RWP Episode #172: How to Connect with Reiki Students Perfectly Aligned with You

In this episode of the Reiki Women Podcast, Bronwen Logan, Michaela Daystar, and Carrie Varela discuss how reiki teachers can find the right students for their classes. 

They explore the importance of self-reflection, personal practice, and understanding one's motivation for teaching. 

The conversation also delves into the necessity of clearly articulating one's values, the significance of apprenticeship, and practical strategies for attracting students. 

They emphasize the need for integrity in teaching, fair pricing of courses, and trusting the process to bring the right students to you. 

Join them as they share their insights on building a thriving, authentic reiki teaching practice.

00:00 Introduction: Attracting the Right People
00:31 Welcome to the Reiki Women Podcast
00:55 Meet the Hosts
01:55 Today's Topic: Finding the Right Reiki Clients
03:03 Bronwen's Insights on Becoming a Reiki Teacher
03:26 The Importance of Self-Reflection and Energetic Strength
09:20 Michaela's Advice on Articulating Your Values
17:36 Carrie's Perspective on Teaching and Pricing
30:53 Sponsorship and Course Offerings
35:17 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
46:24 Conclusion

Hosts
Bronwen Logan: https://ReikiwithBronwen.com
Carrie Varela: https://www.reikihealingsociety.com
Michaela Daystar: http://HeartscapesInsight.com

Our email: reikiwomenpodcasts@gmail.com

Our own RWP Group discussion: Embodying Reiki
 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1564135767437136

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:03

I do think humans are a bit like moths, you know, attracted to the light and the lighter that we are, then the people will be attracted to that.

Speaker 3 0:12

One, accepting that you can't serve everybody, that you're not for everybody. And two, clearly articulating who you are and who you are for, and who you're not for.

Speaker 5 0:23

Trust that Reiki will bring you the right people at the right time and keep telling the universe that you're ready for them and they will come.

Speaker 9 0:32

Welcome friends to the Reiki Women Podcast, an exploration into the profound depths of the system of Reiki. From a Japanese spiritual perspective and how that relates to our modern lives,

Speaker 10 0:42

we are keeping it real to Reikis origins, challenging the new age stereotype that things like. Crystals, chakras and angels are authentic aspects of the system. I'm Bronwyn Logan, and when I'm not writing best selling books about the Japanese system of Reiki, 75,000 readers and counting, I'm here debunking, outmoded reiki myths and coaching individuals and groups. Through my website, Reiki with Bronwyn.

Speaker 9 1:12

And I'm Mikayla de star, lead teacher and Weaver of Hardscapes Reiki connecting the dots between reiki and environmental and social justice because our individual healing cannot be extracted from healing relationship with the collective and with the land.

Speaker 11 1:26

And I'm Carrie Rela from the Reiki Healing Society here to help you transform your reiki practice into a thriving, prosperous business. 'cause while passion fuels your purpose, it's time to make it sustainable, authentic, and beautifully used. We're three women diving into the heart of Japanese Reiki. We're building a community that centers women's voices and inspires wellbeing. We're not just for women, we're for everybody. Come join the conversation.

Speaker 5 1:55

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Reiki Women Podcast. Today we're gonna be talking about a topic that relates to our topic from last time. So last time we were speaking about how to find the right Reiki teachers. So for students out there who are curious about Reiki, interested in learning, we did a whole podcast and just things that you know you might wanna be aware of as you go about the process of choosing the right Reiki teacher for you. And so today we wanted to kind of switch gears and address this topic from a different perspective. So this is taught, this is approach more from the perspective as Reiki teachers. How do we go about finding the right Reiki clients and reiki students for us? Um, to how do we draw the right people into our community, into our business? And, um, how do we go about, you know, uh, advertising our breaking courses so that we can get the word out to the people around us? And so I know that Bronwyn had some wonderful thoughts. She's been writing all of these thoughts down, and so she's geared up to start talking about this, uh, conversation. So Bronwyn, tell us, for the Reiki teachers in the room, how do we go about finding the right students?

