The Office of Grand Master
Office of the Grand Master Newsletter

In This Issue
Tradition in a Changing World
A Dream Came True
Japan - the Art of Service
Community Resource
 

Calendar of Events

2016 Events

January 11-13 
Reiki Second Degree Class 
Mesa, AZ USA 
Organizer: Beverley Nugent 
To register:   click here  
 
January 14-17 
Reiki First Degree Class 
Mesa, AZ USA 
Organizer: Beverley Nugent 
To register:   click here  
 
February 2-10
 
Responding with Compassion
2nd Week 
Phyllis Furumoto 
Casa Azul Tepoztlan Mexico 
Organizer: Phyllis Furumoto

February 11-14 
Succession Weekend 
Paul Mitchell, Ben Haggard, Phyllis Furumoto 
Casa Azul Tepoztlan Mexico 
Organizer: Phyllis Lei Furumoto
To Register click here

February 17-21
The Universe Is Conspiring for Our Good
Paul Mitchell and Laurence Fontaine
Cuernavaca, Mexico
Organizer: Laurence Fontaine 

February 22-28 
First & Second Degree Classes 
Phyllis Furumoto 
El Paso TX USA 
Organizer: Alma Altamirano
To Register:  

February 26-28 
A Walk Through the Four Aspects and Nine Elements 
Paul Mitchell 
Casa Azul Tepoztlan Mexico 
Organizer: Elizabeth Warnholtz

March 17-20 
Tradition Keepers of Usui Shiki Ryoho
Paul Mitchell & Phyllis Furumoto
Shalom Prayer Center           Mt. Angel, OR 
Organizer: Elaine Andres
To Register click here.

March 28-April 3       
The Way to Harmony
Paul Mitchell
Wettenbostel Germany
Organizer: Irene Gelmi 

April 4-10
 
Tradition Keepers of Usui Shiki Ryoho  
Paul Mitchell and Phyllis Furumoto 
The Netherlands 
Organizer: Boudewijn Luterink
To register:   click here

April 12-21 
Responding with Compassion 2nd Week 
Phyllis Furumoto 
Den Haag Netherlands 
Organizer: Phyllis Lei Furumoto

April 17  
30 Years of Reiki in Belgium Gathering
Phyllis Furumoto attending
Kattebroek Brussels Belgium 
Registration: Gerda Meeusen
 c lick here 
 
April 22-24
Walking into the Future with Reiki

Phyllis Furumoto
Bygmaken Denmark 
Organizer: Anny Petersen
To register: click here

May 17-22
 
Reiki -- Spirit, Creativity and Purpose
Frank Coppetiers, Kathy Melcher, Phyllis Furumoto
Orval Belgium
Organizer:  Luc
To register: click here

May 22-29 
Reiki Alliance Conference
Hof Pegasus North Germany
Organizers: Conference Team

June 1-5 
Usui Masters' Intensive III (New Offering)
Paul Mithcell and Phyllis Furumoto
Moscow Russia
Organizers: Natasha Litvinova and Olga Samugolova
To Register click here.

June 10-12 
Student Gathering
Paul Mitchell and Phyllis Furumoto
Ershovo Conference Center
Moscow Russia
Organizer: Irina Kenarskaya
To Register:  click here

June 14-19 
Reunion of Masters Initiated or Mentored by Phyllis Furumoto
Kaluga Russia
Organizers: Luba Ivanova and Valodia Ivanov
To register:  click here

June 24-26 
Masters' Day and Weekend Gathering
Phyllis Furumoto
Wroclaw Poland
Organizer: Wieslawa Wozniak
To Register:  
click here  

Why We Share People
Who Are Community Resources

Over the years, Paul and Phyllis have had the pleasure of working and being with people who are contributing to the well being of Reiki students and to the extraordinary path of Reiki that we have chosen.

Each one we introduce to you has taken it upon themselves to study and develop a special skill or an art that can be a gift to our community.    
 
Perhaps you will find in one of them a Resource for your own life too. 
Community Resources
Join Our List
December 2015
Hello! 

