How Reiki Transformed My Life—and Can Transform Yours Too

Living the Reiki Way

The Five Reiki Principles, also known as the Gokai or Reiki Precepts, offer more than just spiritual insight—they provide a daily framework for emotional clarity, mindful presence, and inner peace.

There are various translations of the Reiki precepts, and I’m presenting the version that has resonated with me and guided my practice since 1996.

Just for today, do not anger.

Just for today, do not worry.

Honor your teachers, your parents, your neighbors, your friends.

Just for today, live honestly.

Just for today, be kind to all living things.

These principles are both the foundation of the Reiki system and the fruit of daily Reiki practice. What began as a healing technique gradually became a spiritual path—a way of being that I call “living the Reiki way.”

To live the Reiki way means embracing the full range of human emotion—acknowledging anger, worry, grief, and confusion—without suppressing or bypassing them. It means creating space for inner work. When we hold onto unprocessed emotional energy, it can eventually manifest in the physical body.

That’s where the power of “Just for today…” comes in. This phrase isn’t just poetic—it reflects the Japanese Zen principle of impermanence and the Meiji-era emphasis on daily renewal. It invites us to start fresh each morning with intentional awareness, rather than striving for perfection.

While the original language of the precepts may sound like prohibitions (“do not…”), they are in truth gentle encouragements—nudging us toward self-compassion, kindness, and presence.

If written today, with our modern understanding of language and psychology, they might read more like:

Choose peace over anger.
Choose trust over worry.
Choose reverence.
Choose honesty.
Choose kindness.

Still, the traditional phrasing carries a timeless simplicity—reminding us that, no matter what happened yesterday, we always begin again just for today.