Sometimes the journey we believe we are taking is not the journey life has prepared for us.
A journey that began long before Japan
Sometimes the most meaningful journeys begin long before we pack our bags.
Mine began years earlier, during a difficult period of my life, when Reiki became an important part of my healing and personal transformation.
In Part One of my story, I shared how Reiki entered my life, how it supported me through depression and how, years later, I found myself searching for a deeper connection with the practice.
I also shared my long-standing fascination with Japan and the evenings I spent watching videos of people walking through Kyoto, imagining what it would feel like to be there.
Eventually, that dream became reality.
I travelled to Japan alone, with no great expectations beyond exploring a country I had always loved, spending time in contemplation and reconnecting with myself.
I wanted to walk through unfamiliar streets, visit beautiful temples, meditate and write in my journal.
Above all, I wanted to experience the freedom of being somewhere new, without having to plan every moment of my journey.
But somewhere along the way, I felt drawn towards Mount Kurama, a sacred mountain north of Kyoto.
For Reiki practitioners, Mount Kurama holds a special significance. According to Reiki tradition, Mikao Usui, the founder of the Usui Reiki system, experienced a profound spiritual awakening there during a period of meditation in the early twentieth century.
As a Reiki Master, I had known this story for years.
But knowing a story and standing in the place where it is believed to have happened are two very different experiences.
I didn't know what to expect from Mount Kurama.
I only knew that I wanted to be there.
Walking into the heart of Mount Kurama
I remember walking up Mount Kurama for the first time.
The forest surrounded me with magnificent trees, their roots crossing the paths and their branches reaching high above me.
The light filtered gently through the leaves.
Along the way, I passed temples and sacred places that invited me to slow down, observe and simply be present.
There was something extraordinary about the atmosphere.
I didn't feel the need to rush towards the top.
I wanted to experience every step.
The sounds of the forest, the movement of the leaves, the quiet presence of the trees and the peaceful surroundings.
Everything seemed to invite me into stillness.
As I continued walking, I felt increasingly connected to the mountain.
It was as though the noise of everyday life was slowly fading away.
My mind became quieter.
My breathing became slower.
And I began to feel a deep sense of gratitude.
I had travelled thousands of miles to be there.
And somehow, standing among those ancient trees, I felt that I was exactly where I needed to be.
When the mountain became quiet
I had already spent many hours on Mount Kurama when I found a place where I wanted to stay.
Other people were sitting there too, quietly meditating and contemplating.
So I sat among them.
For almost two hours, I remained there in meditation.
Gradually, the mountain began to change.
As the afternoon moved towards four o'clock, people started leaving and the surroundings became quieter.
The sunlight was lowering through the forest, and its golden rays were passing between the branches of the ancient trees.
There was something about that moment that made me look around more carefully.
And then I noticed something I had not noticed before.
I was sitting in the middle of eight trees.
They stood on either side of me almost like a natural corridor, as though I had unknowingly placed myself in the centre of a sacred passage.
I became completely still.
In that moment, I began to feel a powerful alignment within my body.
What I understand through my Reiki practice as my chakras seemed to be vibrating and opening.
I became intensely aware of the trees surrounding me, and I felt them not simply as trees, but as guardians of that place.
It is difficult to put into words what happened next.
For a brief moment, the separation between myself and everything around me seemed to disappear.
The trees.
The sunlight.
The earth beneath me.
The mountain.
My own body.
Everything felt connected.
I experienced an extraordinary sense that all life belonged to the same existence.
As the sunlight came through the branches, I felt what I can only describe as a radiant force moving through the trees, through the ground and through my entire body.
I wasn't frightened.
I felt held.
I felt blessed.
And somewhere beyond thought or explanation, I knew.
This was the attunement I had been searching for.
The mountain became my teacher
I had travelled to Japan believing that perhaps I needed to find another Reiki Master.
I had been searching for the right person, the right connection, the right moment.