We are so happy to be able to send another newsletter out this year!  Our commitment to you and to ourselves is to have 4 newsletters a year.

Now we are reviewing our mailing list and want to be able to send you the events that are pertinent to you. Soon we will be sending out a survey.  Please assist us in breaking up our big mailing list into smaller ones so you will not have all the mailings come to you but only those pertaining to you.  

We are happy to be home from our travels now and look forward to a peaceful and tranquil Holiday Season with family and friends.

Phyllis Furumoto and Paul Mitchell

Tradition in a Changing World
Paul Mitchell
When I learned Reiki, and especially when I became a Reiki Master, I somehow understood that I was not the au thor   of this system and therefore did not have the authority to change the practice. My responsibility was to carry the practice I received into the future for those who would come after me. Did I consciously and unconsciously make some changes in my teaching and practice? Yes. Did others? Yes. Did I later reflect on and do my best to undo these changes and come back to what I received? Yes. Did others? Some yes, some no.
 
When we explore the meaning of the word Tradition and the motivation for and value of Tradition, this is what I find. The Latin derivation is from trans (across) + dare (to give). So tradition is a transmission from generation to generation. I believe the basic motivation for generational transmission is the urge, drive, and desire for one generation to pass on the essential gems of experience that elucidate and provide a life of meaning, context, high purpose and evolution. These will hopefully ensure success for the next generation. If you ask any grandparent or parent what they hope for their children, it will begin with survival and safety and move to happiness, fulfillment, and a meaningful life.

I have come to understand my calling as a master to include the aspect of Tradition Keeper. The heart of Tradition Keeper is recognizing and valuing what we have received. It is having faith that preserving and honoring the practice can take us reliably and consistently to a place that is profoundly worth going. We have trust and confidence in our Reiki practice to lead us to our nature's perfection. By dedicated practice, we have the opportunity, over time, to realize and expand into its undiscovered depth

Usui Shiki Ryoho has come into my life as a gift, a previously undiscovered gem. What is my responsibility beyond myself for future generations? Is Tradition Keeper an aspect of being a student or master? If so, how do I reconcile this with the cultural mandate of individual freedom of expression, and "following my truth?" This is a conundrum worth exploring and living into with great sensitivity and attention. Phyllis and I feel called to this exploration and we hope you do too. As with all the important questions of our time, we need one another.

A Dream Came True - Being Japanese
Phyllis Furumoto
Path not taken At last a dream has come true for me.  This dream started in 1998 when Shinobu Saito said to me "They just need to know Mikao Usui as a Japanese man."   This was said in response to a conversation regarding the controversy over the history of Reiki.  I then started to read about the history of Japan at the time of Mikao Usui's life.  I began to discover the fundamental beliefs of Shinto and the way Buddhism was integrated with Shinto to form the culture of the Japanese people.  I was fascinated by the political changes at this time as Japan was moving from a feudal society to an industrialized nation during the lifetime of Usui Sensei.
 
In 2008, I went to Japan with Shinobu and a group of masters who wished to test out my theory that a specific tour would give Reiki students a sense of this time in Japan and the strong Japanese cultural threads that wove through the practice of Reiki.  

Then I found I had breast cancer and several years went by before I was strong enough to plan the tours again. 
 
Bamboo with fall Maple trees Japan When the time came, I sought the assistance of a professional tour agency based in Kyoto, Windows to Japan.  I was guided to this company by another Reiki connection and it was a successful partnership. The head of the company has deep knowledge of the temples and shrines in the Kyoto area and recommended some that I did not know about.  Between my experience from 2008 and his recommendations, the tour itinerary formed.  And the anticipation for everyone built as the time grew closer for the flight to Japan!
 
For 7 weeks, I lived in Kyoto and went to many of the temples, gardens, and selected sites with 4 separate tour groups.  Did I become bored?  No.....what did happen is that each time I visited a temple or garden or the Imperial Palace, the understanding of the connections and the gratitude for this culture grew and grew.  This was my culture.  The culture of my ancestors.... blood lines and Reiki lines.  
 