Speaker 2 3:11

Well, Carrie, it seems to me there's a bunch of different angles we can take on this. Obviously there's the technical things like you were just talking about. That's not what I was writing down points about, but happy to chat about as we get into the discussion. But I thought it would be nice to think about the more energetic aspect of this because we work with an energetic practice. I thought most importantly, as a teacher, we need to think about why we wanna be a teacher. So picking up on that thought first. So why do we wanna be a teacher? There can be all sorts of reasons why, there can be reasons which appeal to our strengths, and there can be reasons which appeal to our weaknesses. So I think we need to look at those and be honest with ourselves and work out exactly why we're doing what we're doing. And is it actually what we should be doing? I know a lot of people think, oh, I wanna be a Reiki teacher. I had a student the other day in one of my groups, and she was just saying how she felt sad all of a sudden because she'd had all these things happen in her life and she really wanted to teach and the opportunity hadn't come to her. It wasn't there for her. And, how that made her feel really sad about that. And yet everyone in the group is like, my goodness, you are like one of the biggest teachers in this group. She's always out there teaching, teaching us. And it's sometimes maybe. That, that thing of us, maybe we are labeling ourselves too much as like a teacher and a student. Maybe we should really accept the fact that what we are doing in our lives is always teaching. And I think everyone is always teaching to some degree. We're, teaching our children, our, our partners, our, community in some way, we are taking that role. And it might be in, in a small way or it might be in a, a more vocal large way, but we are all here for each other, supporting each other. And so thinking about why you wanna be a teacher, do you wanna actually be like a teacher who writes down, I'm a Reiki teacher, put it up somewhere and, try to find students in that way. We're gonna talk about how to do that today. Or, think about is that the right path for you? Is your path more to, to live it and be a role model for others I think that we need to think about. Ourselves and who we are and how we can teach others. And the best way to do that is by becoming strong inside ourselves, which is why I said working energetically. Yep. So finding that strength inside of ourselves. As I said, being honest with ourselves. What makes you strong inside yourself? How can you become stronger? And that's through your practice. You're a Reiki practitioner, so you have the skills there, which you can take advantage of to become stronger in yourself. I do think humans are a bit like moths, you know, attracted to the light and the lighter that we are, then the people will be attracted to that. And so thinking in those terms. How do you become the light? How do you become that stronger light? And the more we are that light, the more that people will come to us. Whether they're paying students, whether they're just people in our community, people will be attracted to that. And, uh, I think all of us have that duty to be that light because the more of us that are, that light, the lighter of the world's gonna be, you know? And, uh, we lift up the world together. So that is a really important thing. To become stronger, more resilient, to have more faith in yourself and your thoughts and your feelings. And you can only do that if you know what they are. So that getting to know yourself is so important, and that's what the practice is about. And it just keeps coming up in my stuff lately. So in everything that I've been doing, this idea of the mirror and, you know, looking in the mirror and who are you seeing in that mirror? Think about that as a teacher. Who are you seeing in that mirror? Who is that teacher? And go through and keep looking each day in the mirror. Who is that teacher in the mirror? Who am I? And finding the aspects of you that may not be just the things that you like about yourself or the things that you don't like about yourself. Because when we look in a mirror, often it's those things that we see, right? So finding more depth inside of yourself. And I have a little poem for you to match it because that's also come up for me lately. And it was in my group that I teach on every second week. So, uh, this is the Empress tokens poem, and it's having forgotten our mirror had been placed there. It happened that we wondered who the person was when viewing our own reflection. So there was a mirror in an unexpected place. She walks along, she sees someone in the mirror, and then she thinks, who's that? It's her. So who is that? Who's that person in the mirror? And finding those things inside of yourself, knowing yourself more deeply, knowing who is in the mirror. These are the things that are gonna help you to, strengthen things inside of you. Use those things and work with the weaknesses. Find out what they are and find out how you can do something about them. So if you can, you become a light of being and I think that then you're gonna be able to shine your light for everybody. And I think that's a great place to, to begin as a teacher. And you're gonna attract all sorts of people who wanna be in that light. Yeah. Yes. Says McKayla.

