There are over 140 different styles of Reiki out there and so appreciably it is
difficult for anyone looking for a Reiki practitioner or teacher to know what sort
of criteria they need to be looking out for.
A Reiki practitioner or teacher should ultimately take responsibility for giving
their clients the best treatment they can offer, whilst under their care, with
due regard to the client's medical condition and implications of any medications
the client is taking for their condition. A good Reiki practitioner or teacher s
hould also have honesty, integrity and underpinning knowledge of their subject.
Don't be afraid when you ring up for a treatment or Reiki course to ask plenty
of questions about how the practitioner or teacher works with Reiki. If the answers
they give you seem ambiguous and forced, then look elsewhere.
The main thing is to trust your intuition, it does not matter how knowledgeable
someone may seem, if you feel that something is not quite right then trust your
instincts. It is irrelevant if someone says they have practiced Reiki for 20 years
if they don't understand what they are doing!
Below you will find some criteria to look out for when deciding where to go for Reiki.
• Make sure the practitioner or Reiki teacher belongs to an accredited Reiki
association and teaches an accredited course. Also be aware that different associations
follow different codes of practice and their members teach in different ways.
Speak to the Reiki practitioner first by telephone to be sure that you feel
comfortable with the practitioner. Make sure that they are empathetic, candid and
can readily answer any of your questions. If a Reiki healer cannot make you
understand what they are talking about they don't understand it themselves.
• Ask the practitioner lots of questions about how they work with Reiki to
make sure it suits you. Many practitioners are not willing to work on specific
conditions which is fine if all you want is a treatment purely for relaxation,
but if you have anything that needs treating make sure you go to a practitioner
who works actively with Reiki and will work directly on your condition(s).
• If you are going for a Reiki treatment and you are female it is probably
safer to either go and see a female practitioner or take a friend with you for
the first treatment.
• Some Reiki websites offer distant treatments or attunements. This can be
extremely misleading. The qualifications will not be recognised and you don't
know what sort of treatment or course you will be getting.
It is much better to see a practitioner directly and if you are learning Reiki it
is important to learn from a qualified teacher who will offer you the support you
need during and after the course. Distant attunements can be at the very least
completely ineffectual and at the worse very dangerous. Remember that you are
letting someone you have never met before make changes to your energy field, so
make sure you feel safe with them.
• If you are undertaking a Reiki course make sure that the course is
certified and that manual and post course support are included. Some Reiki
teachers do not provide you with a manual and it will be hard for you to remember
everything you have learned and practice Reiki effectively after you have completed
your course.
• Be very wary of Reiki teachers that offer 'bargain' deals such as learning
Reiki I, II and III all in one weekend. You cannot become a good Reiki Master in
one weekend. It is a huge responsibility to teach Reiki and to practice Reiki on
others. Learning all the Reiki levels in one weekend will leave you deflated,
frustrated, lacking in a good foundation of knowledge and most probably completely
unable to use Reiki effectively.
• Reiki Level I if it is traditional Usui Reiki should have 4 attunements,
Level II should have 1 attunement and Master level should have 1 attunement.
These are the number of attunements the founder of Reiki Mikao Usui used.
Some Reiki teachers say it doesn't matter how many attunements you have, you will
still be able to use Reiki but this is nonsense. The attunement process connects
you to the source of the energy and raises your frequency as well as placing the
Reiki symbols into various parts of your body to enable you to be an effective
channel for the energy. They are a vital part of a Reiki course and it is imperative
that you are attuned properly if you want to be an effective Reiki practitioner yourself.
• Reiki attunements should not involve singing bowels, Tibetan bells, gongs
or any other unnecessary paraphernalia unrelated to Reiki. You are not receiving a
traditional Usui attunement if any of the former is involved in the attunement process.
It might be best to ask the Reiki teacher before you sign up for a course what is
involved when they give you attunements.
• Be very wary of Reiki teachers that offer Reiju or empowerments instead of
attunements. Reiju or empowerments are what Mikao Usui used to give to the students
he saw daily or weekly and they raise your frequency in tiny steps, enabling you
after years of practice to use Reiki for healing purposes. Usui gave attunements
to the students he only saw once or twice to dramatically raise their frequency
in one go because he wouldn't be seeing them on a regular basis. This enabled Usui's
students to use Reiki instantly to heal.
If you have Reiju/empowerments you will feel dis-empowered because you will not
be able to give effective healings to yourself or others unless you spend hours
a day doing specific meditations taught by Mikao Usui such as Hatsu rei ho.
• If a Reiki teacher tells you that there needs to be a gap between Reiki
Level I and II you would be better off looking elsewhere. It is in fact much better
to learn Reiki I and II together. The reason for this is that Reiki Level I only
enables you to heal on a spiritual level and everybody has physical and emotional
traumas that need healing. By learning level II straight after you will be able
to heal yourself on every level so if during your cleansing period anything
physical or emotional surfaces you will be able to heal it effectively. You
will also be able to heal others on a physical and emotional level, working
on conditions directly. With level I you can only heal spiritually so you
may be left feeling frustrated that you cannot heal more effectively.
• Be sure to check that the Reiki teacher or practitioner has a lineage
which extends all the way back to the founder of Reiki, Mikao Usui.
• Ask the Reiki practitioner if they have ongoing treatments or would only
treat a client for a certain period of time. A good ethical Reiki practitioner
should not see a client for more than around 6 - 12 treatments (unless the client
has a serious or terminal condition that requires ongoing treatment). Some Reiki
healers will treat someone for years but a good healer should help you to empower
and take responsibility for yourself and get you back to good health in as few
treatments as possible, rather than taking your money for years on end.
• Beware of Reiki practitioners or teachers with big egos! Reiki is a gift
from God or the Universe (whichever label you prefer) and a wise healer is humble
and accepts that the energy of Reiki is infinite and limitless in its potential. A
Reiki practitioner should accept responsibility for their client and treat whatever
their client comes to them for.
• A good Reiki practitioner/ teacher should accept that Reiki has
contraindications and be willing to discuss these with their client or students.
Reiki cannot be given in certain circumstances, for instance someone with a
pacemaker should NOT have Reiki because the pacemaker is electromagnetic and so
is Reiki, therefore the Reiki may potentially alter the speed of the pacemaker.
If a Reiki practitioner/ teacher claims that Reiki has no contraindications they
may be putting your health at risk if you suffer from certain conditions or take
certain medications.
These guidelines are by no means exhaustive but they should give you an idea of
what to look for in a Reiki practitioner or Reiki teacher. If you have any queries
about choosing a practitioner or teacher feel free to email us on enquiries@thehealingco.com or
call us on 020 8367 9158 and we will be happy to help you.
© Copyright Dawn Mellowship 2005.
