Usui Reiki began in Japan in the early 1900s with Mikao Usui, a spiritual seeker born in 1865. After many years studying healing, meditation, and spiritual traditions, he undertook a period of deep fasting and contemplation on Mount Kurama in 1922. There, he experienced a profound spiritual awakening and felt a healing energy flow through him.

From this experience, he developed a simple method for sharing this energy with others, calling it Reiki, meaning “universal life energy.” Usui began teaching and offering treatments in Japan, and his students continued to share the practice after his death in 1926. Over time, Reiki travelled across the world and became the widely practised healing system known today as Usui Reiki.

🌍 The Ancient Roots of Energy Healing

Although Reiki itself is relatively modern, the idea of healing through subtle energy is ancient. Many early cultures worked with life‑force energy long before Reiki was formalised — from Indigenous traditions to the healing systems of Egypt, India, China, Africa, and the Americas. In various forms, energy healing has likely existed for as long as humans have sought connection, balance, and wellbeing.

In this way, Reiki can be seen as a contemporary expression of a timeless human understanding: that life is animated by an unseen energy, and that this energy can support healing, harmony, and inner peace.