Traditional Japanese Reiki – Shoden
Learning Reiki a little differently
Shoden means first teaching and is the beginning level of Traditional Japanese Reiki.
I teach Shoden over four weekly evenings, rather than as an intensive one or two-day course.
There is a reason for that.
When I learned Shoden myself, I completed it over two full days, back to back. I loved the teaching, but there was a lot to take in. Afterwards I had the Reiki Shares, but little opportunity to come back to the teaching once I had actually begun living with the practices.
When I started teaching Shoden, I wanted to do things differently.
So we learn a little, you take it home and practise it, notice what happens, and then come back the following week and we talk about your experience before moving on.
Four weekly evenings · 2½ hours each week · In person at Navitas, Crewe
Four attunements, Traditional Japanese Reiki practices, meditation and the Reiki Precepts.
The space between our evenings is part of the course.
An invitation to become more aware
Shoden isn't simply about learning how to give Reiki treatments.
From our first evening together, the invitation is to begin becoming more aware of yourself and to move towards greater stillness.
We explore Reiki through meditation, breath, energetic practices, self-treatment, hands-on Reiki and the Reiki Precepts.
But the practices aren't things to perfect.
They give us different ways of noticing.
What happens when the mind becomes quieter? What do you notice in your body? How do you respond when something doesn't happen as you expected? What happens when one of the Reiki Precepts meets the reality of your everyday life?
There is no rush to arrive anywhere.
We practise, notice and continue.
The roots of the practice
During our first evening, we explore what Reiki is and look at its history through the Japanese teachings and the evidence that remains available to us, including the Usui memorial.
There are things about Reiki's early history that we simply don't know, and I think it is important to acknowledge that.
We also look at how Reiki developed as it travelled through Chujiro Hayashi and Hawayo Takata into the West, including practices that were lost or changed and other elements that became part of Western Reiki.
My own lineage includes Hayashi and Takata, and I teach both Western and Traditional Japanese Reiki.
I don't see one as better than the other.
They offer different ways into the practice.
Four weeks to practise, experience and reflect
Each week begins by coming back to your experience.
What did you practise? What did you notice? Did something arise that surprised you? Was there something you intended to practise and simply didn't get around to?
There is no judgement attached to any of it.
In fact, noticing our response when we haven't done what we intended can sometimes teach us as much as doing the practice itself.
Over the four weeks we gradually introduce and explore Traditional Japanese Reiki practices including Gassho, Joshin Kokyuho, Kenyoku Ho, the Three Diamonds, Seishin Toitsu and Nentatsu Ho, alongside chanting, contemplation, self-treatment and Reiki treatments with others.
You also receive four attunements across the course.
But I don't want Shoden to become a collection of Japanese words or techniques to remember.
Traditional Japanese Reiki is a lifelong practice. Shoden introduces you to a number of different practices, not because I expect you to do all of them every day, but so that you begin to discover the ones that support you at different times.
Some days you may be drawn to self-treatment. At other times it may be Joshin Kokyuho, Gassho, chanting the Precepts or simply sitting with one of them and noticing what it brings into your awareness.
The practices aren't a checklist to complete.
They are different ways of returning to the practice — and, ultimately, returning to yourself.
The Reiki Precepts – something to live with
The Reiki Precepts run through the whole course.
We don't use them as affirmations or expect ourselves never to become angry, worried or anything else that comes with being human.
Instead, we notice.
If I become angry, what is happening within me?
If I am worrying, where is my mind taking me?
What does being humble look like in my ordinary life? Am I working honestly? And can I bring compassion not only to other people, but to myself?
Each week we focus more closely on different Precepts and you take that exploration home with you.
Because the Precepts aren't really about what happens during a Reiki treatment.
They are about how we meet life.
Body, mind and heart
As the weeks progress, we explore the importance of the hara within the Japanese practices and work experientially with Earth Ki, Heaven Ki and Heart Ki.
Rather than asking you to accept an explanation of what these energies should feel like, we use practices that allow you to explore them for yourself.
For me, this reflects something fundamental within the Japanese approach.
We can spend much of life responding to what appears to be happening to us. Reiki practice creates an opportunity to turn our attention inward and become curious about what we are bringing to life too.
Not to judge it.
Simply to become aware of it.
Reiki with yourself and with others
Self-practice remains at the heart of Shoden, but you will also learn how to share Reiki with another person.
During the course we practise both chair and treatment-couch Reiki. We look at preparing yourself and the person receiving Reiki, consent, comfort, hand positions and what either of you may notice during a treatment.
You learn a structure so that you have somewhere to begin, while also learning not to become restricted by it.
As your sensitivity develops, you can begin allowing your own awareness and intuition to guide you.
And just as in my Western Reiki teaching, I don't teach you to diagnose or interpret somebody else's experience for them.
Their experience belongs to them.
What happens between the evenings?
Shoden asks for some commitment to practice between our sessions.
I encourage you to self-treat each day, practise Joshin Kokyuho, chant the Precepts in Japanese and spend some time observing the particular Precept we are exploring that week.
Keeping a journal can also be useful for capturing what you notice and bringing it back to our next evening.
But there is something else I tell every group.
Don't give yourself a hard time if you don't manage everything.
Do what you can. Notice what happens. And be okay with what you did.
Compassion towards yourself isn't separate from the practice. It is part of it.
After Shoden
Our fourth evening isn't the end of Shoden. In many ways, it is where your own practice begins.
Within the Traditional Japanese approach, the study of Reiki is a lifelong daily practice. There is always something more we can notice about ourselves, not necessarily by learning something new, but by returning to the practices we already have with greater awareness.
I encourage you to continue honouring body, mind and spirit through regular self-practice, choosing from the different practices you have experienced during Shoden and continuing to explore what it means to embody the Reiki Precepts in everyday life.
For the following nine weeks, you will receive an email from me each week to support you as you continue practising and integrating what you've learned.
You are also welcome at our Reiki Practice & Share, where you can continue practising with others and remain connected with the Reiki community.
There is a next level, Okuden, if at some point you feel drawn to continue. I recommend leaving at least three months after Shoden before taking that step.
But you don't have to go any further.
Shoden gives you a practice that can continue to deepen for as long as you choose to practise it.
Is Shoden the right place for me to begin?
Shoden may appeal to you if you are drawn towards a meditation and practice-led approach to Reiki and would value having time between sessions to experience what you are learning.
You don't need previous Reiki experience. You don't need to meditate already. And you certainly don't need to consider yourself particularly spiritual.
Curiosity is enough.
If you would prefer to begin with a practical introduction contained within a single day, Western Reiki Level 1 may feel more natural to you.
Neither is a better starting point.
They are different doorways into Reiki.
Shoden at a glance
Four weekly evenings
2½ hours each week
In person
Navitas, Crewe
Your course includes
Four attunements, Traditional Japanese Reiki practices, meditation and breath practices, the Reiki Precepts, self-treatment, working with others and your course manual.
Between sessions
Personal practice, observation and reflection, with the opportunity to bring your experiences back to the group each week.
Afterwards
Nine weeks of follow-up support and the opportunity to continue practising through the Reiki Practice & Share.
For the current course price and to book your place, please follow the booking link below.
A practice to take into life
You don't have to know where the practice will take you.
Shoden is simply an invitation to begin.
To practise.
To notice.
And perhaps, little by little, to become more aware of the person who is living your life.