Reiki and Cultural Appropriation
My previous post about cultural appropriation and spiritual practices has been getting a lot of hits recently, especially in regards to search terms related to cultural appropriation and Reiki.
As a result, I wanted to expand upon what I wrote with a particular focus on cultural appropriation within the practice of Reiki.
While Reiki is not a closed practice, there is a great deal of cultural erasure and white supremacy that has had a harmful, disrespectful, and colonizing impact upon Reiki and its roots, and the harms need to be acknowledged and rectified through knowledge and action.
(Note: a closed practice is one for which there are boundaries that state the practices can only be practiced by people who are descendants of a cultural heritage; examples include traditions such as Santeria, Vodou, Kabbalah, and Shamanism and practices such as smudging. Some, but not all, closed practices also make space for people from different cultural heritages to be initiated into them.)
At the onset, I want to make a specific point of elevating the work and words of Japanese Reiki teachers. If you are a person with an interest in Reiki whose cultural and ancestral background is not Japanese, I implore you to first read and reflect on these books and articles:
Reiki and Japan: A Cultural View of Western and Japanese Reiki by Masaki Nishina
Marika Hamahata-Sato Clymer 濱 佐 畑 藤’s work:
Listen to interviews with Marika on the May 18, 2021 episode of The Twelfth House, Episode 153 of Inciting a Riot, and Episode 210 of Living Open.
Support her work and learn from her on her Patreon, The HARA Circle.
Read her summary about the history of Reiki, including the frequency with which the culture, history, and traditions of Reiki have been erased as it has become more popular within America.
An interview with Hiroki Keaveney on Episode 39 of The Embody Podcast
Reiki: Hawayo Takara’s Story by Helen J. Haberly, an in-depth exploration of the life of Sensei Hawayo Takata.
For those who don’t know, Sensei Hawayo Takata (b. 1900, d. 1980) was integral in bringing Reiki trainings to the United States; she was a student of Chujiro Hayashi, who was one of the students of Mikao Usui, who is credited as being the first teacher of Reiki.
(Note: Reiki Ryoho, Reikan Tonetsu Ryoho, Senshinryu Reiki Ryoho, and Seido Reishojutsu are all approaches to Reiki energy that pre-date Roshi Mikao Usui’s formalization of Usui Reiki Ryoho.)
(Note: Reiki, 霊気, is translated in a variety of ways, some more literal than others. Translations that are frequently given are universal energy, invisible/unseen energy, healing power energy, and universal life force; most troubling are the multiple Reiki manuals in the English language that do not provide a translation for Reiki at all.)
Left: Roshi Mikao Usui. Center: Sensei Chujiro Hayashi. Right: Sensei Hawayo Takata.
As is true for almost every aspect of American history, Sensei Takata’s ability to bring Reiki into the United States was impacted by white supremacy. She trained under the guidance of Sensei Hayashi in Tokyo from 1935-1937 before returning to her birthplace of Hawaii. Sensei Hayashi visited her there from 1937-1938; toward the end of his time in Hawaii, he authorized Sensei Takata to teach Reiki through the granting of her Reiki Master certificate.
Of course, it wasn’t long after that before the United States, under Executive Order 9066, began incarcerating Japanese individuals within concentration camps in California, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas; these are typically referred to as “internment camps,” but such a euphemism downplays the reality of what was happening.
It was in this context that Sensei Takata was attempting to share the wisdom and practice of Reiki with her American students: it is therefore not surprising that much of the Japanese culture, history, and traditions from which the practice of Reiki arose were minimized in order to make the teachings more palatable to the wealthy, usually white students who could afford to attend her classes.
Put succinctly, the racism, xenophobia, and anti-Japanese bigotry that came to a peak during WWII laid the foundation for the whitewashed and appropriated version of Reiki that is so, so common today.
The result is that it is imperative for non-Japanese folks who practice Reiki, receive Reiki treatments, and/or study Reiki to have a deep and intentional understanding of the culture, traditions, and history of Reiki: to do otherwise is to be complicit in the ways that white supremacy has impacted the teaching and practice of Reiki in the West and to take part in the erasure of the Japanese roots of this powerful healing practice.
Here are a few things that are important for Reiki practitioners and people who are seeking Reiki treatments to know:
Reiki has its spiritual roots in Mahayana Buddhism and Shugendō, a religion that is indigenous to Japan that incorporates practices of Shintoism and Buddhism.
Given the frequency with which religions that are indigenous to Asia are fetishized within the United States and Europe, it is essential that Reiki practitioners educate themselves about Shintoism, Shugendō, and Buddhism. Asian spiritual practices are not an aesthetic, nor are they a parttime hobby: they are sacred, and they are a path one walks throughout one’s existence.
Also: the ways that all too many American Reiki practitioners have completely erased Shugendō, Shintoism, and Buddhism from their practice and teachings about Reiki is not okay; some even replace mentions of them with Christian tenets. The history of this tendency originates in Sensei Takata’s need to survive and to share the practice of Reiki while navigating the profound levels of anti-Japanese sentiment that permeated the United States during her lifetime, and it is the task and responsibility of Reiki practitioners to do all they can to end the ways that white supremacy have shaped the teaching and practice of Reiki within the West.