Speaker 3 9:20

Yeah, I mean, that's absolutely the place to start. And I mean, we have, um, it's, it's a wonderful gift to be. In a practice and in a profession where we know to tend to that, right? Where we know that our, our practice of the work in and of itself, uh, as it grows us energetically as it grows our, our groundedness, our openness, and our connectedness, that that does mean that the connections that we make will be more true, will be more clear, and that people will be able to recognize themselves in, you know, in, in that light. And then once they've been drawn towards us because of that light or because there's a connection that's been made because of the way that we're showing up, then their, their conscious mind will probably still need something to grab onto some description, some words, some, um, affirmation that what they're feeling, you know, energetically, emotionally is. Um, actually correct, uh, cognitively, and that's where, you know, how we talk about our practice comes in and, you know, I, I know I've spoken to this in, in various contexts on the podcast, but it really is explicitly relevant to this conversation, which is the importance of articulating our values. Clearly when we're talking about, um, our work as Reiki teachers and practitioners. Um, the truth is that while our, the, the radiance of our true self and our inner light will absolutely shine on everybody that we are in connection with. And potentially benefit everybody when it comes to working with us as students or even as clients. We're not actually for everybody. We're not able to serve everybody, uh, numerically. Of course that's true, but also in terms of fit, right? Um, and that fit is gonna be based on a number of things, certainly energetically, right? We could, we could check all the boxes of good connection and still, like the vibes are off and we just don't feel good around each other, right? Like that's absolutely a thing that happens that we can't control. But what we can control is how we articulate the other pieces of that puzzle. And that comes down to what our particular orientation is towards the system of reiki, how we understand it, what you know, what our perspective is on it, how we approach the teaching of it. Um, what our, our values are. The, the ones that are of course, our own personal values, but specifically the ones that govern our business. Um, the ones that really guide how we approach our teaching and then what specifically we are prepared to support our students around. And you would think that would be a fairly uniform thing, but it's not. It's quite varied what a teacher is going to actually provide to their students. And, you know, that's not to say there's a right or a wrong, it's just to say different teachers are going to have different things to offer, different things that are important to us, and therefore show up for our students in different ways. And so all of that can be clearly communicated in our website and how we talk about our work. In how we, um, you know, talk about it on social media, podcasts, whatever the case such as this one. Um, and so it's really important that we get clear first of all, that we kind of have a certain level of acceptance that, that while we would like to be able to help everybody, um, there's gonna be better and worse fits. Therefore, getting really clear what are the values that drive our business, um, particularly when it comes to teaching reiki. Uh, what is the structure of how we teach, right? What is our pedagogy? How do we go about teaching the material that will matter to, to students? Um, and what are we prepared to support our students in specifically? And, you know, all of that doesn't have to be articulated in the same place, but somewhere along the lines it needs to be expressed. And I. For me, kind of going through the journey of going from, I wanna help everybody and therefore my language is very general. The language of my website was very generic, very, very general. It wasn't speaking to any one type of person in particular. It didn't articulate the values that made me unique because I was afraid of, uh, you know, turning some people off, right? Like demonstrating that I'm not for certain types of people, but the truth is I'm not, I'm not for everybody. I have a very particular orientation to how I, I teach reiki and what matters to me. And what I came to realize after, you know, first few years, like being really quite shy and afraid really to, to articulate these things clearly, is that I was actually not doing my students a service by being vague, by being general because. First of all, the people who really are my people, the people who are really for me as students and I am for them as a teacher, had a hard time finding me. 'cause they weren't seeing the language that represented what mattered to them. And conversely, people who are definitely not for me, that I am not the teacher for them would be in my classes, would self-select to be in my classes because they didn't see anything that told them, oh, this is not for you. Um, and so, you know, there were a number of students that would've been better served with a different teacher. Right? Didn't get the learning experience or the outcomes that they specifically wanted because I wasn't for them. It's almost embarrassing, like how long it took me to like, get up the courage to say, you know, these are the things that matter to me. This is why you would come to me as opposed to somebody else. If this is not what you're looking for, then I am not for you. Um, but once I did, everything became so much easier because the people who were looking for what I have to give could easily identify themselves in what I was saying. And the people who don't want those things could easily self-select to move on and find someone who's a better fit for them. And so I think that's really my, my number one advice. And I, and I'm saying this from my heart, knowing. How difficult those two things can be. They seem simple, but they can be incredibly challenging. One, accepting that you can't serve everybody, that you're not for everybody. And two, clearly articulating who you are and who you are for, and who you're not for. You don't necessarily have to say, I'm not for these people, but by clearly saying who you are for, you know, it'll be obvious. And for me, it came down to finding those three values that are the foundation of my business, and then articulating that, building on that. And for me, those three values is that I'm, for people who first and foremost, see Reiki as a self-practice. If they wanna work with reiki with other people in some professional or casual capacity, that is totally great. We will, you will get that foundation. But first and foremost, this is for you. Um, and that's the orientation that I want people to have when they come to my classes. Uh, I teach reiki from the perspective of the Japanese origins. If they're looking for a Western form or a hybrid form, I am not for them. And third, I have a social justice orientation. So that's going to be present. We are going to be, you know, honest about what's happening in the world. And, you know, people who want to bring reiki into their, uh, work or their personal efforts to make the world a better place, then I'm definitely for them. If you're not interested in any of that, I'm not for you. Right? So three simple values clearly articulated all across. All of my marketing has made. Finding the students who are for me so much easier and has made the teaching experience so much richer and so much higher value for the people to come because the fit is so good. So that is my number one advice. What about for you, Carrie?