But sitting there among those eight trees, I felt that my teacher had appeared in a form I had never expected.
The mountain itself had become my teacher.
For me, the trees were its guardians, and in their presence I felt connected to what I understand as the universal life force, the source from which all creation comes.
It was a deeply personal spiritual experience, rather than a formal Reiki initiation given by another Master.
Yet its meaning to me was profound.
Whether another person would interpret that experience in the same way does not matter to me.
It was real in the way that our deepest experiences are real: not because we can always explain them, but because something within us is changed by them.
I had come to Mount Kurama carrying questions.
In that moment, I no longer needed answers.
I only needed to receive.
To surrender.
To trust.
And to be present.
As the sun continued its descent and the forest grew quieter, I knew it was almost time to leave.
I had spent nearly six hours on the mountain.
Yet I also knew that I would not walk down that mountain exactly as I had walked up it.
Something within me had changed.
The greatest lesson: Learning to surrender
For much of my life, I believed that being strong meant being in control.
I thought I needed to plan everything, anticipate every problem and work harder whenever life wasn't going in the direction I wanted.
But control can become exhausting.
Sometimes we hold on so tightly to our expectations that we leave no room for life to surprise us.
My journey to Japan taught me something different.
It taught me the value of surrender.
Not surrender as giving up, but surrender as learning to trust.
Trusting ourselves enough to take a different path.
Accepting that we don't have every answer.
Recognising when fear, pride or old habits are preventing us from moving forward.
I had spent years trying to understand my purpose, heal old wounds and become more aware of the person I wanted to be.
And yet, one of the most meaningful moments of that journey happened when I stopped searching for answers.
I simply sat beneath a tree.
I breathed.
I listened.
And I allowed myself to feel grateful for being alive.
That was enough.
When Reiki calls, listen to your heart
When I think about the evenings I spent watching videos of Kyoto from my sofa, I sometimes smile.
I had no idea that those ordinary moments would become part of such a meaningful journey.
I didn't know that I would one day walk through those streets, explore the beautiful Kansai region and find myself meditating among the ancient trees of Mount Kurama.
I didn't know that the Reiki attunement I had been searching for would take on a completely different meaning.
But I knew that something within me was asking for change.
And eventually, I found the courage to listen.
Today, I remain deeply grateful for the path that brought Reiki into my life, for the teachers who have guided me, for the people who have trusted me with their own journeys and for the lessons I continue to learn.
My experience on Mount Kurama reminded me that spiritual growth is not about reaching a final destination.
It is about becoming more present, more compassionate and more willing to live in alignment with what truly matters to us.
Sometimes life whispers.
Sometimes it challenges us.
And sometimes it takes us halfway around the world, only to remind us of something beautifully simple.
What we have been searching for outside ourselves may have been quietly waiting within us all along.
With love, light and gratitude.
Coming next: The sacred history behind Mount Kurama
My experience on Mount Kurama was deeply personal, but the mountain itself holds a much older and fascinating spiritual history.
During my visit, one thing particularly surprised me.
Although Mount Kurama is closely associated with the story of Reiki's founder, Mikao Usui, I found very little mention of Reiki itself.
Instead, I discovered ancient Buddhist traditions, sacred teachings and a beautiful philosophy centred around Power, Light and Love.
Why is this mountain so important to Reiki practitioners? Who are the spiritual figures honoured there? And why is Reiki, a Japanese practice known around the world, not as visible in the places where we might expect to find it?
In my next article, I will take you beyond my personal experience to explore the spiritual history of Mount Kurama, the story of Mikao Usui and the beautiful traditions that have made this mountain sacred for centuries.
Continue reading Part Three: Mount Kurama — Beyond the Origins of Reiki.
If you feel curious about Reiki or would like to explore your own journey towards greater balance and wellbeing, you are welcome to get in touch to learn more about Reiki Sessions and Reiki Courses.
Your journey is your own, and it can begin whenever you feel ready. ॐ