Jumping from a cliff without a parachute: the real risks of initiation into reiki
The first three articles of this course were about methodological and economic errors in teaching reiki.This article is about something that almost no one talks openly about: the real risks of initiation itself, the loss of tradition, and what happens to a person after the “leap.”
Reiki Ryoho Gakkai: Tradition in Isolation
The organization founded by Mikao Usui in 1922 in Tokyo — Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai — still exists.But its members are not allowed to describe their practices to outsiders in order to “avoid possible misunderstandings.”The organization is closed, non-public, and it is not known for certain what exactly they teach there.
This means one thing:the entire reiki system that exists outside of japan is an offshoot that has lost its direct connection with the original source.When reiki came to the West through Hawayo Takata in the 1930s and 40s, it went through cultural translation, adaptation, and inevitable distortions.What is taught in Russia today under the name “traditional reiki” is at best a reconstruction, at worst a copy of a copy rewritten several times.
Transmission line length and purity: what does this mean in practice?
In Buddhist traditions, a lineage is not a biography of a master, it isguarantee of undistorted practice.The shorter the line, the less distortion.The more verified each step is, the higher the trust.
Let’s look at what is publicly available:
| Master | Transmission line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hyakuten Inamoto(Komyo Reiki Do) | Usui → Hayashi → Yamaguchi Chiyoko → Inamoto | 3 stages, publicly disclosed, verified |
| Frank Arjava Petter | Western branch via Takata;researcher of original Japanese materials Usui | Known as co-author of Usui’s original manual;public figure |
| Olga Nosikova | Received mastery from Frank Arjava Petter;does not publicly disclose the complete chain | Criticizes Olesya Dobrovolskaya and Veronika Krainova: she says that they teach not reiki, but something else |
| Irina Kozlova | Not publicly disclosed | Practicing since 1992;has a code of ethics in the prof.preparation, which is not publicly disclosed until payment |
| Mikhail Rotter | Not revealed in any book | Author of books on Reiki and Qigong |
Important clarification about transmission lines:A number of Russian teachers — Veronika Krainova, Olesya Dobrovolskaya, Ilona, Natalya Vesna — work in branches associated with reconstruction through Suzuki-san and Western heirs.Olga Nosikova’s line is fundamentally different: she received initiation from Frank Arjava Petter.These branches should not be mixed.
Who combines reiki with evidence-based practices
- Olga Nosikova— a psychologist by training, combines reiki with psychology.One of the rare examples in Russia where psychological training and reiki go together.At the same time, she openly criticizes a number of other Russian reiki teachers for departing from tradition.
- Mikhail Rotter— wrote separate books on qigong, considering reiki in the context of the broader Eastern tradition.
- Frank Arjava Petter— German master, one of the first Western researchers of the original Japanese materials of Usui, co-author of the original manual on reiki.
Different initiation schemes: who to believe
One of the main problems with reiki as a tradition is the lack of a standard for initiation.Different masters perform it in fundamentally different ways:
- Irina Kozlova describes4 initiations on the first stage, 1 — on the second, 1 — on the workshop.This is close to what Hawayo Takata described.
- Hyakuten Inamoto (Komyo Reiki Do) usessequence of 4 reiki symbolswithin the Reiju ritual, this is the most verified Japanese form.
- Western “improved” masters carry out initiation according to their own schemes, often without any justification for the changes.
- Online masters — through visualization, without physical contact (which we wrote about in article 3).
None of these options can be verified externally: Reiki Ryoho Gakkai is closed, primary sources in Japanese are difficult to access, and scientific studies comparing different initiation schemes do not exist.This means thata person going to initiation does not know what exactly will be done with him— and has no way to check whether it is safe.
Code of ethics that cannot be verified before payment
A separate problem is the opacity of the standards of the masters themselves.For example, in the professional training program for Reiki masters (a number of Russian teachers) there is a code of ethics.But its contents are not publicly disclosed, either before or during the registration process for the program.To find out exactly what standards a master should follow, what is the correct order of initiation at different levels, is possible onlyby paying money for the program and gaining access to materials.
This creates a classic “buying a pig in a poke” situation:
- Before payment: it is unknown what the standard is and whether the teacher himself complies with it
- After payment: it turns out that the teacher declares one thing and does another — but it is already extremely difficult to return the money
- There is no independent source of information about the correct conduct of initiation.
