Reiki Master Yuko Kubota

My Reiki master Yuko to the left.

As you all know I have been doing Reiki Healing for a couple of years. Reiki is a Japanese healing modality, created by the buddhist monk Mikao Usui around 1922. Rei could be translated to Higher Source / Intelligence and Ki is non-physical energy (like chi) that exists within all living beings. 

Reiki is a non-invasive technique that can heal physical, spiritual, emotional and mind ailments through a higher energy that Reiki healers channelize. Reiki is also a way of living, practicing love, non-resistance and gratitude everyday. The Reiki knowledge can only be passed down from master to student and there are several attunements and practices revolved around Reiki. 

They say that Reiki often comes to you when you most need it. I remember waking up one day, 2014 and thinking to myself: "I need Reiki healing", without knowing what it is, I had just heard the name once before. I immediately called a woman that was a Reiki master and that day I received my first treatment which truly affected me deeply. I came out from the session feeling so different and uplifted, like a whole ton of weight was lifted off of my shoulders.

The week after I was going to Japan with a friend, and I was interested in reading more about Reiki, so I bought a book to bring on the flight. To my surprise I saw that Reiki was actually Japanese! I saw this as a sign and as soon as I arrived I contacted one Reiki master that I had found on Facebook and she became my master and teacher. I have now done Reiki level 2 with her which means that I can give healing both with the person physically present but also distant healing, and healing the past and the present. Yuko Kubota is my Reiki master and it was  true divine synchronicity that we connected and the Reiki practice that she has taught me has been life changing.  We did my first attunement in Japan and then the second one when she came and visited me here in Sweden. 

I wanted to share her story of how she got into Reiki and I highly recommend you visit her if you ever go to Japan or if you live there. Just for a session, and see the impact that Reiki can have on your mind, body and soul. This is Yuko's story with her own words and why she started with Reiki:

"I started my career as a designer in fashion industry Japan. But it didn’t take so long to find out it’s not a place that I could really enjoy. I decided to move to New York City to take a little break and experience something completely new.
New York treated me much nicer than I expected. Everything was exciting and I felt like I could finally breath.

The energy flowing there is very powerful. It could be a lot of excitement, but on the other hand, it could be a lot of stress. At that time, I didn’t know anything about how energy affects us physically and mentally. Without noticing anything, I was getting depressed. Even things that were going well in the beginning didn’t go well after a while. I got into a negative circulation. When I realized something was wrong with me, it was already too late.

Every morning, I woke up in a tiny dark apartment in middle of Manhattan and already felt exhausted, looked at the ceiling and wished I could stay in the bed all day. In the condition, of course I couldn’t be active nor productive and that made me feel guilty.
I hated everybody around me, and I hated myself more than anybody.
I didn’t take therapy or anything because I was too tired that I couldn’t do even net surfing to look for a help.

But for some reason, the word “Reiki” was somewhere in my head. I didn’t know anything about Reiki at that time and I had no idea where I’ve got the word. I think my instinct knew that it was something that could help me, but I never try to find out what it was.
 
The landlord of my apartment building decided not to renew our lease because he had a plan to renovate the building to a fancy condo since it was in a very convenient neighborhood. My lease was going to be expired in one month so I had to look for a new apartment immediately. First, it seemed unfortunate for me in the condition. But, it was one of the best things in my life.
 
My biggest priority for choosing an apartment used to be its rent and location. Other than that, if I had a space to sleep, it was OK for me. I was busy most of time anyway. 
But this time, my inner voice said I shouldn't compromise to find the one I really like.
I somehow followed it quite well. 
I checked more than 10 apartments and finally found a nice one in Brooklyn. 
As soon as I walked in and looked around, I fell in love with the brightness and openness.
The location wasn't as convenient as before, but it had more space, and a lot of sunshine and breeze coming in from the windows. 
It wasn't a “cool” or “fancy” neighborhood but I could feel a lot of positive energy there. 
The park nearby was like a heaven on the earth. Not only it was beautiful, but also the people hanging around there looked very happy. 
 
