Concerns about short training programs
While Reiki taught in any manner is always beneficial, and always a blessing in the person's life, very rapid and short training does not give the proper consideration that is due to this magnificent healing modality. Reiki is honored by studying it carefully over a period of time to practice and really learn it.
How can a person who takes Reiki I one day, and Reiki II the next know what they are doing? Crash courses do not allow time to practice, which internalizes the energy and the information. What is not internalized is lost. Overload always undermines learning. There is also a danger of either having a severe detox reaction from getting too much energy at once -- bodily discomfort, flu like symptoms, fatigue. I also wonder if some people do not even receive the full energy if it is too much for the body to process it all at once.
It takes time to become worthy of the title of Reiki Master. While learning attunements can safely be learnt in a weekend, being a teacher means much more. It is not so simple as take this attunement and read this book. What good is a title if you don't know what you are doing, and have not spent time working with yourself and clients so that you have something to teach others? Do you really want to study with someone that just took the class last weekend? If poorly training Masters then go out and train others, the training continuously becomes diluted and eventually meaningless.
I do not agree with making a student a Master until the student has spent a year of actively studying, and doing Reiki on himself and others, preferably with the guidance of a teacher or others more experienced. While we live in an instant gratification society with a preference for quick but superficial knowledge, Reiki should not be learned that way.
One teacher creates Reiki Masters in a four-hour session for attunements and sent home with an instruction book. Some recent teachers have total beginners progress from Level I to Reiki Master in just one weekend. I feel that such a practice is an abomination regardless of the good intentions or sincerity of the teacher. We also heard of people taking a two hour, group "Reiki I" class, but no physical attunements were given. The teacher claimed that he was "attuning" the class by drawing the symbols in the room but not over the crown of each student's head individually. Only if you are properly attuned can you claim to be doing Reiki. Likewise being attuned with a audio cassette or over the internet is either a money making scam or just very misguided. Students of such teachers may be doing some sort of energy work, but it is not the Reiki frequency!While my opinions may anger some of you, understand that they come from a deep love for Reiki and an awareness of the fullness of all that it can be. I also have a deep gratitude and respect for Usui and others who devoted their lives to bring this information to us. While every path has room for new knowledge, procedures and growth, I would like to see this beautiful system preserved in the spirit in which it was created.