and instinctively reached down and placed his hands on his foot and he could feel the warm healing energy coursing from his hands to his injury and he realized that this was a hands-on-healing modality.
From that point on, Reiki was his life’s mission to share this beautiful gift with others. He only lived 4 more years, but within that time what he developed what we call the Usui System for Healing that is shared and taught today, almost 100 years later.
If you would like to learn more about Usui Sensei and his gift of Reiki to the world, I teach this in the Reiki 1&2 Immersions.
Photo of Usui Sensei, Public Domain.
