The history of Reiki is woven with beauty and honor from the cultural bones of Japan and the spiritual soul of a Tendai Buddhist called Mikao Usui.

Esoteric Tantric Buddism is said to have reached Japan in the early 9th century originally through the teachings of monk Kukai and Saicho who studied  Buddhism in China. Saicho eventually became the founder of what was called Tendai Buddhism in Japan which is the source of Reiki's founders spiritual influence.
Tendai Buddhism in essence is the path towards a state of emptiness; that is a moment where "the unity of the whole has again been restored" as the self is no longer separate from the other.  These non-dualistic principles of oneness and unity are similar in the felt sense of Reiki. In other words what people describe as "healing" is often the only language reachable when in fact what they are feeling is wholeness.

Mikao Usui was born in Taniai Japan on August 15th 1865 and received his primary education through a Tendai Monastery. Many text on Usui display a man who had a deep fascination and love for spiritual knowledge yet not in a way which disconnected him from the contemporary political and academic movements of Japan at that time. He has been portrayed as both a progressive in his attitudes yet also as a highly studied master of spiritual skills and ancient meditation through his research completed from ancient Tibetan texts. The focus of Usui's years of practice were on the healing arts, specifically healing arts which were of benefit to humankind as a whole.

One of the most widely recognized precursors to the formation of Reiki was Usui's intensive meditation on mount Kurama which is reported to have lasted for 21 days. The practice Usui undertook was called Shugyo, a daily, rigorous mind-body practice which takes one towards a sense of inner mastership and infinite wisdom. On his return Usui was said to have tapped into a sensory feeling of the universal life force energy running through him which he noticed was incredibly healing. It was from this experience that Usui studied himself, refined his practice and eventually created a hands on healing method known as Reiki, which draws on universal life force energy and utilities the body as a container and conduit for this force.

The formation of Reiki had a dramatic effect on contemporary understandings of self healing and self mastery and once it reached the shores of Hawaii it did not take long for the western world to embrace it as a modality. The Usui method of Reiki is the traditional form yet today many varieties of Reiki exist which incorporate other methods and systems into the core healing principles. At Spirit Earth Reiki we teach and use traditional Usui techniques handed down through a direct lineage from Dr. Usui with a focus on the belief that true healing is the inclusion of the whole self- forgiveness towards the parts that cause anger and bravery towards the parts that speak your truth.