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How did Reiki come to the West?
Written by Dawn Mellowship
The founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui, taught 2000 students and 16 of these reached the top of his teachings. One of these Reiki masters was Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a retired officer of the Japanese navy and a medical doctor and surgeon. Dr. Hayashi was born on 15th September 1880. He studied with Mikao Usui for around 10 months before Mikao Usui's death in 1926. Dr. Hayashi remained with the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (the society founded by Mikao Usui) until 1931, when he departed to establish his own clinic and school in Tokyo called the Hayashi Reiki Kenkyu Kai (Lit. Hayashi Spiritual Energy Research Society).
Mikao Usui had tasked Dr. Hayashi with developing Reiki in a more clinical manner and initially they did this together, developing the Reiki Ryoho Hikkei (Lit. Spiritual Energy Healing Method Handbook). This guide demonstrates hand positions for various illnesses and injuries enabling students who are beginners and lack intuitive ability to work in the correct areas with Reiki. Dr. Hayashi also kept treatment records and constructed class manuals for Reiki.
Dr. Hayashi died on 10th May 1940. Prior to his death he had taught Reiki master level to a total of 13 students, one of them being a lady called Hawayo Takata. Mrs Takata brought Reiki to the West in the 1930s.
Mrs Hawayo Takata
Mrs Takata was a Japanese immigrant living in Hawaii. She was born on 24th December 1900. Her father worked on a sugar cane plantation as a cutter. Hawayo Takata worked as part of the sugar cane plantation owner's household and eventually became the head housekeeper. It was at this household that she met her future husband, Saichi Takata, the plantation bookkeeper. They married and had two daughters.
In October 1930 her husband died leaving Hawayo Takata to support two children. Life became very strenuous and after five years Mrs Takata grew very ill and suffered a nervous breakdown. Shortly after she travelled to Japan to receive treatment for her ill health. Whilst in hospital in Japan Hawayo Takata was diagnosed with asthma, appendicitis, gallstones and a tumour. She was due to undergo surgery but sensed that she did not need surgery. As a result, Hawayo Takata asked the hospital if there was another treatment she could have. The hospital dietician referred her to Dr. Chujiro Hayashi's clinic where over a period of four months she received healing daily from two Reiki practitioners. Hawayo Takata made a full recovery and impressed by this feat asked to learn Reiki. Although Dr. Hayashi initially refused, Hawayo Takata demonstrated her commitment to Reiki and Dr. Hayashi taught her the first level.
Over the next few years Mrs Takata graduated to master level, returning to Hawaii to establish her own clinic in Honolulu. Hawayo Takata travelled around Hawaii giving healing treatments and in the 1970s moved to the USA, where she taught Reiki level 1 and 2 courses. It was only in 1976 that she began offering Reiki master training. Hawayo Takata adapted Mikao Usui's teachings to suit the political situation created by World War II, removing some of the spirituality and practical nature of Reiki.
Mrs Takata initiated 22 Reiki masters before her death in 1980. Because Hawayo Takata had introduced some changes to Reiki, such as disallowing students from taking notes or keeping copies of the Reiki symbols, after her death Reiki became very fragmented. The Reiki masters she had trained had different recollections of what they had been taught. Some maintained the more traditional Usui style of teaching Reiki, while others developed and adapted the original teachings into new systems of Reiki. Still, were it not for Hawayo Takata Reiki may have never made it to the Western world.
Is a Reiki treatment just placebo?
Written by Dawn Mellowship
The placebo effect is unquestionably a powerful phenomenon. A placebo is a substance given to an individual as a medicine or therapy, which itself has no therapeutic effect. In medical studies it allows drugs to be tested against controls for efficacy. Although, is not intended to have any medicinal effect, it does, purely because the patients taking it believe that it is a genuine drug and expect that it will produce the desired outcome. The patient’s belief produces effects and natural chemicals in the brain and body as if they were actually taking the anticipated drug. As scientists wrote in a review of the placebo effect published in the journal Annual Review of Psychology,
Placebo factors have neurobiological underpinnings and actual effects on the brain and body.
In fact, the placebo effect is so powerful that the Harvard Placebo Study Group was founded in 2001, as part of a Mind-Brain-Behavior Initiative at Harvard University. The group is made up of neuroscientists, psychologists, a behavioural geneticist and an anthropologist. Research carried out by Fabrizio Beneditti (of the Harvard Placebo Study Group) and his colleagues found that the placebo response in terms of pain relief is triggered by the release in the brain of endogenous opiates – our bodies’ natural painkillers, produced when the individual expects pain relief.
Once the individual is told that they have been administered a placebo, which is not causing a physical effect, the therapeutic effect stops, confirming that it was the patient’s belief causing biochemical changes in the body.1
It is said that around 33 per cent of patients with a range of clinical pains respond to placebo, although in some studies up to 100 per cent of individuals have responded.
Below are just a few studies demonstrating the powerful effects of placebo.