Speaker 5 17:40

Well, I'm loving all of this. I love, I love where you took us and started things off for us. Bronwyn really starting with ourselves and becoming strong in ourselves, and I love. Mikayla, how you kind of took that from there and just talked more about, you know, the values that you weave into your courses. I think that's also really relevant. And, um, I guess we're, you know, I feel like I fall in this as, uh, you know, cont contributing to those strong killers is that I feel like you really need to have a strong foundation of reiki before you teach. And so I wanna echo, you know, what Bronwyn was saying is that you should know whether or not teaching is right for you. And if you have a teacher archetype. Let's just say, you know, you have a teacher something, you're gonna be that boss lady who's like, you know, give me anything and I will like reprocess and regurgitate it and teach it to you in either a different or just in my own way. Right? And if we're drawn to teaching like that I think is a very important piece of self-knowledge. Like you should know whether or not, you know, you are drawn towards teaching that you get a lot from teaching that teaching is fulfilling to you. You know, because all teachers I think, who know who really good have a gift for it, right? It's a gift. Like I think of my children's teachers who are like, have a gift for communicating with a kindergartner. I do not have that gift of time. I mean, I love my kindergartner, but let's just say, I mean, I. It's just not like that's, I mean, and I do love five-year-olds. I think they're some of the most enlightened beings ever. And um, I can imagine why it would be really attractive to be with like that kind of vibe all day, right? But that's not who I am drawn to teaching. So it, it is always about, you know, identifying yourself as a teacher and then, you know, kind of feeling into what archetype of teaching that really does feel fulfilling to you. And I've definitely always identified as a teacher, um, in, in particularly, I found that path to yoga, right? I just was like, oh yeah, like I need to teach this and this is important for me. And I've kind of put more of the why around that as I've gone, you know, through it. But, you know, first it was just a real self-identified, like passionate connection where it was like, oh my God, like. I need this. It's fulfilling, it's sustaining. And, you know, some part of my own, you know, self definition. There was like, oh yeah, identifying, I actually appreciate and I like teaching adults, like I wanna teach adults. And I, um, you know, and then as I've gone along, I've really realized that like there's a spiritual component of my work that I will also wanna incorporate. And that's where Reiki has really come into play. Um, but I just wanna name that I think the whole system around Reiki teaching is totally broken, and I think it's not right. I don't think that we've put enough integrity and, um, uh, you know, guidance and support for people who want to go through the journey of becoming a, you know, learning reiki, taking Reiki level one through three, and then just. Letting 'em fly out, then, hey, you wanna teach your own Reiki courses? Well have fun. You know? Um, and that there's not a standard of ethics of like, what that transition would entail, um, you know, what kind of learning and skills and knowledge one should have before they embark on teaching a reiki course. So, um, you know, one of the things, solutions that I offer to that, well, first of all, okay, so we know this and it's, it's such a problematic aspect of reiki where we, we really, the whole setup was these drive-through certifications where people were like, literally, come to me for two hours and I'll give you in a two minute. And here you go. Here's your certificate, you're Reiki certified, and. There's so many people who learned reiki in that fashion, left them completely confused. Um, you know, some people might have really gravitated towards the energetic aspects of it, or, you know, developed self-developed their own capacity to work with Reiki. Um, but those kinds of trainings are really not good quality. And, and I know that there's plenty of Reiki teachers out there who don't teach that way. So I just want to say that there's plenty of us who want a different path and want a different way of being in relationship with teaching Reiki. But I think if you look to the Japanese perspective on this is, is that the process of becoming a teacher is like, first you apprentice with your teacher, right? Like you learn more about the practice. So I think at minimum, if you want to teach Reiki, you absolutely have to take the courses again. Like I, that's what I always encourage my students to do is take the courses one through three, the first time through for your own knowledge, your own self edification, for your own growth. Um, and then what I offer in my, you know, my community is just to take, retake the courses again. Um, and so that you can have one foot in your own experience and then you can have one foot in putting yourself in the position of teaching. How would I go about teaching this material now that I've learned it and I've learned it a second time? And I'm, I'm, I think to be a teacher you have to be constantly learning. You know, like that's one, I think key characteristic of a teacher is that they're never gonna stop saying like, oh yeah, I know this. Or maybe that's a characteristic of bad teacher. Like, oh, I know this and I'm so smart and just aren't open to the learning process. Um, I, yeah, so, and so that's what I suggest is like, you know, at least taking it two times through and then, you know, you have a lot more, um. Knowledge about the practice of Reiki and that you can go ahead and start teaching your curses with a lot more confidence. And the, um, you know, confidence in teaching Reiki was something that I was a hard learned process for me because I didn't have that support. And actually, no, I do wanna say that I did apprentice with my first Reiki teacher. I apprenticed with her, I retook, I think all, all of the courses and I would like sit with her inside of Reiki sessions. I learned a lot from her and I was like with her for a couple years of just deep learning. Um, uh, you know, grow grew a lot under her tutelage and she supported me a lot and I'd love for us to see more of that. Within Reiki was really supporting emerging people who want to, um, you know, become practitioners who want to become teachers. Um. So I, I guess that's, that's one thing is this just, and it kind of comes back to what you were saying, Bronwyn is just becoming strong in ourselves. And so I think if you've only taken a reiki course once, and maybe you've had kind of what drive through Reiki experience, I don't encourage you to go, Conti tried to teach Reiki from that perspective. You know, keep growing on your path with reiki and maybe it's gonna take some years, like it's not gonna happen overnight that you become a Reiki teacher. You can't just take Reiki one and be like, poof, okay, I am ready to teach Reiki. Like there needs to be some embodiment, there needs to be some time sitting with that practice for you. Um, and so, and I, I think it's also a sacred journey. Sacred journey where you have to say yes, you have to say yes to the path and then. Um, when you do say yes, yes, it's, it's really exciting to see how the universe responds and brings you, and aligns you with the right people who are ready to learn from you, um, who can, you know, sit and listen to your own unique approach and methodology. Um, that being said, I still think that there's a case for us to like, try to take a little bit less of ourselves into the courses and just teach reiki, you know, um, you know, that it, it shouldn't, it shouldn't have to be like, oh, like every teacher's so different. Like, I think that that's also something that we're missing as a community is that, you know, people are just so left, left with a lot of confusion about what Reiki really is. So that's one thing that I always want to make sure that my clients that come through my courses really get and grasp what they understand what Reiki really is. Um, and, um. So, you know, but then I think the process is, is just continuing to choose the practice and continuing to show up and, um, you know, say when you're ready, you know, I'm ready to teach, I'm ready to teach, and I wanna teach Reiki to people because I know how life-changing it is and how life-giving it is. And it's done so much to me. So, um, then it comes down to some of the more practical aspects, like absolutely what you were saying, Mikayla, weave some of your values into your teaching. Get a website, um, advertise your services. Uh, you know, I think teaching reiki is a natural expression of being a Reiki practitioner. So first, you know, get a hundred reiki sessions under your belt and have a good, strong experience of working with clients and working with different issues with people. And that's a really good setup for Reiki teachers because. A Reiki teacher should be knowledgeable enough to answer the students' questions too.

