Update on Reiki by Yuko

Thank you so much to everyone who reached out to this Reiki Blog, The Life with Reiki in Japan.

This blog has been inactive for some time. 

Please check out my new blog to learn more about Reiki and Japan!

http://www.reikibyyuko.com/blog/index.htm

Reiki courses and healing sessions are available in Tokyo, Japan. http://www.reikibyyuko.com/

Remote Reiki treatments are also available from anywhere in the world.

http://www.reikibyyuko.com/reiki.htm

Follow me on Instagram! @reikibyyuko

Looking forward to connecting with you!

Cherry blossom and Japanese

The first day of April is a starting point for Japanese people. It's the beginning of the fiscal and school year, and new employee's first day at work.
The beauty and liveliness of the cherry blossom is like celebrating the end of a harsh winter and encouraging a time of renewal.

Rainy day trip to Jindai-ji

Rainy day trip to Jindai-ji (深大寺）, a temple surrounded by many water springs and enshrined water gods. Naturally, wasabi and soba is its main attraction with many soba shops welcoming visitors, very high quality I must say. Calming day indeed.

Happy New Year from Japan!!!

Happy New Year everyone! May this year bring us hope, joy and beautiful memories.

The national holiday extends through the first 3 days of the new year in Japan.
When I initially worked for a U.S. company in New York City, I discovered that this was not an international standard. Thanks to my intuition to confirm, I asked the company on the last working day of the year when I should begin working for the the new year, to my biggest surprise, I found out that I had to be in on the 2nd!  Otherwise, I would have taken 3 days off without giving it a thought. 

If you are planning to travel to Japan, maybe you should avoid the new year time as many places are closed for the holiday. But if it's in a big city like Tokyo, you can still find a lot of places open.

The energy is very peaceful and quiet during the holiday. You will probably find how people's mind affect in our environment.  So if you want to experience quiet meditative mind  in Japan, the first 3 days of the new year is the best time.

Traditionally Japanese people eat "Osechi" and "Ozoni"
How they cook it is different depending on the prefecture and the family.
This is my mother's Osechi and Ozoni.

Japanese people usually visit shrine to make wishes for the year.

Even in a small local shrine, you will find a long line formed for making the first visit of the year.

But it doesn't mean Japanese people are religious or spiritual. They are mostly superstitious.

You can read my blog post 

Why Japanese don't know about Reiki even though it's originated in Japan?for more information about spirituality in Japan.

New Year's Eve in Japan

Oomisoka(大晦日)、New Year’s Eve is one of the most important days in Japan.

Oosoji(大掃除)、big cleaning is to be done before Oomisoka to remove clutter from the year and clean the home. On the process of Oosoji, we get rid of all the negativities we have gotten in the year and prepare ourselves to welcome a new year in the spirit of new beginning.

Eating Toshikoshi-Soba(年越そば), year-passing buckwheat noodle around midnight of Oomishoka is one end of the year custom. Several reasons are told why Japanese people eat Toshikoshi-Soba. The noodle is long and thin, so it signifies living longer.. Also the noodle is easy to cut. It symbolizes the ability to cut off the negativity of the year.

At the midnight of New Year ’s Eve, monks in temples throughout Japan start to strike their big bells. It is called Jyoya-no-Kane(除夜の鐘).

The bells are rung 108 times. It is said that 108 is the number of  worldly passions and desires causing us suffer. Joya no Kane is believed to have the power to purify the people’s mind and welcome the New Year with a refreshed feeling.

Sakutan Touji (朔旦冬至)

In Japan, December 22nd is called “Touji (冬至)”. It is the day of winter solstice when solar energy becomes the weakest as it has the shortest daylight and the longest night of the year.

Historically Touji was considered as the beginning of a new year as the day time is getting longer and longer after the day.
It is the time to move forward from darkness to light.

Today is also the new moon which is the first phase of the moon.

It is called Sakutan Touji (朔旦冬至) when the new moon and Touji coincidentally meet on the same day. It is very rare as it occurs every 19 years.

Sakutan Touji is the day both sun and moon rebirth.

Please take a moment to meditate and let your thoughts fill with hope, joy, peace and happiness for the coming season of light and transmit the positive vibration to the world!

Traditionally Japanese people eat pumpkin and take "Yuzu-yu(柚子湯)", a bath with a lot of whole Yuzu (a kind of Japanese aromatic citrus) on the day of Touji. It is said it will help you to stay in good health without catching a cold during the winter. 

If you are in Japan, you can find Yuzu in any supermarkets. Also you will find Yuzu-yu in your local Sento (銭湯), a public bath on Touji day.

P.S. Even Capybaras love Yuzu-yu in Japan!

http://news.mynavi.jp/news/2014/12/17/141/

How I got into Reiki - 3

One day I was rambling around in cyberspace.
I found a Japanese woman living in my new neighborhood.
She had just started her Reiki healing space and offering one hour Reiki treatment for only $20.

I still didn’t know what Reiki was but I thought it was a good opportunity for me to experience something new. 

I made an appointment with her and she gave me her address.
I found she was only several blocks away on the same street I lived.

On the day I visited her but still didn’t know anything about Reiki. 

She apologized in advance that a delivery person may come to drop off a package which she 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 quite understand what “Reiki to the future” meant though.) And 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.
As I wrote in “Why Japanese don't know about Reiki even though it's originated in Japan.”, the majority of Japanese people are quite skeptical of energy or spirituality now, something you can’t see or touch; things that have not been scientifically proved yet. I was one of the typical Japanese who didn't concern such things. But my first Reiki experience was just enough to make me believe everything 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.
We looked at each other astonished.

Everything was so perfect for me.
I decided to study Reiki with her.