What makes a good Reiki Teacher?

there are quite a few teachers on here, what personal qualities, traits, knowledge, understanding, ability etc.... makes a good Reiki Teacher??

for those who have studied multiple styles and have multiple lineages, what different traits in your teachers shone through for you?

When you first started teaching, how confident did you feel?
did it take you a while to find your teaching feet?
what were/are the pros and cons that you found in your own teaching journey?
what advice would you give to a potential teacher?
what if anything would you do differently?
what have you learned as a teacher?

if you offer training in differnt 'styles' of Reiki, do you ever get confused with the different elements within each style?
Do any elements of your training within different styles conflict with other styles?
did you become a teaching assitant for many classes before you set out on your own?
How supportive was your Reiki teacher in helping you gain the appropriate skills for teaching a class?

what should be the basic requirements of all reiki teachers in your opinion?

~~

quite a few questions I know......I'd appreciate any answers from as many folk as possible, thanks..

Pachamama wrote:there are quite a few teachers on here, what personal qualities, traits, knowledge, understanding, ability etc.... makes a good Reiki Teacher??

for those who have studied multiple styles and have multiple lineages, what different traits in your teachers shone through for you?

When you first started teaching, how confident did you feel?
did it take you a while to find your teaching feet?
what were/are the pros and cons that you found in your own teaching journey?
what advice would you give to a potential teacher?
what if anything would you do differently?
what have you learned as a teacher?

if you offer training in differnt 'styles' of Reiki, do you ever get confused with the different elements within each style?
Do any elements of your training within different styles conflict with other styles?
did you become a teaching assitant for many classes before you set out on your own?
How supportive was your Reiki teacher in helping you gain the appropriate skills for teaching a class?

what should be the basic requirements of all reiki teachers in your opinion?

~~

quite a few questions I know......I'd appreciate any answers from as many folk as possible, thanks..

Excellent questions.

[quote="chi_solas"]

Pachamama wrote:there are quite a few teachers on here, what personal qualities, traits, knowledge, understanding, ability etc.... makes a good Reiki Teacher??

Patience, know the facts about what the
Reiki system entails & understand that you
are only a facilitator not a healer.

for those who have studied multiple styles and have multiple lineages, what different traits in your teachers shone through for you?

I had one teacher from 1 through RMT level.
I never felt the need to try other styles

When you first started teaching, how confident did you feel?

I found that teaching adults was just
the same as teaching children. I learned
not to assume that adults are more advanced
than children. I always started at the beginning.

did it take you a while to find your teaching feet?

Teaching is a skill. Like any other profession
there are techniques needed to address individuals
learning styles.

what were/are the pros and cons that you found in your own teaching journey?

learning to adapt to hands on teaching, & creating
my own style over my RMT's style.

what advice would you give to a potential teacher?

If you have not done professional teaching
take a class/ or read up on how to meet the
needs of different learning styles.

teaching what if anything would you do differently?
what have you learned as a teacher?

I learned to review the facts behind Reiki since
my RMT taught what her RMT taught and I was finding
through Reiki Forums there were 100's of different
Reiki Styles. That was confusing so I passed this info
onto my students.

if you offer training in differnt 'styles' of Reiki, do you ever get confused with the different elements within each style?
Do any elements of your training within different styles conflict with other styles?
did you become a teaching assitant for many classes before you set out on your own?
How supportive was your Reiki teacher in helping you gain the appropriate skills for teaching a class?

I only offer 1 style.

what should be the basic requirements of all reiki teachers in your opinion?

That they have teaching skills and they follow a curriculum.
Be available to assist their students after the Reiki class
is over.Students still needs supervision when they go off on
their own.
~~

quite a few questions I know......I'd appreciate any answers from as many folk as possible, thanks..

Thanks for taking the time to ask these questions
This is a subject not really addressed. I have
observed students come to Reiki forums to get questions
answered.

Pachamama wrote:there are quite a few teachers on here, what personal qualities, traits, knowledge, understanding, ability etc.... makes a good Reiki Teacher??

Read on!...

Pachamama wrote:
for those who have studied multiple styles and have multiple lineages, what different traits in your teachers shone through for you?

What shone through for me from all my teachers is their confidence, knowledge and belief in what they are teaching.

Pachamama wrote:
When you first started teaching, how confident did you feel?

I had done quite a bit of research in order to write my own Reiki manuals, so I actually felt pretty confident from the start, even though I had never taught before!

Pachamama wrote:
did it take you a while to find your teaching feet?

Not really!

Pachamama wrote:
what were/are the pros and cons that you found in your own teaching journey?

Pros include the feeling of joy and happiness I get when I teach Reiki, meeting different people who seem somehow to have much in common! Watching the transformation some people experience as they "get it" or something clicks in their mind!

Cons: I don't get to teach as often as I would like!

Pachamama wrote:
what advice would you give to a potential teacher?

