Rainbow Reiki

Lübeck's account of the system's beginnings

Walter Lübeck presents Rainbow Reiki as a system developed from the work of Mikao Usui and Chujiro Hayashi. His own history page dates the start of development to 1989, with an ongoing training program of techniques he created. This account comes from the founder's own website, and no independent historian's account of the early years was found among the sources reviewed.

The same history page says Lübeck founded the Reiki-Do Institut International in 1991 to research Usui Reiki and train practitioners, and developed a method of Reiki essences in 1992. It dates the book Der Geist des Reiki, written with Arjava Petter and William Lee Rand, to 2000. The first Rainbow Reiki book appeared in Germany from the publisher Windpferd in 1997, and an English edition was issued in Delhi in 1998.

The Reiki background it builds on

Scholarly entries in the World Religions and Spirituality Project describe Usui Reiki Ryoho as founded by Mikao Usui in Tokyo in 1922, with Chujiro Hayashi's group playing an important part in transmission to the West. Hawayo Takata began studying at Hayashi's headquarters in December 1935 and brought the practice to Hawaii, where it became known as Reiki.

The companion entry on Reiki in the West reports that Takata became the first Western Reiki Master in 1937, that she trained twenty-three Masters between 1975 and 1980, and that Reiki was introduced in several European countries in the early 1980s. That entry does not mention Germany, Lübeck or Rainbow Reiki, so the sources reviewed place Rainbow Reiki within this broader history only through Lübeck's own statements.

Names and the registered-mark symbol

Rainbow Reiki is the name given by Lübeck to his system, and his website writes it with the registered-mark symbol, as does his training page. The name is a brand for one teaching lineage, not a general term for color-based or chakra-based Reiki. Readers should not assume that other practitioners who use colors in Reiki sessions teach this system.

Lübeck's history page states that in 2013 the names Rainbow Reiki, Marayana Sayi, Falayna Say and Walter Lübeck, together with the logo, became registered trademarks throughout the European Union, and that some are also registered in Norway and Iceland. This is the owner's statement. Trademark registers were not searched for this page, so the claim is attributed rather than independently confirmed.

Dan levels and degree terms

Lübeck uses the word Dan for his teacher levels. His website lists a master healer training and a master/teacher training at 1st Dan, and testimonials on it refer to teachers at 2nd Dan. His comparison page says there are three Dan-level teacher courses. The terms degree and Dan are therefore used differently from the three-tier shoden, okuden and shinpiden structure that scholars describe for Japanese Usui Reiki Ryoho.

Teaching format and structure

Lübeck's website describes training through live seminars, webinars and online courses run by the Reiki-Do Institut International in Hameln, Germany, with a licensing program for teachers. It also describes an online practice offered free of charge. Fees, curricula and examination details were not given on the pages reviewed.

The 1st Dan master/teacher training is described as taking about 18 months, combining seminars, online courses, personal conversations and webinars, and as qualifying graduates to teach Rainbow Reiki to large groups. The page lists no formal prerequisites and says the course can begin alongside the master healer training.

Techniques added to Usui-based training

According to Lübeck, Rainbow Reiki uses 17 positions for a full-body treatment and adds its own symbols, mantras and mudras, which require their own attunements. He names Marayana Sayi, a method said to run for 20 minutes and end automatically, along with Falayna Say, a mountain meditation and a soul-retrieval technique. His history page also lists an allergy harmonization method, energetic acupuncture and the Rainbow Reiki essences.

Lübeck states that the second degree can follow the first directly, unlike in Usui Reiki as he describes it. This page does not set out step-by-step procedures, and the symbols and attunement content are not reproduced here.

Relation to Usui and Western Reiki

Lübeck describes two lines of descent for Rainbow Reiki, both beginning with Mikao Usui and Chujiro Hayashi, with one passing through Hawayo Takata and Phyllis Furumoto. He states that its attunements correspond to those of the Takata school with additional elements. He also argues that Usui Reiki lacks a controlling standard and that this allows its attunements and symbols to be altered freely. This is a founder's comparison, and other Reiki teachers may describe the position differently.

Purposes stated by the school

Lübeck describes Rainbow Reiki as a system of spiritual healing and personal development. His website also offers related trainings in areas such as life coaching, meditation and chakra card coaching, which the school presents alongside the Reiki levels. Practitioners and teachers in the school describe the work in spiritual and personal-growth terms.

The sources reviewed do not present these purposes as tested outcomes. The school's descriptions are its own, and the research section below sets out what has and has not been studied.

Reiki uses in general

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describes Reiki as a complementary approach in which practitioners place their hands lightly on or just above a person, with the aim of directing energy to support the body's own healing response. Claims about an energy field are beliefs held within the practice and are not something the center says has been scientifically demonstrated.

Rainbow Reiki itself

No independent trials of Rainbow Reiki were found. A PubMed search on 17 October 2026 for the exact phrase Rainbow Reiki returned no records, and a search combining Lübeck's name with Reiki and trial also returned none. Web searches for studies naming Rainbow Reiki surfaced only general Reiki trials. Lübeck's history page mentions documentation of effects by a professor in 2012, but no independent publication was located to check it.

Reiki in general, as context only

A 2015 Cochrane review of Reiki for depression and anxiety included three randomized trials, with only small numbers of participants who had anxiety or depression. It found insufficient evidence to say whether Reiki is useful and no evidence that it is beneficial or harmful, noting generally unclear or high risk of bias.

A 2022 systematic review of 14 placebo-controlled trials of hands-on Reiki reported more favorable ratings for some mental health symptoms, but the authors described the findings as preliminary, citing small samples, high dropout and risk of bias concerns. NCCIH states that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose. These reviews concern Reiki generally and cannot be carried over to Rainbow Reiki, which adds its own techniques.

Reported harms and care boundaries

NCCIH states that Reiki has not been shown to have harmful effects, and the 2022 review reported that none of its included trials recorded adverse effects. The Cochrane review found no evidence of harm, though its trials were few and small. No safety data specific to Rainbow Reiki were found, so these statements concern Reiki in general.

Rainbow Reiki is a complementary practice. It should not be used in place of medical or mental health care, and necessary care should not be delayed or stopped because of it. Anyone with a health condition may wish to speak with a clinician about how a complementary practice fits alongside their treatment.

Training standards and cost

Training in Rainbow Reiki is set by Lübeck's institute and its licensing program, and Lübeck's comparison page states teacher requirements of at least 600 teaching hours and over 100 documented client sessions. These are the school's own standards. The sources reviewed did not identify an independent professional register or statutory training standard for Rainbow Reiki, and fees were not published on the pages reviewed.