Introducing Byosen

Reiki Dharma Newsletter Volume 9, March 14, 2003

Dear friends! Welcome to the ninth Reiki Dharma Newsletter.
Spring seems to be in a hurry this year: Trees and bushes are budding and my whole garden is crawling with life. Rabbits and squirrels as well as the whole bandwidth of German birds are busy with what they do best. The rabbits nibble on every bit of early green they can find, the squirrels dance on the tree- tops and the birds sing and sing and sing.

With every day I am getting more comfortable with living in Germany again; it is amazing to see how I have become a professional foreigner over the years. I had completely lost my sense of home. Now, sitting in my garden in the sunshine, something unknown inside me relaxes, and whispers in my ear: Here, Now...

Reiki is a wonderful tool that helps us bring our attention to the present moment. We live here and now, and no thing else exists. This time I would like to talk to you about tone of the most vital techniques employed in the original Japanese Reiki- Tradition, the Byosen- Technique.

The Byosen Technique

The main skill for a Japanese Reiki practitioner of both the Hayashi and the Usui lineages is the ability to find and treat negatively charged body parts. The word negative is not meant derogatorily. It simply means that this particular body area needs more love and attention... Finding these places we are aided by something that happens in a dis- eased body area that the Japanese call Byosen. The Japanese word byo means sick and sen means gland. It is to be understood as the tension you feel in a diseased body part. This tension can be felt as excess heat, excess cold, a tingle, a magnetic feeling in your hand, pins and needles or something other of this sort. By practicing Reiki you learn to make your hands more and more sensitive to be able to distinguish a healthy body part from one that is not well, tense or ill. To find out what this byosen is, please experiment with the following partner exercise.

Perceiving the Byosen

Sit on a chair or on the floor facing your partner. Now, both of you place one of your hands on your own upper thigh (unless this is a problem area in your body), and the other hand on one of your partners shoulders. Close your eyes and pay attention to the sensation you perceive in both hands. Is there a difference? Do you feel one hand more than the other? Describe the feeling to your partner. After a while, switch hands. What do you feel now? Most likely you will be able to feel the tension in your partnerﾕs shoulders. This feels quite different from the feeling that is prevalent in the hand that is resting upon your own thigh. You can experiment with the same technique by yourself in the same way to get a feeling for the Byosen. Place one hand on one of you upper thighs and the other on one of your shoulder. It is preferreble to do it with a partner though, because in your practice you will be working with others... A good way to find these negatively charged body areas is by scanning either the front or the back of your clientﾕs body. I prefer to treat my clients laying on their backs- it seems more comfortable for most of us.

Scanning the body

As your client to lay down on his back or on his belly, whatever is more comfortable. You can also do this with the client sitting in a chair, if no massage table is available. Begin by placing one or both of your hands above the crown chakra of your client and feel your self into his energy- body. Is one of your hands more sensitive? If yes, use the more sensitive hand for now. After you have practiced with this hand for a while, use your other hand to make it more sensitive. Now run one or both of your hands very slowly down the front or the back of your clientﾕs body. Keep them 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) above your clientﾕs body. What do you feel? Do you perceive a difference in temperature, a magnetic feeling, a tingle in your hand(s)? Every time you notice something of this kind, stop and place your hands upon that body area. Rest your hands upon this area until the sensation (hot, cold, a tingle, a magnetic push or pull, pins and needles) goes away and your hands feel normal again. Keep going until you have scanned the whole body of the client.
If you should feel any pain in your hands, arms or shoulders while treating your client's problem area, donﾕt worry about it. When Reiki energy enters a negatively charged body area this may happen as part of a natural process. Keep your hands there until the pain goes away. If it should become unbearable- which may happen when treating a seriously ill client- take your hands off and shake them out, before placing them on the clients body once more. Dont worry about taking on your clients negative energy: this usually does not happen with Reiki. If it does happen to you, talk to your Reiki- Teacher...I wish you and your clients a lot of fun and great healing results with the Byosen technique.

Book and CD News

My latest book, written in collaboration with Tadao Yamaguchi will be published in German in the end of March under the title Die Reiki- Techniken des Dr. Hayashi. The English edition will follow shortly, titled The Reiki- Techniques of Dr. Hayashi. Besides interesting new material on Dr. Hayashi and his work, the book features an incredible new picture of Dr. Usui, and a couple of new pictures of Dr. Hayashi.
The English edition of the previous book I wrote in collaboration with Walter Lübeck will also be out soon, titled Reiki, best Practice (German: Die schönsten Reiki- Techniken). This book sets new standards: it covers 60 mostly Western- Reiki- Techniques, their use, and their background. Both titles will be available from Lotus Light Publications, Wisconsin as usual.

I am very happy to announce the production of a wonderful new Reiki- CD by Merlin's Magic, titled Reiki, the Space of Peace and Love. This CD was composed especially for the Reiki- Gassho Meditation, the Joshin Kokyuu- Ho breathing exercise and Chiryo (treatments). We have also included the Japanese Reiki- Principles chanted in a very beautiful way. This was done to share the power of this Mantra with all of you and to help you learn it in the original Japanese. I had the great pleasure to be able to work on this production with the composer, Andy Mock, and the result is breath- taking: he has succeeded in making Reiki Energy audible! Thank you for listening to me once more and giving me the chance to talk about what moves my heart, with love and happiness from Germany, your friend Frank Arjava Petter

Copyright © 2003 by Frank Arjava Petter