Make sure you really get to know your subject so you can answer as many questions as possible and have explanations ready for the things you teach. Be honest: if you don't know the answer to a particular question say so and then try to research the answer and get back to the student! Also, get to know about things around your subject that can be related to it.

Pachamama wrote:
what if anything would you do differently?

I think I would like to be able to spread my courses over more than one day so they are not quite so intensive - but currently I am not able to do that due to family commitments.

Pachamama wrote:
what have you learned as a teacher?

That there is always something new to learn...often from your students!

Pachamama wrote:
if you offer training in differnt 'styles' of Reiki, do you ever get confused with the different elements within each style?

No.

Pachamama wrote:
Do any elements of your training within different styles conflict with other styles?

Maybe!

Pachamama wrote:
did you become a teaching assitant for many classes before you set out on your own?

No, not before I started teaching. I researched how other teachers structured their classes, read some articles about teaching in general and modified that to suit what I wanted to do. However, I am currently attending some Shoden classes as a teaching assistant as part of my Jikiden Reiki training to become a Shihan.

Pachamama wrote:
How supportive was your Reiki teacher in helping you gain the appropriate skills for teaching a class?

My first Reiki teacher was not actually "taught" how to teach Reiki - she was attuned along with several others, all the way to Master level in Reiki and Seichim, at the end of a lecture and was given a photocopied handout of the symbols and attunement procedures. This is the main reason I did a lot of research myself because I wanted to understand more about what I was teaching - and how to teach it!

My teacher for Gendai and Komyo (and Sekhem-Seichim-Reiki) supplied me with a CD manuals and certificate templates and DVD with the attunemnt processes and some other stuff but those courses were really designed for existing Reiki teachers who wanted to learn those particular styles.

My Jikiden Reiki teacher, Tadao Yamaguchi has provided much more of an idea of how to teach and organise a Jikiden Reiki seminar (at Shihan Kaku level) and there is opportunity to make practical use of that and get more ideas by helping other Jikiden Reiki teachers at their seminars.

Pachamama wrote:
what should be the basic requirements of all reiki teachers in your opinion?

Know your subject well, be honest and also be sensitive to the different needs and learning styles of your students.
Also, make yourself available for post-course support as and when it is needed.

Pachamama wrote:
~~

quite a few questions I know......I'd appreciate any answers from as many folk as possible, thanks..

Hope you appreciate my answers, Sharon!

I certainly do appreciate your answers Colin and yours Bridget, thank you both!!

One thing I love about Jikiden is the structure of the training....the respeats at Shoden and Okuden level and then the amount of hands on experience required before moving up to Shihan Kaku ( assistant teacher)....then on to Shihan ( teacher)

Personally I think this kind of structure would be beneficial to all Reiki teaching, but thats just my point of view..

Bridget, 'teaching is a skill'...I couldn't agree more! some people have a natural ability for teaching....others need to be taught how to develop those abilities.

I've studied a variety of subjects from a variety of teachers.....and ( god this sounds like I'm up my own backside)but on more than one occasion, I thought I could have done a better job of teaching myself! I just felt like some of them were not very good teachers!.. Having indepth knowledge of a subject isn't enough for teaching, one has to know how to convey the subject matter in a way than can be best understood by the students. I did a PTLLS course( preparing to teach in the life long sector)a couple of years ago as I wanted to teach Indian Head Massage at College...it was a very interesting course....I learned a lot, but when it came up to standing infront of a class to teach ( as was part of the course)..god I was nervous!!! public speaking has always been a weak point for me...I used to turn purple as a kid when I had to read out loud infront of the class!..As it turned out my teaching went down very well..PHEW!!

I'm an extremely confident lady at times, but a bag of nerves at others...I'm quite gobby and enjoy making a point, but at times I can get so self concsious when all eyes are on me ( I slip back into kid mode reading in class and turning purple!!)

During the course I wrote some things about what I thought makes a good teacher..and my study buddy who was an ex long-serving policeman....said some lovely things about my views and how it restored his faith in folk again...(Hehe bless him!) When going over my work my teacher didn't resonate with some of my views because they weren't exactly coming from an academic viewpoint, but more from a centre of equality and sharing knowledge..so I had to leave out some of my more heartfelt expressions, and concentrate on what I needed to write in order to get the pass mark!..I passed.

Incase it isn't already obvious, I am thinking about taking the next step into teaching Reiki.....but before I reach that level..I definately need to work on not turning purple during public speaking!! ahahah

It seems so many Reiki teachers teach differently!...some offer great teaching resources, advice and support....others offer very little...thats why I put out these questions really, to try and get a taste of other people's experiences.

Thanks again Bridget and Colin....much appreciated! x

~~

any others care to share??

Pachamama, congratulations on your
next step to become a Reiki teacher.
I told you a few years ago you'd
make a great teacher. You ask great
questions,you challenge others to
share and you also challenge & question
yourself... Not because your unsure but
that your want to give it your all, plus
more. You go beyond the surface and dig in
all directions leaving no stone unturned.

ahah..yeah I have been accused of all the things you state!! I'd have made a great detective!!