Learn more
About our two chief guests
At the Reiki Festival 2023:
Anneli Twan and Don Beachham.

Who is Anneli Twan?

Anneli Twan is the daughter of Swedish/Canadian Reiki Master Wanja Twan.
Her father Lyle Twan was a native of Canada.
Anneli herself also has the “Status Indian.
Anneli received first-degree Reiki initiation from Hawayo Takata when she was ten years old.
Through her mother, she was initiated as a Reiki Master,
along with Inger Droog, in the presence of Phyllis lei Furumoto.
Wanja gave Anneli the task of being her successor in the “Twan Lineage.

Anneli Twan on ‘Oral traditions’.

“Tell it in words and I will remember. Show it to me and I will believe. Let me experience and I will understand.”

Storytelling is a traditional method for the indigenous peoples of Canada
To learn about culture, values, customs, rituals, history,
customs, relationships, spiritual beliefs and lifestyles.

Indigenous storytelling is the basis of holistic living, relationship building and experiential learning.
It serves to connect individuals and their communities to their place and time and to each other.
At the heart of each story is a teaching of relationship, either with the self or with other human and nonhuman beings.
There is an energy in spoken stories that you cannot find in written words.
By telling stories, the subject comes alive with its own energy that the listener absorbs,
It challenges the intellect and goes to the heart.
The story sticks with the listener until it becomes relevant in his or her life, and then it resurfaces.
Stories are also contextual with temporal references, bridging fact, truth and fiction.
Thus, storytellers must adapt to their audience in order to make the topic relevant and meaningful to listeners.

The survival of any society depends on the ability to remember, create and share stories.
In the indigenous cultures of North America, each story has a teaching that transcends the story to convey a lesson,
while also maintaining a personal connection with the narrator.
The bonding effects of storytelling are fundamental to this process.
Japan also has a long history of deep respect for tradition
of passing on culture, skills and knowledge through an oral tradition.
Reiki is taught in the oral tradition.
By sharing stories, Reiki is brought to life and made relevant to students.
I have had the privilege of meeting many wonderful storytellers.
My first Reiki Master, Hawayo Takata, was an amazing storyteller.
Her Reiki classes were full of stories of people she taught and treated.
While showing the hand positions, she always told stories about her experiences of people she worked with,
their problems and the results of treatments.
It made what she taught real.
She cultivated the belief that if she can do this, anyone can.
Good storytelling is a skill and a strategy for survival. Hawayo Takata was a master.

Anneli her husband, Don Beacham,
works at the Reiki Festival
with “Indian” drum ceremonies.

They both work and collaborate with Reiki in “Indian Reserves.
Anneli:“I am currently doing cultural work with First Nations organizations and Indian Reserves.
My father, Lyle Twan, was of the “First Nations” from a small reservation in central BC.
I myself also have the “Status Indian,” as we call it here in Canada, and belong to the “Esdilagh First Nation.
My husband and fellow Reiki master Don Beacham is Cree of Norway House First Nation in Manitoba.
Since 1984, my husband has been practicing drumming, sweat lodge ceremonies and fasting ceremonies.
We are both “Pipe Carriers. We earned that right by fasting for four days without food or water.
We are regularly called on very short notice to remote areas in the province of Canada.
We then help with crisis situations, such as suicides, residential school trauma
and the trauma of discovering all the unmarked graves.
It is intense and hard work, but Reiki brings light to these situations.”