In the first morning, I naturally woke up before 5am with the sound of birds’ singing and I already felt full of energy inside me. It was my first time that I realized how much the environment; the energy surrounding us affects someone’s body and mind, and the importance of listening to what a gut feeling tells us.
 
I was rambling in a Japanese SNS to see if there were any Japanese communities in the neighborhood and I found a Japanese woman who just started her Reiki healing space and offering one hour Reiki treatment with very reasonable price.
Since I had been having the word “Reiki” in my head but never knew what it was, I thought it was a good opportunity for me to experience something new.
 
I messaged her and made an appointment. She gave me her address and I found that she was only several blocks from me on the same street

On the day, I visited her for the first time but still didn’t know anything about Reiki. 
She apologized me in advance that a delivery person might come to drop off a package which she had missed to receive the day before. She said she sent Reiki to the future in a hope that it would never disturb us. I didn’t understand what “Reiki to the future” meant. She asked me to stay on the massage table in case it happens during the session.

The session was amazing. I felt the energy flowing inside of me.
My first Reiki experience was powerful enough to make me believe anything could happen in this world
I was floating somewhere between awake and asleep, somewhere totally timeless.
She said “OK, the session is done.”
Right after she finished the last word, the doorbell was rung. It was the delivery guy she was expecting.
We looked at each other, astonished.
Everything was so perfect for me.
I decided to study Reiki with her.
 
After I completed all the levels until Master/Teacher level, I came back to Japan and started offering Reiki sessions and classes a little by little.
I had a fortune to meet a great Reiki master who is a member of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (the Usui healing society) and take all the levels again with him so I could deepen my understanding of Reiki.
 
But I didn’t think I could make living just offering Reiki in Japan. Most of Japanese people don’t know about Reiki even though it started in Japan. People are usually very skeptical about energy, healing or spirituality. So I had another job, some boring job for just secure my finance. After living in the U.S. for 10 years, it was very difficult to find a proper job for me in Japan.
 
Even though I didn’t get so many Reiki clients, I’ve never give up and continue my practice, because it was the only thing I could do well and I felt happy about.
 
Several years passed and my father passed away. He died in a lot of pain and fear, while he was tied up in the bed in a hospital. It was very hard to see that for us too. I felt so bad about myself that I couldn’t do anything to save him.
But right after he passed away, I started getting a lot of Reiki clients and students and I became very busy so I could quite another job.
Then weird things started happening. Almost every week, I had some clients telling me something like
“I saw a light here and I feel like it’s something protecting you!”
“I felt like there was another person who was giving me Reiki treatment with you”
“I felt 4 hands on me!”
“During my session, I saw a typical Japanese old my standing there!”
Even though they felt like someone else was in the room, nobody got scared and they say it’s protecting me.
Almost for 1 year after my father died, there were always someone to say something like that. But after 1 year, it stopped.
 
Maybe it was my father helping and supporting me.
It’s funny that he didn’t know anything about Reiki. I had never talk about it to my parents because I thought they didn’t understand. They might think I was crazy.
But after he became free from this physical world, he is so open, he understands everything without explaining, he can go anywhere so easily and enjoy offering Reiki treatment with me.
 
Several years passed and I’m still quite busy with Reiki and I feel so blessed.
People whom I have encountered through Reiki are extremely nice, polite and warm people and I have received a lot of positive energy from them.  Because of these people, I could be more confident and comfortable to be myself that I feel like I can make some positive impacts to the world. I’m so thankful for everybody I met on my Reiki path.
And now it is my ambition to share this powerful energy whenever and however possible to aid and support the individual on a journey to personal health, success and happiness."  - Yuko Kubota
 
If you are interested in learning more about Reiki you can visit Yuko's website in this link. Also, if you visit Tokyo, give Reiki healing a try, it could change your life as it changed mine.

Namasté