Voices of Reiki · Oral History

John Harvey Gray in Watertown, Massachusetts, 1988–1993

John Small remembers studying with John Gray and working beside him at the weekly Reiki Wellness Center.

By Brian Brunius · NYC Reiki Center

I first heard from John Small after he posted photographs of his old Reiki certificates in a Facebook group. One of them was the little business-card-sized certificate John Gray gave his students. I recognized it immediately because I have those cards too.

When John came to New York to teach, he carried a narrow white box in his briefcase. For a long time, I assumed it held business cards. Then one day I watched him open it and begin filling out First Degree certificates. Using the class list, he wrote each student’s name, dated the card, and signed it. His classes were large, often forty or fifty students, and this was a simple way to make a certificate everyone could keep in a wallet.

Seeing John Small’s cards stopped me. Here was someone who had studied with John before I knew him and had carefully saved the evidence. I wrote to him, introduced myself, and after a short exchange asked if he would let me interview him.

John Small’s First Degree wallet certificate, dated February 14, 1988, signed by John Harvey Gray. — John Small’s wallet-sized First and Second Degree certificates, dated February 14 and May 8, 1988, and signed by John Harvey Gray. Courtesy of John Small. Click either image to enlarge.

John Small’s Second Degree wallet certificate, dated May 8, 1988, signed by John Harvey Gray. — John Small’s wallet-sized First and Second Degree certificates, dated February 14 and May 8, 1988, and signed by John Harvey Gray. Courtesy of John Small. Click either image to enlarge.

The Years Before I Met John

I met John Gray in 1993, just after he moved from Watertown, Massachusetts, to New Hampshire. John Small knew him during the five years immediately before that. He took First Degree with John in February 1988 at the Interface Holistic Education Center and began volunteering at John’s Tuesday-night Reiki Wellness Center almost immediately.

Small continued volunteering every week until 1993, when John moved to New Hampshire and the Tuesday-night gatherings came to an end. That was the same year I met John. John Small’s five years with him ended just as my own time with him was beginning.

John Small on Mount Moosilauke, New Hampshire, in August 1991, photographed by Mary Small. — John Small on Mount Moosilauke, New Hampshire, in August 1991, photographed by Mary Small during his years as a volunteer practitioner at John Gray’s Reiki Wellness Center. Courtesy of John Small.

“Tonight Is a Night for Dreams”

John Small’s First Degree class took place over Valentine’s Day weekend in 1988. At the end of Saturday’s class, the room was still dim following an initiation and the February sky was growing dark outside. John told the students, “Tonight is a night for dreams.”

“And although I don’t remember any details,” Small told us thirty-eight years later, “he was right about that.”

I knew what he meant. On Sunday morning, the second day of every First Degree class I attended with John, he asked us about our dreams. People described strange or unusually vivid dreams after the first day’s initiations. For a few minutes we talked about them, and sometimes John offered an interpretation. Until I spoke with John Small, I had not known John was doing the same thing five years before I met him.

Three months later, Small took Second Degree in John’s Watertown home. John gave the students two Second Degree initiations, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. He later initiated me in the same way, and students in John Gray’s lineage continue that practice today.

John Small’s larger Second Degree certificate, dated May 8, 1988, signed by John Harvey Gray. — John Small’s larger Second Degree certificate, dated May 8, 1988, and signed by John Harvey Gray. Courtesy of John Small. Click the image to enlarge.

Tuesday Nights at Interface

The Reiki Wellness Center met in an ordinary classroom. Practitioners carried in folding utility tables and covered them with foam pads, bedsheets, and pillows. Music played on a boombox. Before the clients arrived, John gathered the practitioners into a circle. Then the doors opened and the treatments began.

John moved among the tables, sometimes joining a treatment and sometimes watching. He might quietly suggest another hand position or tell someone it was time to move on. By returning every Tuesday for five years, Small was able to practice under his teacher’s eye in a way that no weekend class could provide.

Eventually, John trusted Small enough to send him to one of his own housebound clients when he could not make the visit himself. Small still becomes emotional when he tells that story. After all these years, John’s trust continues to mean a great deal to him.

“You Are on the Path”

On June 25, 1989, John ordained Small in the Church of the Loving Servant at a gathering attended by Phyllis Lei Furumoto. Small remembers John anointing his palms and forehead with water to which the group had given Reiki. Partway through the ceremony, John’s eyes filled with tears and his voice caught.

John Small’s ordination letter. — John Small’s ordination documents from the Church of the Loving Servant, dated June 25, 1989. The ministerial credential could help an ordained minister arrange a pastoral hospital visit outside normal visiting hours. Small never used it for that purpose. Courtesy of John Small.

John Small’s ordination certificate. — John Small’s ordination documents from the Church of the Loving Servant, dated June 25, 1989. The ministerial credential could help an ordained minister arrange a pastoral hospital visit outside normal visiting hours. Small never used it for that purpose. Courtesy of John Small.

Less than a month later, Furumoto wrote to Small about his interest in becoming a Reiki Master. In the letter she described her Self-Assessment Workshops, which formed part of the discernment process for those considering Mastership. She ended with the words, “You are on the path. My love and support, Phyllis.”

Small recently found the original two-page letter and its envelope and has given permission for them to be published and preserved in the archives.

Front of the envelope accompanying Phyllis Lei Furumoto’s 1989 letter to John Small. — The original envelope, shown front and back, and both pages of Phyllis Lei Furumoto’s handwritten letter to John Small, dated July 22, 1989. Courtesy of John Small. Click any image to enlarge.

Back of the envelope accompanying Phyllis Lei Furumoto’s 1989 letter to John Small. — The original envelope, shown front and back, and both pages of Phyllis Lei Furumoto’s handwritten letter to John Small, dated July 22, 1989. Courtesy of John Small. Click any image to enlarge.

Hands Like Clouds

More than anything else, Small remembers John’s gentleness. He remembers a quiet man with a dry sense of humor who taught that Reiki did not come from our personal energy. We made ourselves available and allowed the energy—what Hawayo Takata called “God power”—to pass through us.

Small described John’s hands as warm and soft, “like clouds.” His touch was so light that his hands seemed almost not to be there, although the Reiki was unmistakable.

John Small remembers a part of John Gray’s life I never witnessed. His account gives us a rare firsthand picture of John teaching, treating clients, supervising students, and quietly building a Reiki community in Watertown during the years from 1988 to 1993.

Voices of Reiki

Watch the Interview

Our conversation includes much more: John’s classes and initiations, chakra scanning and the opening and closing spirals, the Tuesday-night Wellness Center, Small’s ordination, his thoughts about Reiki Mastership, and the spiritual path his life eventually followed.

Watch the complete interview with John Small below.

This article is based on Brian Brunius and Ahn Thatcher’s 2026 interview with John Small and on certificates, ordination documents, correspondence, photographs, and written recollections preserved by Small.