Reiki Training Outline: Notes for Teachers

This writing is mainly for those who are choosing to teach Tanran Reiki. I wanted to write this so that all the essential training points are covered during the training. Some of the information differs somewhat from the book and from earlier trainings. Tanran Reiki is a growing and evolving tradition. It branched off from the Usui and Hayashi lineage by the first person receiving new symbols in dreamtime. These symbols were not sought out nor was there any wish to create a new lineage. It seems that Reiki just wanted to grow this way. From the vantage point in present time, I found that there are at least two other lineages that have received symbols in dreamtime and have been evolving from this kind of connection. One is Seichim Reiki and the other I have not been able to track down. A large number of Reiki Masters from many lineages have received symbols in dreamtime or even during Reiki sessions. They are sometimes called personal symbols. I still get drawings from many students of symbols they have received. I hope to compile these at some time and have them shared through this blog. In one sense, all the spiritual symbols of all the planetary and extraplanetary spiritual traditions are available to a Reiki practitioner. When I had my level two attunement, I had a visionary experience which was very vivid where I was flying across the planet and seeing all the symbols come to life. Reiki is about using the symbols to feel the living experience and understanding behind them. They are seen as promises by the Reiki guides to link one to the Universal Loving Energy that permeates all of space and time. Just like light going through a prism becomes a rainbow, this love, as a healing energy, becomes many kinds of healing energies. Sei He Ki is love as the fulfillment of unmet emotional needs, mainly from childhood. Tez Reh Oh is love as healing of family and genetic karma. El Leh Yah is about love as recovering fragments of our soul energy that have been lost, usually due to trauma. In any every case, Love as Divine Grace wants to completely heal us for all disease conditions and give us a happy life. It wants to heal us into itself, to help us become part of the energy of love itself. We feel oneness and unity with love, with each other, and life as part of our healing process. While Divine Grace does all the work and we mainly stand back and allow this love to flow through us to others, allowing the energy to have its way, there is a training that is useful for Reiki practitioners to undergo. We are trained how to support the process and to do our part. We become part of the mahasangha, the great spiritual community, of all those who have become a conscious, individualized, and living aspect of the Great Light (Dai Ko Myo), who are one with this light, and who have purified, transmuted, or released any energy that is not in harmony with this light. While most of us on Earth are "in process", learning how to be fully integrated aspects of this loving energy, the mahasangha has already attained perfect enlightenment and have totally integrated their lives within the oneness of this energy. They do not have any aspect of their being that is not in harmony with this light. They always "walk in the light" and do not suffer the pains of separation any longer. The mahasangha are the Reiki Guides. This includes the Guides of every religion that is based on love. However, the ones who are specifically called Reiki Guides are those who choose to support the specific sacrament of healing that is a part of this lineage. The mahasangha will eventually include all the Reiki masters of this lineage who walk the Earth, because Divine Grace only needs our intention and commitment to allow this to happen. When a person takes the level three attunement, they sign up for this healing journey. They commit to going all the way to the very end. They can be a part of any religion that has a compatible understanding of enlightenment. They can also be a member of no religion. They can even be atheists if they want, though the vision of Universal Loving Energy permeating all of existence is an essential element of Reiki. This is a Divine and Sacred energy, the creative source of all that is. While this vision may not be the same thing as an anthropomorphic god who sits in judgment on all sentient beings after they die, it is also not the mere absence of anything Greater than human beings either. The energy can be felt, through training, to flow through the hands and to heal others to the degree that they allow this to happen. It can eventually be felt to be a cosmic energy that creates stars and planets. This energy, to me, is what converted the physical body of Jesus into a light body when he had his transfiguration, what resurrected his physical body from the dead after his crucifixion, and what eventually creates a fully integrated light body after his ascension. I believe that this energy has the power to heal us even of aging and death, and also convert our physical body to a light body.

The outline of training for the class that has levels one, two, and three is:

(1) The difference between chi, jing, and shen levels of energy work. Chi work is basic generation of energy, usually through conscious breathing. Jing work is where we intentionally move energy according to where we think it needs to go. Shen work is where we trust the wisdom of the energy itself and support the process that the energy wants to do. Reiki is shen level work. While jing work is usually safe, it may not always find the path of least resistance and it may overwhelm the person with more than he or she can handle. Jing work is limited by the knowledge and skill of the practitioner who can still make mistakes. When working with humans, whose healing process can be very complex, subtle mistakes or simply not finding the optimal path are very possible. Most of these mistakes merely do not succeed in doing what is optimal and are usually okay in the larger scheme of things. But shen work, guided by the wisdom of the energy itself, does not have this limitation, provided that we learn how to stay out of the way and still do our part.

