Starting to teach?

Hi Lavandula,

A very good book/s I would recommend are Essential Reiki Teaching Manual and Essential Reiki by Diane Stein. I had no idea where to start, so this helped a lot. I also encompassed my own ideas into the Contents for the day.

My first Reiki Master read from the entire manual with my first degree, which to me showed she did not have the necessary knowledge.

Its ok I suppose to have brief notes. Also try and incorporate some energy exercises i.e. feeling the energy with hands/partner, carrying out a full treatment is always good. Breaking up the attunements (four on this level) so they are spaced out in the day.

I taught my first student (2nd Degree Reiki) just 2 weeks ago. It was an exhilirating experience. It all just flowed and I went with the Contents of the day. I thought it would take 3 hours but it took 6, so definitely worth having a trial run.

Also with Reiki 1, its good to find out what other peoples experiences are with Reiki 1, some may have been attuned before. Introductions obviously good and a chance for everyone to relax.

Good luck with all of it. It takes time to sort out all the paperwork and even now, am changing bits and bobs for teaching the 3 levels.

x

I'm not a Reiki teacher but I used to be both a university lecturer and a teacher of kinesiology, so some general advice from me.

It's really normal to be nervous.
Teaching someone you have a relationship with can be a lot harder than teaching strangers.
Remember that, though you do not know everything about your subject, you know more than the people you are teaching.
Focus on the good you are doing in the world by handing on the amazing things you have been taught.

best wishes

Jane

It's really normal to be nervous.
Teaching someone you have a relationship with can be a lot harder than teaching strangers.
Remember that, though you do not know everything about your subject, you know more than the people you are teaching.
Focus on the good you are doing in the world by handing on the amazing things you have been taught.

Very well said! I just want to add one more thing - when you are teaching Reiki you will not be alone and you will be guided. Once you start teaching everything will flow naturally and you will find the words you need.

What I find helpful is to give myself a self-healing with the Master symbol before I teach any course. This puts me in the right place to teach Reiki.

God luck!

It's really normal to be nervous.
Teaching someone you have a relationship with can be a lot harder than teaching strangers.
Remember that, though you do not know everything about your subject, you know more than the people you are teaching.
Focus on the good you are doing in the world by handing on the amazing things you have been taught.

Thank you for this good advice. I think you're right about it being more difficult to teach someone you know so I will keep that in mind when reflecting on the 'trial run' and not let it put me off if I find it difficult.

I'm definitly going to do some energy exercises so that they can feel what their energy and other people's energy feels like and definitely a treatment swap between students and the self-treatment (western and japanese style), give 3 empowerments, go through Hatsu Rei Ho with them too and I also thought about a quick grounding meditation at the beginning to get everyone in the right frame of mind. I want it to be a more practical day for the students and less of me talking about theory which they can read in their manuals - obviously I will talk about some aspects. What do you think?

Hi Lavandula,

A very good book/s I would recommend are Essential Reiki Teaching Manual and Essential Reiki by Diane Stein. I had no idea where to start, so this helped a lot.

Thanks for the book recommendations - have just ordered the first one from Amazon.

I agree - give them lots of practical advice and practice, because when they leave, that's when questions occur. If they have tried a few things out with you, they'll be more confident in their working.

Before starting, do try this exercise: take yourself into 'healing mode'. Explore how it feels, how you feel. Then take yourself into 'teaching mode'. You should feel a difference of focus between the two. When you have recognised that, you will be able to take yourself into 'teaching mode' every time with students.

Personally for me, healing mode is more expansive, gentler... teaching mode is focused, like a beam of light holding me just a little 'higher' in the energy.

Moonfeather

Hi Lavandula,

I agree, it's completely normal to be apprehensive before teaching your first course. That's a really good idea to do a "practice run" with your partner before you begin. When I first began to think about teaching, I did the same with a few friends and family members, and found that approach to be really beneficial in my preparation.

I think that the longer you teach, the more confident you will become...

On the subject of teaching manuals, I think that you're probably best either writing your own, or using the ones that your own teacher gave to you (if they allow that). That way, you can tailor the course so that its content is in harmony with what you practice yourself. If you're teaching content that you have found to be useful and beneficial, that genuine, first-hand experience will shine through to your students.

I teach Shoden (Reiki I) over two days and would be happy to PM you a copy of my curriculum if you though it might be helpful. I don't know how relevant it would be to your own practice though, as it's a traditional Japanese approach with specific methods.

On a side note...

A very good book/s I would recommend are Essential Reiki Teaching Manual and Essential Reiki by Diane Stein. I had no idea where to start, so this helped a lot.

