Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers this letter is reaching.
Today is June 17th, and it is only 4 days from the start of the Usui 21 day Virtual Retreat that is in its 11th year. I am so honored to announce that Bronwen Stiene of the International House of Reiki has written and recorded the three meditations that will be used as a focus for the retreat. I promise you they are beautiful.
Let your Reiki friends near and dear know that the retreat is about to begin. They can register to have the notices of the retreat sent to them by going to this link.
http://www.wisechoices.com/newsletter.aspTo read about the retreat this link will provide all the information you as well as they need. There are several pages.
The Usui Retreat invitation:
http://www.wisechoices.com/usuiretreat.htmlHow the Retreat started:
http://www.wisechoices.com/usui_start.htmlThe Retreat Options:
http://www.wisechoices.com/usui_options.htmlYou will be directed to pick up the meditations each week at our Wisechoices forum. You can get there using this link.
http://www.wisechoices.com/forum/default.aspYou are welcome to post your experiences on the forum once you sign up as a member. It is all marked and easy to follow on the forum page.
I went to Bronwen and Frans’ web pages to copy part of their introduction and ended up giving it all to you because they are such an interesting and dedicated Reiki couple as well as teachers. What their pages have not said is that they are amazing parents as well. It is my wish that you take them into your heart as I have and enjoy this retreat as much as I know I will.
It is my sincere pleasure to introduce you to Frans and Bronwen Stiene.
Reiki Masters Frans and Bronwen Stiene (pronounced stee-nuh) are authors of the internationally acclaimed
The Reiki Sourcebook, and
The Japanese Art of Reiki and are the founders of the
International House of Reiki.
With over 16 years of combined experience as practitioners, teachers and
speakers in healing and spirituality they have worked with, taught and researched healing in the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia and Japan. They are teachers whose passion is truth, education, support and spiritual development for all.Frans is from Holland and Bronwen from Australia. They met in 1989 and have shared their lives together since then in both their homelands. After living in Holland for seven years together they decided to embark on a spiritual search for a deeper connection to life and headed to India. In their first year there they studied a western form of Reiki called
Usui Reiki in Katmandu, Nepal and then went on to open a Reiki centre in Darjeeling in the Indian Himalaya. Reiki had changed the direction of their lives forever.
Reiki House was the name of their Darjeeling centre and for a year they treated many locals from Darjeeling itself and traveled out into the tea villages. In the villages they volunteered their services to treat everyone from tea pickers, to school teachers to plantation owners and also helped to set up a small Reiki healing centre at one village. Here the practitioners were taught Reiki by Frans and Bronwen and then supported in opening a weekend healing centre to help their families. Frans and Bronwen also participated in treating patients at village eye camps where over 30 people would be operated on in one day by just one doctor who also volunteered his services. The patients were amazed at the benefit of receiving Reiki after the operations and it was a great joy to be able to participate in such events. Westerners traveling through Darjeeling also took advantage of having a ‘local’ Reiki centre and Reiki courses were held twice a week from Reiki House. Reiki House became so popular it was even written up in the Indian Lonely Planet
From India, Frans and Bronwen decided to head back to Australia for the birth of their daughter. It never crossed their minds that they wouldn’t continue teaching and practicing Reiki and soon the International House of Reiki was up and running in Sydney, Australia. It was at this time that they realized that the Usui Reiki that they had been taught was a mixture of varied systems – not just Reiki. The term Usui Reiki appeared to be a generic name for anything taught since about 1980 in the West. But what were the roots of the system? What was its original purpose? These questions inspired them to begin researching the system. Sifting through the different information they realized that the answers were not to be had in the West and they eventually traveled to Japan in 2001.In Japan they arranged to meet with various Japanese Reiki Masters, visited
Usui Mikao's memorial stone in Tokyo as well as other spiritual energy sites such as
Mt Kurama and
Mt Hiei near Kyoto. In their attempt to learn more about the origins of Usui's teachings, Frans has also studied an early spiritual practice developed by the founder of the system of Reiki, Usui Mikao in Florence, Italy. Both Frans and Bronwen currently study with
Chris Marsh - a teacher of this earlier spiritual practice. Chris Marsh is a student of Suzuki san, a 109 year old Tendai nun who studied with Usui himself.
Frans and Bronwen are also certified Gendai Reiki Ho Shihans (Reiki Masters) which is a Japanese/Western school of Reiki run by
Doi Hiroshi, Frans Stiene having studied with Doi Hiroshi in Japan. In 2003 they also trained as Komyo Reiki Masters with Japanese Reiki Master and Buddhist monk
Inamoto Hyakuten who they had met in Japan and invited to Australia to teach. Today they teach
Usui Reiki Ryoho, a system that attempts to teach the origins of the system or Reiki from a Japanese perspective. As interest in the original aspects of the system grows, Frans and Bronwen Stiene have found themselves teaching people from all around the world who are searching for truth and inner connectedness through these specific teachings.In 2005 Frans Stiene has once again visited Japan to continue researching into the system of Reiki.Since 2005 Frans Stiene has been teaching in
North America and Europe and both having been giving talks on the subject of the system of Reiki.Frans and Bronwen's open, informal style of teaching has been an inspiration for students and clients throughout the USA, Europe, Asia and Australia. Their aim is to provide students with the most comprehensive and up to date information about the system of Reiki as well as a strong energetic connection to Reiki's founder, Usui Mikao.They are referred practitioners and teachers of Australia's leading Reiki association; the
Australian Reiki Connection. Bronwen Stiene is currently also vice-president of the Association.
In December 2003 Frans and Bronwens' research book,
The Reiki Sourcebook, was published and has been an international success, currently in its fourth reprint. It has remained one of the top Reiki books sold through amazon since its release by UK publisher O Books.
In 2005,
The Japanese Art of Reiki, Frans and Bronwens' second book was released. It is the first book of its kind to look at the practical elements of the system of Reiki from a Japanese, rather than Western, perspective.
In 2006, the
Reiki techniques Card Deck was released. Develop your intuition and self-healing abilities by working with these 45 traditional and non-traditional Reiki techniques cards that are beautiful to look at, feel and use.
In 2006, the
A-Z of Reiki Pocketbook was also published. It is a fabulous, everything-in-one handy pocketbook about Reiki. If you want to know the Reiki who, what, when, where and why then just look it up alphabetically!
In March, 2007 Your Reiki Treatment was released. This a book that looks at what a client should expect prior to, during and after a Reiki treatment. An excellent book for both Reiki practitioners and clients!
Welcome to all of you who have joined us in the eleventh year of the Semi Annual 21day Virtual Usui Retreat. It is not too late to let your Reiki friends and other Reiki communities know about the Retreat and ask them to join with us in what promises to be a deep and meaningful 21 days. Remember you set your own pace and commitment.
