Reiki Lineage

Reiki is a Japanese system founded my Usui Mikao with no exception if something is claimed to be Reiki then it has to have started with Mikao Usui. Lineage is a way of tracing your Reiki all the way back to the founder of Reiki, Usui Mikao.

In short a Masters / Teachers lineage should show their name at the bottom of a list that starts with Usui Mikao, as does mine, shown below.

There is also a variation on lineages that can indicate if the Masters teaching has come from a more westernised line that tends to include more new age variations such as the inclusion of the Chakra system or from a traditional line that includes the use of the Japanese energy system of the 3 diamonds. It must be said however that a Japanese lineage does not guarantee that new age additions have not taken place as it is up to the individual teacher how they pass on their teachings. I try to keep to the most traditional methods known and I do not make new age additions to the practice of Reiki.

For me personally, lineage was a factor in choosing my Reiki Master as I wanted the most traditional line I could find. I was pleased to find a Master that had received their teachings directly from Doi Hiroshi who is a current member of the highly secretive Japanese Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. The Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is a Japanese organisation that highly respects the teachings of Mikao Usui and has endevoured to protect the traditional teachings in their original form. The only way one can join the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is by personal invitation and the Gakkai is not open to foreign students. However it must also be said that ultimately I got so much more than my lineage from the Master course that I attended and more than anything I am priviledged to have learnt from Frans Stiene because of what I have learnt rather than where it has come from and I am grateful to both Frans and Bronwen for all their ongoing hardwork researching traditional Reiki and Usui Mikao and also for expelling some of the modern myths that surround Reiki in modern times.