I have been teaching and practicing Reiki as an Usui Reiki Master for over 21 years.  My specific Usui lineage is as follows: Mikao Usui--> Chujiro Hayashi-->Hawayo Takata-->Phyllis Furumoto-->Florance O'Neal --> Mathew Eliot-->Claire O'Shea. How do you choose a Reiki master to take Reiki classes from? I suggest that you can rely on Reiki Masters who can with integrity trace their lineage back to Mikao Usui. These are usually masters who offer straight-forward, stand alone, single level no-nonsense Reiki  classes and whose commitment to Reiki is long-standing. I am an Usui Reiki Master in a Western Usui System of Natural Reiki Healing. I first joined the Reiki Alliance in 1989, and am currently a member. I have also trained in Jikiden Reiki, a Japanese Usui Reiki system, and I am a member of Jikiden Reiki Kenkyu Kai. I have taken Shoden and Okuden and in March I will take Shihankaku, the first level of Jikiden Reiki mastery. I plan to complete Shihan or Jikiden master training in October of 2010 My lineage in Jikiden Reiki is Mikao Usui--> Chujiro Hayashi-->Chiyoko Yamaguchi -->Tadao Yamaguchi-->Claire O'Shea . I currently offer offer both Western Usui Reiki and Jikiden Usui Reiki treatments in my Reiki practice. Starting the 3rd week of March I will offer Jikiden Reiki Shoden classes.