I know that this is popular Reiki book, but personally, I really don't like it. I read it some years ago and found it to be factually and historically incorrect, and full of loads of really weird speculation about Reiki, some of it quite paranoid and off-putting. Plus, the author's attitude towards men was really offensive. Embracing a feminist perspective and working towards equality for women does not have to involve such hostility and antagonism towards half the people on this planet.

Aurora Reiki,

Can I just put my view across - I bought the book purely for the teaching methods and not for the Reiki facts. I also found some of the points raised strange and that she does not teach men, which is discriminating.

However its a good place to start when you have nothing. Her symbols are exactly the same as what I learned for Reiki 2 so that was definitely helpful. I just picked out the parts that would be useful to me.

It really was about the structure of the day that I required, however, the true teaching comes from the Master itself.

Hi Heaven-Spirit,

Well, glad you found the book to be helpful! It's a bestseller and I'm certain that there are many, many Reiki practitioners and teachers out there who enjoy Diane Stein's books and find them useful. Not for me, but it's a matter of personal taste I suppose.

I think that quite often in western styles of Reiki, people come out of their Reiki III courses not really feeling very certain about whether or not they want to teach, and if so, how best to approach it. When I first took my "Master" level in a western style many years ago, I had no clue what to do. My own teacher did not provide me with extensive manuals, and much of the course content was coloured by her personal spiritual beliefs, which I didn't really resonate with.

I had to spend quite a lot of time doing independent research and trying out various techniques and practices before I felt confident in what I was doing...much less ready to teach it to someone else! Over the years, my practice began to move in a more traditional direction, and I decided to redo my training altogether. This I feel, has really deepened and enriched my personal practice, and hopefully made me a better teacher as well.

Lavandula, I've pm'd you a little summary of my Shoden (Reiki I) curriculum as requested. Feel free to get in touch if there's anything you'd like to chat about.

Best of luck to you both with your Reiki courses!

Well, my RM who is male used Diane Stein's book exclusively - make of that what you will. I use it too, together with some other stuff such as you'll find on www.aetw.org/reiki.html and Vincent Amador's stuff.

I decided to write my own manuals according to my views about Reiki because I needed to be true to (a) the Reiki and (b) myself and my teachers. I now split Reiki from the "other stuff" and only introduce the "other stuff" if my students are already into it.

At present I only do one day courses. This is because I can cover everything I need to in one day, and I only teach very small numbers. Were I to teach Reiki to more than 5 people I would need more time because of the practise part. However, I'm about to start teaching according to UK Reiki Federation National Occupational Standard, which will mean I need to teach all levels over a longer period of time - case studies are involved, for example - and increase the cost accordingly. The NOS's are very good for giving you a taste of what to teach - but they are really in-depth and you could argue that a lot of it isn't really Reiki (case studies for example - why??? that sounds like judging Reiki to me).

Hope this helps

However its a good place to start when you have nothing.

This may seem a silly question, but did your Reiki teacher not teach you how and what to teach on your master's course?

However, I'm about to start teaching according to UK Reiki Federation National Occupational Standard, which will mean I need to teach all levels over a longer period of time

Do you have any more information on that please? Is that specific to UK Reiki Fed or are you talking about the NOS developed by the Reiki Council? As far as I am aware, the NOS does not have an approved curriculum yet. I could be wrong though, I have not been involved in the VSR process for a while now.

Do you have any more information on that please? Is that specific to UK Reiki Fed or are you talking about the NOS developed by the Reiki Council? As far as I am aware, the NOS does not have an approved curriculum yet. I could be wrong though, I have not been involved in the VSR process for a while now.

Well they are available for download from the UK Reiki Fed site. It's the Skills for Health NOS, and as they were developed by a Sector Skills Council I'm guessing that they'll be imposed on us despite the "consultation" process. As the opportunity to do the work I'm about to embark on has arisen now I've got to start somewhere with something, and these seem like the obvious place to start.

Well they are available for download from the UK Reiki Fed site.

Thank you for that info. I have looked at the UK Reiki Fed site and had a look at the NOS stuff. If you are interested, the NOS were developed as part of the VSR process initiated by the government. I was part of the group that formulated the NOS. There were two members from the UK Reiki Fed on the group also. Skills for Health provided two project managers to assist us and to take forward the NOS. At the moment, the NOS do not include a syllabus or core curriculum, it is still up to the individual teachers to formulate their own syllabus that prepares their students to meet the requirements of the NOS. I have ensured my level level 1 and 2 course meets the NOS requirements. I think having the NOS will encourage higher standards of Reiki teaching and will lead to better trained and better prepared Reiki practitioners.