To become a reiki master, a person must train at a reiki school or institute and progress through three levels of training. The levels of reiki are student, practitioner and master. A student can usually progress to the practitioner level within a couple of weekends. Once he has reached the practitioner level, the student will generally train personally with a master for as long as one year before becoming a master himself.
A person who wants to become a reiki master can usually enroll in a school or private institute. Depending on the particular institute, the reiki I level of training for a student usually lasts anywhere from two days to a few months. During this phase of training, the student learns how to open his body to the subtle energies known in Japanese as ki. This process is also referred to as attunement.
The practitioner, or reiki II level, is handled differently in almost every institute. A traditional teacher will train a practitioner indefinitely in the symbols and intentions of reiki until he or she feels the pupil is ready to move on. More modern approaches shorten the training, sometimes even to as short as one week. There is a time, however, between being a practitioner and being a master that one should train personally with a reiki master to receive more personal attention and hands-on experience. Some will even intern for a year before becoming full-fledged masters.
Once a person has become a reiki master, he is recognized as achieving level three attunement and receives the master symbol. A master is expected to practice healing others regularly, even from a distance. Most schools or trainers, however, require that a new master demonstrates the ability to teach or guide new students before he is free to be called a reiki teacher. It is expected that every reiki master pass on the knowledge to anyone interested in learning, and being able to teach the art is a high honor.
The first two steps a person must take to become a reiki master are relatively simple, so long as the student is truly interested in becoming a master. Opening one’s mind to the concepts and practice will make the process much easier. Today, there are plenty of places to learn this ancient practice, but it is still believed that the best way is hands-on with a true master. Some online sources claim that a person can become a master in less than a week, but many traditionalists disagree.