We live in a culture that constantly pulls our attention outward. Notifications, noise, urgency, overstimulation — many people move through daily life without ever fully settling into themselves. Over time, this can create a feeling of internal distance. It’s not necessarily a dramatic disconnection, but a subtle one. A feeling…
One of the strange things about Mount Kurama is that almost nothing on the mountain mentions Reiki. People arrive expecting otherwise. After all, this is the mountain associated with Mikao Usui’s retreat in 1922. Reiki practitioners come from all over the world imagining there will be giant monuments, museums, sacred…
There is a quiet problem in modern Reiki practice. Most people learn techniques. They learn hand positions, symbols, and ways of treating others. But the foundation of the system is often unclear. Practice becomes inconsistent. Understanding remains partial. Over time, many practitioners feel that something is missing, even if they…
Most Reiki practitioners have never trained the way Usui intended. They place their hands. They learn techniques. They may even teach. But the disciplined structure that shaped perception, conduct, and stability in early Reiki training is largely absent from modern practice. In Usui’s system, training was not built around a…
As Koshin Reiki began to take form and the website came together, it became clear that something essential was missing. It wasn’t a logo or branding. What was needed was a seal, a hanko to represent Koshin no Michi, the path of Koshin Reiki. At the same time, I knew I…
A New Book A new book has been published today: Koshin Reiki: A Complete System of Reiki Practice & Training. This text presents the system of Reiki as it was taught to me by my teacher, John Harvey Gray, and as it has been practiced and carried forward within this lineage.…
Clarifying a Common Misunderstanding in Reiki Practice In recent years, some Reiki writers have suggested that the essence of Reiki practice is to “forget the self,” discard all thoughts, and realize that there is no practitioner, no patient, and nothing to give or receive during treatment. According to this interpretation,…
Most Reiki practitioners have never been taught Reiki meditation. Even students who have practiced Reiki for years often encounter meditation only as relaxation, visualization, or something optional to do before or after hands-on treatment. Historically, this was not the case. In the earliest structure of Reiki training, meditation was one…
Most Reiki practitioners spend years studying techniques, hand positions, and symbols. What many never encounter is the one document in which Mikao Usui explained Reiki in his own words. That document is called Kokai Denju Setsumei. It is the only written teaching left by Usui. While Reiki training was transmitted…
Most of us assume time moves like a river, the past flowing behind us and the future approaching. But if we examine our own experience carefully, we see something different. When you regret the past, you are not entering the past. You are activating memory. When you worry about the…
Most of us assume time moves like a river, the past flowing behind us and the future approaching. But if we examine our own experience carefully, we see something different. When you regret the past, you are not entering the past. You are activating memory. When you worry about the…
In Usui Sensei’s, Shinshin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryoho — “Usui Reiki Healing Method for the Improvement of Mind and Body”( I心身改善臼井靈氣療法) — there are practices that feel like they cut straight to the heart of what this work is really about. Reiji-ho is one of them. The name itself (霊示法)…
In Reiki, self-treatment is not optional. It is foundational. Within Koshin Reiki as transmitted by Brian Brunius, Reiki is consistently taught not merely as a hands-on healing method, but as a Way—a lived spiritual practice. Reiki is something we do, something we walk, something that gradually shapes our consciousness. And…
Over the years, I’ve noticed a quiet shift in how people arrive at Reiki. In the beginning, students want clarity. They want to know what is happening, whether they are doing it correctly, and how to make it work better. Questions are natural, and they have their place. Explanations help…
Why I Am Naming This Lineage Now Reiki has always evolved through human hands. It was shaped by the people who practiced it, the cultures that received it, and the lineages that carried it across oceans. When I chose to name the Koshin Reiki Style, I did so to honor…
Most Reiki students learn a simple tale: Mikao Usui fasted on Kurama mountain, received a revelation, and a healing system was born in a flash of light. But the real history, the one revealed through the work of Reiki historian Justin B. Stein, PhD, is far more interesting. It’s more…
