By Bronwen and Frans Stiene

A prospective student needs to divine whether the teacher is ethical, knowledgeable and a trustworthy individual. Though the system of Reiki is not a transmission system (as practiced in Tibetan Buddhism) you are naturally affected by how and what your teacher teaches. What you eventually practice will be a reflection of that teaching.

Some Reiki teachers instruct in other forms of energetic healing - find out what they are and if they are aligned with what you are looking for. It is disappointing if you find a teacher that puts on one hat for the Japanese system of Reiki and then another hat for a system of Reiki healing that has a different history and understanding of energy. This signals a lack of integration of the system into the teacher's life.

Traditionally, the role of a teacher is to guide a student through all the practices involved with each level. This aids the student in trusting the process and learning to let go, as a result experiencing each element at its fullest. Confidence is gained when tuition is knowledgeable and clear. Thus the teachers assuredness ensures the level of clarity of intent for the students own practice. This does not mean that a Reiki teacher supplies a student with all the answers that is an impersonation of teaching but that a student is guided to find the answers: becoming empowered.

Your Reiki teacher's own journey is important to the extent that you should travel spiritually with him or her as a student. If ones teacher does not have a personal routine of self-practice then there is no point in learning from them. Some teachers believe that their effort in healing or helping others qualifies them as good Reiki teachers. It may make them good people and energetically benefit from their self-practice to some degree but it is not self practice itself. Working with others is an excellent activity but it can be deceiving. Many Reiki teachers and practitioners get hooked on receiving gratifying responses from those they have helped or wowed with their Reiki healing energy.

Personal practice is mostly about hard work and at times not gratifying whatsoever but it is true self-development. As potential student you will want to find out that your teacher practices what he or she preaches. If a Reiki teacher asserts no need for self-practice then you must quickly move on it is only an enlightened soul that needs no practice and an enlightened soul has no need for claims of illumination. A student must give and receive respect and have a sense that during ones evolution trust will grow and blossom.

There is an initial phase where you may feel bedazzled when reminded of your true nature your Ki connection. It is all too easy to credit a teacher with this awe while it should be directed at your own amazing self. If a teacher misunderstands these energetic fundamentals then he or she may believe that they have miraculously gained a supernatural power and can do things to others. This concept unfortunately places the power in your teacher's hands and renders you unempowered. You become controlled by your teacher's ability and consequently you see no need to practice.

In such a situation you may also notice that, as time goes by, the wow factor decreases and decreases and suddenly you are left with just a vague memory of what this connection had meant. So many students of Western forms of Reiki healing energy complain of this and wish to be re-attuned not realizing they were never attuned to anything in the first place. It is not the attunement that reminds them of who they are but their own efforts.

A Reiki teacher's attitude to others is an indication that they understand and practice what is taught in the system of Reiki. If this is the case the teacher will never make claims to be energetically stronger or more powerful than any other system or teacher. This is bravado and false advertising and has no place within the system of Reiki healilng energy.

This is an extract from The Japanese Art of Reiki by Bronwen and Frans Stiene and published by O Books and is also available in the Soothingminds online shop.