The Reiki Principles are: 

1. Just for today, I will not be angry. 

2. Just for today, I will not worry. 

3. Just for today, I will do my work honestly. 

4. Just for today, I will be kind to my Neighbour and every living thing.  

5. Just for today, I will give thanks for my many blessings. 

Reiki to some laymen are shrouded with mystery not only because it heals people but healing them even though the patient are physically not with the Reiki master. This distance healing is an advance technique method only able to be used by the very experience and highest level Reiki masters. 

Rei as it is used in Reiki has been interpreted to mean supernatural knowledge or spiritual consciousness. This is the wisdom that comes from God or the Higher Self. This is the God-Consciousness which is all knowing. It understands each person completely. It knows the cause of all problems and difficulties and knows what to do to heal them. 

Ki is interpreted as the Vital Life Force/Universal Life force 

To the Chinese, Ki is actually Chi, Ki is Prana in Sanskrit and Mana in Hawaiian. It has also been called, odicforce, orgone, and bioplasma. 

Ki is the non-physical energy that animates all living things. As long as something is alive, it has life force circulating through it and surrounding it, when it dies, the life force departs. If your life force is low, or if there is a restriction in its flow, you will be more vulnerable to illness. When it is high, and flowing freely, you are less likely to get sick. Life force plays an important role in everything we do. It animates the body and also is the primary energy of our emotions, thoughts and spiritual life. 

Ki is present all around us and can be accumulated and guided by the mind. Ki is used by martial artists in their physical training and mental development . It is used in meditative breathing exercises called Pranayama, and by the shamans of all cultures for divination, psychic awareness, manifestation and healing. Ki is the non physical energy used by all healers. 

So what is Reiki? 

Reiki is: 

• Reiki is spiritually guided and transcendental energy. It works with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels. It correspondent to the 4 elements: Earth/physical, Water/emotional, Air/mental, and Fire/spiritual energies. Reiki is counterclockwise spiraling energy. 
  It is thought to have originated as a Tibetan Buddhist practice that was re-discovered in the late 1800’s by Dr. Mikao Usui, a Japanese Buddhist. 

• Reiki is a powerful natural system that unlocks the inner flow of vital energy. Reiki is an evolutionary process that increases the natural flow of events and patterns of manifestation in life. 

There is the following supernatural story of how Dr Mikao Usui discovered the power of Reiki. 
“ Dr. Mikao Usui was the Principal of a Christian seminar in Kyoto, Japan. One day, some students asked him about the healing methods used by Jesus Christ and whether he would be able to carry out such a healing for them. Usui was stunned and unable to answer these questions. Determined to find the answers, he immediately resigned from his post and started traveling abroad. His journey led him to America, where he attended the University of Chicago and became a doctor of theology. However, he still could not find a satisfactory answer in Christian writing nor in Chinese scripts either. Finally he travelled to North India, where he also studied the holy writings. He still couldn’t find the answers
 
Interesting after he returned to Japan, in a temple he discovered some Sanskrit formulas and symbols in old Buddhist sutras which seemed to hold the answer to his questions.

Realizing that he had found the key to the healing, he proceed to a sacred mountain, Mount Koriyama and commence a 21 day fast and meditation, hoping to gain contact with the level of consciousness the Sanskrit symbols had been written on in order to determine the truth of their contents. He came to a specific spot facing east, and gathered up a pile of 21 stones which would be his calender.  

On the 21st day he saw a flicker of light appear. It began to more very rapidly toward him. It became bigger and bigger and finally hit him in the middle of the forehead. Usui thought he was dead. However, he was alive but had merely lost his consciousness. He was in an euphoric state. There was the millions and millions of rainbow bubbles, and soon became white glowing bubbles each one containing a three-dimensional Sanskrit character in gold and he said, ”Yes, I remember.”

Dr. Mikao Usui left Mount Koriyama knowing how to heal as Buddha and Jesus had healed, walking down the mountain he experienced what is traditionally known as four miracles.

First, he stubbed his toe walking. His palms turned hot and the torn toe was healed.

Next, he reached a home that several travellers at the foot of the mountains, and ordered cold rice and cold tea, a full meal, not wise after twenty-one days fasting on water, but eat it without discomfort.

Third, the girl serving the meal was afficted with toothache and placing his palms on her Jaw, he healed her pain.

Lastly, when he reached the monastery at Kyoto, the abbot was in bed with arthritis, Usui healed the monk. Thus was the birth of Usui system of Reiki.”