Mikao Usui

 Mikao Usui was born in Japan on the 15th August 1865.
Mikao Usui was the founder of Modern Reiki. Reiki is a complementary Therapy for the treatment of the Mind, Body, and Soul.

Dr Usui spent many years in a Buddist Monastery.

Usui embarked on a 21 day meditation and fast on a holy mountain near Kyoto. After being asked by some of his senior students if he believed in the healing miracles of christ and whether he was able to demonstrate such a healing. he had no answer for this question. On the last day of his fast, he had a deep meditaion experience. He saw a shining light in the sky which moved quickly towards him.

This light struck him in the middle of his forehead ( the third eye ) he found himself in a state

of extended consciousness.In this state he saw familiar symbols from the snaskrit sutras. He felt charged as the symbols and mantras became clear to him.

Dr Usui decided to go to slums of Kyoto in order to heal the sick. Through his seven years living in the slums Usui came to realise that although he has healed the physical body, he had not taught a new way of living. he then set out the Reiki Principles, A few years before his death Dr Usui initiated Dr Chijiro Hayashi a retired naval officer.

 Dr Hayashi opened a clinic in Tokyo.He taught Reiki practitioners who worked in groups around the clock on patients. A young Japanese woman Hawayo Takata from Hawaii was suffering from a number of serious disorders including a tumor, she had an inner calling not to have an operation but to seek out healing in Japan. she came across the Reiki Clinic, where she stayed for several months. As a result she was completly cured.

Hawayo Takata became one of Dr Hayashi students and stayed at the clinic where she became a successful healer.

In 1938 Dr Hayashi initiated Hawayo Takata as a Master of the Usui System.

After the death of Dr Hayashi in 1941 Hawayo Takata became his successor. She healed and taught for many years. She was the only Reiki master until 1976.In the last few years before she died she trained some of her students as Reiki Masters.

By the time she died in 1980 she had initiated 22 Reiki Masters.Among them was her grand daughter

Phyllis Lei Furumoto, who in 1983 was recognized by the Reiki Alliance as a Grand Master of Reiki.