Speaker 27:44

Yeah.

Speaker 5 27:44

And my students have great questions. They really do. And they keep me always on my toes and like, um, you know, helping me learn too. But, you know, when I've, I've had enough experience with Reiki, I can really, um, answer their questions and answer them well. Um, final thing I wanna say about this is that if you wanna be a Reiki teacher, and you've put all this time and dedication into, you know, maybe five years of, and I don't wanna say that, like, as a limiting thing, you know, maybe it's one year, maybe it's three years, but a period of time that Reiki has been in your life and circulating, and you've made this conscious choice, you wanna teach reiki, um, learn how to price your courses appropriately. Um, because teaching reiki is, is even beyond. You know, practicing reiki is re practicing Reiki takes some time, skill, you know, takes, uh, maybe a hundred sessions at least of practice with clients and getting more comfortable with that. Um, you know, before you, you can feel really confident working as a reiki practitioner. Make sure you like the work, you enjoy it. And then, um, the same with opening your doors, doors as a reiki teacher. More than likely most Reiki teachers out there have studied with many teachers, um, have been doing this work for a really long time, um, really drawn to it, feel very aligned with the work that they're doing. Um, so for those teachers, you need to be charging more for your trainings. And I see it all the time where people are out there. They've probably spent so much time. Working to become a Reiki practitioner, and then they're charging $150 for a four hour course. And I don't think that that's enough time to really give people a full toolkit with reiki. And if you do the numbers and you crunch the numbers, even if you had five students, like at least in, you know, California terms, that's where I live. Like that is not going to take you very far financially, and you work so hard for those five, uh, students that, um, you know, there should be a bigger, uh, not a, I'm not saying a yeah, I'm saying a payday because you, you've spent so much time and effort, you know, presenting this material. So there's a real devaluation that I think is very chronic in the key world and we really need to be charging more for our trainings and those. I think that that might be of like a fear, kind of like what you were saying, Mikayla is a real fear of detracting your students. Like, oh, nobody's gonna be able to afford it. But I assure you, like,