- There is no way to become a competent master without becoming dependent on a specific school or teacher
This is why people stay within communities of specific masters — not out of loyalty, but out ofstructural dependence: there is no knowledge, no money, no network of contacts to build an independent practice.Leaving such a community requires significant resources that most students do not have.
Initiation is like jumping off a cliff with no guarantee of landing.
This is not a metaphor for the sake of beauty.This is a description of a real phenomenological experience that is rarely spoken about openly.
Before initiation, the body sends an alarm signal.This is not a fantasy or weakness — it is an instinctive reaction of the nervous system to the upcoming change in identity.The body perceives ritual change as a threat to integrity: something familiar will be destroyed, something new will enter without invitation.The body does not trust the person who will carry out the initiation — because it does not know him, has not lived enough time with him, has not checked his reliability.
This is why the state before and immediately after initiation is often described as:
- Acute excitement bordering on panic
- A feeling of being “erased”—as if something important inside is being changed without consent
- Disorientation, blurring of the usual self
- Crying for no apparent reason
- In severe cases — acute dissociative reactions
💡Analogy:Skydiving or jumping from a cliff into water.Before a jump, the body instinctively resists — this is a normal defensive reaction.In sports, this is preceded by lengthy preparation, equipment testing, trust in the instructor, and a well-developed action plan in case of an emergency.A person often “jumps” into reiki after a two-day seminar with an unfamiliar master, having neither preparation nor a plan in case “the parachute does not open.”
What happens after and why recovery is not guaranteed
After initiation, a period of transformation begins, which masters usually call “purification” (21 days onwards).The problem is thatspecific instructions for this period are almost never given.The student is told to “practice daily” — but is not told what to do if:
- An old injury has arisen
- Acute anxiety states have arisen
- A person feels “not himself” for weeks
- Chronic symptoms worsened
- Important relationships have collapsed (this often occurs with sudden changes in identity)
Who is particularly vulnerable: risk groups
Initiation into reiki does not carry an increased risk for everyone — but there are groups of people for whom it is especially contraindicated without careful preparation and reliable support.These are the people most oftenand they comefor reiki — in the hope of finding a way out or relief.
- People in acute financial stress or crisis— job loss, debts, unstable income.Financial anxiety reduces the resource of the nervous system and increases vulnerability to dissociative reactions.At the same time, it is financial pressure that forces one to “hurry” to acquire mastery in order to “start earning money.”
- People with personality disorders— primarily with borderline personality disorder (BPD).The blurred boundaries of the self, the instability of identity, and the intensity of emotions make ritual “change” of identity particularly unpredictable in its consequences.
- People with traumatic experiences— PTSD, CPTSD, experience of physical or emotional abuse.Initiation, especially if carried out through physical contact, can activate the bodily memory of trauma without the master being able to recognize it and react correctly.
- People in acute conflicts with relatives or in situations of divorce/loss— their resource for processing intense experience is minimal.Often reiki is offered as a “solution” to such situations, when in reality it adds another source of intense experience.
- People searching for meaning after losing their religious identity— former members of religious organizations, people in spiritual crisis.For them, reiki can become a new group identity — with all the risks of dependence on “their” master.
None of the Russian reiki schools that practice commercial two-day seminars conduct preliminary screening according to these criteria.A person with BPD and a financial crisis who paid for initiation is a “client” like any other.
Initiation date: astrology, numerology and the absence of rules
There is a belief among reiki practitioners that the initiation date should be chosen based on the natal chart, lunar cycle or numerology.This is an attractive idea — it creates a feeling of control over the process and the “correctness” of the chosen moment.
It is important to admit honestly:There are no strict rules about which astrological or numerological configuration one should or should not receive initiation in.There is no such requirement in Usui’s original texts or documented Japanese practices.This is a Western stratification, which in itself is neither harmful nor beneficial — just unconfirmed.
That being said, the idea of “waiting for the right moment” can be usefulas a moderator: it gives a person time to think, accumulate resources, check the master.But it can also become a tool of manipulation: “your moment is right now, the next window is in a year,” “special retrograde Venus is a special time for dedication.”This is a direct path to pressure of urgency.
Who is considered a psychologist you can trust?
Many Reiki masters recommend “seeing a psychologist” if difficulties arise during or after initiation.This is a good recommendation — but only under one condition: if a person knows how to choose a psychologist who can be trusted.
