Everything About Reiju

[Guest guest]

 

 

Close This Window 

Everything About Reiju  

by Bronwen Stiene

Definition of Reiju: Spiritual Blessing

In Japan, reiju is the

name given to the method a teacher uses in order to communicate with

individual students on an energetic level.

In the process

of moving from Japan to the West, reiju changed a number of its aspects

including its name. In the West its altered form is usually known as an

attunement, initiation or transformation. Communicating

Energetically Teaching, and being taught, is all about communication.

In a Reiki class students will not only study the five major elements

of the system of Reiki. They will also learn about the history of the

system, what Reiki is (and perhaps isn't), and experience Reiki

personally.

Methods to

aid learning are: listening to the teacher's knowledge, reading the

manual, practising the techniques taught, and picking things up and

processing them energetically. Energetic

communication occurs throughout our daily lives. An experienced teacher

will be aware of this phenomenon, working consciously with it in class.

Ueshiba Morihei, a Japanese mystic from the early 1900s and the founder

of aikidô, once had a student come to him with this question, " Sensei,

why is it that when I practice with you in the dôjô my work is so

smooth, yet when I practice at home alone I can never achieve these

same heights of excellence? " Ueshiba replied, " Because in this dôjô you

are One with me and I am One with you. " In apparent

acknowledgement of this phenomenon, Usui Mikao, the founder of the

system of Reiki, formulated the concept of reiju: a method to develop

the energetic connectivity between student and teacher by bringing it

into the conscious arena and building upon it. Reiju is

thus a concentrated energetic communication between teacher and

student. The teacher and student reach out to each other and in moments

of true connection, with the support of reiju, they become One

energetically. <It is

a potent tool for Reiki teachers to support them in developing their

skills and working toward replicating the expertise of practitioners

such as Ueshiba or Usui.

Making Reiju Work for the

Teacher and Student For reiju to be truly effective there needs to be

active participation in the ritual from both the teacher and student.

The student may

think - I just have to be here and the teacher will make it all happen.

The teacher may think - I just have to do the ritual and something will

happen.

Such thoughts by the teacher and student do not lead to optimal energetic communication.

The

student's responsibility is to him or herself; to be as open as

possible in order to access the healing and deeper understandings that

energetic practise can provide. There needs to be a willingness and

openness to self-heal rather than a waiting for others to do the

healing. This motivated approach opens students to the possibility of

complete communication with the teacher. It is where two

consciousnesses share the same experience. The more energetically

developed students are, the more aware and conscious they will become.

Receiving reiju regularly is an ingenious method to continue this

development.

The teacher's

responsibility is to perform the reiju effectively. This requires

self-responsibility. Teachers need to develop their skills and

strengthen Reiki (spiritual energy) within their own lives before they

can support others in the process. This is achieved by gradually moving

through the levels of the system of Reiki and fully integrating the

teachings with ongoing personal practise at each step. Otherwise the

performance of reiju is perfunctory; an outer shell without any centre.

An 'empty' reiju may trigger a student's awareness that energy 'exists'

but it cannot facilitate a student to a heightened level of knowledge

and awareness. Don't be tricked into thinking that because the student

felt something that a physical ritual without soul is 'working'.

Fluffing up a student's energy field may mislead both the teacher and

student into believing that something happened - but this sensation is

in fact simply an awareness that energy has been stirred.

Initial experience =

Initiation During reiju students may experience themselves as being One

with the universe; that the universe is them and they are the universe.

Or perhaps there is a complete sense of profound inner peace. This type

of student experience is not unusual during reiju and is usually

temporary rather than permanent. It can be labelled as an initial

experience. This initial experience is a reference point for students'

inner Reiki work. It offers students insight into where solid practise

with the elements of Reiki can lead them. It is the metaphysical carrot

dangling in front of the human donkey.

The

words 'initial' and 'initiation' both come from the same Latin word

meaning 'beginning'. For this reason it is possible to see how the word

reiju may be translated into English as initiation. With the student

being able to recall the fleeting experience from reiju at any time,

there is produced an initial place to begin; a place where students can

formulate their current understandings and discover a path to follow.

The

Magic of Reiju Reiju is not a magical trick; it requires a clear depth

of understanding and inner work. If it had simply been a trick, Usui

would have performed his magic left, right and centre and not have had

from his 2000 Shoden (Level I) students just 70 Okuden (Level II)

students and approximately 20 Shinpiden (Level III) students, as is

stated on his memorial stone. He would have 'zapped' them all and many

besides that. If by performing reiju a student were to become magically

enlightened, have an energy centre 'opened', or 'receive' a specific

level of Reiki (these are just some of the claims made about the modern

day attunement), why is it that the Usui Reiki Ryôhô Gakkai performs

reiju at every single meeting between student and teacher? It is

because magic is not the answer, but rather the commitment to personal

practise from both the student and the teacher. In

a recently published Japanese book on Eguchi Toshihiro's life (Eguchi

was a well known healer, and a student and friend of Usui) called

Tenohira-ga Byoki-o Naosu (Cure Your Illness with Your Palms), it

relates that Eguchi performed a type of reiju called kosho michibiki.