(2) The Three Gestures of Dai Ko Myo, circular conscious breathing, and being present at the place of contact with the other are the three things that are our part. Visualization of Dai Ko Myo, asking the Reiki Guides to bless this activation, and visualizing the energy of Dai Ko Myo flow down from the sphere above the head, into the soft spot, down the spine to the juncture where the collar bone is, down the arms, out the palms of the hands, to the other person is the first gesture. The second gesture is to consciously breathe in circular fashion, not pausing between inhale and exhale, and relaxing into the energy flow, allowing the energy flow, and surrendering to the energy flow is the second gesture. The third gesture is to be present at the place of contact with the other. This is true even in remote Reiki, though the contact is more subtle. There are Chi Kung like exercises to get a feeling of how to be present even in our own bodies. We usually think of ourselves as a phantom "I" that is sitting inside the brain and head, looking out the eyes, rather than an energy that permeates our whole body. We learn to be present in our whole body and focus this presence where we are meeting the person, where we are laying our hands, and relax into being a conduit for the energy to flow through us to him or her. If we are doing this, and only this, then we will do very good Reiki. If we are uncertain of what we are doing, we can remember that we are not alone, check our connection through Dai Ko Myo, surrender in the circular breathing, and hold connection with the other person. The rest is not up to us. It is between the Universal Loving Energy and the person who is opening up to the energy through us. It is important that we do not "try to heal them". A Reiki practitioner is a channel for healing. We are not the source of healing and not the doer of healing. We might be tempted to take on this other role and separate from being a conduit. This is "taking over the process", rather than allowing the process. We are meant to activate this process, support this process and trust this process, but not do this process. When we take over the process, then we shift from shen work down to jing work. It might even be effective, but it becomes limited by our residual karma and we might get more tired from all our effort. If we are efforting, tensing, and straining, it is a sign that we have shifted our role and need to return to relaxed surrender. Our breathing is the check in point for this.

(3) The energy exercises are designed to deepen the feeling of how to work with the energy, to develop a deep sense of what the three gestures mean and what it feels like to activate, align, and contact. The exercises are named here in list form:

> mime wall

> Tai Chi hand extension with and without presence in hand

> drawing Cho Ku Rei

> drawing with presencing

> drawing with presencing and breathing

> drawing with presencing, breathing, and chanting

> pairing off and staring into the left eye of the other person, right palm down, left palm up, with the other person having their palm two inches away from our palm, then toning "ah", "oh", "oo", and "ee" with vibrato, noticing how each feels, and then just breathing and feeling the "magnetic pulse" between the hands.

> group letting go exercise

> paired off flow exercises

> push hands and sphere exercise

> slap hands and holding sensation exercise

> chi generation chi kung exercises (modified jam jong set)

> the ascension circuit

> implanting symbols in the aura

> energy brushing

> use of symbols during session

> attunement protocol done in pairs

> the guided visualizations associated with the symbols

> invoking and anchoring sacred space through circle of white light

> invoking and anchoring sacred space with Cho Ku Rei in corners, Dai Ko Myo in the center, and two Zee Gah Nahs on the walls

> contact with another imagining a bad day and a great day in the mind, noticing how random thoughts affect the energy flow

> verbal support exercises using the "Its okay mantra" ("It is okay to [blank]").

> Taoist "having a ball" exercise (and then pushing in down the top of the head of another after filling it with gold energy).

> Visualizing a large silvery blue ball in the center of the group and everyone feeding it energy with visualization, projecting hands, and breathing.

(4) The Guided Visualizations. These are more important in Tanran Reiki, since the attunements have shifted to being mainly visualizations. It has been found that the interlocking visualizations used in the attunement process for each symbol (and the Cosmic Temple visualization) produce a deep and stable link with the Universal Loving Energy. It is easier to attune a whole group this way. The Reiki Guides said that this modality of attunement transmission will be more used over time, even to attuning 1,000 people at the same time. It is also the only modality that works when doing a remote attunement. If possible, it is good to support this with chanting and with the tones of an "A" note crystal bowl (the "A" note is keyed into the 3rd eye and is where a remote link is made). The visualizations are in the attunement scripts in the Reiki manual.

(5) The attunement gestures. These are still taught and are in the manual. They are good when a one to one attunement is given or when there is a group initiating one person into the Reiki energy. It makes a nice ritual and is useful. But as mentioned above, the attunements are going to be mainly transimitted through visualization, intention, breathing, mudras, and chanting, rather than through the touch gestures of the previous versions. Seichim Reiki is running a parallel evolution on this point.

(6) Discussions are useful. Going over the 25 points is very good, though this is covered in the homework also. People can usually feel the Universal Loving Energy just through talking about the 25 points. This is how available and gracious the energy is. Going over legal issues, sexual boundaries, client confidentiality, and how to handle money is also important, especially when the group is professionally focused. It is less essential when a person is only learning Reiki to lay hands on friends and family. The five relationship symbols, specifically, are meant to be discussed. The Reiki Guides shared that they would heal through invocation, the guided meditations, and then through discussion and sharing of what they evoked in people. Relationship itself is mainly about discussion and sharing, with sexual union really being a deep intimate communicative sharing of love. Whatever issues show up in a sexual relationship also show up in discussion. In the certification process, the manual and the homework will make sure that these items are covered. There is redundancy built into the process to make sure the key elements are reviewed enough so that everyone gets it.

The key thing during the intensive is attunements, exercises, discussion, and some hands on practice. The purpose of the exercises is to give a living feeling of the energy. It is important that the energy is not just a mere belief, but an actual felt reality that one learns how to work with. If people do not feel this, then the exercises did not work for them. This has been very rare. Only two people did not feel the energy at all after teaching over 300 people. These two had issues with feeling that, when released did allow them to feel the energy. One of them was punished in childhood for being psychic and shut down her feeling for energy because of that. When this issue was released, her ability to feel the energy spontaneously and easily came back. The other had a trauma abuse shutdown. This took time to fully release, but even when the trauma was not fully cleared, the ability to feel the energy came back when the issue started to get addressed.

If a group does not feel the energy after some of the exercises, then stay with the exercises for a longer period of time until they do. In particular, go into detail about how to breathe, chant the vowel sounds, and take time with the basics. As a teacher, too, it is important for us to realize that even in a class that the Reiki Guides are doing the big work and we are just doing our part. Trusting them will make the process easier.