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This book reveals how Dr. Hayashi conducted his Reiki classes, performed certain healing techniques, and includes accounts of his personal life.
In the year 2000, Mr. Petter traveled to Japan and learned first and second degree Reiki from an elderly woman who had been taught by Dr. Hayashi. In 2002, he returned to Japan to learn the master level of Reiki.
Mr. Petter writes about "Byosen", a Japanese term used to describe the sensations practitioners feel when giving a Reiki session. Apparently Japanese practitioners pay more attention to these sensations, and keep their hands on these body areas until the sensations subside or go away.
"Ketsueki Kokan" is taught to Second Degree Reiki practitioners and is done to promote circulation of the blood at the end of a session. Mr. Petter provides directions and pictures for doing this technique.
A large section of the book is devoted to the hand positions Dr. Hayashi used to treat various diseases. These hand positions are similar to those taught by Mrs. Takata and used by most Western Reiki practitioners today.
I have enjoyed and appreciated the Reiki information from Japan that Frank Petter has shared with us. For me, it has often been a validation of what I have been taught and experienced through my Reiki practice. Of particular interest to me in this book was the expense and length of training during Hayashi's time. It was the equivalent of $5,500 (five thousand, five hundred), in today's American dollars, for five days of training for the first degree level. Reiki practitioners did not charge people for healing sessions. Apparently over the years, Reiki in Japan has changed it's teaching styles like it has in the U.S.. There is presently "Jikiden Reiki" in Japan, that promotes the original ideas of Drs. Usui and Hayashi.
In this book, Walter Lübeck and Frank Petter present an overview of Reiki interventions, which they believe are most helpful.
Mr. Lübeck an Mr. Petter begin with methods which a Reiki teacher, practitioner, student, or client can effectively use to promote the most healing. The majority of this book presents the techniques each author uses in their own practices. Mr. Petter writes about enhancing his Reiki with tools such as meditation. Mr. Lübeck combines Reiki with many other bodywork practices and uses what he has dubbed "Rainbow Reiki".
I personally had mixed feelings and some confusion reading this book. I think that the book's title was inappropriate. Mr. Petter's contribution seemed to follow more of the traditional Usui Reiki and was well written. I felt that most Reiki practitioners could use and understand his techniques. Mr. Lübeck seemed to take for granted that the reader is understands the interventions that he is familiar with. For example, in the first part of the book, Mr. Lübeck uses terms such as "Reiki Showers", Rainbow Reiki room cleansing technique", "Reiki power ball", Inner child", "Karma-Clearing" and "Chakra Energy Cords", but does not attempt to explain these terms until the last section of the book. I think it would have been much clearer if he explained each term as he introduced it. Although he did attempt to explain his "Rainbow Reiki" early on, I found it vague and was unsuccessful in understanding his concept of "the light body" or using the "uninitiated hand".
In several areas of the book, Mr. Lübeck commented on the effectiveness of his interventions without offering any examples or research to support his claims. On one occasion he writes, "Treatment is enormously intensified through the combined influence of Reiki and the powers of healing stones".
Mr. Lübeck uses "buzz words" or phrases such as "Homeopathic Touch" and "Bach's Flow Remedy" when explaining his "Rainbow Reiki" interventions, as if to make his methods more credible to the reader.
Mr. Lübeck and I would disagree on our Reiki philosophy in a few areas. One being the use of repeat or what he terms "Guest Initiations". I feel that students need to trust the initiation process the first time. The proof is in doing one's Reiki practice. As Mrs. Takata oft said, "Just do Reiki". Mr. Lübeck also states that the degree of healing one experiences in a Reiki session is dependent upon the techniques the practitioner uses, and that the practitioner is solely responsible for the result. Knowing of such a burden, I don't think I would have taken first degree Reiki. On the other hand, maybe my ego would have liked the idea.
A few highlights that I enjoyed in the book included Mr. Lübeck addressing the use of Reiki for past and future healing and Mr. Petter's section on using Reiki with comatose patients. There are many good suggestions for promoting healing and using your full potential as a Reiki practitioner. The book encourages one to do more with energy than what information has been made available to us through the teachings of Dr. Usui, Dr. Hayashi, and Mrs. Takata.