- The placebo effect has improved numerous medical conditions, Parkinson’s Disease being one of them. Researchers at the University of British Columbia discovered in one study that the placebo effect produced the same results as pharmaceuticals on 12 patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. Those suffering from Parkinson’s Disease do not produce enough dopamine in the area of the brain which affects physical movement. Patients who received placebo injections in the study exhibited natural dopamine releases in the brain, which the authors of the study concluded was associated with “expectation of reward.” The researchers also looked at whether the placebo effect may enhance the effects of the active drugs, but to the contrary, this proved not to be the case. In fact the study’s author’s stated “in some patients most of the benefit obtained from an active drug might derive from a placebo effect.”2
- In 1988 researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, USA, conducted a trial on the effects of the drug ‘Acyclovir’ on 27 adults suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Three patients suffered from nephrotoxicity (poisonous effect on the kidneys) as a result of taking Acyclovir and dropped out. Of the 24 remaining patients 11 taking the drug experienced improvements and 10 taking the placebo experienced improvements. Any improvements to the patient’s condition were attributed to spontaneous remission or the placebo effect.3
- Research conducted in 1996 on the steroid hydrocortisone as a potential treatment for CFS found that around half of the study participants reported improvements after taking the placebo.4,5
It is not only being given a placebo unknowingly instead of an active drug that is important, but the practitioner’s enthusiasm for the treatment being administered. In 1987, 200 patients were given one of four consultations:
- One conducted in a positive manner, with a placebo (where the patient was told confidently that they would get better in a few days), or without a placebo (where the patient was told they required no prescription), and
- One conducted in a more negative manner (where the doctor stated “I cannot be certain what is wrong with you”), with a placebo (where the doctor also stated “I am not sure that the treatment I am going to give you will have any effect”) and without a placebo (where the doctor added to this “And so I will give you no treatment”).
Two weeks after the consultation 64 per cent of those receiving a positive consultation got better, only 39 per cent of those receiving a negative consultation got better irrespective of what treatment they got.6 Thus, the effects of a drug or indeed placebo are enhanced or not depending on how positive the practitioner is.
What we are told by the health professionals or anyone we put our trust in can have an impact on us physiologically and psychologically.
With regards to Reiki, the placebo effect will undoubtedly be a factor in many cases where the patient believes that Reiki will have a positive impact and where the practitioner adopts a positive approach about the benefits of Reiki. This is the same whether it's a complementary therapy or a medical drug being used. However, Reiki can be used on animals and very young children, who have no belief in or understanding of Reiki or expected outcomes, and the Reiki treatment will still give a positive effect. Reiki can also be used on those in a coma and distantly on individuals who are not aware of receiving a treatment (although we do not recommend doing Reiki without permission) and it will have an impact.
[1] Glannon, W. et al. Bioethics and the Brain. New York: Oxford University Press. 2007. p. 93-94.
[2] de la Fuente-Fernandez, R. et al. Expectation and Dopamine Release: Mechanism of the Placebo Effect in Parkinson’s Disease. Science. August, 2001;293(5532):1164-116.
[3] Straus, S.E. et al. Acyclovir Treatment of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Lack of Efficacy in a Placebo-controlled Trial. The New England Journal of Medicine. December, 1988;319(26):1692-1698.
[4] Demitrack, M.A. et al. Evidence for Impaired Activation of the Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal Axis in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 1991;73:1224-1234.
[5] ‘Steroid Fails to Adequately Relieve Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.’ National Institutes of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Bethesda, MD. 13 October, 1996; online at: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/1996pres/961013.html.
[6] Thomas, K.B. General Practice Consultations: Is there Any Point in Being Positive. British Medical Journal. May, 1987;294:1200-1202.
Are there any laws regulating Reiki?
Written by Dawn Mellowship
Reiki in the UK comes under the Voluntary Self-Regulation (VSR) process. The body that represents Reiki is The Reiki Council (formerly Reiki Regulatory Work Group).
At the moment, the framework for VSR is the National Occupational Standards (NOS). The NOS were developed to ensure Reiki practitioners and Reiki teachers work within clearly defined professional standards. The NOS set the minimum standard required for professional Reiki practice. This will have the dual effect of both protecting the public from poorly trained Reiki practitioners and driving up the standard of Reiki offered professionally.
The NOS are set out in the form of a series of competencies and the underpinning knowledge associated with each competency. From these competencies and knowledge templates the Educational Sub Group will develop the core curriculum and qualification and assessment structure for Reiki.
The Reiki Council has affiliated with The General Regulatory Council for Complementary Therapies (GRCCT). This means the federal regulating body for Reiki is the GRCCT.
Reiki practitioners and Reiki teachers can register for VSR by registering with the GRCCT. This is not a legal requirement at present, but it is a good idea for all professional Reiki practitioners and Reiki teachers to register. Once registered, there is a requirement to comply with the NOS.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 April 2010 15:26What is your Reiki lineage
Written by Dawn Mellowship
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Western |
Japanese |
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Dr Mikao Usui |
Dr Mikao Usui |
What is a Reiki lineage?
Written by Dawn Mellowship
A Reiki lineage is the line of Reiki teachers that leads to the student. For traditional Usui Reiki the lineage begins with the founder, Mikao Usui. If Mikao Usui does not appear on a lineage then the system is not a traditional form of Reiki originating from the founder.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 April 2010 15:24
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