My Teaching Style and Philosophy
I am passionate about Reiki and how it can heal and transform lives. Reiki is the first thing I ever taught, and I am continuing to improve how I teach it. I deliberately teach a very informal class. It is my goal that people are comfortable in a Reiki class and feel they can ask questions, get answers, and explore. I see a class as a multi-day conversation. We cover all the topics, but there is room for people to make the class their own with their questions and with examples tailored to their everyday lives.
I once had two people take my class that had worked as "cult deprogrammers" some years before. They had found people that had been brainwashed into cults, and their job was to bring those people back into society. I had only been teaching a few years at that point, and I shyly asked "Is there anything at all cult like about Reiki?" They laughed, and told me "Jess, you constantly teach your students to not listen to any outside authority, including you, and to instead trust their own experiences. By definition, that is as anti-cult as you can get."
Trusting Self
Reiki is easy to learn, easy to practice. A Reiki attunement handles the former, but practicing Reiki in the real world shows results. I encourage my students to "think Reiki," to trust their own intuition. Even when they are not confident and the energy does not feel present, they are encouraged to use logic. I ask my students to verify the Reiki is working by asking about the results after using Reiki. Everybody had a natural instinct to ask an outside athority, be it book or person, and trust that opinion instead of their own judgement..
Many people are not used to trusting their intuition, perception, nor ability to understand a mystery. The idea that one has the ability to do this themselves is a revelation to most. For some, there is a difficulty to put their perception into words, but being able to do so is a wonderful way to increase psychic ability. Theories over an idea could be right or wrong, but the data, the ability to perceive energy, is the most important part. Observing the results is even more important. Does Reiki have an actual effect on the physical and / or emotional well being of the person you assisted?
Reiki does not Require Belief
I try not to convince people about Reiki, instead give them a chance to experience it for themselves. One does not need to believe in Reiki, but practice it, experience it. Once they have an experience (whether personal or through observation), they can ponder the mystery of Reiki and how they can use Reiki in their own life.
Sometimes I feel like an aborigine trying to convince the scientists that yes, people really do get better when I do x, y, and z. The aborigine and the scientist may have different ways of looking at the world, different biases about the possible, and the nature of reality. The end result, however, is what matters - does the process work?
Willingness is the most important thing
Jokingly, I call Reiki 'energy healing for the lazy and stupid' because I find many students who are concerned they have little to no qualifications to undertake Reiki. On the contrary, Reiki is about willingness. One does not have to be a natural healer (though I train many). One does not have to be strictly dedicated, loving, powerful, knowledgeable, nor spiritual (and I train many people of these qualities too). If one is willing to learn Reiki, use it to help themselves, others, and the world around them, Reiki will handle every other detail.