Threshold Notes -- Starting to Teach Reiki - Pt. 2

This article is from some material I have been preparing for my own master level students.

Additional Comments on Part 1:

When deciding what you plan to teach, don’t forget to think about the Reiki certificate you will be giving your students. It doesn’t have to be fancy and there are many web sites that offer templates for such.  You can use the wording from your own certificates or look at what others have used.  I have a web page showing the various Western and Japanese certificates I received and some of these can give you an idea. (see below for link)

1.   Sending Your “Work” Out: Even before you think about advertising classes you can start putting yourself and your upcoming Reiki work out into the world, but in an energetic way. Think of what you have to offer your potential students; your knowledge, experience, abilities, etc. Then think of what they have to offer you; the experience of teaching them, sharing their own personal experiences, the sense of success you will have in teaching them, etc.  Now, from your heart centre imagine a beam of Reiki Light spiralling out and around you, getting wider and wider with each loop.  Energize this spiral with more Reiki, perhaps with symbol energies as well.  Imagine it is making contact with each person who could be a potential student for you.  When each contact happens imagine a light goes on at that point of the spiral.  Let the spiralling go on for as long as it feels best for you, and intend it reach as far out as what feels right. Then just let it go.  This will help these people connect with you and your work.

2.    Putting Yourself Out There:  This is the usual step you might expect; advertising yourself.  You can make up some flyers and business cards and post them on bulletin boards in coffee shops, casual restaurants, markets, natural food stores, health stores, community centres, book stores, etc.  Make sure you get permission at each location.  You can also create a web site.  If you are new to this idea, one very simple but effective free service is Weebly.com.  But there are many others. I suggest that you try not to copy other web sites and please do not “borrow” information from their pages. A better idea might be to share the link to an interesting page but also give your own comments on that article.  There are already lots of sites that just show links to other web sites.  Offering your opinion on an article can demonstrate your own views and thoughts, making you more credible.

3.    Do I Have to Teach Just Anyone?  Sometimes you may draw to you a student who just doesn’t feel right to you.  It might be their attitude, or something they say, or something you have learned about them.  In other cases, you may teach someone who no longer seems to fit in with your views, your own Reiki methods, or you are not comfortable with their Reiki ethics.  Please know you are not bound or obliged to teach them.  To be polite you might simply say that you feel you are not the best teacher for them at this time, that you believe there is someone else out there who is much more suited to their needs.  In most cases this is a true statement.

4.    How Many Students Per Class?  It’s probably much easier to teach a small class of 2 to 4 people when you begin.  This allows you to play with the class agenda and attunement process so you can decide what you are most comfortable with and what works best with your students.  If you do wish to grow to teach larger classes, consider how much time you wish to spend with each student and how long all the attunements will take.  Some students may require more attention than others.  While Reiki is very simple to teach, I found that with a large group I missed the increased interaction with students in smaller classes.  I found that 2 to 6 students was a comfortable number, although from time to time I did like giving much larger classes or presentations for the contrast.  And I always encourage students to keep in contact after class just in case and even repeat the class for free.  But some teachers are more suited to large classes.

5.    The Practice Class:  Arranging a test class with a few friends and family members can give you a good idea of how comfortable you are with teaching others, with your material and also with the success of your attunement process.  I recall reading one of William Rand’s comments about how he felt so uncomfortable in his first class that he thought he should give everyone their money back.  But 2 of his experienced healer friends who took the class to give him moral support told him how amazed they were with the Reiki energy and how it improved their abilities.  That comment gave me a lot of confidence for my own first class, which surprisingly turned out to be a Reiki 3 / Reiki Master three day weekend. 

6.    Scheduling Classes: There are a couple ways you can arrange the time and date for the class. The usual way is to select a date and location that works best for you and then advertise this.  Another way is to let the first interested student suggest a day that he or she is able to come.  You can then advertise that date on your web site and see how many people enrol.  In either case I suggest always holding the class, even if it is just for one student.  If you like to have at least 2 students, you can ask a previous student, a friend or a family member to attend.

Here are links to some of the web pages mentioned in this Note:  - Reiki Certificates       - Weebly Free Web Page Designer - Copyright Information      -  Crop Circle Image

Sharing from the Heart,  Richard (Rick) Rivard