A reiki teacher instructs students on how to practice reiki. To become a reiki teacher, a person usually goes through four stages of training. Level one qualifies her as a practitioner, level two qualifies her as a professional, and level three qualifies her as a master. She learns to pass energy on to others during the fourth training level so that they can become practitioners as well.
Reiki is a spiritual healing technique. The word literally means “God-guided life force energy.” During a reiki treatment, energy flows from the practitioner’s hands to the patient, assisting in the healing of any diseases or problems the patient may have. It is thought that when a person’s energy levels drop, she becomes ill. A reiki practitioner helps the patient regain her health boosting her energy level. Depending on the patient’s strength and condition, the level of energy transferred from practitioner to patient adjusts automatically.
A reiki practitioner does not learn the practice in the same way that he would learn another skill. Instead, he receives a reiki teacher’s attunement. An attunement takes place during a ceremony, and the teacher can attune multiple students at the same time. By drawing reiki symbols over his head and hands and touching the student’s head, shoulders, and hands, the reiki teacher transfers energy to the student. Several of a student’s chakras are opened during the attunement, connecting him to the reiki energy source.
The teacher may spend some time with the student after she has been attuned, demonstrating how to give a reiki treatment. A student will practice her new skill on patients during a level-one course. If a student decides to continue her training, she will receive another attunement from a reiki teacher, who will show her more symbols.
A reiki teacher may show the student the symbol for healing at a distance during a level-two attunement. After receiving this symbol, a student can use reiki energy to heal patients who are not in the same room as him. The other symbols a reiki teacher gives his students are determined the teacher’s methods and lineage.
The lineage of a teacher refers to the teachers who came before her as well as the reiki system she uses. Mikao Usui, for example, is credited with founding reiki in the West in the early twentieth century. A Usui lineage teacher learned from a teacher who learned from a teacher who learned from another teacher, all the way back to Usui.