Just for Today, Do Not Anger: Reflections from Our June Reiki Ryoho Share Circle

Online Group Sharing — June 24, 2026

Each month, this group of Reiki Ryoho practitioners gathers to inform and strengthen our practice of Usui Sensei’s teaching — not as affirmations to recite quickly and forget, but as a living practice of seishin kaizen, spiritual improvement, held with respect across a shared session of breath, contemplation, and self-treatment. I wanted to share how our evening unfolded, along with the fuller teaching we sat with together, for those who joined us and for those unable to attend.

How We Gathered

Our time together followed the rhythm Usui Sensei describes in the Usui Reiki Ryoho Hikkei: initially settling the mind through breath, then turning to contemplation, then as we ran out of time for self-treatment, we closed with community reflection and Q&A.

We opened by settling in — phone notifications silenced, comfortable in our seating, hands resting on the lap, three natural breaths, a brief return to Usui Sensei’s original intention that Reiki Ryoho is, first, a path of inner development, with healing arising naturally out of that practice.

From there we moved into a component of Hatsurei Ho, specifically Joshin Kokyu Ho — a cleansing breath meditation. This practice quiets the analytical mind deliberately before we turn to the precepts, so that when we do sit with them, the contemplation has room to be personal rather than merely intellectual. The Joshin Kokyu Ho practice was experienced via a 20 minute guided meditation.

Joshin Kokyu Ho Guided Meditation

On completing Joshin Kokyu Ho, we turned our attention to the Gokai.

The Gokai — Just for Today

We recited the five precepts together, in English and/or in Japanese for those who carry it that way:

Just for today,I do not anger.I do not worry.I am grateful.I fulfill my duties.I have compassion for myself and others.

Each month one precept is chosen to sit with more deeply, rotating through the five over time. This month, we turned to the first precept: Ikaru na — Do not anger.

Why “Do Not Anger” Comes First

Usui Sensei lived through the Meiji and Taisho eras — decades of extraordinary upheaval, loss, and social transformation in Japan. The Gokai was never written for a comfortable life. It was written for people, like us, living through real difficulty and needing something sturdy to return to daily.

It’s worth contemplating why this precept was placed first. Not, I’d suggest, because anger is the worst of our failings — but because of all our inner disturbances, it is the one that most immediately disrupts the flow of Reiki. Ikaru na is not a call to suppress feeling. It’s an invitation to witness anger as it rises, rather than be governed by it.
Inner witnessing, not inner policing.
There’s an important difference between the energy of anger — which can be a genuine signal that an important boundary has been crossed — and the habit of anger, which clouds judgment, creates resentment and contracts our energetic field. Usui Sensei was pointing us toward the latter.

The Linguistic Layer

“Ikaru na” carries more weight than the simple English translation of “do not get irritated” or “do not anger.” In certain contexts it edges toward held resentment, grudge-holding, or wishing ill on another — territory that may overlap with the phrase, Norou na (“do not harbor deep-seated resentment”). This precept addresses the poison we marinate in over time, not the fleeting irritations of an ordinary day.

The Energetic Layer

In Reiki Ryoho, energy follows intention and attention. Anger and resentment are among the densest, slowest-vibrating energies we carry, and they tend to stagnate Ki (Qi, Chi, Prana) in the body — particularly along the (TCM) liver and gallbladder meridians:

Liver — anger, bitterness, resentment, competitiveness, defensiveness, jealousy, possessiveness, relationship stress, desire for revenge.
Gallbladder — fear of loss, abandonment, poverty, hunger, insecurity around support (emotional and material), and fear of aging. (reference: Rita McNamara, Energetic Bodywork)

A practitioner carrying anger struggles to hold the neutral, observant presence that Reiki Ryoho asks of us — the energy can become discordant, or simply weakened. Resentment has a way of tethering us energetically to whoever or whatever we’re resenting; we hand over our life force (Ki) every time we replay the grievance in our mind. Usui Sensei’s teaching was to release the situation immediately — not for the other person’s sake, but for our own. As Usui Sensei reminds us in his Hikkei: if you cannot heal yourself, how can you heal others?

The Spiritual Layer

Usui Sensei wasn’t a moralist instructing us to “be good” — he was a healer offering practical tools for living. Ikaru na, placed first, likely draws on Mikkyo (esoteric Buddhist) philosophy: anger as the root of suffering, born of attachment and a grasping ego. Anger, left unaddressed, reveals our spiritual practice to be built on sand.

Anger is also, perhaps, the fastest way to disconnect from Rei. The moment we take up anger/resentment, we place ourselves in a victim position and hand away our own power. Usui Sensei’s message here might be read as: take radical responsibility for your own mind. No one can make you angry — you choose whether or not to hold the resentment. Take your power back immediately.

The Ultimate Intention

At the deepest level, this precept points toward Misogi — ritual purification. Usui Sensei seems to have created his Gokai as a form of daily spiritual cleansing. We cannot be fully attentive while we’re internally holding resentment toward a boss, a partner, ourselves, or our circumstances. “Do not anger” isn’t a command. It’s an invitation to inner peace — a reminder that our resentment doesn’t protect us; it only binds us. We’re always being offered another choice.

In practice: when anger rises, pause. If you’re able, bring your hands into Gassho. Take three calming breaths. Whisper, “I do not anger” — not to suppress what you feel, but to observe it, accept it, and choose not to let it take root.

Sitting With It Ourselves

A few reflection prompts we carried into our group discussion — you’re welcome to sit with them too:

Where did anger visit you this past month — in a situation, a relationship, or toward yourself?
What does anger feel like in your body before it becomes words or action?
What would it mean to simply observe that energy, without acting on it?

For self-treatment, we can bring quiet awareness to the liver area (right side of the abdomen), traditionally associated with anger in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), holding the intention of softening and releasing. As the familiar phrase goes — attributed to James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy (1993) — “where attention goes, energy flows”.

For the Level 2 and above students: an invitation to reflect on how your Reiki Ryoho practice shifts on days you’ve been moved by anger, and what Joshin Kokyu Ho and the recitation of the Gokai have offered you as a practice of re-calibration.

Group Reflection

We closed our circle with light, non-analytical sharing — what people noticed in their body or mind during the practice, whether the precept surfaced during self-treatment, and what each person might want to carry forward into the coming month. We hold space in these circles for every kind of experience: a busy mind, physical sensation, or seemingly nothing at all. All of it is valid.

Carrying This Forward

Our shared home practice for the month ahead: recite the Gokai each morning in Gassho for five minutes, or practice Joshin Kokyu Ho before your daily self-treatment. As Usui Sensei reminded us — the secret to inviting happiness is to count our blessings and work on ourselves, and that work continues quietly between our meetings.

If you’d like to join our next online gathering, or explore this month’s precept further in your own practice, please reach out. In gratitude and Gassho.

Just for Today, Do Not Anger