How to Choose a Reiki Teacher
It can be so confusing when you start to think about learning Reiki. There are Reiki teachers everywhere and there seem to be so many different styles of Reiki. Which one should you choose and which teacher should you choose?
Well don't just go for the first Reiki teacher you come across. You need to look around to see what is being offered by a range of people, not just in your area. Look at their prices and their promotional materials, notice if you seem to 'warm' to one person's approach, or way of describing things, whereas you might feel 'put off' by another's.
The internet is a good place to start, but you might also try your local Health Food store, Natural Healing Center or Alternative Bookshop to see if they know of anybody who teaches Reiki locally. There are also websites such as About.com and Meetup.com where you can find local Reiki teachers.
Price and Location
Price is not an indication of quality so don't just choose the cheapest, or the most expensive for that matter. Cheap does not mean that you are getting a bargain, and expensive does not mean that you are getting better quality. The reverse may be the case. Just because a teacher is just down the road from you doesn't mean that they are the right teacher for you! Many people travel a long, long way to train with a teacher that they feel comfortable with. That is the important thing: to find someone with whom you feel comfortable, even if that means a bit of a trek to train with them!
Don't go for the biggest advertisements, or the people who shout the loudest about how wonderful they are; you can do without big egos. If a teacher has really embraced Reiki, you should detect a little humility, and no backbiting of other Reiki teachers!
Manuals
What are you going to be provided with in terms of training materials? How many pages does that manual have and who wrote it? If your teacher has only recently started running courses then it would be quite common for them to pass on the training manual that they were given by their teacher, and that is fine, but if they have been teaching for a while then they should have put something together themselves, based on their ideas and experiences, putting forward their particular vision, particularly at Master level. If you are getting a manual that has been copied so many times that you can hardly read it, then you know that either your teacher is new, or your Reiki Master doesn't care enough to provide you with quality aterials.
We think that it is important for you to be given a comprehensive manual, and that you should not have to take a lot of notes during class. You can't relax and enjoy he course if you are frantically scribbling away, you have to write up your own notes when you get home, and you'll probably find that you can't read your handwriting nyway, or your notes don't make complete sense.
What happens if your teacher amends their course manual in the future? Will
you be told about this and will you be able to obtain a copy of the new manual? At Reiki Haus, we do send out new revisions to the Reiki Manuals so that the tudents always have the most current information available to them.
What Type of Reiki, and Length of Class
What kind of Reiki are you going to be learning? Have you researched the various Western types of Reiki? They are not all the same. Will you be learning traditional Western Takata Reiki, or will you be learning an "enhanced" version that adds non-Reiki elements into the class? Is this the type of Reiki that you want to learn? How long is the class? Are they only using a few hours to cover any of the levels? Don't sell yourself short, ask your potential Reiki teacher what you will be learning if you cannot find the information on their website.
Course Schedule or Agenda
What is actually going to be covered on the day of the course? What is the course schedule or agenda? Does the teacher actually have a schedule or agenda to show you so that you can make your decision of which teacher you want? If not, does that concern you? How much time are you going to spend working with energy and doing hands-on work (self-treatments and treating other people)? Are you going to be provided with materials to look at before you go to the class?
Number of Students in the Class
How many people are going to be in your class? What will the absolute maximum be? If it is possible that there are going to be 20, 30 or even 40 other people on your Reiki class, how likely do you think it is that you are going to receive a lot of ndividual attention from the teacher and get adequate practice? Will you feel onfident to stand up in front of dozens of people and ask your question, or will you eel that your question is silly? Will the teacher have time to deal with your questions if there are so many people?
With that number of people, are you going to have access to a treatment table, and are you going to get to carry out a full Reiki treatment on someone on, say, your eiki I class?
How many people do you feel you would like to have as your maximum number of
students on your course? Four, six, eight?
Ongoing Support
How is your teacher going to support you long term? Will they be open to you contacting them after you have completed the course to ask questions? Do they espond promptly with full answers to all of your questions? Have they set any hings up so that you can be supported by other Reiki people, for example by osting an Internet discussion group or regular Reiki shares (get-togethers where you swap Reiki treatments)? Do they offer free distant empowerments (re- ttunements)?
Does it seem that they are willing to build an ongoing relationship with you?
We believe that it is very important for you to find a teacher who will be there to help and support you when and if you need it. They should havevarious methods set up so that you can meet other Reiki people if you want to, to swap treatments, to share experiences, building a sense of community.
Japanese Reiki Techniques
Exactly what sort of Reiki are you going to be taught? The 'standard' sort of Reiki that is taught in the West came through a Japanese-American lady called Hawayo Takata, who was taught by a man called Dr Hayashi. His version of Reiki was very different from the Reiki that was taught by Reiki's founder, Mikao Usui.
Not many people are passing on the original Japanese techniques, only recently available to us, and these come from different sources. Some people are teaching some Japanese Reiki techniques that have come to the west via a Reiki Master called Frank Arjava Petter. Some of these techniques are original stuff, some are not. Some people are teaching techniques that come from teachings of a apanese Reiki Master called Hiroshi Doi. Some of Mr Doi's teachings are indeed original stuff, but some of it isn't.
Does this matter to you anyway? Are you happy to learn the Reiki that most of the people around you will have learned, or do you feel that you want to learn a Reiki that has more of a Japanese-style to it, or maybe even get closer to the real teachings of Reiki's founder? We at Reiki Haus are one of the few in this area who are passing on the 'Usui Teate' techniques as part of our Reiki I, Reiki II and aster/Teacher courses.
Finally
Finally, you need to correspond with your prospective teacher, or if you can you should talk to them. How do they seem? What vibes do they give off? Do you feel comfortable with their demeanor? Do they seem dogmatic? Do they give the impression that that 'know it all'? Or do they seem open and friendly, do they have a sense of humour or do they seem deadly earnest and serious?
Once you have contacted a few people and seen what is on offer, you need to decide, and it's better not to use your head too much because you'll end up going round in circles! Let your gut feelings guide you, go with the person who feels right for you, and I wish you luck with your Reiki adventure!