Karuna Reiki

Rand's account of how the system was assembled

William Lee Rand, who founded the International Center for Reiki Training, states that he received Usui Reiki training in 1981 and 1982 in Hawaii and became an Usui Reiki master in 1989. He writes that he then studied with other Reiki masters and exchanged techniques with them. From about 1989, he says, he was given non-Usui symbols and attunement techniques, which he filed away and began to experiment with, and his students later asked whether they should use these additional symbols.

Rand describes gathering a number of students in the winter of 1993 to try the additional symbols, select those that seemed most useful and experiment with a matching attunement process. He states that he did not channel any of the symbols himself and that they came from other Reiki masters. He dates the naming of the system to 1995. This account is the founder's own, and the sources reviewed include no independent historian's study of the system.

Dates, early name and later changes

Rand's accounts differ slightly on timing. One article places the development of a style with eight symbols and a different attunement method between 1993 and 1995, while his lineage chart gives 1994 to 1995. He writes that the system was first called Sai Baba Reiki because he was told three of the symbols came from that guru, and that he renamed it Karuna Reiki after learning the guru had not channeled them.

In his history of Reiki, Rand writes that the system has eight treatment symbols and at first had four master symbols. He states that after he introduced Holy Fire Reiki in January 2014, he upgraded the system to Holy Fire Karuna Reiki and made the Holy Fire symbol its master symbol. The Center's current registration materials use the Holy Fire Karuna Reiki name.

Place among Western Reiki styles

Rand traces his own Reiki training to Bethel Phaigh, who studied with Hawayo Takata, so the system sits in the Western Reiki tradition that grew from Takata's teaching. A scholarly entry on Reiki in the West states that Takata's Usui Shiki Ryoho is the source of most Western styles and that hundreds of styles have since appeared, some adding elements from other spiritual teachers. Karuna Reiki is one such later style, and Rand describes it as built on additions gathered from other masters.

The name and its glosses

Rand defines the system's name as the Reiki of Compassion, and Karuna is glossed as compassion in the practice's own materials. The Center writes the name as Karuna Reiki® and the current program as Holy Fire® Karuna Reiki®. Other names found in the sources reviewed are Sai Baba Reiki, the system's first name, and Usui/Tibetan Reiki, the separate earlier system Rand taught from 1989 through 2013.

Trademark and why the Center states it was sought

The Center states that Karuna Reiki® and Holy Fire® are registered service marks of William Lee Rand, and that it trademarked the name shortly after the system was named in 1995 and extended the mark to many countries. Its stated reason is that other Reiki styles changed so much over time that their names no longer identified a single technique. The Center says the mark is meant to keep the name tied to the same training and to maintain teaching and ethical standards.

The Center also states that it supports Reiki practitioners of every lineage, that it charges fees for its training without requiring students to charge any particular fee, and that the different Reiki names exist to tell techniques apart, much as schools of yoga carry different names. These are the Center's own statements about its policies, and this page does not assess the trademark itself.

Reiki as energy and as technique

The Center uses the word Reiki for the healing energy it holds to be all around and for the techniques used to attract and administer it. A scholarly entry makes a related distinction between Reiki as a practice and reiki energy, the universal life energy that practitioners say they call upon. See the Machipedia pages Reiki, Usui Reiki, Western Reiki, Holy Fire Reiki and Tibetan Reiki for the wider family and for neighboring systems.

Teaching structure as the Center states it

The Center's registration document sets minimum teaching requirements for its Holy Fire Karuna Reiki program. Students must already be Reiki masters, and must have practiced as masters for at least six months before taking any level. The master class must run at least three days, attunements and ignitions are given in person and not at a distance, class manuals and certificates come from the Center, and students take a written test on the symbols.

The Center states that students who complete the master class are qualified to teach and that those who intend to teach register with it and agree to its curriculum and code of ethics. It distinguishes this registered program from its separate licensing program, which it says requires at least one year of training. Registration is a private arrangement of the Center, not an external professional register.

How practitioners describe the difference from Usui Reiki

Rand states that some Karuna Reiki symbols are the same as those used by other schools, but that the attunements and the intention differ, so that the energies connected to the system are, in his words, unique to it. Where Western Reiki is usually described as three levels with an initiation at each, Karuna Reiki is taught only after the master level. The Center does not publish the symbols or procedures, and this page does not describe them.

A scholarly entry describes Western Reiki generally as a hands-on practice that uses sacred or private symbols and an attunement by a Reiki master, with the student's lineage traced back through earlier masters. Karuna Reiki shares that framework, and the sources reviewed give no independent account of what a session or class involves beyond the Center's own descriptions.

What the Center and Rand say the system is for

Rand states that his aim in gathering and testing the additional symbols was a healing energy of greater benefit, and that he was told by many experienced practitioners that the energy of the new system was stronger and more effective than Usui Reiki. This is a report of what practitioners told him and is not a tested comparison. The sources reviewed contain no list of conditions that Karuna Reiki is said to address.

The Center also states that it works toward the acceptance of Reiki in hospitals and doctors' offices, and that this depends on maintaining high ethical and teaching standards. Beyond those statements, the page relies on general descriptions of what Reiki practitioners believe.

General beliefs described by scholars of Reiki

A scholarly entry reports that Western Reiki practitioners generally believe a subtle energy underpins the practice, that receiving it through touch benefits body, mind or spirit, and that it can support self-development and balance. The entry also reports that practitioners often treat self-development as a goal of the practice. These are beliefs held by practitioners, and the entry does not present them as tested findings.

No independent trials of this lineage found

No clinical trials, systematic reviews or independent studies of Karuna Reiki were found. Searches run on 2026-10-17 in the PubMed database for the phrase Karuna Reiki, for Karuna and Reiki in titles and abstracts, and for Holy Fire and Reiki each returned no records. A general web search for Karuna Reiki trials, clinical studies and systematic reviews returned only studies and reviews of Reiki in general. Reviews of Reiki do not state results for this lineage separately.

General Reiki research as context only

The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose, that most research has not been of high quality, and that results have been inconsistent. It also states that there is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the energy field thought to play a role in Reiki. The page was last updated in December 2018.

A 2022 systematic review of fourteen randomized placebo-controlled trials of Reiki in adults examined mental health symptoms. Its authors rated the level of evidence as high for clinically relevant stress and depression and moderate to high for clinically relevant anxiety, while reporting a small number of studies in each area, most with some risk-of-bias concern, and calling the findings inconclusive. The review does not identify trials of Karuna Reiki, so its findings cannot be applied to this lineage.

Care boundary and the Center's code of ethics

Karuna Reiki is a complementary practice and not a substitute for medical or psychological care. The Center's own code of ethics for the program states that Reiki offers no guarantee of a medical outcome and is not a substitute for medical or psychological treatment, and tells teachers not to diagnose conditions, not to prescribe medication, and not to suggest that a client change or end prescribed treatment. It also advises suggesting that clients with a medical or psychological condition see a licensed health care practitioner.

Reported harms and the limits of the sources

The Center states that Reiki can do no harm. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that Reiki has not been shown to have any harmful effects, a statement that concerns Reiki in general and does not assess this lineage. The sources reviewed describe no harms linked specifically to Karuna Reiki, and they include no studies of it, so the absence of reports should not be read as a finding of harm or of no harm.

Training standards and cost

The only training standard found for this system is the Center's own registered program described above, which is a private arrangement. No independent professional register or statutory training standard for Karuna Reiki was found. The Center states that it charges fees for its Karuna Reiki training and does not require trained practitioners to charge any particular fee. People considering training or sessions may wish to ask a teacher about lineage, fees and how the program is described.