Byosen Part One

ReikiDharma Newsletter Volume 24, October 7, 2008

Dear friend!

This time I would like to take up an important issue in the Reiki practice. One of the main questions that you may ask yourself is why and how does healing takes place.

In the words of my teacher, Chiyoko Yamaguchi, illness has to do with the accumulation of toxins in the body. She told us that the body deposits toxic materials in strategic places. Those are the inner organs, the large joints, the head, the area where the lymph nodes and lymphatic ducts ran, as well as the problem area if there is one.

Chiyoko told us that toxic materials are deposited around the inner organs and thus impede the organs natural oscillation process. When the organs cannot oscillate in the way they are meant to, their proper function is inhibited. When they do not work properly they go to sleep or atrophy.

In order to help the body work properly again we energize it by giving it Reiki (Soul Energy). Reiki activates the immune system and then the body is able to eliminate the accumulated substances.

While touching a body part that has accumulated toxic substances you get a certain feedback from the body. This feedback is called Byosen in Japanese, and I would like to let you know how this is perceived and worked with. The following article is the first of a series of three originally written for William Rand’s Reiki News magazine. Part two will be sent to you in a couple of months.

Reiki Ryoho

Usui Sensei, who was blessed with Reiki while preparing for death at Mount Kurama, Kyoto, in March 1926, called what he experienced on the 21st day of his fast:  “The secret art of inviting happiness, the spiritual medicine for all illnesses.”
When he began teaching what he was given in April 1922, he founded an association for his work called the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai. In four years of teaching, he taught 20 teachers. A photograph of these teachers dated January 1926, can be found in Tadao Yamaguchi’s delightful book “ Jikiden Reiki” published by Lotus Press Wisconsin.

One of those fully trained teachers was Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, who, according to one of his many students, Chiyoko Yamaguchi, founded his own Association in 1925, with his Master’s blessings.

Hayashi Sensei, being a licensed physician, taught the same way his teacher did. He taught his art to many students. Two of them that are known to us in the Western Reiki world, are Chiyoko Yamaguchi and Hawayo Takata. The latter brought Reiki from Japan to the USA, thus liberating it from the constraints of a strict traditional and secretive Japanese healing art and spreading it all over the globe. Without her efforts none of us would have learned Reiki…

Yet for reasons unclear, she changed the system considerably. Whether these changes took place deliberately, or for certain reasons we do not know. As far as I can see, she probably forgot some of what she had learned: between learning and teaching the art of Reiki passed about 30 years.

 It is possible that she deleted some of what she learned, because she did not find it suitable for the Western Mind. May be she did not understand the importance of one or the other techniques? And possibly she changed some aspects, because they may not have been in accordance with American law.

The main difference between what later developed as the Western Reiki Tradition, and the original Japanese Reiki Tradition, is the practical way of giving a treatment. What is also different is that in Japan Reiki is traditionally used as a healing art- not for wellness.

Most of us may have learned to follow a systematic system of hand positions in every treatment. This does not exist in Japan. Usui Sensei and Hayashi Sensei gave handbooks to their students that contained certain positions, but this was meant as a guideline for the beginner only. The real thing was something unknown to most Western Reiki practitioners.

According to Mrs. Kimiko Koyama, the previous president of the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai as well as Chiyoko Sensei, both Usui Sensei and Hayashi Sensei followed what is called in Japanese “ Byosen”.

The word Byosen is a Japanese word, but it is Reiki specific. You will neither find it in the dictionary, nor in any other healing art. It is made up of two Chinese characters. The first one is “byo” which means sick, ill or illness and the second one is “sen” which stands for gland, line (as in blood vessel or lymphatic duct) or accumulation. In our case what is meant is accumulation.

 

How Reiki Works

Dr. Hayashi, according to Chiyoko Sensei, often explained how Reiki functions: he said that it detoxifies the body. For this he used a beautiful analogy, which his students called “The muddy stream”. He said that if you look at a stream, it looks clear and beautiful. But if you disturb the water (giving a Reiki treatment) the mud from the bottom comes up to the surface, making all the water appear dirty (healing- crisis, the toxins have entered the body’s liquids). If you then keep cleaning the water of the impurities that have come up (more Reiki), it becomes cleaner and cleaner until the whole stream is reborn… The client has come back to his natural equilibrium once more, as some of the muck sinks down to the bottom again.

The toxicity of the Body

Hayashi Sensei said that the body accumulates toxins because of wrong movement, wrong food, as well as bad physical, emotional and mental habits. These toxins are deposited in certain places in the body, mainly around the large joints, the lymph and the inner organs as well as the head.

If body and mind and the environment they live in work together well, the body will eliminate these toxins. The internal avenues of elimination are the intestinal tract, the liver, the kidneys, the bladder and the bodily liquids. Some toxins are expelled through the sweat glands and, if something along the line is not in perfect order, the body eliminates them through the skin as well.

If, for some reasons, toxins cannot be eliminated, the toxicity increases until the balance in the body tips and health turns into illness. The first step to illness maybe tension… on all levels! If the body is not well taken care of then, the inner organs will become toxic and ...ill.

Someone who has been trained in the art of finding the byosen and in watching its movements can monitor the process I described above. According to Koyama Sensei it takes several years to perfect this skill. When I first read her descriptions in her teaching manual that I was given about ten years ago, I felt suspicious. I thought that I could teach what she described to my students in a weekend. But over the years I realized that I ought to be more humble. The art of Byosen is quite complex as well as amazingly rewarding. Chiyoko Sensei often used to say that you couldn’t treat someone successfully without following the byosen. To give you a taste of it, I would like to describe it below.