Is it possible to be a Christian and to have a Reiki practice? Yes, especially since Shugendō, Shintoism, and Buddhism are not contradictory with Christianity.
Is it possible to respectfully practice Reiki while estranging it from Shugendō, Buddhism, and Shintoism? Absolutely not.
Support, elevate, and learn from Japanese Reiki practitioners and teachers.
If you received your Reiki instruction from white practitioners who didn’t have an in-depth understanding of Shugendō, Shintoism, Buddhism, and/or the history and traditions of Reiki, you are not alone. I confess that this was true for me, too, at the start of my path towards becoming a Reiki Master. The degree to which Reiki teaching and practice in the United States has been capitalized on and taken over by white practitioners who do not honor its cultural context is overwhelming in its scope. Here are some things that you can do:
If you have not yet received instruction about Reiki, seek out Japanese Reiki teachers, then enroll in their courses and support their offerings. If there isn’t one locally, seek out those who offer online instruction and support their work; I linked to a few above, but of course that is not an exhaustive list… and please feel invited to share additional names and links of Japanese Reiki Masters in the comments!
If you have already received Reiki instruction and attunements, but have recognized that the instruction you received was lacking in cultural context and reverence for Reiki’s traditions, seek out this information and be rigorous, humble, and intentional as you learn. Consider donating the amount you spent for your Reiki instruction and attunements to a Japanese Reiki teacher and/or paying for a culturally and/or ancestrally Japanese person to attend a Reiki course.
I will once again elevate Marika Hamahata-Sato Clymer 濱 佐 畑 藤’s Patreon, The HARA Circle. They provide incredible information and wisdom about decolonizing Reiki.
If you are a Reiki Master who offers courses and attunements, be aware of the following points:
If you are not culturally and/or ancestrally Japanese, and/or you do not have a sustained Buddhist or Shinto practice that is guided by a teacher within a Japanese lineage, consider whether or not you are indeed qualified to teach Reiki.
If possible, co-teach with someone who is culturally and/or ancestrally Japanese and/or a practitioner of Buddhism or Shinto practice that is guided by a teacher within a Japanese lineage… and make sure that your co-teacher is paid well.
If someone who is culturally and/or ancestrally Japanese desires to take a class with you, recognize that this can be a step for them towards reclaiming a culture and practice that has been stolen from them through the decades of appropriation, discrimination, and the demands of white-supremacist America that immigrants assimilate. It is unethical to charge someone to learn about a cultural tradition that was stolen from them: consider offering your services to them for free and/or connecting them with a Reiki practitioner who is culturally and/or ancestrally Japanese.
Donate a significant portion of all of your proceeds from Reiki treatments, attunements, and services to AAPI-serving organizations and directly to AAPI individuals. This concrete energetic extension of tangible gratitude should not be optional.
Question the aspects of Reiki practice that endorse gatekeeping, particularly in areas where profit and education are involved. Reiki is by definition universal.
Challenge the ways that the practice and tradition of Reiki have been blended together with the practices and traditions of non-Japanese faiths, particularly those faiths that are fetishized and aestheticized by white westerners.
A prime example is discussions of chakras in relation to the practice of Reiki (“chakra” is a Sanskrit word meaning “wheel” or “cycle”). Chakras are a component of the practice, culture, and traditions of Hinduism and denote the “wheels” of energy through which energy moves throughout a living system; some of the earliest known written references to chakras occur within the Hindu Vedas. The understanding of chakras has been simplified, minimized, and erased in its reduction to the seven chakras that most white people in America know about.
Another example is the sacred geometry of crystal grids, which arose from Egyptian Kemetic and Mesopotamian indigenous practices.
Americans, and in particular white Americans, have a tendency to clump the traditions, cultures, and practices of other parts of the world into one undifferentiated file that they label “Other.” Hinduism and Kemetism are sacred religions that are deserving of respect; they are also distinct from the indigenous faiths of Japan. It does a disservice to Hinduism, Kemetism, Shintoism, Buddhism, and Shugendō to reduce them in such a manner.
Recognize that Reiki is not the only form of energy work and energy healing. If you are aware of your ancestral heritage, educate yourself about the mystic practices, healing techniques, and approaches to energy work that existed within your pre-colonization bloodline.
If you are interested in receiving a Reiki healing treatment and/or attending a Reiki class, ask the Reiki provider about their lineage. Ask them about their familiarity with Shintoism and Buddhism. Ask them what steps they take to make reparations for the cultural theft that white Reiki practitioners have been guilty of. If they don’t have an answer to these questions, seek your treatment and instruction from somewhere else.
As I hope is clear, the fact that Reiki is an open practice does not mean that it is a cultural blank slate that can be adapted to one’s own whims and familiarities. Cultural appropriation of Reiki is real, it is frequent, and it is harmful.
But it is not inevitable. Decolonization of Reiki is possible, and it begins with your commitment to unlearn colonized understandings of this sacred practice.
(Written by Lore McSpadden-Walker, they/them)
