Reiki: The Ancient Art of Energy Healing — A Complete Guide for Beginners
In 1922, a Japanese Buddhist monk named Mikao Usui underwent a 21-day meditation retreat on Mount Kurama, near Kyoto. He fasted, meditated, and practiced the ancient discipline of shuyō — focused spiritual training. On the final day, he experienced what he described as a sudden, intense light entering through his crown and knocking him unconscious. When he revived, he found he possessed the ability to heal with his hands. Whether you interpret this account literally or as the symbolic language of spiritual experience, what followed is undeniable: Usui spent the remaining years of his life developing and teaching a system of healing that would eventually spread to every corner of the world. Today, an estimated 4 million people worldwide have received Reiki training, and hospitals from the United States to Japan offer it as a complementary therapy. This is Reiki — and this is its story. What Does "Reiki" Mean? The word Reiki is a Japanese compound: Rei (霊) means "u...