The teacher–student relationship — in Japanese shitei (師弟) — sits at the centre of how Reiki is taught. The practice is not delivered as information but handed on within a personal bond.
Passed in person
From Usui onward, Reiki has been transmitted face to face. A teacher gives the attunements, models the practice, and answers questions that no book can anticipate. This is why lineage matters: every practitioner learned from someone, in person.
"The practice is not delivered as information but handed on within a relationship."
The role of the teacher
A Reiki teacher — often called a master — does more than pass on technique. They open each level through attunement, embody the principles in how they teach, and take responsibility for guiding the student patiently rather than rushing them through levels.
The role of the student
The student, for their part, brings openness and steady practice. Much of Reiki is learned by doing it — daily self-practice, sitting with the principles, returning with questions. The relationship works because both sides give it time.
A living transmission
What passes between teacher and student is more than a set of instructions. It includes the small, unwritten things — how to hold the hands, how to settle a room, how to meet a student’s doubt — that are difficult to put into words and easy to convey in person.
This is why Reiki has never become a purely book-learned practice. The tradition treats it as something living, handed from one person to another, and trusts that this direct contact carries what no manual could.