The practice of Reiki does not need an in depth understanding of Japanese history or the experience of a Zen dojo or the sight of the luminous paintings of the Kano School.  The Energy of Reiki teaches us what we need to learn as individuals for our development and healing.  We grow into a conscious and insightful way of being.

However, if given a chance, there is a certain fundamental assurance that comes with the actual experience of this strong and vibrant culture.  This has come through my experience living for a short time within a culture that assumes the divinity of everything and everyone, that serves out of gratitude and respect, and that treasures the soul's joy when being surrounded by natural beauty.
 
In Memorial Japan Spirituality is not something that is special but is a constant awareness with daily rituals confirming the spirit of nature, of ancestors, and of the self.  There is a sense of the path towards being enlightened....not in the way of being removed from daily life but a sense of being able to take in all sensory input while remaining calm and peaceful.   
 
Reiki brings us to places and situations that take us back to old patterning, to old ways of being in order to choose a different way.  

Every exchange with people there allowed the new way to become more familiar and more a part of me.  Since my return, I have been integrating this new way and look forward to my next visit with great anticipation. 

Japan - the Art of Service
Johannes Reindl
 
Little did I know about Japan when I went on our pilgrimage in October to Kyoto and Kuramayama. My Reiki practice and Aikido experiences were the only connection I had with Japan.

Little expectations, a lot of curiosity and gratitude were in my luggage as I flew to Japan. And the gifts I received were overwhelming, touching and changed me profoundly.

Child Buddha Like a thread through the whole journey in Japan, was how Japanese people hold and practice the art of service. Monks and nuns, priests in the Shinto shrines, waiters in the restaurants, the hosts in the hotels, the conductor in the train, the shop assistants, they all (so it seemed to me) hold the same quality and essence of serving.

The art of serving, is fully expressed in the bow. To serve and to bow is one. From a very deep bow, bowing while sitting seiza, to a simple light bow seems to come from the same source. Like the bamboo bows in the wind, they bow in gratitude, gratitude is the source.

The art of serving is reflected in how they hold space and create rooms. Clarity, simplicity and silence (silence more than the absence of noise) supports one to come to ones own center, to settle inside and become quiet.

Sacred water Japan It felt as if they are firstly holding the art of serving for themselves, then for their guests, clients, students and then for the world.

As I never had been to Japan before, for no moment I felt like a stranger. Is this maybe because in practicing Reiki we also touch this source of gratitude which leads us to serve out from this source? Maybe that is a reason why I immediately felt at home in Japan and never felt like a foreigner.

Featured Community Resource
Ben Haggard
Ben Haggard 
 
Ben is a consultant, artist, teacher, and author living in Santa Fe, NM.  For 35 years, he has dedicated himself to helping people use land and community design to create more harmonious relationships among humans and ecosystems. 
 
He co-founded the Regenesis Group 20 years ago, for the purpose of engaging in a deep inquiry about how people think, and how this affects the world they are able to create.  Through the use of living systems framework, the members of Regenesis have worked on major community development projects throughout North and South America, and around the world.  Ben is currently focusing much of his time on training students in North America and Mexico in the application of the work pioneered by Regenesis to community planning.

Through his long time friendship with Phyllis Furumoto, Ben began working with the Reiki Foundation International and its stakeholder community about five years ago.  The purpose was to help this community become more effective at working together in order to take on the ambitious projects it was beginning to envision for itself.  Through this work, he hopes that Reiki as a global community can make significant contributions to the large scale social and ecological changes that are needed at this time.
 
Now Ben is offering his Resource Development Seminars to the Reiki Community in the Netherlands and in Oregon. This is a 4-weekend commitment over a period of 12 months.  For more information please use these links:  
Netherlands:   click here
Oregon:  click here

We trust that you have enjoyed this newsletter and would love it if you would forward it to your Reiki friends and colleagues. We look forward to the Reiki adventures that are waiting to happen in 2016!  Happy New Year!!!  

Phyllis Furumoto & Paul Mitchell
Office of the Grand Master