“The technique and methods of Reiki were long forgotten until the early 20th century. Through the efforts of Mikao Usui, Reiki was recovered and developed in Japan, so that other people could be easily trained to heal by touch. By now, at the start of the 21st century, Reiki is one of the most rapidly growing forms of complementary health care.“
John Harvey Gray and Lourdes Gray, Hand To Hand
John Harvey Gray
A graduate of Dartmouth College and a former researcher for Stanford Research Institute, John Harvey Gray’s devotion to Reiki healing had its seeds when he served in the Pacific during WWII, experienced the horrors of war first-hand, and had a remarkable spiritual awakening when he nearly missed death at the Battle of Leyte: “I became convinced that there were energies forces and types of communication that existed that had not yet been explored by Western science and I vowed to devote my life to peaceful means.”
A remarkably healthy and strong 93 year old, John Harvey Gray continued to teach Reiki until his passing into spirit on January 12, 2011.
He was the longest-practicing Reiki Master Teacher in the US, and one of the original twenty-two Reiki Masters trained by Hawayo Takata, the woman who brought Reiki to the West. John Harvey Gray had been a Reiki Master Teacher since 1976, actively teaching and practicing Reiki longer than any other living Reiki teacher in the West.
Over time, John Harvey Gray conducted over 900 hundred Reiki classes and trained over 15,000 Reiki students including nurses, massage therapists, and medical doctors. John had taught Reiki in all but two of the 50 states and is credited with introducing Reiki to the New England region.
Lourdes Gray
A charismatic and gifted Reiki teacher, Dr. Lourdes Gray was initiated by John Harvey Gray as a Reiki Master Teacher in 1996 following extensive one-on-one training by John Harvey Gray in the teachings of Reiki as originally taught by Hawayo Takata. For Dr. Lourdes Gray, the widow of John Harvey Gray, learning from and practicing with John Harvey Gray continued as a twenty-four hour a day experience that lasted for 17 years, until his passing into spirit on January 12, 2011.
Dr. Lourdes Gray has taught over 700 Reiki workshops and trained more than 8,000 Reiki students to date, including numerous doctors, nurses, massage therapists, and bodyworkers, as well as the general public. Since 1996, Dr. Lourdes Gray has served as Director of the John Harvey Gray Center for Reiki Healing.
In John Harvey Gray’s words:
“Even before Lourdes Gray began her Reiki training with me, she had matured into an exceptional teacher and healer. Her innate compassion for all beings and devotion to healing is evident in all that she is and does. Through her own effort and intense study, she has become intimately familiar with and has truly mastered my style of teaching and practicing Reiki. For the past several years, I have been slowly passing more and more of my teaching responsibilities on to Lourdes Gray. Throughout this period of transition, she has held the primary responsibilities for conducting all levels of the Reiki classes.”
In Lourdes’ words:
“If I had to pick three words to define my passions, these would be teaching, learning and being of service. Students tell me that I have a natural gift for teaching, and especially for teaching Reiki. Sharing what I have learned and mastered gives me a great deal of satisfaction. I take special pride in watching my students blossom in their Reiki practice.
Learning is another passion of mine. I am insatiably curious and find great joy in expanding my level of knowledge and expertise in a variety of subject areas. I am especially interested in metaphysics and alternative methods of healing.
But the primary driving force and motivation behind all that I am and do is my desire to be of service; to help people, animals, plants and the Earth itself, to always endeavor to leave things a little bit better than I found them. This has given my life its meaning.
I believe that to be a true Reiki Master, one needs to always strive to be of service; to understand what others are seeking, and ask, ‘How can I best help this being or situation?’
Ultimately, Reiki is about serving and loving unconditionally all that has been created, not only in the practice of Reiki but in all things, during every day of one’s existence. This is what I learned as a child from my parents, and also, hand to hand, from Reiki Masters Usui, Hayashi, Takata and John Harvey Gray.
This is What I seek to pass on to you.”