It quotes Eguchi as saying that everyone can do hands-on healing once

it is opened up. The way to open it is to do gasshô and meditate and

then someone with a stronger power connects with you. This is a good

description of reiju. That 'stronger power' is the teacher who has

practiced the techniques and meditations and reiju for an extended

period, knowing how to connect strongly with the energy and others.

When this teacher steps into the energy field of a student with the

intent to become One with that student, then a spiritual blessing can

take place. The

Ritual It is believed that Usui Mikao would sit opposite a student,

create an energetic space and reiju would transpire. There was no

physical ritual involved. Usui was likely able to do this due to a life

that had centred intently on continual spiritual development. Eguchi

was also known to work in this way. Professor J. Rabinovitch writes of

her teacher, " Miss Endo [a student of Eguchi] (then aged around 97 in

1994) ... initiated me without my knowing it, just by putting my hands

under hers (I had no idea what for at the time) for a longish period of

time and then telling me just to 'keep practicing', saying my hands

were very good. " A

reiju with physical movement was used by some of Usui's teacher

students. This method is a direct descendant of the reiju that is

taught today. It is unsure whether Usui actually taught the physical

ritual for reiju or if the students themselves introduced it in an

effort to replicate their energetic experience with Usui. According

to Tendai practitioners there is a strong link between the execution of

the practice called go shimbô and the physical ritual of reiju. Go

shimbô is practised in Mikkyô (esoteric Tendai) and is known as 'Dharma

for Protecting the Body'. During

this physical reiju, the student sits in meditation while the teacher

performs a specific pattern of movement around him or her. As with the

non-physical reiju no symbols and mantras are used and the reiju does

not 'attune' the student to the symbols as is sometimes believed in the

West. There are also no differences in reiju for various levels as has

developed with Western attunements. This is because each reiju supports

the student in clearing stagnant energy and deepening the understanding

of energetic work. Therefore, the more often one receives reiju the

deeper one can go into the system of Reiki. It is the student's ability to expereince more energy that creates perceived differences, not the reiju itself.

Using

a physical ritual helped Usui's teacher students to be able to recreate

the energetic space that Usui manifested. Often a physical link can

help us to find our way and enable us to focus our intent clearly. It

does not take away the requirement that one works on oneself - in fact

it is an encouragement toward that constant goal. Ritual is structure,

and structure gives us something to hold on to when we feel we do not

have the ability to perform the task alone. After many years of solid

personal work, when confidence has grown and the ritual and its

energetic practice become second nature there is another step the

teacher must take - removal of the ritual. Letting

Go It is easy to fall in love with a ritual or the idea of ritual and

to let it rule the entire process. Inability to work without ritual is

pure attachment and attachment distracts us from inner work. It is

wrong to invest reiju with more 'power' than it actually contains. By

holding onto the physicality of reiju complete Oneness may never occur

as the ritual may eventually come to stand between the teacher and this

attainment.

When

one begins to consciously remove ritual from one's life, this action

resonates through all aspects of existence; opening doors unseen and

previously unheard of. But to do so prematurely is to jump off the

train before arriving at the station; the teacher will be left

confused, unsure and with no where to go. The Spiritual Blessing During reiju you receive nothing. Reiju

offers students and teachers the opportunity to awaken to what already

exists deep within. It is developing qualities that are already

present; uncovering them - not creating them. The

Spiritual Blessing of reiju is in fact You. You are the force of

nature, the beauty of innocence and the wisdom of ages. It is your

responsibility alone to not only know that but to be that. Through the originality of the system of Reiki, all is possible.

Glossary

Dôjô - Place of practise Eguchi Toshihiro - Well known hands-on healer

from the early 1900s who was a friend of Usui Mikao and a student Kosho

Michibiki - 'Illuminating Guidance', a form of reiju used by Eguchi

Reiki - Spiritual Energy Reiki, the system of - The system created by

Usui Mikao that utilises Reiki Sensei - Teacher Tendai - Japanese form

of Buddhism Ueshiba Morihei - The founder of aikidô who lived at the

time Usui Mikao Usui Mikao - Founder of the system of Reiki Usui Reiki

Ryôhô Gakkai - Usui Spiritual Energy Healing Method Society, which

claims Usui Mikao as its first president and still exists in Japan today

About the Author

Reiki

Master/Teachers Frans and Bronwen Stiene are authors of The Reiki

Sourcebook and founders of the International House of Reiki and the

podcast The Reiki Show. Visit http://www.reiki.net.au 

 

 

 

 

Privacy Policy

 Legal Disclaimer

Contact HolisticWebworks.com

Suggestion Box

About Us

Site Map

Copyright @2009 HolisticWebWorks