Plato asked, “What whole way of life would make living more worthwhile for each of us”. Usui-Sensei said, "This is surely a secret process to bring a good fortune and also a miraculous medicine to remedy all kinds of disease."   Link these two together, think for a moment, and then read on.

 

 

The word advanced is often coupled with the word secret, which implies something never before seen. Secret can have many meanings as like a chameleon it changes to blend with its surroundings. 

Think of those plants with remarkable healing energies growing in the secret spots in the forest  Think of  the weeds having external and internal healing properties kept secret from the those whose paths always led to the drug store.     

One of the most powerful secrets uncovered when studying the method Usui Mikao (Mikao Usui in English) created is the peaceful freedom felt when you let go of anger, and worry, thus surrendering yourself to the wave of unconditional universal love. Mikao Usui said, “My Reiki Ryoho is an original method based on intuitive power in the universe”. 

Universal energy was present long before human beings first walked on this planet, and Usui- Sensei (honorable teacher) never claimed to be the first to connect to universal energy, or to know secrets that others never knew.  In his humble way he shared a wonderful gift that has spread around the world and been given over three hundred names as it has been woven into other healing modalities.  

You advance on your Usui Reiki journey when you enter a state of trusting in the universal wisdom guiding the univeral love and harmony flowing through you.  Mikao Usui being such an intelligent and insightful man lead him to explore many things before he unexpectedly conencted with the universal vibrations of universal love and harmony.  Usui-Sensei was said to have taught each person with the experience he or she came to him with, so perhaps no one person knows in full the method that he taught.  Then again unless a person is a member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai, what is taught with the Gakkai is unknown. 

With all that is unknown about what now is commonly referred to as Reiki, the healing that occurs with the blance and harmony of reiki is well known.  The beauty of the healing freedom that occurs when a person is able to leave symbols behind on their Reiki journey is also well known.  Symbols have been with the human race as far back as can be traced by the most sophisticated of technical equipment. So it is natural that symbols would be the training wheels used to help students in adjusting to the feel of universal energy flowing through them. 

Whether you are doing people Reiki, animal Reiki, bird Reiki, wildlife Reiki, fish Reiki, plant Reiki, or any other name universal energy flows more freely when your conscious mind is benched and you listen to your hands being guided by universal wisdom.  Different hand positions have been created by many wise people, but once inharmonic vibrations can be identified and yoiu feel the rythem of the universe, you have no need for any hand positions. 

 Look to your left and reflect on what you read on the What is Reiki page. Think about Mikao Usui saying, "My method is an original, there is nothing like this in the world. So I would like to release this method to the public for everyone’s benefit and hope for everyone’s happiness.”  

When you take the time to learn the factual history surrounding the method Usui-Sensei created, you erase the word secret from your mind and replace with 'out of this world', or 'awesome', or 'humbling', or 'astonishing', or  similar adjectives.  Many people can have negative reactions to drugs, various herbs, materials such as latex, dyes, and other things used in various healing modalities; no one has a negative reaction to universal unconditional love and harmony, a.k.a Usui Reiki Ryoho. 

King Solomon’s words reflect those of many other wise people through the centuries, “That which you know in your heart is that which you are". 

The action of putting out energy that is within you has been called many things over the centuries, but regardless of the language,what you put out you attract. Think of the peace, harmony and joy that is within you when you know in your heart the spiritual practice Mikao Usui founded. 

Advanced Reiki happens when you reach Daianshin or Anshin, a state where the mind is perpetually filled with peace, tranquility and joy.

Think of the exercises you have done in Reiki classes where light fills all your zillions of cells and then you allow it to flow out to join with the molecules around you.  Imagine you are walking through crowds with this beautiful light spilling out and touching all those whose higher-self wants to accept. 

Knowing in your heart and embracing the meaning of those five simple lineds in the Gokai (five precepts/five principles) can powerfully impact your life in a positive way.  With most people, after completing the first level in either Gendai Reiki-ho or Komyo Reiki the secret of those five short simple lines vanishes as they learn to live the Gokai.

Usui Reiki is often described as hands-on-healing, but it goes beyond what is thought of as healing in the medical sense.  Medical professionals focus ono the disease/illness/injury because a diagnosis must be made in order to dictate chemicals or treatments used to cure. 

A Reiki practitioner or teacher focuses on well-being and lets go of all emotion and worry about whether he or she can heal; in a totally neutral state universal energy flows to where it is most needed without being split to address emotions.  