In Russia, the market for psychological services is practically unregulated.Not everyone who calls themselves a psychologist is one in the professional sense.Minimum criteria to follow:
- Higher professional education in psychology— state diploma (not “retraining courses” as basic education)
- Personal therapy— the specialist has undergone or is undergoing psychotherapy;this is the standard of the professional community
- Supervision— regular work with a more experienced colleague to analyze complex cases
- Retraining and confirmation of qualifications— participation in training programs, conferences, updating knowledge
- Working within the law— does not give medical diagnoses, does not promise to “cure”, maintains confidentiality, works under a contract
- Transparency— openly names his method, education, limitations of his competence
A psychologist who combines therapy with reiki sessions, numerology or constellations — and does not clearly distinguish where one ends and the other begins — does not meet the professional standard, even if he formally has a diploma.
Buddhism in Russia: there are mentors, but access is limited
Reiki came out of the Buddhist tradition — but Buddhism in Russia is in a special position.The 14th Dalai Lama is not allowed to visit Russia and China.His official representative Geshe Jampa Thinley comes to Moscow approximately twice a year.Theravada (the basic school of Buddhism from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar) is practically not represented in an institutional form.
Hyakuten Inamoto’s seminars are held abroad.A trip to them requires not only money for flights and accommodation, but also a passport, a visa, an understanding of the English language — and time, of which a working person has very little.
It means:a person who comes to reiki as a path to Buddhist practice finds himself in a situation of structural isolation from living tradition.There is no mentor to accompany him after initiation in a Buddhist context.There is no community (sangha) that provides a supportive environment.At the same time, it is necessary to combine work, business and practice at the same time — which in itself requires separate time and resource management skills that no one teaches in the context of reiki.
Economic reality: the path to mastery is beyond the reach of most
A person with an income of 40,000–60,000 rubles per month (median income in the regions of Russia), who decides to go from the first stage to teaching reiki, will be faced with the following picture:
| Stage | Price | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Reiki levels 1–4 (training) | 50,000–300,000 RUR | 1–3 years |
| Personal psychotherapy (recommended) | 60,000–120,000 ₽/year | 1–2 years minimum |
| Mastering Qigong/Yoga (live classes) | 30,000–60,000 ₽/year | Constantly |
| Launching a school (website, marketing, platform) | 150,000–350,000 RUR | 3–6 months |
| Technical training (websites, bots, advertising) | 20,000–80,000 RUR | 6–12 months |
| Hyakuten Inamoto Seminar Abroad (trip) | 100,000–200,000 RUR | 1–2 weeks |
| Total | 410,000–1,110,000 RUR | 3–6 years |
With an income of 50,000 ₽/month.After basic living expenses, there is 10,000–15,000 rubles per month of free money left.This creates a situation in which a personcannot become an economically independent master without becoming dependent on a specific school— and it is almost impossible to get out of this dependence without resources.A vicious circle.
What happens in reality:
- Credits and loans— from relatives or at the bank, which creates financial pressure and the need for quick payback
- Gig economy in parallel— taxi driver, courier, tutor — instead of in-depth practice
- Compromise with quality— the cheapest courses, online initiations, refusal of personal psychotherapy
- Getting into the orbit of “monetization mentors”— who offer quick money through aggressive marketing
- Joining a sect— where the financial and organizational burden is relieved through involvement in group dependence
Minimum criteria for secure initiation
- Verified short transmission line— the master knows and publicly names each step from Usui to himself.
- Live contact after initiation— not only during the course, but at least 3-6 months after.
- Pre-screening— the master asks about the mental state, history of injuries, current therapy.In the presence of BPD, PTSD, CPTSD, acute financial crisis, he does not initiate initiation without a specialist’s opinion.
- Public Code of Ethics— not hidden in paid materials, but available before registration and payment.
- Clear instructions for the period after— what to do in acute conditions, who to contact, specific contacts.
- Understanding boundaries— the master says directly: “In case of psychological crises, see a psychotherapist with higher education, personal therapy and supervision.If you have physical symptoms, see a doctor.”
- Realistic price— justified, stated publicly, without pressure of urgency.
Hyakuten Inamoto and the Komyo Reiki Do system meet most of these criteria: a short verified line (Usui → Hayashi → Yamaguchi → Inamoto), a specific initiation scheme through a sequence of 4 symbols, a clear methodology.This is not advertising — it is an example of a standard to strive for.
⚠️If you are invited to initiation, and the master cannot answer the questions from this list, this is a reason to leave.
In the next article: how to choose a reiki master — a specific checklist of 12 questions that should be asked before paying money.
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