Reiki - A Simple Explanation
Bud, Lotus. Online discussion of "What is Reiki?" 19 Mar. 1999. alt.healing.reiki. 19 Mar. 1999. <http://www.ibiblio.org/usenet-i/groups-html/alt.healing.reiki.html>

The Traditional Reiki System
Cochran, Marie. Online discussion of "What is Traditional Reiki?". 25 June 2000. alt.healing.reiki. 25 June 2000.
<http://www.ibiblio.org/usenet-i/groups-html/alt.healing.reiki.html>

Things To Remember
Cochran, Marie Online discussion "How does Reiki Work?". 7 Jan. 2001. altlhealing.reiki. 7 Jan. 2001. <http://www.ibiblio.org/usenet-i/groups-html/alt.healing.reiki.html>

Collins, Teresa. Reiki at Hand . Cork, Ireland: Collins Press, 1998.
This is an excellent example of a book written by a person who knows a little bit about many healing modalities, but who is not an expert at any one, making claims that cannot be supported. Collins is a practicing physiotherapist in Ireland and uses this qualification as justification for her claim to be an expert on the teachings and practice of Reiki. One of her most outrageous statements is that in order to practice Reiki one need to be aware of the charkas, how they work and that a practitioner should ‘balance’ the charkas after each treatment. She also presents this book as a total manual for all three levels of Reiki. I find this type of book very frustrating in that it has much information that is useful, but not in any way necessary, nor connected to, the practice of Traditional Usui Reiki. If a new Reiki Practitioner were to read this book they would get very little from it except doubt and confusion as it contradicts most of the teachings of Traditional Usui Reikil.

Furumoto, Phyllis and Paul Mitchell. Usui Reiki Healing. Home page. © 2000. The Reiki Alliance. 1 Dec., 2002. <http://www.usuireiki-ogm.com/what_is_reiki.htmll>

This site comes close to representing Reiki as I teach and practice it. It is the official site of Phyllis Furumoto, the granddaughter of Hawayo Takata, the woman who brought Reiki to the West. Phyllis, along with Paul Michell, established the Reiki Alliance upon the death of Takata, as an overseeing body of Reiki Masters. Furumoto and Mitchell came under intense criticism from other styles of Reiki because of their attempt at trademarking the term ‘Reiki’. Their intent was to establish clarity over what was, and what wasn’t, Reiki, as taught by the person who brought it to the West, Hawayo Takata. They were unsuccessful in their attempt as Reiki by that time was declared by the courts of several countries to have become a generic term for energy healing. While I am not a member of the Reiki Alliance, I do agree with what they were trying to accomplish and feel that there needs to be clarity when one uses the name Reiki to describe energy healing. This site is logically laid out and very easy to navigate. This site is an excellent representation of what Traditional Usui Reiki is.



Haberly, Helen J. Reiki: Hawayo Takata’s Story . Olney, MD: Archedigm, 1997.
In 1980 Helen Haberly was asked by Hawayo Takata to write her life story. The book is written as a story, not a history or biography. Helen spent many hours, days and months with Takata, listening to her tell stories as she taught others Reiki of how Reiki came into her life and of the miracles she had been a part of. Hawayo Takata passed on before the book was finished and so many of the chapters are retelling of stories told to others by Takata. This book is an important resource for understanding the basic teachings and the form and practice of Traditional Usui Reiki because it is a simple retelling of Takata’s own stories she used in teaching Reiki to others.

Rand, William Lee. The International Center for Reiki Training . 1 Nov., 1995. The International Center for Reiki Training. 29, Nov., 2002.< http://www.reiki.org>
One of the most visited sites regarding Reiki is William Rand’s site, http://www.reiki.org. This site has had over 1,419,467 visitors, according to their estimation, since it first went up on November 1, 1995. The site contains over 350 Web pages and over 150 Reiki articles. There is also streaming audio comments on various pages. It is a pretty sophisticated site. William Rand is great at marketing his product. He is thought by many to be the voice of American Reiki due to the fact that he has this huge website and has published many books on Reiki. He has also owns the copyright to the name Karuna Reiki, and yet rarely uses it when referring to what he teaches. He clearly wants visitors to think his style of Reiki is the one and only Reiki. Rand uses the site to market his products and classes on every page and to further cement his authority as to what Reiki is and isn’t. I find this website distressing because of the fact that he is presenting himself as an authority of Reiki and yet will not share his lineage (his teachers names) nor allow authentication of any of the artifacts in his possession that he claims were owned by Usui, founder of Reiki.