 You begin In Shoden, the entrance level of Reiki, learning to focus on the state of well-being of the life form to which you have connected.  As you advance you awareness of focus advances.  Advanced Reiki is actually cultivation of the mind. It takes time and practice to bench your mind and sgo. However, when you do this you will find yourself in that warm, harmonious, safe place, which you can make your reality.

Countless wise people over the years have written about how a person’s thoughts create his or her life. As Reiki is flowing through you, you are in balance and surrounded by harmony; what you are and what surrounds you is attracted to you.  The more you practice and surrender yourself to universal love and harmony the more harmonious your corner of the world becomes. 

What a wonderful world it will be when everyone is in balance and surrounded by harmony.

As you slowly advance through the levels that have become common practice, you will begin to notice a change happening within you as your inner vibration goes to a higher level.  This does not happen with the introuduction of more fingers pointing (commonly called Reiki symbols) to cords within the vibrations of love and harmony, but with embracing the light your Reiki Shihan have invited you into and letting go the ego. 

There are no hidden dark secrets in the method Mikao Usui founded, only different ways that different Shihans (teachers) have chosen to help students understand universal energy. 

As you scroll down you will see in two photographs, visuals of that light/color/energy that might appear as secret. Cameras can sometimes capture even those molecules that are still in energy form. These visuals remind us that energy can be sensed with more then our touch receivers. Examples of energy/light stretch from modern science back to such modalities as Ayurvedic healing, which Dr. David Frawley says began in 4000 B.C.

Universal love and harmony when allowed to flow uninterrupted creates complementary healing for mind, body, and spirit of all life forms. Reiki bridges that gap between mind and body often created by modern professional medical treatments and medicine, and reconnect mind and body.

Light is energy, and life is light.  Life is also love, which is also energy.  Usui Reiki then is all these things in universal form.  Reiki is a different form than your life force energy, Qi/Ki/Prana. Excesses of worry, anxiety, effort, restlessness, overwork, over socializing, etc, diminish each person’s own Ki/Qi. Calmness, faith, peace of mind, nourishing foods and sufficient rest enhance life force energy;  Reiki replenishes your life force energy, Qi/Ki/Prana.  The right foods and herbs nourish and help the cells to heal; Reiki goes to the core where the energy is needed to create the actions of life.

Usui Reiki is like Ki/Qi only in that it cannot be described in any dictionary or encyclopedia; Qi/Ki and Reiki go beyond any form of energy that can be explained. 

 Reiki is not fretful worry about whether the glass is half-full or half-empty, but rather accepting what is in the glass. Once the acceptance happens, you can move forward doing your best and letting go of that which you cannot control. Reiki will flow to places you might not even know exist, regardless of how many years you may have invested in formal educational. Keep in mind, the incredibly intelligent and insightful man who founded this wondrous spiritual practice.

Mikao Usui was Buddhist all his life, but the spiritual practice he founded is not a religion nor a belief system. Roberta Barnes was blessed to be lucky enough to complete one update teacher’s level under Rev. Hyakuten Inamoto, also a Japanese Buddhist monk. Hyakuten-Sensei explained that the only similarity between Reiki and Buddhism are discipline and practice. Roberta Barnes was further blessed that three of her Reiki Shihans impressed upon her how important it is to blend Reiki into life, thus pacticing Reiki 24/7.

A quote from Abraham Lincoln, one president of the United States, reflects on Mikao Usui’s meditation that allowed for his second awakening (first awakening is intellectual and the second is spiritual). “If you want something you’ve never had before, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done before.” If you want universal love and harmony to emanate from you, you must allow a form of energy new to you, to freely flow through you once a qualified Reiki Shihan has opened your channel.

As you go deeper in the spiritual practice of Usui Reiki you can see the reflection of the common phrase, “you are a spiritual being experiencing life as a human being”. When you study the spiritual practice Mikao Usui founded, you will see concepts reflecting those of Dr. Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, Hunter Adams, Dale Carnegie and many more. Mikao Usui connected to Universal energy in 1921 and passed on in 1926, but much of the wisdom he shared is from the universe which is ageless.

One of wonderful things about the spiritual practice Mikao Usui created is that it requires a pure connection and knowing rather than memorization. If a person was required to memorize all the Reiki symbols used in the world today there would be little time for feeling/knowing the inharmonic vibrations put out by life forms to guide a practitioner’s hands.

Think for a moment about the peace symbol commonly use in the nineteen sixties/seventies. World peace is surrounds us and is simply waiting for humans to embrace it; if the peace symbol had made everyone on earth embrace peace, think of what an angelic world this would be. The peace symbol is a perfect example of how symbols only point in the right direction; it is the heart/mind that makes the body follow.  Following is easy when your channel has been opened by a qualified Reiki Shihan (teacher) to universal love and harmony, and you blend this into your daily life.