Speaker 4 30:26

you

Speaker 5 30:26

know, anybody who really wants to have a solid understanding of reiki, wants to get it right from the first training, wants, you know, wants the full experience of reiki, they are willing to pay your, the rate that you want to offer. And, um, they're willing to do payment plans and other things that really help all Reiki practitioners kind of even out their financial life. So I've been blabbering on, and maybe this would be a good time anyways, to talk and take a little break and talk about our sponsorship for the Reiki Women podcast. Um, would you like to share a little bit about what you are working on just

Speaker 4 31:12

broadly?

Speaker 2 31:12

Yeah. Well, I think I said it last time, but I'm just gonna say it again 'cause I'm into it at the moment. And that is about, that's about, my Wacker Wisdom online course that I have, that you can do in your own time. It's 21 days, taking you through some of the poems that, we can work with in the system of Reiki, which Macau Sui did and his peers, contemporaries students. Recently I just wrote a, an article about that because I was going through the memorial stone again, which I've been doing with my bimonthly group, and we've been looking at certain aspects of that and I realized that I already knew so much about. The fact that poetry was one of the cornerstones of the system of reiki, but I had forgotten. In the memorial stone, it says that Macau is sui, uh, taught using. And then it mentions two things. And one of them, we always talk about the precepts being this point that we, we springboard off. It's the base of everything. It's the tip of it all as well. And the other thing was the Maji empress teachings. The Maji Empress teachings, which are the poems. Today we might think that's a weird thing to do, but you know what? Once you start working with them and you start going into them, you start doing exactly what we've been talking about. And that is removing layers of yourself, seeing yourself in ways. It's like having a little personal teacher there going, oh, have a think about this. Have a think about that. What do you like with this? And it's really amazing work, working with the poems. I would suggest doing that course. And, uh, you can do it at any time. Start any time. You can start today and, we'll put links for these things at the bottom of this podcast. Who's next? McKayla, what's you got going?

Speaker 3 33:12

Well, uh, since it's topically appropriate, I'll, I'll just mention that I'm about to open early enrollment for my next nine month program, which is how I teach folks the system of Reiki. Um, folks are welcome to register for either just the S one, if they want a, um, they want to connect to make sure that we're a good fit. Make sure I'm the right teacher for you before committing to the nine month program. Um, so you can enroll for either just Den Ricky one or for the nine month program, and you have through the end of den to commit to that program if you choose to do so. Um, and yeah, early enrollment will be opening for that this week, and that'll be on my website. How about you, Carrie?

Speaker 5 33:56

I also have a reiki course coming up in the fall, so I typically offer my Reiki courses twice a year. And I really like how you've designed your teaching practice, Mikayla. I think it's really helpful. I've, um, considered doing that as well, but, uh, as of right now, I just teach the individual courses. But what's kind of special is that I'm gonna be teaching reiki level three in the fall, and I, um, don't teach it, uh, necessarily every year, but I have a group of students coming up and ready to take the Reiki three course. And so for my online students, I offer, um. Particularly those of you who trained in a Western lineage, and so you've learned reiki from that point of view. Um, my Reiki three courses can be a great entryway, and so learning reiki from a traditional perspective, so you can take the Reiki level three course, but it also includes the review course for Sauden and Okin. Um, and so you get a nice, you know, review of all of them and, um, then, you know, an encouragement to continue and take the courses, um, one by one if you want to teach them. So, um, yeah, feel free to reach out and I'll leave a link, uh, in the show notes as well for my Reiki three course this fall. Alright, so Ron went back to our conversation. Tell us more. How do we find the right students?