On October 19th, 2025, at the sacred Okunoin on Mount Kurama in Kyoto, Japan — the heart of Reiki’s spiritual heritage — I had the deep honor of initiating Brian Battjer of New York City as a Reiki Master in the Usui System of Natural Healing, Usui Shiki Ryoho. This…
The Reiki Precepts are not commandments, but tools for training the mind to return to the present moment. Spoken morning and evening, they help us pause, breathe, and respond with awareness instead of habit. Over time, they become part of our nervous system and our way of being. I’ve found…
NYC Reiki Center offers a traditional, lineage-rooted approach to Reiki training spanning Level 1, Level 2, and the advanced Reiki Master Practitioner (RMP) Program all taught by Brian Brunius. Below is an in-depth guide to each level and how we honor the Usui Shiki Ryoho lineage passed down through Hawayo…
Honoring a New Wave of Healers On Tuesday, July 29, 2025 at 5:30 pm, we gathered at Hotel Hugo’s Bar Hugo Rooftop in SoHo to celebrate the Class of 2025 Certified Reiki Practitioners. It was a hot summer day with bright, sunny skies — the perfect backdrop for a rooftop ceremony with sweeping city views. Guests…
A Transformative Beginning In 1993, Brian Brunius experienced a profound, near-death spiritual encounter in a hospital, which led to both physical healing and a clairvoyant sensitivity to the energy fields of illness. Inspired, he walked into a Reiki class a few months later and embarked on his lifelong path in…
If you practice Reiki or have ever wondered what Mikao Usui actually taught to his early students, we have exciting news for you. For decades, very little was known about Usui-sensei’s original methods and philosophy. Original source material was either lost or inaccessible in hard-to-understand pre-war Japanese texts. But now,…
When I was a Reiki Master Candidate apprenticing under Reiki Master Elaine Abrams, she always encouraged me to attend Reiki gatherings. At these events and conferences, we generate a powerful field of energy that transforms not only ourselves but also the environment around us. Anyone who steps into this space…
Distance Reiki, also known as enkaku chiryō hō in Japanese, is a powerful alternative to in-person Reiki sessions. Ideal for individuals who are home-bound, hospitalized, or geographically distant, distance Reiki offers the same healing benefits as traditional sessions, allowing you to receive energy healing from the comfort of your home,…
Wisdom Shared: The Interview In our recent conversation with Patricia—interviewed by Brian Brunius, her fellow student of John Harvey Gray—she shares deeply moving reflections, including: Her personal experience studying with John Harvey Gray The changes she’s seen in Reiki over the decades How she approaches healing at this stage of…
Each time I entered Elaine Abrams’ Reiki studio, I felt transported into a magical world. Her space exuded a healing energy, smelled of the sage she smudged with to clear the energy of clients and students, and felt both unusually calm and also powerfully charged at the same time with…
August 3, 2024, after six months of training and practice, eight new Certified Reiki Practitioners graduated and were awarded certificates by Brian Brunius and Reiki Centers of America. The Certified Reiki Practitioner training program is for those students who feel called to open a professional Reiki practice. During the program,…
Distance Reiki, also known in English as “the absent treatment” and in Japanese as enkaku chiryô hô, is a wonderful alternative to in-person Reiki sessions. It’s perfect for people who are home-bound, hospitalized or geographically remote. Distance Reiki offers the same powerful healing benefits as in-person treatments, and can be…
My experience with Reiki started in 1994 when I was walking through Union Square Park in New York City and was stopped by an old man dressed in a heavy cardigan sweater on a hot day. He said he recognized something in me, and that it was important I come…
Usui Shiki Ryoho Lineage Bearer and Grandmaster Johannes was born in Austria in 1977. At 17 he learned first degree Reiki and felt what many of us feel: “I am home.” He continued to practice and a year later took second degree. A few years later he got in…
On November 25, 2023, Brian Brunius initiated Amilyo Escobar of New Jersey as a Reiki Master in the system of Usui Shiki Ryoho after completing a 2.5 year Reiki Master apprenticeship. Amilyo attended The US Air Force Security Forces Academy, and holds a BS in Managerial Finance from New Jersey…
On November 18, 2023, I initiated Sonia Elena Ramos as a Reiki Master in the Usui System of Natural Healing, Usui Shiki Ryoho. Sonia, a mental health counselor, is an exceptional teacher, having spent a decade teaching in New York City schools. She first learned Reiki in 2015, and spent…
