Although Reiki is an ancient healing art I vaguely knew of the word Reiki beyond the knowledge of it being an eastern healing system before 1993. Today more and more people are discovering what Reiki is and how they can use its simple applications in their daily lives. My hope is that someday Reiki will become as commonly known as Band-Aids and Mercurochrome for treating hurts in all households.

Surfing the net looking for Reiki sites is how I often spent my evenings after our family first became connected to the Internet in 1995. Back then, there seemed to be quite a bit of information even then, but nothing compared to now. These past years I have seen Reiki websites pop up on the net like wildfire. Reiki is growing, growing, growing...

Reiki is an ancient hands-on technique of healing.

Explaining Reiki to someone is like describing the wind. It is very experiential.

Discussing and sharing the history of Usui Reiki was one of my homework assignments in my training sessions of becoming an Traditional Usui Reiki Master in 1997. Beverley Voss, my instructor and Reiki Master laid out about twenty or so Reiki books on her coffee table for our class to review and study. I picked through the assortment of titles and selected a couple of them to borrow for my home studies. Essential Reiki, A Complete Guide to an Ancient Healing Art by Diane Stein was one of the two. The other was a small blue book entitled Reiki - Hawayo Takata's Story written by Helen J. Haberly. I wonder what I would have thought while reading these two texts if I had known then that in a few short years I would be the author of a book about Reiki? My book The Everything Reiki Book: Channel Your Positive Energy to Reduce Stress, Promote Healing, and Enhance Your Quality of Life is scheduled for publication in March 2004 - What a wonderful ride it has been for me--this Reiki journey of mine!

I recall one of the first references I found about Reiki was an article published at Reiki.org by William Rand about how Jesus may have been a Reiki Master. I was glad to find that article to share with my mother because she had voiced concern about my interest in Reiki, she was worried it might be unchristian. Reiki is not a religion, although it is often confused with religion because of its spiritual components--The Reiki Principles were added to its teachings by its founder, Mikao Usui, when he realized that the body could not be fully healed unless the spiritual or soul of the person being treated was also addressed.