Secret can refer to once the training wheels are set aside you can more easily move to a higher vibration/dimension without their weight. To be the clear vessel through which universal energy can flow without interruption requires mindfulness in different areas for each individual. Everyone begins his or her journey with his or her own life experiences -- his or her own reality. 

Regardless of how many initiations/empowerments/attunements you receive, each is only the beginning. If you are now using symbols, try connecting to the whole of what your channel has been opened to and experience the freedom of trusting in the universe.

Roberta Barnes teaches Gendai Reiki-ho (Modern Reikimethod for healing) and Komyo Reiki. Gendai and Komyo Reiki go back beyond new age discoveries to the understanding such as can be represented by Qi, which while sometimes translated as life force, has a much deeper meaning that cannot be translated into any language. Connecting to the light of Reiki within and feeling that vibration in your inner-self that resonates with cords of universal love and harmony becomes the power within.

The secretto the spiritual practice of Usui Reiki Ryoho is trust. When Roberta Barnes asked two of her Japanese Reiki Shihans a technical question about whether or not a certain Japanese technique could harm a certain physical condition the answer was, “Trust in Reiki”. Dale Carnegie gives a perfect example of trusting in the universe when a young blind boy was asked to find a mouse that was lost in the classroom. The teacher asking, recognized that the universe had given Stevie Morris something no one else in the class had, a remarkable awareness of hearing to compensate for his lack of visual sight. That teacher’s trust in the universe seeded that young boy’s trust and he came to be known as one of the great pop singers and songwriters of the seventies, Stevie Wonder.

Reiki allows those with physical challenges that medical science lists in the 'cannot be cured' category to experience happiness in the manner best for him or her. Curable from within can take many forms, and Reiki helps those forms to be uncovered.

It takes time to form actual knowledge and there is no instant download for the essence (relentless power) of universal love and harmony to be embodied by your jing. In spite of this, each step of the journey is blissful if you allow it to be so.

Here is a visual that Roberta Barnes finally decided to share with more then a select few. It is a visual that reinforces the power/strength/intensity of universal energy. Both this and the photograph at the top of  Reiki healing sessions page come from a roll of film Roberta shot using the self-timer on her camera, upstairs in her Natural Healing & Learning Center.  

What appeared in the photograph to your left is something that was beyond human control.  Roberta's intent was for the flame of a candle in her hands to represent the heat/light of Reiki that flows through such places as the palms of the hands.

This photograph overwhelmed Roberta as she sat looking at the prints she had just picked up from the film processor/printer.                This form boldly appearing in front of her hands is the same color as the form that appeared in a vision she had a few yearsarlier.  Even though she was thrilled with what she saw, she  grew up with the belief that everything must be proven.  Roberta chose to follow the example of one of her Reiki Shihans, Richard Rivard, and diligently researched all possibilities. She began immediately by going back to the film processor for glitches in processing, checking all negatives on that roll, and then having the camera checked for any light leaks.

 Just as with Usui Reiki, the only answer after looking at all technical possibilities, is that the colors in the photograph above are a form of energy/light that comes from the universe.

This is not a photograph of Reiki, this is a reflection of Roberta Barnes' reality, and her connection to universal energy. Create your own situation to give universal energy the opportunity to reflect your reality. Connect to Reiki, believe, allow, bench your thinking mind, expect nothing and anything, and enjoy the results. 

Many of the exercises Roberta Barnes teaches in the Shoden level forward, help you to release negative beliefs holding you back from being the true universal you. Healing the whole you is an important step in accomplishing anything in life that you want. Several exercises in Okuden help you to move forward by identifying those hidden stresses within and releasing.

Karma is a Sanskrit term meaning action. Action is part of all life, the action within and action surrounding each person. Both good karma and bad karma can be created. One exercise Roberta Barnes teachs in the third, spiritual level of Gendai Reiki-ho burns away any unwanted karma. Each level contains many exercises to cleanse your whole selfand objects. Aura and chakra cleansing is easily done in the first level.

The many variations in the way in which Usui Reiki Ryoho has been taught since the 1930s might seem confusing. Each person has his or her own reality, and in every language one phrase can have numerous meanings depending on how it is used. The doctrine of “no-self”, explains why there are no ill feelings among Reiki Shihans (teachers) when a student wishes to study different styles. While various Reiki teachers have changed the way in which he or she was taught, anyone having completed the spiritual level prior to the teacher's level has no wish to claim he or she is better then another. Simply trust in yourself, trust in Reiki to guide you, and you will find the style and Shihan (teacher) that is right for you.

