Hawayo Takata - Work With Reiki

Work With Reiki

Takata's introduction to Reiki was due to a medical crisis. Soon after her breakdown, one of her sisters died. Takata journeyed to Japan via steamship, with her sister-in-law, for the dual-purpose of informing her parents and also seeking medical care. After visiting her parents, she went to a Tokyo hospital and was diagnosed with several life-threatening conditions including gallstones and a tumor. She was given some weeks to recuperate from emphysema, before being admitted for surgery for appendicitis and her other gastrointestinal problems.

On the operating table, just before the surgery was to begin, Hawayo heard a voice. The voice said, "The operation is not necessary. The operation is not necessary." She had never heard a voice speak to her like this before. She wondered what it meant. The voice repeated the message a third time even louder. She knew she was wide awake and had not imagined the voice. It was so unusual, yet so compelling that she decided to ask the doctor. She got off the operating table, wrapped a sheet around herself and asked to speak to the doctor.

Takata asked the chief surgeon about non-surgical alternatives and was given the address of the clinic run by Chujiro Hayashi, later described by Takata as Reiki's "Grand Master". Under Hayashi's care:

Mrs. Takata received daily treatments and got progressively better. In four months, she was completely healed. Impressed with the results, she wanted to learn Reiki. However, it was explained that Reiki was Japanese and that it was intended to stay in Japan. It could not be taught to an outsider. Mrs. Takata talked to the surgeon at the hospital and convinced him to ask Dr. Hayashi to allow her to learn Reiki. Since Dr. Hayashi wanted to teach Reiki to another woman besides his wife, and since Mrs. Takata was so persistent, he decided that she should be the one. In the Spring of 1936, Mrs. Takata received First Degree Reiki. She worked with Dr. Hayashi for one year and then received Second Degree Reiki.

In 1937, Takata returned to Hawaii in good health to set up what soon became a very successful Reiki practice. Hayashi and his daughter visited her there when Hayashi went on a tour to promote his art. In 1938, Takata became the thirteenth and last Reiki Master initiated by Hayashi.