What Does Fishing Have To Do With the Usui System of Natural Healing?

A fishing story that is true and sounds familiar!

My twin sister, Hira Reid and I have spent a great deal of our lives doing 3 things: exploring on the water, fishing and doing Reiki. We have traveled over the waterways and on land gathering experiences and sharing stories. It happened one day on the Sacramento Delta in California, the ultimate fishing experience and story of a “system that works.”


Hira had bought a new boat, a wonderful Albin 25’ cruiser. She had named her “Shatoosh.” We had cruised the expansive oceans together but now she was to begin an inner journey of cruising the 1,000 miles of inland waterways of the Sacramento Delta. I met up with her to go striper bass fishing and explore new areas and gather new stories. We had never fished for the delicacies of striper bass before. They run 2 times a year, coming in from the ocean. “If we just knew how to catch them, if we only knew how to go about doing it, they would provide us with nourishment for the week.”

Hira searched the area trying to find the best fisherman, one with a history of success and proven over time. She listened to the old men tell their stories and checked the internet but it was word of mouth that led her to Don. In great excitement, we boarded his boat
to learn the fundamentals and basics of striper bass fishing and to hear of the history of how he learned to fish this specialty.

I asked him to tell us how he learned the art of striper fishing. He said it was simple.
He bought his boat from an old man that had spent years painstakingly creating a system that always caught fish. The old man shared the details with him, the exact length of leaders, the specific swivels, the special colors of worms and the exact angle to hook them on to the leadheads and the broken back Rebel lures. He made the leadheads himself and taught Don in the same way.

Don showed us the basic form of setting our rigs up. We got underway and he then shared the details of the current and flow of the tide, the speed to troll, the depth to drop the lures and the exact relationship of length to depth ratio. We worked with Don and started catching fish immediately. We had caught our limit by 11 am! Not only that, Hira caught the largest striper bass creating a new record for the fall season!


He told us about his frustration of sharing something that worked and then over time seeing how people would start changing everything and then they didn’t catch fish anymore. Don was content not to change the system.
I asked Don if he fished for any other types of fish? He answered, “no, I specialize only in striper bass. I just stick with what I was taught.” We left that day confident and knowing we had come away with all the tools we needed to catch striper bass. Now the true test, “could we repeat the process on board Shatoosh”? We got the boat set up for fishing, rigged our lines and got the exact lures from Don and off we went for the week. After eating many fish dinners, we can say from our experiences over time, that the system we were taught does work and we repeat it season after season, cruising the Delta on board Shatoosh.

I often reflect on our experience that day with Don, were we fishing or were we hearing about a system that works? I had heard throughout the morning correlations to this system of fishing and the Usui System of Natural Healing. It was simple! There are the Aspects and Elements! There was a tendency to stray from the system and add other things or perhaps delete elements! Repetition of form existed to experience the wisdom of the system. Oh yes, it was learned through oral tradition and discovered by others through word of mouth. We came away with our own experiences. Lineage existed in his system, his teacher taught him and he taught others. Payment was given for the teachings and we didn’t get a special deal because there were two of us taking it together. The last correlation, speaks of truth, as this is not a story of a fish tale. It actually happened. Of course, that day was also about being again on the water with my twin and doing what we know best: exploring on the water, fishing and sharing Reiki stories in whatever form they come to us.

This system we know as the Usui Shiki Ryoho, the system of Natural Healing has its Aspects and Elements. Refer to the blog on the left side where these are listed and defined by the Lineage Bearer, Phyllis Furumoto. They are parts of the whole, This system is of Oral Tradition and handed down through Initiation to support humanity in this great time of healing and need for balance. Explore this system and receive the friuts of treatment.

Jean C. Ferris, Reiki Master
Teaches in Texas, California, New Mexico, Washington and Hawaii
Written for The Reiki International Magazine