Speaker 2 35:21

I just need to stretch. Um, it's freezing here, so I'm trying to keep warm. It was really lovely to listen to you both and I love so many of those points. I love that Mikayla, what you said about yeah. That fear or that someone might not like you or,, you gotta let all that go. And that's the part of thing of like getting to know yourself and knowing that that's okay. And, being really clear about what it is that you love about the teachings and what you love to teach. And. Doing it from, yeah, a lot of clarity and a lot of heart. And I think that is going to attract what it needs to attract. Of course there are so many technical things that you can do to bring it all in and around, and you both spoke to that beautifully. Yeah. Sometimes I also think that maybe there's too many people thinking that they wanna be reiki teachers, and they don't actually have to be, as I was sort of saying early on, we don't need to be a formalized teacher. We can bring this into our world in so many ways. So thinking about that, thinking about if you have the skills, I think Carrie, you called it the teacher archetype. Such a great way to put it. Do you have the skills, do you have the training? I firmly believe that to be a good teacher that. Yes, you need to have an understanding about yourself, but you need to have an understanding about what it means to teach. Can you set it up for your students? Because you will attract students if you set it up well, if you set it up with in integrity, with, quality training, quality materials. I myself I've done, many, many years ago, I started to teach English to foreign students Or actually before that I was teaching as well. I was teaching drama to kids. I've always taught in some forms if I look at my life along the way. And each of those experiences gives you more, wisdom and knowledge and understanding about what it means to be a teacher, to teach and what students need to learn. And, there's a lot of different angles that we need to come from to support students. Satisfy their needs to be able to help them to move into what it is that they need to become. Being with people and sharing what we know, I think is a really valuable, um, thing. And I, I think we shouldn't put that down. And I think that if you want to impart things, find ways that work for you. First thing that I did was get involved in an association because I thought that to get integrity in the business that's where we could find good support to get good teachings out there. To, like you were talking about Carrie, and McKayla, to be able to actually provide quality teaching for people so that we didn't have sort of like fly by night stuff that didn't leave students feeling, like, oh, what do I do? Confused, uh, so, working strongly with a, an association. And I ended up setting up, um, Bumi, Shami, international Reiki Association. But when I moved on from International House of Reiki, I had to leave all of that behind. Within the international House of Reiki, I also set up all these teaching courses, which Carrie is what you're talking about. Like if someone would come to a Reiki two course and there was an online course that they could take to remind them what the reiki one course might have been like if they'd have done it, or what the actual cornerstones to those teachings were. There's so many ways that we can support students and, today I tend to teach people online one-on-one more being with them where they're at and looking at what they need. It seems to me, if I'm looking at what we're all talking about, there's many different shades and colors to this and students can really. Really feel what attracts them or what they need at this moment. That is the other thing, what does a student need at this exact moment? They go gonna need something different. And we can't always be everything to that, but a student needs to choose and a student needs to research. And we can only be who we are and, continue working on that. And hopefully we can be there as a teacher for students in whatever way that they need at this moment.