What is the byosen?

The byosen is the frequency that is emitted from a tense, injured or ill body part. But that is not all there is to it. It is also the reaction of the body to the incoming Reiki energy. Resulting from that, an experienced practitioner can estimate the time needed for a treatment and the time needed for the recovery of his client.
All the above sounds a little negative, but the good news is that the byosen is not a bad boy: It is a sign of Life. Our body is in a constant movement of finding its natural balance. This balance does not remain forever; it changes moment by moment- and so do we!

 

 

The different processes in the body

The first step is to become aware of all the different processes in the body. You feel the energy flowing through your hand and into your client. You probably feel the pulse of your client. You may be aware of an energetic pulse of the body that you are touching. You may feel the movement of energy in the body you are touching. You feel the temperature, the texture and the density of the body. And, you may feel the byosen. Because of the multitude of the impressions, it is easier to feel the byosen in someone else’s body. Because of that it is easier to begin practicing with another. The easiest way to practice is with a client who is unwell, because the byosen will be strong and tangible.

Levels of Byosen

The byosen has five levels, all of which you probably have experienced in your practice. But you may not have been aware of the fact that there is a system to it. In general the following is universally true. But you may discover your own individual way of experiencing the byosen. Let it teach you.

The first level is:

1. Heat. This heat is above body temperature.
2. Strong heat. This heat makes your palms sweat…
3. Tingling. The tingling can be experienced as pins and needles, as a magnetic feeling, or as your hands falling asleep.
4. Pulsation, cold. The pulsation can be strong or weak, slow or fast. When the place you touch feels cold, it is not the fault of your hands, but a sign of Byosen level 4.
5. Pain in the hand of the practitioner. This pain may be felt in the hand, in the fingers or in the back of the hand. It may move up your hand into the forearm, and may continue all the way up to your shoulder.

 If that happens, don’t worry. Koyama Sensei said that pain happens when positive Reiki Energy flows into a strongly negatively charged body area. All that you need to do is to stay there until it goes away. Change your hands if it becomes too uncomfortable, or take them off for a while.
Then place them on the same spot again. Don’t be afraid to be contaminated by “ bad” energy. Reiki is a one-way street…

The first three levels of byosen are a sign of tension or light toxicity. This is nothing to worry about, but it is time to give plenty of Reiki, if possible, daily treatments until level two or one have been reached.

The movement of the byosen

The byosen does not remain constant, but it moves in cycles. Usually these cycles come and go in intervals of 10- 15 minutes. That means that you must stay in one position for a long time, to be able to detect and watch the byosen.
A foundation treatment is good for general wellness or stress related issues. However, if your client is seriously ill, I suggest working with the byosen. When you place your hands on a body part that is ill, you will feel the byosen in that area. It may come up right away, or may take some time to develop. If the practitioner is experienced, he will feel it instantly. Let's say you feel a byosen #5 right away. It increases and the pain you feel in your hand will move up your arm. When it is most intense, you know that it will soon diminish. So, after the peak comes a valley.
Sometimes the byosen flat lines completely and you feel nothing, or, just the flow of energy. Stay where you are and don’t move to another position. Maybe you will feel nothing at all for another 10 minutes. Then comes the next wave... it increases, peaks and then diminishes...

Some exceptions

An infection can display a fast and violent byosen, but that may not mean that the client’s life is in danger.

Another exception is when you do not feel a byosen at all. This means that the client is either dead (!), or the body is too toxic to react at all (yet). This happens after chemotherapy for example, or in heavy cases of drug abuse, diabetes etc. After one, two or three sessions the body will have gathered enough energy to react.

A constant byosen level five is a bad sign. If the client does not know that he is ill, send him to the doctor without scaring him too much.

The duration of a treatment

Chiyoko Sensei told us that it would be helpful to watch four or five byosen peaks per treatment. That means we should treat the client for 60-90 minutes during which we should not move, or at least not move much in order to follow the byosen. If the peaks grow smaller, the recovery of the client is underway. If they remain constant, more Reiki is needed the next day and the next and the next: until the peaks diminish and we end up with a level 1-2 byosen. And then you and the client are happy again…

I hope I have been able to present you with a few moments of clarity, and I am sure that you will put that clarity to good use in your personal life as well as with your clients.

Inviting happiness

We end the same way we set out on this journey together. Usui Sensei described Reiki as: The Secret art of inviting happiness, the spiritual medicine for all illnesses.

May you too find it, with love and gratitude, your friend

Frank Arjava Petter

Copyright © 2008 by Frank Arjava Petter

 A Personal Request

Please excuse me if I take this opportunity to ask for a personal favor. We are expecting our second child in the beginning of November, and I would like to ask for your help. If you have a spare moment (or several) please send Reiki to my wife, Bhakti Georgia Mouriki, born October 25, 1974.

The baby is due November 4 (in Germany), but it seems that either he may be in a hurry to get here or Bhakti’s body is in a hurry to deliver him soon.

However, I am in the middle of a training in Brazil at the moment, until the 20th of this month and it is my heart’s longing that I can be with them for the birth. So if you can persuade him or Bhakti to wait for me… Thank you!!!

With love and gratitude from beautiful Rio de Janeiro

Arjava

Frank Arjava Petter is the author of seven international Reiki bestsellers. He teaches worldwide and can be reached by email at Arjava@ReikiDharma.com or by telephone at +49- 211 50 73 810. More info on books and Training courses with Arjava is available at: http://www.Reikidharma.com