Never in a million years did I think I one day would actually be in Japan, standing on Mount Kurama, the birth place of Reiki and here is what I learned. In my head I had a different picture of what would actually be on the mountain. I have watched a ton of videos and I actually thought I would see this everywhere, BUT I didn’t. It might just be me, but that was my expectation. What I DID learn was even more interesting and here is a few things I would like to share.

Practically it takes about 2-3 hours to climb the mountain itself and from Kyoto, its about an hour in train. For the steepest part there is a cute cable car that says: continue toward the light and up it goes. It’s about 200 yen (less then 2 dollars) There is two tigers guarding the entrance, the story of the tigers are quite remarkable… The tigers are seen as messengers of the Buddhist divinity Bisamonten. Bishamonten is one of the Four Heavenly Kings and the protector of the northern Kyoto. The story tells that, Bishamonten came to Kurama with the tiger, on the day of the Tiger, within the month of the Tiger according to the Chinese calendar. The “Tigers of A-Un”, represents life from the beginning to the end, this is represented by the first and last letter of the Sanscript alphabet, also said to be the first breath in and the last out. For me, this is a sentence I often combine with breath when I teach Yoga, so it makes perfect sense to me that the Tigers would be represented here in such a spiritual place. As I see it, it is all connected, the ancient belief systems and the ones we believe in now.

The Kongoshō Six-Pointed Star

This Star is is known as a very powerful spiritual spot. It is called the Kongoshō. With the Sonten trinity represented by the triangle, the six points radiating outward are said to stand for the six ways in which we sense and interact with the world around us as detailed in the Lotus Sutra: the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, body, and heart. When you stand in the middle of the star and face the main hall, it is believed that you will be come aware of the power you hold within and you will be able to feel the source of power.

The spiritual experience:

I started learning about Reiki when I moved to the US. My dear friend Sara who was studying Astrology at this point of time, send me a message saying: did you know you were born to be a healer. Deep within I knew that she was right, I answered that I knew and the journey started. I signed up for my Reiki 1-2 and right after I finished I signed up for my Reiki Master Course all with the same teacher, Mary Fielder. From here the story continues getting to know one wonderful person after the other, like the snowball effect. It all came quite easy and I was amazed by the syncronicity that followed my Reiki training. I asked shortly after to get a lot of practice with a 100 hours goal, and people just lined up for practice. I even had the honor to provide Reiki for Lifespark cancer resources and Brookedale hospice. From here my intuition and ability to sense, hear and see things have slowly just got stronger for each day. I learn new things everyday on how to remember these “clairs”, I believe it is about remembering what we forgot.

As of a few days before my 43rd birthday, the 100 years anniversary of Reiki (this year) I had the amazing and powerful experience of being on the top of Mount Kurama in Japan. It was emotional, breathtaking and a really wonderful experience. I have learned throughout my Reiki practice that when something is right, I feel it like a shivering sensation in my body, I get emotional, my skin gets sensitive and I cry, all of this happened on the mountain. I have a feeling I will go back to Mount Kurama, when Im not sure yet…

There is many more details about Mount Kurama, many more then I know of, but I hope to learn about in the future.

Love and Light,

Penelope