The following is an article written by William Bagley, Vision Holder for Tanran Reiki.
About the Tanran System
All the lineages of Reiki start with Usui. A lineage is a succession of teachers who passed on their learning to another person who in turn taught someone else. Some lineages have stayed close to the training system which Hayashi created.
Hayashi was one of the first successors of Usui. He systematized the more experimental and informal approach which Usui had used. Some lineages have changed the teaching approach to accommodate a growth in understanding.
The Tanran system is one approach which has continued to evolve. It may be the only Reiki lineage which has one symbol for each of the seven chakras, though I suspect other lineages are or will be inspired to receive new symbols as we evolve as a planet and come to new growth needs.
All the Reiki Iineages are good to the degree they allow people to really turn on to the living feeling of the energy and to the degree they promote genuine love in the world.
The energy only works within permission
Reiki energy is universal loving energy. The nature of love is to be non-violent. It is an absolute respect for every sentient being and a complete trust that each of us will find our own path to peace and truth.
This means that, while divine love wishes to instantly heal us of all illness or limitation, we are only healed to the degree we allow ourselves to be changed by the energy.
Some of the reasons we do not always give complete permission to be healed have to do with our fear/control issues, not wanting to move out of our comfort zone by changing too fast, feeling unworthy to be totally healed, resistance to fully feeling our emotions, and still wanting to learn something through our pain before letting it go.
When resistances to healing are encountered, the Reiki approach is to honour where the person is and continue to send loving energy to them.
We let each person work out their own healing process in their own time and in their own way. This is not a helpless and passive stance, but a positive confidence in the strength of their own innate divinity.
We do not try to take over their healing process, but simply support where the person is with acceptance and compassion. They are still responsible for their own process. We just make a sacred energy available to them.
The energy goes where it is needed
Exact placement of the hands on specific meridian points or chakra locations is not necessary in Reiki. This is because the energy will simply use our contact with the person and simply go to where it is needed.
It is possible to do a whole session just having your hands gently cradling the head (or any other part of the body for that matter, the feet is another favourite, the heart area or belly area are two other places where one can start) and letting the energy run from there to the rest of the body. However, since the energy always takes the path of least resistance, we will eventually be inspired to do hand placements which support the easiest route for the energy to reach certain places.
The energy is completely nonjudgemental
When we are giving Reiki energy to others, we do not have to analyse their condition, diagnose their illness, and prescribe any treatment in a real sense, Reiki Practitioners do the opposite of this.
They relax their minds and let go of any assumptions they have about what should or should not be done. They even let go of the concept that the receiver even has an illness.
Medical science sometimes makes us believe that because we can consistently label a set of symptoms and prescribe treatments for what we have labelled that we somehow “know” what the illness is. Yet every illness is an energy pattern which changes from moment to moment.
This means that an illness is really a mystery which arises from many ever changing causes and conditions.
Reiki Practitioners choose to work with illness on this level. Their knowingness about the illness is not from a medical concept, but from being lovingly present with the actual energy pattern in the moment.
The energy pattern is not conceptualised and struggled with. It is loved and allowed to complete its dance.
The energy is silent
A Reiki session can be done in complete silence. While some Reiki Practitioners sometimes use vowel chanting and even some affirmations when doing their work, a spirit of silence pervades the atmosphere of a Reiki session.
Reiki works on a level below the surface mind which is usually constantly thinking about everything, worrying, and deciding what to do. The receiver just relaxes and lets the energy take them to a level below their imagined problems where peace has always been. If they are skilled in the work, they can deepen their relaxation through breathing, being receptive, and being present.
In our very mental culture, it is good to know this level of healing is available. It is good to know that we do not have to take in our lives on the level of seeing problems and constantly figuring out solutions. We can sink into a place where we are loved and let our problems be dissolved.
While talk therapies definitely have their place, it is good to know that healing can happen quietly and naturally without “causing something to happen” through some skilful intervention. We do not have to come from a fix it attitude, but can activate our energy connection and support what wants to happen.
How to become a Reiki practitioner
The secret of Reiki is in getting an attunement. This is a ritual where special symbols are given to link one with the universal energies.
After an attunement, a person can visualize or draw the symbols to make contact with the energy and channel it through them. There are practical skills and specific understandings which are taught during a training.
These teachings help us to understand how to cooperate with the energy and facilitate its maximum expression through us. The teachings cover the power of thought intention, breathing, relaxing, trusting, being sensitive, and feeling guided from within.
During the attunement we are linked with a larger energy body which includes each other in peace. While the link does not force us to be peaceful with each other, it gives the choice to be at peace with each other.
We can remain in the loving energy and learn to be a healing force in the world. I feel the expansion of this energy body, through Reiki and other energy traditions, by gently inviting all people to join its peace, may be a wonderful antidote to the sorrows and struggles of the Earth.
Deeper experiences
Although Reiki is profoundly simple to do, it can open up wonderful depths to explore. There is a larger purpose to the energy than merely healing a specific pain.
Many Reiki Practitioners continue to trade sessions with each other, because it opens up new experiences. It continues to evolve them as souls. There is a lot more which could be touched upon to express what Reiki is. There are subtleties to the process which one naturally learns from doing the work for a long time.
Although a person does not need much knowledge of chakras and meridians to do Reiki, the personal experience one gains from sharing Reiki can give one a very large understanding of how the energy body works. The energy itself is a very good teacher.
