Usui Shiki Ryoho, translated as The Usui System of Natural Healing, was first practiced in Hawaii by Hawayo Takata in the 1930’s. She defined the Japanese concept of Reiki as universal life energy or God-power.
Until her death in 1980, Hawayo Takata taught and practiced in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico as her teacher, Chujiro Hayashi, had trained her. Her granddaughter, Phyllis Furumoto, became her successor as Grandmaster upon Takata’s passing. In 1982 Phyllis invited all her grandmother’s master-students to come to Hawaii and spend a week together in remembrance of their teacher.1 Many of Takata’s masters came, sharing what we had received from our teacher and acknowledging Phyllis’ unique place in the circle.
The following year Phyllis sent another invitation to all Takata’s masters to meet in Lumby, BC, Canada at the home of Barbara Brown.
In the intervening year, our community faced some challenging situations. Barbara Weber, one of Takata’s masters, had formed the American Reiki Association (ARA), proclaimed herself Hawayo Takata’s successor and the only fully trained master of Reiki. She trademarked several brands: Real Reiki, The Original Reiki Program, and advertised in magazines cautioning readers to learn Reiki only from a fully trained ARA master.
At this second gathering, masters were concerned that our master training with Takata was being denied, as the American Reiki Association dismissed the validity of what we received from Takata. We feared her gift to us could be lost. Out of our desire to preserve our practice and to have a public presence in the world, The Reiki Alliance formed. We worked hard to clearly define our values and purpose, expressed in these founding statements.
We are an Alliance of masters.
We regard all masters as equal in the oneness of Reiki.
We acknowledge Phyllis Lei Furumoto as a grandmaster in the direct spiritual lineage of Mikao Usui, Chujiro Hayashi, and Hawayo Takata.
The purpose of the Alliance is to support us as teachers of the in the Mikao Usui System of Reiki.
The Reiki Alliance became a US non-profit membership organization, and our tradition of annual gatherings began. As the international community grew, a working board formed, we hired an executive director and opened an office separate from Phyllis.2 Membership grew steadily, and the conferences were enthusiastically attended.
Two significant events occurred in 1992. Prior to the annual gathering, Phyllis and Paul met and acknowledged that they would work together. This decision planted a seed that evolved into the formation of the Office of the Grandmaster (OGM) with the roles of Lineage Bearer and Head of the Discipline.
At that year’s gathering, a growing awareness that members were not all teaching and practicing in the same way began creating tension. The community in their uncertainty turned to Phyllis asking her to share the practice she had received from Takata. This became the first work that Phyllis and Paul did together in their new relationship.
Out of this work, Phyllis soon named the Nine Elements of the practice: Oral Tradition, History, Spiritual Lineage, Treatment, Initiation, Symbols, Form of Teaching, Money, and Principles. She also identified Four Aspects: Healing Practice, Personal Development, Spiritual Discipline, and Mystic Order.
The Reiki Alliance consciously became a community of masters dedicated to a common practice as defined and delineated by the Office of the Grandmaster. The community’s intention was to support one another in maintaining the practice and deepening our understanding and shared development.
When questions arose in the Alliance community about the form of our practice, the Board referred them to the OGM. At TRA annual gatherings, the Board and conference team always invited them to present. The OGM also worked hand in hand with the TRA membership team, bringing new members into the community.
The OGM began offering master intensives to the worldwide Reiki community. These were heavily attended by TRA members and gave us many opportunities for exploration and inquiry into the gift of our practice.
Phyllis and Paul’s final project as the OGM was to invite the community into an in-depth exploration of the element of Spiritual Lineage as we prepared for Phyllis’ death and the process of succession. This three-year journey culminated in the clear, graceful, and potent recognition of Johannes Reindl as Grandmaster and Lineage Bearer of Usui Shiki Ryoho, witnessed by a group of masters two weeks prior to Phyllis’ passing.
Since the recognition of Johannes, the “becoming” of the Office of the Grandmaster is continuously unfolding. Johannes wanted Paul to continue to work with him and to invite Joyce Winough to join them. The public work of Johannes and the OGM began with online Reiki circles and events and has grown to include international in-person student and master gatherings and Master Intensives.
We continue the tradition of bringing practitioners together to practice and explore what Reiki is calling us to bring to ourselves, our families, our communities, and our world.
1 Phyllis also invited the few masters she had initiated to both Hawaii and Lumby BC.
2 Phyllis had originally supported the Alliance through her own office.
For more information about the OGM please visit www.usuishikiryohoreiki.com