Japan Reiki Pilgrimage & Initiation Retreat

The Japan Reiki Pilgrimage & Initiation Retreat is a week-long Usui Reiki retreat in Kyoto and on Mount Kurama, Japan, led by acupuncturist and Reiki teacher Bronwyn Ayla. The group travels to the sources of Reiki's lineage, including Mount Kurama, where Mikao Usui is traditionally said to have received this healing art. It is open to all levels, whether you feel newly called to Reiki or have practiced for many years.

The retreat is small and intimate by design. Training, ceremony, pilgrimage, and reflection are woven together over the week, so that Reiki becomes less a technique to learn and more a way of being.

What to Expect

The week combines Reiki training and initiation with time on the land where the practice is said to have begun. Days move between instruction, ceremony, walking pilgrimage, and quiet reflection. The aim is immersion in practice, presence, and sacred relationship, rather than a packed sightseeing schedule.

Highlights of the retreat include:

- A pilgrimage to Mount Kurama, traditionally held as the place where Usui received Reiki
- Training and initiation within a small group
- Ceremony and reflection throughout the week
- A mix of newly called and long-practiced students learning side by side

The retreat runs for one week, beginning in the morning on the first day and closing in the early evening on the last.

About Bronwyn Ayla

Bronwyn Ayla describes herself as an alchemist, dancer, diviner, acupuncturist, temple tender, and practitioner of sacred medical arts. She has been initiated in a variety of mystery schools and draws from diverse traditions, seeking to bring what is most essential to those on the path of energetic mastery.

Her work centers on helping people connect with their embodied wisdom and align their prayer with their outer lives, through direct transmission, initiations, ritual, and attunement to seasonal cycles. She teaches regular online courses on healing and energetic mastery, where students learn to hold everything they encounter as medicine on the path of transformation and awakening. In 1998 she founded the Wu Wei School of Reiki and the Holistic Medical Arts clinic in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Setting

The retreat is based in Kyoto and travels to Mount Kurama, the mountain tradition associates with Usui's receiving of Reiki. Walking this ground as a group is a central part of the week.

Before You Go

All levels are welcome. You do not need prior Reiki experience, and experienced students and practitioners are equally at home here. The group is kept small, and a waitlist is open for those interested in taking part.