I found Frank Petter's book, Reiki Fire to be interesting, informative, and refreshing. Presently living in Japan, he has been able to uncover past and present information about Dr. Usui, and Reiki energy healing. Frank Petter's attitude about Reiki and energy work is quite refreshing, especially in a time when there can be confusion about holistic forms of healing. Mr. Petter's orientation appears to be spiritual; experiencing energy and life as a "mystery". He embraces the virtues of meditation, good nutrition, living in the present, the unity of body, mind and soul, and humor.
Frank begins his book by talking about himself and his history. As a reader, I appreciated knowing about his background and orientation. He was born in Germany thirty-nine years ago. At age fifteen he started meditating. At sixteen he began yoga. At eighteen he traveled to India and lived in an ashram. In his twenty-third year he relocated to the United States and lived in an ashram/commune in Oregon. Returning to India at the age of twenty-eight, he met his future wife, Chetna, a Japanese woman. The couple then took a three year trip around the world before settling (if it can be said that Frank ever really "settles down") in Japan. There he worked as a gardener and English teacher. In 1991, with Chetna, Frank started a language school in Japan. In 1992, he returned to Germany and learned Reiki, and in 1993, Frank started teaching all levels of Reiki in Japan.
In the book's section on the history of Reiki, Frank sees Reiki as a "Buddhist offspring of Qigong with added Shintoist influence". From sources in Japan, he has attempted to compile information about Dr. Usui and the Reiki movement in that country. For example, Frank states that the Doshisha University in Kyoto and the University of Chicago have no record of a Mikaomi Usui having been enrolled or having taught courses. Further, Mr. Petter has found no proof that Dr. Usui was a Christian. In a recent discussion of Reiki history with Japanese practitioners, Frank was informed that Dr. Usui used crystals with his students and patients, and that he also provided his Reiki students with written manuals. Frank learned that Dr. Usui founded, and was the first president of, the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai and there have been five presidents since. Mr. Petter also learned that, in the 1940's, there were approximately 40 Reiki schools in Japan. It is in the history section that Frank makes one of his "refreshing" observations; "as if Reiki could ever belong to a country, a school, a concept, or even an individual". He sees that it is the ego that challenges the concept of the "one-ness of the Universe".
The book also contains historical information about Dr. Usui's memorial inscription and the origin of "The Five Reiki principles". The memorial inscription is a touching tribute to Dr. Usui by one of his disciples. "The Five Reiki principles" were not originated by Dr. Usui, but adopted by him from the guidelines set down by the Meiji Emperor of Japan.
Under the chapter "Reiki Degrees", Frank shares his philosophy and experience. He believes "there is no original teaching. Reiki is alive and therefore always changing". He honors the tradition that the Reiki symbols and the initiation ceremonies should not be described in a book written about Reiki. Frank goes on to state that he has experienced several initiation processes, and that "they all work". He suggests that people wait a few weeks between first, second and third degree initiations. He divides the third degree level into two subsections: 1. The student is initiated and receives the master symbol, which is used for private meditation, and for giving one's self and others Reiki sessions. 2. The student is also taught how to initiate others into all the degrees. This reviewer would relish information on how Dr. Usui taught the master level and use of the master symbol.
In "The Reiki Session" chapters, Frank states "from the hand position the energy finds its own way to where it is needed most". "arms and legs shouldn't be crossed so as not to hinder the flow of energy". Owing to the diversity of Mr. Petter's research and experience, it is often difficult to ascertain the origins of several of his statements, such as these last two. Because this reviewer's experiences working with Reiki energy are similar to those related by Frank, I tend to agree with many of his statements and enjoy having my own experience being validated by another through the written word. Another statement made earlier in his book, which validates my own experience with Reiki is, "No Reiki session is ever the same, since every individual is unique and in constant change".
In "The body" section, Frank talks about progressive relaxation, self-hypnosis and eastern and western concepts of disease. He seems, not surprisingly, greatly influenced by east Indian and Chinese energy concepts. His orientation is holistic; "start being attentive to what you eat, drink, read, think, feel, say and do".
In the section dealing with "The Mind", Mr. Petter includes exercises and practical suggestions for enhancing health, and how to combine this with Reiki. I like his suggestion for second degree Reiki remote sessions, "work only on people who want to be treated by Reiki and by you specifically". There are also interesting suggestions on "communicating" with comatose or dying people using the second degree Reiki symbols. Frank shares his philosophy about the ego, honesty, money, and independence. "Everything on earth and in the cosmos is interconnected". His position that "Reiki belongs to all of us", is refreshing after the recent challenge concerning the copyrighting of the "Usui System of Reiki" and assertions made by some Reiki Masters claiming to know "the real Reiki".