Once your channel has been opened it is a wonderful feelings to join in a Reiki Mawashi preformed during a Reiki Koryukai (gathering).  Check the calendar page for the next Reiki gathering Roberta Barnes hosts.

Reiki works with medical professionals. To cope with daily living, Dr. Mel Glenn of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School said, “sometimes brain cells can be coaxed into doing jobs they were not originally designed to do”. Inharmonic vibrations are created if a person tries to direct universal energy. On the other hand, universal energy allowed to flow uninterrupted into any medical coaxing/treatments/medicine can achieve astonishing results. Reiki flows to where is best for that life form, or event, at that junction in time.

We cannot visually see all that is within each of the billions of atoms within the mind, body, and spirit. We cannot know the source of all symptoms the body chooses to show. We do not need to see or know, because Reiki knows where to flow and what to do when it arrives. If this sounds a bit magical, but the secret is that universal energy is the unexplained that only requires belief.

There is no force greater then universal energy. That said it is obvious why no one’s channel since Mikao Usui has opened fully in a short time. Each time a person’s channel is opened a bit wider, by a qualified Reiki Shihan, the whole person assimilates those vibrations of a very powerful energy new to him or her.

One of the things that helps with assimilation is knowing in your heart that you are being opened to that which is new to you and be grateful for the shifts (healing crisis) that take place in your mind, body or spirit. Reiki is a blissful journey that makes reaching the destination insignificant. Simple exercise such as Ken’yoku (dry bathing) and Hikari no Kokyu Ho (breathing of light method), can stop panic, anxiety, and relieve you of fears and stress. Simply repeating the five short lines of the Gokai can make the world a brighter happier place.

Advanced Reiki is to live in the higher dimension where anger and fretful anxious worry do not exist. Advanced Reiki is to live by the Gaien, which is the backboneof Reiki. Study of those five very short lines of the Gokai gives an understanding to even the strength of today.

The ability to allow Reiki to flow through you (channel) begins as soon as you receive your first invitation into the light/empowerment/attunement. The ability improves not only by each level you complete, but by self-purifying and lots of practice. The further a Reiki practitioner or teacher grows spiritually the stronger the energy flowing through becomes.

One goal connected with photography is to see light in its variations. The photograph below taken by one of Roberta Barnes' students, shows a variation of light not expected. At first glance, this photograph looks like it should be tossed. As always, the word “should” is best tossed. At second glance, what appears above her upward turned palms makes it a perfect photograph.

It is the message within this photograph that makes it perfect. That white circle above Roberta's  hands is an energy circle. Many forms of energy creates visuals. Roberta never expected energy circles to appear in photographs taken of her. Universal energy does not go by human expectations. This photograph to your left shows that the balance and harmony that flows through a person outshines physical appearance.

Roberta Barnes' physical form is out-of focus in this photograph even though the camera used was set on automatic focus and the photograph was intended to be of her. No one intended the energy circle to appear in this photograph.

 The focus of life is not on a person’s features or hair, nor is it on the clothing she or he wears. The focus is on the energy that flows through her or him; when balance and harmony flows the unexpected positive can happen.

Take a moment and think about the various people throughout your life. It is the energy flowing from a person that made thebiggest impression.

Regardless of what molecule you examine, energy is at the core. The spiritual practice Mikao Usui founded uses universal energy. Techniques in different styles vary in the way in which the energy is allowed to flow to the receiver. One very powerful technique Roberta was shown by three of her Reiki Shihans is a smile that comes from the heart. Reiki flows through the eyes and breathe, so a smile and words that come from that place of true knowledge are vehicles that can carry a lot of power. The place of true knowledge is in your heart area, and not your thinking mind.

Some techniques such as Gendai Reiju depend upon a pure connection and intent only. This is only taught to those having completed the highest leveland transcended the use of symbols. Reiju’s meaning can be broken down as giving or accepting(ju) a spiritual property or knowledge(rei). The Reiju used by the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is based upon the original way in which Usui-Sensei opened others’ channels to the light, but is not the same. The form of Reiju used by the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is shared only within the society itself. Gendai Reiju has many uses depending upon the Reiki Shihan’s intent.

In today’s world, attunements being rituals vary greatly. Rituals only require, an intention, a plan that can be remembered, something material or visual that has meaning to you, a designated space, and an ending meaningful to you. The next time your family has dinner or friends have tea, make it a ritual and enjoy. Do a ritual just for you to end your day in a pleasant relaxing way.