Have you learned Reiki and want to deepen your skills while exchanging Reiki with others? Organize a Reiki Circle! Here are a few things to consider when hosting a Reiki Circle: Participants Create a list of people to invite. You can invite those you met in class or participants from…
The American Cancer Society family center in NYC is ready for Reiki volunteers again. The ACS Hope Lodge Network provides free, home-like accommodations and activities for cancer patients and their caregivers who have to travel for treatment. Volunteers have the wonderful opportunity to be part of a nurturing community through…
Students have been telling me for a few years that I should be on TikTok. Maybe you’re one of those students who offered to help me get started. Now in my mid-50s, I thought I was outside the demographic, so I demurred. Still, I had to take a peek, and…
Reiki has brought me many gifts over the years since I completed my first degree class in December 2012. One of the most important is my meditation practice and lineage. In April of 2022, I finished a two and half year meditation program with The 3 Doors Academy. It is…
On May 22, 2022, I initiated Simon John Light of New York City and Puglia, Italy as a Reiki Master in the Usui System of natural Healing, Usui Shiki Ryoho. Simon, who was already a trained and licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist, excelled during his Reiki Master training. He has…
On May 22, 2022, Brian Brunius initiated Racquel Borromeo of New York City as a Reiki Master in the system of Usui Shiki Ryoho. Racquel, or Racqui as her friends call her, is a gifted Reiki practitioner and an excellent Reiki teacher. She has established her own private practice in…
Dear Reiki Community, In my first degree Reiki class almost 30 years ago, my teacher John Gray showed the students his most treasured possession, a copy of the “Grey Book” published in 1982 after Hawayo Takata died. It was given to the 22 Reiki Masters she initiated, and to no…
The Reiki II Masterclass is a big deal in the preparation to become a Reiki Instructor. It is the last, definitive, in-person test before receiving the final initiations of the third level of Reiki. After this, there only remains to write up the Master Project which is like the thesis…
There is a certain treatment that comes from Takata sensei herself that works so well it would draw huge crowds if only more people knew about it. Hawayo Takata was a Reiki Master who worked with clients daily for more than forty years. She learned to give Reiki treatments before…
I was in the grocery store last week waiting in line to pay. A woman in the line next to me started talking to me and asked me what I did. This happens pretty often, and I usually respond to people, “I do Reiki.” The woman immediately replied that she…
Those of you who have studied Reiki with me know that I absolutely love telling the stories of the Reiki Masters in our lineage. My teacher, John Harvey Gray, passed down a rich trove of stories in the form of giant reel-to-reel audio tapes he recorded of Hawayo Takata teaching…
I’ve received a number of questions recently about Usui Shiki Ryoho, the system of Reiki I teach. People have asked what it is exactly, how it differs from other forms of Reiki, and how to choose a Reiki teacher. In the world today there are a dizzying array of practices…
Many prospective students ask why our first degree Reiki class at NYC Reiki Center is so long – 16 Hours, over 2 days. Why spend a weekend in our Midtown Manhattan office when there are 1-hour Reiki workshops and online Reiki training elsewhere? We can’t answer that for you, but…
Last week I received an email from our Japanese to English translator, Dylan Luers Toda, that made my heart skip a beat. He wrote that he completed the translation of chapter 2 ahead of schedule and had attached it to his email. His translation of chapter 1 was amazing, and…
A Century of Reiki with Dr. Justin Stein A five-part Zoom series following Reiki’s journey from Japanese therapy to global practice. We were so pleased to host this groundbreaking 5-hour Webinar series with renowned Reiki scholar Justin Stein, PhD., who covered the history of Reiki from Usui’s time through…
Today on my 50th birthday I signed the contract for an academic English language translation of the 1933 Reiki book by Kaiji Tomita. Tomita was a student of Reiki founder Mikao Usui, and as such, this book offers perhaps the best chance at understanding some of what Usui was teaching…
Last week, we bid our final farewells to Usui Shiki Ryoho Grandmaster Phyllis Lei Furumoto in Kapa’a, Kauai, Hawaii. Reiki Masters and practitioners, as well as members of Phyllis’ and her widow Joyce Winough’s families, traveled from all corners of the globe – Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Austria,…