The Usui-Gray Integrated Reiki System®
The Usui-Gray Integrated Reiki System® was created by John Harvey Gray and Lourdes Gray, evolved over 25 years, and includes six steps.
STEPS 1 & 2
Step 1 – Counselling
It is important to have an initial consultation which is an opportunity to talk and discuss with your client their general health, health history, and specific problems.
Important things to remember:
> Reiki practitioners are not allowed to diagnose nor prescribe, unless their are licensed to do so.
> Listen carefully to what your client has to say.
> Ask about physical problems and emotional difficulties.
> Allow your client to talk about his/her concerns.
> Always obtain permission to touch before starting the hands-on session.
> Tell all your client that they have full control of the session and may end it whenever they wish.
> Avoid intellectualising the session right after you finish. We want the client to leave in a peaceful and restful state.
If your client presents a physical problem, you can ask, “When did the problem first start? What was going on in your life when at that time? What was your attitude toward what was going on?”.
If your client experiences a healing reaction, you need to get your client back with follow-up with two or three more treatments as close together as possible, over the next three days if that can be arranged. If it is not possible to arrange, try to refer your client to another Reiki practitioner.
Step 2 – Scanning
This is a four-step process:
1. Sensitise your hands. Rub the palms of your hands together. Hold both hands in front of you, fingers spread slightly apart, palms facing each other. Slowly move your hands together and then apart several times. Once you feel the energy between your hands (it may feel like a ball of energy), or a sense of heat, or tingling, your hands are sensitised and ready for the scanning of the aura.
2. Feel for general physical vitality by checking the outer edge of the client’s aura. Raise both your hands in the air as high as you can, palms facing down over your client’s chest around the breastbone area. Your thumbs should be about one inch apart. Slowly bring your hands down towards the client until you feel the same sensation you felt while sensitising your hands. This sensations in this position, represents the edge of your client’s aura.
The farther the edge is from the physical body, the stronger is the vitality of your client. The closer it is to the physical body, the weaker the client’s vitality.
3. Scan the chakras. Use your more sensitive hand to scan each of the seven main chakras to determine its strength. Also scan the sub chakras located on the knees and the soles of the feet. When you notice that one chakra is weaker than the others, you may suspect that the band of glands and organs around that chakra may be vulnerable to problems.
Chakras serve as entry points for energy, so if a chakra is weak, it may not be receiving the energy it needs.
Place your hand two or three inches above your client’s body, fingers spread open, palm down. Gently pass them back and forth through the general area of the chakra. Assess the flow of energy through each chakra.
According to John and Lourdes Gray, “the chakras that seem to affect the physical body most are the throat, heart, solar plexus, lower abdominal and root. The brow and crown chakras do not seem to impact physical health as directly, but instead seem to have purposed related to spiritual development.“
4. Look for Zings. Zings is a word John Harvey uses to describe disruptions in the aura, that appear to be a static electric break in the bio-electric field (aura). These seem to be located directly over the area of the body where a problem exists. Zings may feel like weak static electricity shocks.
Oriental medicine teaches us that disease first manifests itself in the energy body before the pathology can be detected.
To find zings, comb your hands through the aura steadily and smoothly, from the head toward the feet.
A zing can represent one of three things:
a. A present problem.
b. A past problem that is healed and left an “energy scar”.
c. A developing problem that has not yet manifested physically.
After the four steps of scanning, you may wish to discuss your perceptions with your client, or to make notes. Then you are ready to proceed with the Reiki treatment.
Related articles
– How Hawayo Takata Taught Reiki Classes: PART 1 – PART 2
– Learn How To Give Reiki To Others
– How To Prepare Before A Reiki Session
– Reiki Distant Healing Techniques
– How To Practice Reiki Self-Healing
– How To Become a Reiki Practitioner
– How Long Does It Take To Become A Reiki Master
Giancarlo is a fully qualified Hypnotherapist and Past Life Regression Therapist. He is a registered with the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council, the Federation of Holistic Therapists, the Spiritual Regression Therapy Association and the General Hypnotherapy Register. Read more.