In the chapter "Esoteric background", Frank discusses the chakras, the Seven Levels of Consciousness, and the Collective conscious and unconscious. He sees the recent rise in popularity of Reiki as due to the influences of our Collective Conscious.
The book also contains interesting information on Mount Kurama, where Dr. Usui had his initiation experience. I enjoyed the philosophy presented by Frank in his section on "Learning and Teaching", regarding why a person would want to learn Reiki and how to choose a teacher.
Two of Frank's statements in particular aroused my curiosity, and left me wishing he had developed them further. The first was made in the "Reiki History" section wherein it is mentioned that a Reiki practitioner, Mr. Oishi, was asked to take over a Reiki Clinic. Mr. Oishi "declined after hearing that healing others would diminish his own life energy". I hope there is no truth to this statement and would have appreciated more information. The second statement was one Frank made about using the Reiki symbols; "the intensity of the activated energy also depends on the affinity the Reiki practitioner has with the particular symbol he uses". Where does this information come from, and is this true?
This reviewer looks forward to reading and reviewing Frank Petter's next book: Reiki - the Legacy of Dr. Usui, Lotus Light Publications, 1998. Perhaps we will learn more about Dr. Usui, the history of Reiki, and some of my questions, raised by the first book, will be answered. Thank you, Frank Petter, for sharing what you have learned.
I recently read Frank Petter's second book on Reiki; Reiki, the Legacy of Dr. Usui. Please refer to my book report of January 1, 2000 regarding Reiki Fire, Frank Petter's first Reiki book. After publishing Reiki Fire in april of 1997, Mr. Petter was given a manuscript, in July of that same year, written about 75 years ago by Dr. Usui himself. This manuscript, titled Reiki Ryoho Hikkein, was a handbook which Dr. Usui gave to his students. It is divided into three sections; an explanation to the public of why he teaches Reiki; several questions and answers about Reiki, and a section called "waka", which is spiritual Japanese poetry written by the Meiji Emperor. The manuscript was translated into English by Mr. Petter's wife, Chetna, and her parents. According to Mr. Petter; "Rei can mean spirit, soul, or ghost. Ki can mean energy, atmosphere, mind, heart, soul, feeling or mood. The word Ryoho means either method, treatment, or system in the sense of a healing system". I appreciated learning how the Japanese translate "Reiki Ryoho".
An interesting bit of information, provided by Dr. Usui in his manuscript, informs us that: "Energy and light mainly radiate from the eyes, the mouth, and the hands of the giver of the treatment. At the same time, the treatment giver either fixes his eyes for two or three minutes on the afflicted parts of the body, blows on them, or gently massages them". I was surprised by this information, as I usually keep my eyes closed during most of a Reiki session, and I wondered why Dr. Hayashi and Mrs. Takata were either not taught this method or chose not to pass on this instruction (at least, so far as I am aware). Hopefully we will learn more about this in the future. Perhaps Frank and Chetna Petter will discover Japanese Reiki practitioners presently using Dr. Usui's method.
There are two sections of Frank Petter's book in which he attempts to understand Dr. Usui's character through numerology and astrology. Mr. Petter's motivation for taking this approach is the scarcity of information, at this point, about Dr. Usui as a person, and a desire to know him better. Personally, I couldn't connect with either the numerology or the astrology. Perhaps more information that will enable us to form a clearer picture of Dr. Usui, the person, will reveal itself in the future.
Mr. Petter briefly describes the traditional Reiki system in Japan as being divided into several degrees. It appears that each degree was taught slowly, with many contacts with the teacher, and only a few students were chosen to take the higher degrees and become teachers themselves. These teachers in turn, could conduct classes in the manner in which they thought best, often combining Reiki with other modalities such as nutrition and religion. In the West, apparently Mrs. Hawayo Takata taught three degrees of Reiki, and stressed good nutrition. When I teach Reiki, I tend to put more emphasis on learning slowly. This allows the student to work at length with the energy, for it seems that every question that I have had about Reiki has been answered by doing Reiki on myself and others. The more I work with the energy, the more I develop my intuition as a guide. What comes to mind is Mrs. Takata's advice of "just do Reiki". Finally, what makes sense to me is Frank's suggestion that Reiki needed to be changed when it left Japan, in order for it to fit into Western thinking and beliefs, else it may not have been accepted at all.