I say in every first degree class, “Reiki flows through the lineage.” Literally, I connect to the energy of Reiki through the teachers who came before me. I accomplish this by teaching and initiating my students precisely as I was taught by my teachers, and as I teach all of…
From May 6th to 14th, 2019, 15 Reiki students participated in a pilgrimage to the sites in Japan that hold historical and spiritual importance for all Reiki practitioners. Led by Christopher Tellez of the SF Reiki Center and historian Dr. Justin Stein, and accompanied by tour guide & translator Yoshie Hara,…
Edited from a transcript of a tape recording of Mrs. Hawayo Takata. The recording was made in 1979 when Takata was 78 years old. Mrs. Hawayo Takata asked her teacher, “Dr. Hayashi, will you permit and consent that I have one class free for all the people that have helped…
This past weekend, the NYC Reiki Center launched our first Certified Reiki Practitioner training program for second-degree students seriously considering establishing a Reiki business, and for those seeking guidance and mentoring in their professional practice. I’m excited to see these students develop into highest-standard Reiki professionals and find their own…
A Pilgrimage to Japan for SF Reiki Center & NYC Reiki Center Students – May 6-14, 2019. We’ll start in Kyoto on May 6th to connect to the spirit of Japan, spend time on and around Mt. Kurama with time & space to exchange Reiki, take a tour of Usui…
On Friday, November 2, 2018, Phyllis Furumoto, Grandmaster and Lineage Bearer of Usui Shiki Ryoho, spoke to members of John Harvey Gray’s lineage at an event sponsored by Brian Brunius and Reiki Centers of America. The three-day event was something I’d long anticipated, but Friday, devoted to the “Initiating Lineage”…
On October 31, 2018, Clara Diebold of Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed her 2-year Reiki Master Apprenticeship. Clara is the founder of Reiki Boston, holds a Masters degree in counseling, and is also a certified practitioner of Eden Energy Medicine. She studied and practiced Reiki for years with John Harvey Gray and Lourdes…
Phyllis Lei Furumoto, Grandmaster of Usui Shiki Ryoho, and successor to Hawayo Takata, will visit New York City for three days in the fall of 2018. Each day of Phyllis’ visit is designed so that different audiences have time to interact with her and to meet each other. Friday, November…
Many students have asked how to do Reiki on someone sitting in a chair. Brian Brunius demonstrates this great technique for delivering Reiki to a seated person when you do not have a massage table for your treatment. Using this method you will not strain your back, as so often…
Book Overview: We are all Healers, by Sally Hammond The following passages, excerpted from Sally Hammond’s classic 1974 book (Ballantine Books, New York) about spiritual healing, We are all Healers, document a brief encounter she had with Mrs. Hawayo Takata at a conference on spiritual healing in 1971. The excerpt…
In this video, the practitioner walks us through how she approaches dogs and cats with Reiki.
Amazing healing sessions between humans and a resident wolf with a neurological disorder. One of many interactions at Earthfire Institute that deepens our understanding and connection with wildlife. For more information, visit www.earthfireinstitute.org
On January 25, 2016, five years after opening the San Francisco Reiki Center, and more than two years after beginning his full-time Reiki Master Apprenticeship, Christopher Tellez received the final Master initiation from Brian Brunius and received his Reiki Master Certificate.
REIKI AND THE POWER OF ORAL TRADITION with Grand Master Phyllis Lei Furumoto Saturday, July 25,2015 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. San Francisco LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER 1800 MARKET STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA WORKSHOP FEE: $100 REGISTRATION: http://www.sfreikicenter.com/events
On Saturday, January 31st, 2015, Christopher Tellez of the San Francisco Reiki Center hosted a one-day conference featuring Phyllis Lei Furumoto, the Grandmaster of Usui Shiki Ryoho, the traditional practice of Reiki brought to America by her grandmother, Hawayo Takata. More than fifty Reiki practitioners and masters attended the event.…
This song was presented by Ellen Montague to the Reiki community at the 2014 NW Reiki Gathering at the Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon. This recording was made of the entire gathering singing the song while Ellen Montague led us. Ellen Montague of Salem, Oregon is a Reiki master, massage…
I was recently reading Brigitte Müller and Horst H. Günther’s 1995 “A Complete Book of Reiki Healing.” In it the authors give two recipes they attribute to Hawayo Takata. I have seen similar versions of these recipes in others books, and thought it might be worth repeating them here. As…
