For people setting out on the Reiki journey, there are often questions about how far they will want to follow the path of training. Do you need to do Reiki 2? How long should you wait before doing it? And, if you decide to do the practitioner level, what do you really get out of it? As with so many interesting questions, the answer to all of the above is, “it depends”.

If you want to offer Reiki in any kind of professional capacity (including adding it to an existing practice, be that energy healing, body work or talking therapy), then you need to do Reiki level 2. As the practitioner level, this is what allows you to get insurance to practice (and you must get insurance!). So, that’s the boring answer out of the way. Beyond that – what is really the point of Reiki 2? In real terms, as healers, what do we get out of it?

Reiki 2 is known as “Okuden”

Okuden, which we think of as practitioner level, translates as either “hidden teachings” or “inner teachings”. As the name suggests, it is an opportunity to look beneath the surface and learn something that simply wasn’t available for us to see as beginner level students of Reiki. It is a deepening of the work. And this is why there is no correct answer to “how long should I wait?” Because this will depend on where you are in your life and how much time you’ve spent working with the practices you were given at Reiki 1; some people do Reiki 2 within only a couple of months (I did!) and some wait for a couple of years.

It is important to think of Reiki 2 this way, rather than reducing it to contemporary Western Reiki ideas like “this is when you get attuned to the symbols,” or “it’s how you become a practitioner,” which, granted, is what I just said 2 minutes ago… But let’s take them in order.

You don’t get attuned to the symbols

Reiki is a particular frequency of source energy – it is not all of “source” (which could be anything and everything) and all source energies are not the same. Those of us that work within multiple energy healing modalities know that anything that is part of the Reiki energy frequency feels different to, say earth energy, shamanic healing, theta healing etc. Reiki energy feels a certain way but there is some variation within that, once we have progressed beyond the earliest stages of the work. Time spent on self healing and an adjustment to being a channel for Reiki energy, as well a commitment to working with the Reiki meditations at a minimum, enable us to feel those variations within the spectrum. That becomes useful later, in a diagnostic sense, if you learn to listen to your own body’s language as you work on other people.

Part of that variation comes from focusing our attention on a specific part of that energy spectrum, deliberately becoming a channel for a more specific outcome. Symbols are one way to do that. They enable us to call in a more specific healing purpose in our work for a client (or ourselves!). They are a way to access that focus, but they are not the energy itself. There are other ways to refine, strengthen and manipulate the energy stream, many of which I also offer at Reiki 2.

The empowerments (in Japanese Reiki) and attunements (in Western Reiki) certainly strengthen our connection to the Reiki source. They can also be very healing. You know I believe in giving and receiving as many empowerments as possible! But it is important to understand that it is not these connections to that give access to the symbols, or any of the other Reiki 2 techniques. The point of Reiki 2 is to place yourself in the environment where you can understand and uncover those hidden parts of the system. And as soon as students do that, they realise that they are able to use those techniques instantly (though that ability will of course grow with time and experience), as though they were there all along, just out of sight, just waiting to be picked up and used. Which, of course, they were!

Inner teachings are for inner work

The final point to remember is that other translation: “inner teachings”. Anyone considering Reiki 2 should use that word as a wayfinder. Yes, technically speaking you can become a Reiki practitioner, fully insured to work on the public, the day after completing your Reiki 2 training. But even if you’ve done a really good Reiki 2 course that covers tonnes of information (and, yes, mine is one of the really good ones!) will you be a great Reiki healer right away? Unlikely.

The ability to become a great practitioner – and you should want to be great at it, otherwise why aspire to do it at all? – comes first and foremost from self practice and the pursuit of a deeper understanding. The point of Reiki 2, if we can reduce it to such a thing, is simply to elevate those who have chose the path of Reiki to see a way that was hidden before, path towards becoming a great healer through diligent practice, skill and understanding. This is the inner work.

Ready for Reiki 2?

Find the upcoming Reiki 2 dates here: