Alternative Approach Reiki and Energy Healing

28/01/2026

Looking forward to being back in my happy place. Reiki spots are filling up again and we are also looking at a Reiki Level 1 (Shoden) class soon for anyone that might be interested ❤

26/01/2026

✨🌟💫⭐❤

25/01/2026

Thank you Justin B. Stein - Reiki Research for all your incredible work!

22/01/2026

Have waited a long time for this weekend to come. Time to retreat and do something for me. Can't wait to see what .nz will bring ❤

17/01/2026

❤️

According to the caption of this remarkable photo, it was was taken 100 years today, on January 16, 1926. Read from right to left, it says that it contains all of the Shinshin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryōhō "reiju-sha" (people who could give reiju, the precursor to Reiki initiations) at that time. Less than two months later, Usui-sensei would make his transition.

I first* encountered this photo in Frank Arjava Petter's groundbreaking 2012 book This Is Reiki (I believe there was an earlier 2009 German edition), and I would like to express my gratitude to Arjava, as well as to Olaf Böhm and Mochizuki Tosh*taka, for sharing their research.

Arjava's caption in This Is Reiki identifies six of the twenty-one men in the photo (please note, I am just numbering them in order that they are in the photo).

1. Back row, far left, Captain Wanami Hōichi (1883–1975, would become Rear Admiral in 1931), fifth Gakkai president (c. 1960–1975)
2. Back row, third from left, Rear Admiral Taketomi Kan'ichi (1878–1960), third Gakkai president (1935–1945, c. 1947–1960)
3. Second row, third from left, Usui Mikao (1865–1926), founder and first Gakkai president
4. Second row, fourth from left, Rear Admiral Ushida Jūzaburō (1865–1935), second Gakkai president (1926–1935)
5. Front row, far left, Captain Hayashi Chūjirō (c. 1880–1940), founder of Hayashi Reiki Kenkyūkai
6. Inset, far right, Tomabechi Gizō (1880–1959)

I don't know exactly who the other fifteen men are, but judging from a 1928 Gakkai list of dai-shihan and shihan, they likely include most of the following:

7. Rear Admiral Eguchi Kaname (1877–1942)
8. Captain Tsunematsu Kenzō (d. 1945)
9. Rear Admiral Imaizumi Tetsutarō (1877–1945)
10. Captain-Engineer Sadanaga Jigorō (d. 1944)
11. Mine Umetarō (1865–1934)
12. Rear Admiral Harada Shōsaku (1874–1961)
13. Rear Admiral Mikami Yosh*tada (1880–1947)
14. Senju Takejirō (1870–1957)
15. Haraguchi Saburō
16. Ōtsuka Kaoru
17. Naval Engineer Yoshizaki Tokuichirō
18. Ueda Matajirō
19. Miyagawa Yoshisaburō
20. Sumida Akira
21. Captain Isobe Ken (b. 1873)

100 years later, the number of people authorized to give reiju / initiations has grown dramatically, from these 21 Japanese men to likely tens of thousands worldwide. Our research into these early Reiki Masters continues, but for now I would like to raise my hands in gratitude to these pioneers of our practice, as well as to all of my fellow historical researchers for our collective efforts to better understand the roots of our practice.

*Edit: It has been pointed out to me that I likely first encountered this photo in Tadao Yamaguchi's Light on the Origins of Reiki, which was translated into English and published in 2007, and I think that is likely correct. Apparently the original photo comes from a relative of Tadao's mother, Chiyoko Yamaguchi. Apologies for the mix-up and thank you to Mari Okazaki for providing some more information about the origin of the image.

16/01/2026

Hoping you get to "enjoy life" this weekend. Happy Saturday everyone ❤

14/01/2026

Let us be greatful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom ~ Marcel Proust ~

12/01/2026

Have really been noticing and enjoying the bird song eveywhere lately.

07/01/2026

I hope you all got to enjoy some decent rest. And for those who have returned to work this week, I hope you got to ease into things gently.

05/01/2026

31/12/2025

Happy New Year!

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24/12/2025

Merry Christmas everyone - stay safe and see you soon ❤