Curriculum Vitae
Libby Barnett, MSW, teaches the traditional Usui System of Reiki Healing. She is the longest practicing Reiki Master teacher on the East Coast. She has taught over 14,000 people nationwide, including health care professionals at many hospital and hospice organizations including: Massachusetts General, Beth Israel, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Englewood, New York Foundling, Harvard Community Health, The Medical Center of Central Mass, New London Hospital, Union Hospital, and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. She has over thirty-four years of experience blending Reiki with conventional health care.
Libby is a graduate of Simmons School of Social Work and finds her forty-two years as a therapist and thirty-four years as a Reiki practitioner complement her role as a teacher of Reiki. Her experience as a medical social worker at Massachusetts General Hospital provides a traditional foundation for her work.
Libby learned Reiki I in 1979 and Reiki II in 1981 from John Harvey Gray. Libby assisted John in numerous classes over the course of five years. She then continued her Reiki studies with Judy-Carol Stewart. Ms. Stewart was trained by Barbara Lincoln McCullough who, like John Gray, was one of the twenty-two Reiki masters trained by Hawayo Takata, the late grand master of the Reiki lineage, who brought Reiki to the United States in 1973. Libby is dedicated to teaching this sacred healing art to promote health and conscious living on the planet.
Libby is co-author of the best-selling book, Reiki Energy Medicine, Bringing Healing Touch into Home, Hospital, and Hospice, with over 75,000 copies sold in seven languages. This book addresses the use of Reiki in the hospital, hospice and psychotherapeutic setting, supporting the current trend toward integrating complementary therapies with conventional medical treatments.
In addition, Barnett, has taught Reiki at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, at Harvard and Brown medical schools, and at the Yale University School of Nursing. Barnett has also served as a preceptor for the AHNA Certificate Program in Holistic Nursing. The PBS series, Body and Soul, interviewed Barnett and filmed a Reiki Clinic for a segment on East/West Medicine, Reiki-The Ancient Art of Touch Healing, aired nationwide Spring, 1999.
Reiki Healing Connection Lineage and Background
In 1973, Mrs. Takata brought Reiki to the United States teaching Reiki classes in California. By the time she died in 1980, she had trained twenty-two Reiki Masters. One of these was John Harvey Gray. Libby took Reiki I (in 1979) and Reiki II from John and assisted with many of John’s classes over a period of six years.
Barbara Lincoln McCullough was also one of the first twenty-two Reiki Masters trained by Mrs. Takata. Barbara trained Judy-Carol Stewart of Houston, Texas as the 35th Reiki Master in 1985. Judy-Carol trained Libby as a Reiki Master in 1989.
Because of her close connection with these first teachers, Libby is committed to teaching Reiki as these early teachers taught it in order to preserve the integrity and authenticity of this simple, ancient form of healing. Libby is dedicated to sharing Reiki with all who seek greater wholeness, love and connection.
Libby is a graduate of Simmons School of Social Work and finds her forty-two years as a therapist complement her role as a teacher of Reiki. Her experience as a medical social worker at Massachusetts General Hospital provides a traditional foundation for her work. Libby has taught over 14,000 people nationwide, and has over thirty-four years of experience blending Reiki with conventional health care. Libby has presented Reiki to medical and nursing students at Harvard, Brown, Tufts, and Yale as well as staff at Massachusetts General, Beth Israel, Mt. Auburn, Emerson, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Southern New Hampshire, New York Foundling and New York Columbia Presbyterian.
Libby was featured in a Reiki segment for the PBS nationally televised series, Body and Soul. Libby has lectured on Reiki for three consecutive years at the annual conference of The National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine. In 1999, Libby made a pilgrimage to Japan to explore the history of the Reiki teachers and climb Mt. Kuramayama, the birthplace of Reiki.
Libby is co-author of the book, Reiki Energy Medicine, Bringing Healing Touch into Home, Hospital, and Hospice, which was Healing Arts Press’ 1997 #1 Best Seller; a total of 75,000 copies have been sold in seven languages. Reiki Energy Medicine is highly acclaimed as the gold standard for integrating Reiki with conventional healthcare.
