A practical class structure based on The Usui Reiki Handbook
If you teach Reiki, this page shows you how to structure a class based directly on the materials Mikao Usui left his students.
For most of our teaching lives, we have worked without access to those materials in their original form. What we had were fragments and later versions. Now that the 1926 booklets have been made available and carefully translated, we can see the system as it was actually presented.
What becomes clear is simple.
Usui did not leave a theory. He left a method of training the practitioner.
This page shows you how to teach that method in a way that remains simple, direct, and usable.
Download the Facilitator Guide
Download the full class structure:
What You Are Teaching
This material is not a collection of techniques. It is a system of cultivation built on a small number of practices that work together over time.
At its core:
• The Reiki Precepts shape conduct and attention
• Meditation stabilizes the practitioner
• Gyosei refines perception
• Self-treatment integrates Reiki into the body
• Treatment methods support helping others
Only one of these involves treating another person.
The rest develop the practitioner.
This is the foundation of the system.
Teaching Principle
Do less.
Let the practices work.
Your role is not to explain everything. Your role is to guide experience and allow students to observe what happens in themselves.
Avoid turning this material into theory.
One-Day Immersion (Recommended Format)
This material works best as a focused one-day class.
The purpose is not to “cover” everything, but to give students a direct experience of the system so they can continue practicing on their own.
Morning: Orientation and Reframing
1. Opening Orientation (15–20 minutes)
Introduce Reiki as a system of self-cultivation. Clarify that the focus of the day is not learning techniques, but understanding how the practitioner is developed.
2. Experiencing Kokoro (20 minutes)
Guide students to observe thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. Let them discover directly that these are not separate. Introduce kokoro as an integrated condition.
3. The Reiki Precepts (30 minutes)
Work with the phrase “Just for today.” Have students observe how attention moves to past and future. Let them experience how the Precepts stabilize attention. Include brief written reflection.
4. What Usui Left His Students (30 minutes)
Present the core practices:
Precepts
Meditation
Gyosei
Self-treatment
Treatment methods
Ask:
Which of these involve treating another person?
Let the insight land. Do not over-explain.
5. Structure of the System (20–25 minutes)
Show the relationship:
Self-cultivation → helping others
Keep this simple.
6. Reflection (20 minutes)
Give students quiet time to reflect on their own practice. This is where the morning settles.
Afternoon: Direct Practice
Begin with a short re-centering meditation.
1. The Reiki Precepts (20–25 minutes)
Recite together. Allow students to identify which Precept is most relevant. Keep this experiential.
2. Reiki Meditation (30–40 minutes)
Guide Reiki Meditation (jyoshin kokyu-ho). Allow enough time for stillness. This is a central practice. Do not rush it.
Teachers may use a guided meditation or lead the practice directly.
Guided Meditation:
Mastering the Reiki Meditation Audio
Teacher Instructions:
Reiki Meditation Practice — Teacher Version
3. Gyosei Contemplation (25–30 minutes)
Work with two poems only. Read slowly. Allow visualization. Let students observe what the poem reveals about kokoro. Avoid analysis.
4. Self-Treatment (30 minutes)
This is one of the most important parts of the day. Students should work quietly and steadily.
Frame it clearly:
This is a daily practice.
This is where integration happens.
Allow silence.
5. Treatment Methods (15–20 minutes)
Introduce briefly. Frame this as exposure, not full training. Do not attempt to teach this in depth.
Closing (10 minutes)
Return to simplicity.
Offer a basic daily rhythm:
Morning
Precepts
Meditation
Self-treatment
Evening
Precepts
Meditation
Emphasize repetition over complexity.
How to Structure Each Session
Keep a consistent rhythm:
- Brief explanation
- Direct experience
- Reflection
- Short discussion
Do not let discussion turn into theory.
Using the Companion Workbook
The Companion Workbook supports this process.
It should be used:
- immediately after each practice
- to record direct observation
- to track change over time
It is not a textbook.
It is a tool for observing how practice affects the condition of kokoro.
Encourage students to return to it after the class.
What Not to Do
To preserve the integrity of the material:
- Do not over-explain
- Do not turn the class into theory
- Do not separate practice from daily life
- Do not skip the Precepts
- Do not focus only on techniques
The system works because the parts are practiced together.
What Students Leave With
Students will not leave having “mastered” the system.
They leave with:
- a direct experience of the practices
- a new understanding of Reiki as self-cultivation
- a structure they can continue daily
This is the correct outcome.
Required Texts
Students should read:
The Usui Reiki Handbook
This provides the structure of the system.
The Companion Workbook
This supports reflection and continued practice.
These allow class time to focus on experience rather than explanation.
Final Note
This is a simple system.
Its depth comes through repetition.
If you keep the teaching clear and restrained, the practices will reveal their meaning through the students’ experience.
Get the Books
Reiki begins with the practitioner.
Teach the practice, and the rest develops from there.