More than half of this book focuses on working on yourself and developing awareness. This is similar to Mr. Petter's first book, Reiki Fire, and here again he draws on his training in meditation and Eastern philosophy. In chapters three through six, he suggests how Reiki can be incorporated into several of the healing modalities. When discussing facing our fears, Mr. Petter encourages us to use Reiki without power and greed as motivations. He goes on to state: "I recommend every Reiki student to separate from a power-hungry Reiki teacher if the latter isn't willing to return to a loving state of light and unity". With the profusion of Reiki teachers and practitioners in the United States today, perhaps it is a good time for Reiki people to read Frank Petter's book and examine our ego and motivations in working with this energy.
In chapter 7, "My personal Experience", Frank summarizes his Reiki journey since first learning Reiki in 1992. He relates his story with an openness, expressing his feelings and the emotions he experienced during several events. This is congruent with his urgings in earlier chapters of the book, wherein he encourages the reader to be open and to share one's feelings, and, from my perspective, enhances his credibility.
As I stated at the end of my report on Reiki Fire, Frank Petter's first book on Reiki, I look forward to learning more about Dr. Usui, the history of Reiki, and the present use of Reiki in Japan. Meanwhile, I will take Mr. Petter's advice and enjoy the present.
This is the latest of three Reiki books by Mr. Petter, and is written with the assistance of his Japanese wife, Chetna, and a few Reiki practitioners from Japan. Mr. Petter shares with us information from "the practical section of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Hikkei", a handbook for the practice of Reiki created by Dr. Usui.
Mr. Petter writes, "Students met once a week to meditate, apply Reiki together, and practice scanning the body until they succeeded in reaching a type of energetic diagnosis. If this was the case, the corresponding areas of the body were treated immediately". He also states, "a Western Reiki treatment is a type of large-scale treatment; the Japanese intuitive treatment is specifically directed". It has been this authors experience that in teaching first degree Reiki in this country (USA), most Reiki Masters focus on the hand positions and in second degree Reiki, focus more on using one's intuition.
In addition to the five Reiki principles which we are familiar with, Dr. Usui taught "The Three pillars of Reiki"; Gassho, Reiji-Ho, and Chiryo. Gassho, a meditation, was practiced for twenty to thirty minutes upon awakening in the morning and before going to sleep, and at the beginning of Dr. Usui's classes, workshops and meetings. Reiji-Ho is performed at the beginning of a Reiki session. It is a prayer of intention to connect with the Universal life-force energy, to become an instrument for healing of the client, and that one's hands be guided in the session. The English translation of Chiryo is "treatment". Dr. Usui started a treatment by placing his dominant hand above the client's crown chakra in order to receive intuitive information and guidance for where the hands were to be placed next. Apparently, during a session, the sequence of hand placements is guided intuitively, rather than dictated by a set Pattern. Neither is there a specified increment of time that the hands are to remain in one position.
Joshin Kokyuu-Ho, a breathing technique, was also taught by Dr. Usui. It appears to me to be remarkably similar to the Chinese technique known as Chi Kung, where a deep breath and energy are taken in through the nose, drawing down to the "Tanden" (Japanese), or "Tantien" (Chinese) energy center just below the navel. The energy and breath are held as long as possible and then the breath is exhaled through the mouth. This increases the body's energy and allows increased energy to flow out from the practitioner's body when giving a Reiki session.
Dr. Usui used massage, "tapping", stroking, blowing, and gazing on affected areas, in addition to giving specific areas energy with the Reiki methods we are more familiar with. This writer is curious if these additional methods were taken from the ancient Sutras or from other healing modalities practiced during Dr. Usui's lifetime.
In a section titled "Dr. Usui's basic Treatment for Specific parts of the body", hand positions are taught. These basically correspond to the positions that are familiar to most Western first degree Reiki students.
In "Treatment of Half of the body, Hanshin Chiryo", the practitioner rubs along both sides of the spinal column, from the buttocks or base of the spine, to the upper neck or top of the spine. This is the opposite direction of what most Western Reiki students have been taught.
Dr. Usui taught practitioners to keep their hands on painful areas until the pain was gone. Most of us in the West have been given the guidelines of two to three minutes for each hand position. It makes more sense to me to use one's intuition, and how nice for the client to leave the session "pain free".
There are several pages of instructions by Dr. Usui on hand placements for treating specific problems and diseases. Placing one's hands on the painful area and also on the Tanden, or second chakra, is suggested in most cases.
Dr. Usui's students met weekly and often didn't achieve second degree until several years later. We here in the West want mastery to come quickly. Intuitive abilities are not developed in a weekend workshop for most of us, and although I teach the Master level as a one-year intensive apprenticeship, I realize that true mastery is a life-long journey of learning on the Reiki path.
In conclusion, thank you again, Frank Petter, for helping to broaden our understanding and scope of our Reiki practice, and for providing support for using one of life's greatest gifts - our intuition.
Ms Motz calls herself an "energy healer", and her book, Hands of Life, addresses her concepts and methods of using energy for healing, documents several case studies, and chronicles her own personal journey of healing. This book may be of benefit to Reiki practitioners and other energy healers, as well as to any person seeking insight into the healing of the mind, body, and soul.
Ms Motz starts with telling the story of her own challenges, beginning in 1970 when she was depressed and made a suicide attempt. With therapy, she realized how fearful and angry she was, and "that emotions are some kind of energy". After six months studying with the "Fusion Group", run by Mike and Sonya Gilligan, she was able to feel what other people felt, in the room or even at great distances. Ms Motz occasionally refers to research done by Albert Einstein, Robert Becker, Wilhelm Reich, and Louis de Aroglie. De Broglie stated that all matter emits waves, now referred to by physicists as Broglie Waves. Motz believes these waves are what she is sensing. She also believes that the ability to sense feelings is "available to everyone".
In 1982 Julie Motz injured her back and was introduced to Reiki. During her initial Reiki session she experienced a painful and emotional childhood memory when the practitioner worked in the area of her back injury. "We train ourselves as children not to respond to injury with anger. Preventing the message from getting to the brain becomes a habit. After six months of Reiki, and many memories of childhood suffering, the back pain was gone. In 1986 Ms Motz learned Reiki. She states that it is intention that allows a person to use her/his hands for healing.
Later Motz changed her diet to a macrobiotic diet, and healed her problems of insomnia, mood swings, and pain after exercising. Through macrobiotics she was introduced to the Eastern concept of "human energy", which she uses in her work.
In 1992 after a car accident, Julie Motz made her commitment to healing work and went to Columbia University where she earned a degree in public health. She hoped that she could help "introduce alternative medicine into public health policy". She describes some incidents of success, but relates mostly being frustrated in her efforts by the public health authorities.
One of the success stories first surfaced at Columbia when she met Dr. Mehmet Oz, a famous cardio-thoracic surgeon, who was trying hypnosis with some of his coronary bypass patients. Ms Motz convinced Dr. Oz to allow her to do energy work with a few of this transplant patients before, during, and after surgery. It was through this work that Motz first developed her idea that healing is a process in which four basic feelings, corresponding to the four basic forces in physics:
In her own body, Ms Motz became aware that these four basic forces and their corresponding feelings were located in her tissues. In working with very ill patients, she sensed feelings being held in tissues that normally didn't correspond. She called these "emotional defenses". an example would be heart patients having "sorrow in their blood", which weakened their hearts. Motz believes that every cell in our body has a personality and memory, and is able to communicate with every other cell. She listens to, and interacts with cells for healing purposes, and also teaches her patients to do so as well.
Julie Motz did energy work in neurosurgery and discovered that patients were holding feelings of anger in their brains. When she worked with women having breast surgery for cancer, Ms Motz realized that breast cancer is an "expression of the crisis around nurturing". She became "convinced that repeated emotional distress and abuse, starting very early in life, and usually ignored or denied by the patient, are key factors in weakening the body and making it vulnerable to chronic disease". Motz believes that disease offers us a chance to return to earlier wounds for healing, not only through the symptoms of that disease, but the healing modalities we chose.
Julie Motz addresses the "crisis" we are experiencing in our present health care system, and feels that medicine needs a shift from emotional detachment to compassion for the feelings of practitioners, as was as those of the patients. In the last paragraph of her book, Ms Motz proposes that our technological failures in attempting to heal chronic disease may actually result in an increase in the development of our loving and healing of ourselves and others.
Pat can be reached at:
Pat
Cougar, R.N., Reiki Master
P.O. Box 546
Paradise, CA 95967-0546
voice: 530/877-2367
or by e-mail
Home Page: www.dpierce.com/pat