Speaker 3 39:55

I really appreciate that both of you brought, you know, kind of took a step back from how do we find the students to, like, I. Before we're looking for students, we're stepping into the, the role of teacher. And, and I do think it, uh, really involves some self-reflection on whether that is indeed the path that we want to take. And if so, what do we need? You know, again, on a self-assessment, what do we need from where we are in our life experience to step into teaching? Because as you said, Broman, you know, teaching is a completely different skillset. And teaching well and teaching, you know, spiritual practice that has both, you know, book learning and a great deal of experience and culture and history and, you know, direct experience with the mystery, right? There's a lot of moving parts to teaching reiki well, and so having a, an honest self-assessment of do I have what I need to do that not just do I know the system of Reiki, 'cause I've immersed myself in the classes, but do I know how to teach? And that's a, you know, question that everybody's gonna answer differently and every. Teacher who might want to graduate other teachers is going to differently answer, how do I prepare those students? Everything from, yeah, well once you've taken my Reiki three and all, you can use my manuals and off you go to, you know, actual full on teaching apprenticeships. And I love that you brought that up, Carrie. The importance of apprenticeship. I. I deeply believe in the value of apprenticeship, and I very much wanted to apprentice to a Reiki teacher and didn't get that opportunity. So I came to teaching from another direction, but I did have the opportunity to apprentice in other teaching traditions, so I felt very prepared to teach. And similar to you, Bron, when I was smiling, when you were talking about how, oh, I've actually always taught no matter what my job, that's the same for me. Like going back to high school, going back to retail jobs, going back to, you know, I was a tattoo artist briefly for a period of time, and in that brief period of time, I taught another person how to be a tattoo artist. Like teaching has always been at the core of whatever job I've done. And so. Yes, I have decades of different types of trainings and how to teach different things. So, you know, what I needed when I stepped into teaching reiki was different than somebody who doesn't have that background. And all of that is okay. It's just a matter of being honest about what we need to step into a well and then finding how to do that, how to get, how to receive that teaching. And I do think that you can bring together teaching experience from other traditions, other places, and then a solid understanding of reiki and bring that together into a quality teaching experience. Um, and the more you can be supported in doing that well and doing that specifically for reiki in the way that you want to teach it, in the way that you resonate with it, it's just gonna be better for you, for your, for your students, and you know, everybody in your ecosystem. So I very much believe in apprenticeship. I do have a reiki teaching apprenticeship for folks who have been through my program. Um, just graduated my first. Reiki teacher this past last month. So I'm, I'm very excited about that. And I have two more who will be coming in with me for this next, um, this next cycle. So, um, yeah, so I think that's, that's where I'm gonna land is just appreciating, uh, apprenticeship as a model very much and, uh, honest self-assessment for how we step into any role that we wanna take. Yeah. Final words for you, Ms. Carrie?

Speaker 5 43:25

Yeah, same. I think, you know, it's important that you mentioned Bronwyn. You know, not every student is the same, and it's same with our journey with teaching. So I really appreciate that there's different points of view. And look, hey, you know, as a Reiki teacher, you're probably going to face imposter syndrome in so many different ways. That's why I think it just, you'll serve yourself more to like, you know, have really good training in reiki, feel really confident in the skills and knowledge. Have enough practice with it. Um, you know, uh, and some of us, we just didn't have that, right? So maybe we bounced around to different teachers and maybe we learned things from different pathway, you know? So I know I have, um, yeah, some students in my group who, who wouldn't need an apprenticeship because they're really just, they already know, they have a really good, solid understanding of reiki. So I think we shouldn't judge like that. This is the path, but just really, like, for those of us who are new to Reiki, who are emerging healing artists, you know, you, you need to kind of be under somebody's wing and have them support you for a period of time, um, before you're ready to fly. And, um, I, you know, so, you know, that's, that's a, it is important foundation, right? But then when you have that foundation, how do you find the Reiki students? Oh, girl is a hustle. But yeah, first of all, you know, flyers are great. Putting flyers out. I've gotten a lot of students over the years with flyers. Um, you know, my reiki uh, clients are some, you know, they're more than likely going to become a Reiki student at one point. If, if they're really gravitating to the practice, if they're really getting out a lot out of it, at some point they'll take the Reiki courses. So, um, usually it's kind of, for me, the design process of teaching is, uh, you know, I want to, um, when I hear the nudge, you know, from my community, then I'm gonna, you know, set up a round of courses or maybe I just kind of, um, at this point have a, a, you know, a cer certain times of the year when I offer my courses. Um. But, you know, keep really good track of the people who are interested and, um, you know, keep reaching out to people who have expressed interest and also just trust the process. Trust that Reiki will bring you the right people at the right time and, um, keep telling the universe that you're ready for them and they will come. Absolutely. Um, so we also kind of really touched about this a lot in our last topic too. I think there was other topics or things, threads that we brought up, but, um, I think it's important to know as a reiki teacher that the students come to you. You know, you don't, it's not the other way around. So you kind of, kind of put yourself in a position where they can come to you and create those pathways with which that they come to you. Um, and then it's just a process of time and, um, repetition and practice and it'll happen. All right, Francois, uh, thanks for joining us for these last two conversations about Reiki courses. We hope they would've been very helpful for you. Um, feel free to share your own, um, insights, expertise on this whole process of finding the right Reiki students for your courses. And, um, we'd love if you to subscribe to our channel so you can be in the touch and in the know of our upcoming episodes, we have a Facebook group called Embodying Reiki. So feel free to join our community there. And, um, you know, check out all the links that we have for you below regarding our offerings and services. And then feel free to share this episode with somebody if you feel like it might be helpful for them. Alright, friends, well have a gorgeous week and we'll see you again in the next video. Bye bye