KIRK DOUGLAS KIRK DOUGLAS - Earthstar

The longest-practicingReiki Master Teacher inthe US will celebrate hisninetieth birthday onApril 10th, two daysafter teaching another weekendcourse. Born in the Orient in 1917,John Harvey Gray is one of the originaltwenty-two instructorstrained in Reiki (“ray-kee”) byHawayo Takata, the womanwho brought the ancientJapanese healing art to thiscountry. The method waspassed on to her by ChujiroHayashi, and Hayashi wastaught by Dr. Mikao Usui—theman credited with re-formulatingthe traditional techniquesfor contemporary applicationearly in the 20th century. Reiki,which means Universal LifeForce, has been used for centuriesto restore balance and deliverhealing in a non-invasive and relaxingmanner. Elegant in its simplicity, yetprofound in its impact, Gray explains,“It is easy both to learn and to use.Beginners with no background in thehealing arts can be effective immediatelywithout the need for extensivetraining, and can help anyone(including him or herself), animals,and even plants. Reikialso works at a distance.”After spending his first tenyears in the Far East and thenmoving to a town just south ofSan Francisco, John HarveyGray attended DartmouthCollege and discovered that heloved the winters. But manylife chapters would intervenebefore he ultimately found hisway back to New England. Asan Army officer in World War II, Grayexperienced the horror of war firsthandin the Pacific theater. He recalls,“I vowed to devote the rest of my lifeto peaceful means. During a remarkablespiritual awakening when I narrowlymissed death at the Battle ofLeyte, I became convinced that therewere energy forces and types of communicationthat existed that had notyet been explored by Western science.”Following the war, Gray studied at theHarvard Business School and thenreturned to California, where heworked as a systems analyst for Bankof America, and later StanfordResearch Institute and Bechtel. It washis abiding, private interest in how toheal suffering, however, that broughthim together with his first wife, Beth.In 1973, she had started TrinityMetaphysical Center in Redwood, CA,which provided a forum for thoseinvolved in various alternative therapiesand sacred traditions throughoutthe world. Healers from many cultureswould give presentations and teachclasses. It was during this period thatthe Grays met and received the MasterTeacher training from Hawayo Takata.A Reiki healing group was formed atTrinity Center, the first of many tocome which John oversaw, and sometime later, Beth introduced Reiki toAustralia. Like the spinning of aprayer wheel sends blessings andprayers out into the world, Takata’straining propelled John on to the nextstage of his journey. In 1979, hedecided to devote himself entirely tohealing through the practice of Reiki.He said goodbye to his career, kissedBeth goodbye (they haveremained the closest of friends),left California, made his way tothe East Coast, and has neverlooked back.John is credited with introducingReiki to New England andhas taught in all but two of thefifty states. In 1994 he was presentedwith the “Teacher of theYear” award “for a lifetime ofspiritual guidance and exceptionalteaching” by the InterfaceFoundation, Boston’s formerpremier training center of New Ageand Healing Arts. John has presentedover nine hundred Reiki workshops tomore than fifteen thousand students.Among them are many doctors(including Christiane Northrup,M.D.), nurses, massage therapists,nuns and ministers, as well as lay peoplewith no previous healing orspiritual training.While teaching a Reiki workshopin 1994, John met thewoman who, two years later,would become his wife, coteacher,and life partner.Lourdes Gray quit her job inmortgage banking, sold herhome in the DC suburbs, andmoved to New Hampshire.Lourdes is also a Reiki MasterTeacher, certified by John, andhas conducted over five hundred workshopsalone or with him since 1996.She holds a doctorate in parapsychologyand is a certified clinical hypnotherapist.She is also John’s successorin their Reiki lineage, the Usui-Gray Integrated Reiki SystemTM.“Because Reiki is generally adminis-APRIL / MAY 2007 EARTH STAR 27