Run a bath, do the Reiki technique to cleanse the bathroom (or the whole house), then do Hatsurei-Hoor a similar exercise, light some scented candles, allow Reiki to flow into the bath water, and soak away all imbalances of the day while repeating the Gokai. One of the nice things about studying each level over days or weeks is learning all the different ways in which Reiki can flow daily into all areas of life, and choosing what resonates with you.

Gendai Reiki-ho and Komyo Reiki , the styles Robeta Barnes enjoys teaching, are often called Japanese Reiki.  At URRI 2002 in Canada, Roberta met approximately eighty other Reiki Shihans (master/teachers) from around the world, each with their own chi/qi/ki/prana going along with Reiki to share with others.  No style honoring the tradition of Usui Reiki Ryoho is better then any other.

Following are the words of one of Roberta Barnes' Reiki Shihans, Doi-Sensei, Hiroshi Doi.  These words are copyright 1998, 1999 Hiroshi.   He speaks Japanese, but one who understands the meaning behind the words translated this.

“We are not Reiki, we are not the author of Reiki, we are simply and always the empty vessel (flute, tube, whatever) through which Reiki flows into another. We cannot control it, we cannot demand it, command it, or even deny it as it comes for the Universal Author (Authoress) of Life – God/Goddess. We are truly the instruments and as such we cannot claim to be better, wiser, or anything else than any other practitioner or teacher. That determination is left up to those who come to us for assistance or teaching, and to Creator who knows all.”  

Reiki is energy from the timeless universe and cannot be rushed. Each person’s channel will only open as much as he or she is ready for at a given junction in time regardless of age, sex, educational level, or religious background. 

Reiki will blend with and enhance everything positive. A practitioner/teacher can blend Reiki into any tool/practice in which he or she has completed separate study. When one reaches into the collection of tools gathered there is a tingle as the heart, mind, and soul form a triangle to express the pure white light of love and harmony, healing in new ways. Light body, guided journeys, nature’s energy, and herbs are what Roberta Barnes most commonly blends with Reiki.

When blending things into one’s Reiki practice it is good to remember that while different combinations can be an excellent synergy in one situation they can be inappropriate in another. Massage therapists, all other medical professionals, and artists of all mediums blending Reiki into his or her practice is perfect.

If you indulge yourself in Japanese history you will see why poems were read at each of the Reiki gatherings Usui-sensei held.  You will also see why the receiver laying down and receiving through hands-on was added into the practice of Usui Reiki Ryoho at a later time.   While Usui-sensei became one with the light and lived in higher dimensions spirituality his body, relatives, and friends were still subjected to follow the political rule of the day. Stories are a wonderful way to get one’s point across, and the imagination is a wonderful gift.  Each person has the right to believe whatever he or she wishes.  Whatever a person chooses to believe about the history of Usui Reiki Ryoho it cannot take from the fact that the gift of connecting to a vibration of love and harmony that Mikao Usui passed on is among the ultimate of gifts.

As you advance and Byosen Reikan-ho becomes a part of your life you will feel that welcome relief as the worry of where to place your hands is let go. Hand positions like symbols are teaching tools. Trusting in Reiki to guide us, we do not need to know medical details, pressure points, the recognized 32 chakras, meridian (nadia) channels, colors, or other details used in various healing modalities.

Reiki can be allowed to flow into everything, even hobbies you may have. Sculpting is one of the things Roberta Barnes enjoys.  Roberta begins with a block and remove exposing the form that is within. At the bottom of this pageare photographs of one of her sculptures that appeared when her focus was on Reiki only. 

When she stepped back and looked at the form the words of one of her college professors came to mind, “form does not have to resemble details of life. Form flows, that is art.” Reiki can be compared to art in that it flows without any preconceived form; energy can take many forms.

Daily practice allows Reiki to flow in a pure way that can enhance all your skills and relationships, even those in the work place. As an Herbalist, I have found poultices work twice as well when Reiki is allowed to flow into them, and tinctures have extra energy.

At first glance, these might look like two separate sculptures.  However, they are shots taken of the same sculpture from different sides. The vibrations of love and harmony are always the same.  Different Reiki Shihans/practitioners go into the light and connect to the energies within in his or her own reality.  No side is better then another, simply different and once all the training tools and personal aids are put aside the unencumbered energy is the same. 

Mikao Usui lost consciousness and then continued to expand his connection and practice to the extent where it is possible that centuries will pass before another person gains the knowledge he did.   In the meantime, we can all enjoy the journey as we toss any obsolete training wheels and props along the way.

Contact me if you have any comments.