MY REIKI LINEAGE
Reiki was rediscovered by Dr Mikao Usui (1865–1926) in Japan towards the end of the 19th Century and he is regarded as the founder of the Usui System of Reiki. According to the inscription on his memorial stone, Usui taught his system of Reiki to over 2000 people during his lifetime, and sixteen of these students continued their training to reach a level equivalent to the Western Third – or ‘Master/Teacher’ – Degree.
Before Usui’s death, Chujiro Hayashi (1880 – 1940), retired Commander, Japanese Naval Reserve, Medical Doctor, and student of Usui Reiki, approached Usui about developing a different form of Reiki that was much simpler. Usui agreed. After Usui’s death, Hayashi left the Usui Reiki Ryōhō Gakkai and formed his own clinic where he gave Reiki treatments, taught, and attuned people to Reiki.
It was to this clinic that Hawayo Takata (1900 – 1980) was directed in the 1930s. After Hawayo Takata received multiple Reiki sessions from Hayashi’s trainees at his clinic, for illnesses including abdominal pain and asthma, Hayashi initiated and trained her to use Reiki, and she became a Reiki Master on 21 February 1938.
Hawayo Takata was a Japanese-American, born in Hawaii, who simplified the Reiki teachings, stressing physical healing and using a simpler set of Reiki techniques. Hawayo Takata died on 11 December 1980, by which time she had trained 22 Reiki masters.
John Harvey Gray was the longest-practicing Reiki Master Teacher in the West until his passing into Spirit on January 12, 2011. A remarkable teacher and healer, John Harvey Gray continued to teach Reiki until his passing into spirit on January 12, 2011. He was the longest-practicing Reiki Master Teacher in the US, and one of the original twenty-two Reiki Master Teachers trained by Hawayo Takata, the Japanese-American woman who brought Reiki to the West.
A charismatic and gifted Reiki teacher, Dr. Lourdes Gray started studying Reiki with John Harvey Gray in 1994. She was initiated by John Harvey Gray as a Reiki Master Teacher in 1996 following extensive one-on-one training by John Harvey Gray in the teachings of Reiki as originally taught by Hawayo Takata. For Dr. Lourdes Gray, the widow of John Harvey Gray, learning from and practicing with John Harvey Gray continued as a twenty-four hour a day experience that lasted for 17 years, until his passing into spirit on January 12, 2011. In 2008, John Harvey Gray officially designated Dr. Lourdes Gray as his sole “Reiki Lineage Bearer.” As a Reiki Master Teacher, Dr. Lourdes Gray has taught over 1,200 Reiki classes and trained more than 15,000 Reiki students to date, including numerous doctors, nurses, massage therapists, and bodyworkers, as well as the general public.
The Five Reiki Ideals
Just for today I will not worry
Just for today I will do my work honestly
Just for today I will give thanks for my many blessings
Just for today I will not be angry
Just for today I will be kind to my neighbor and every living thing