This is response to swetha's question posed in her reply to my intro post. I know to some the info here will be controversial but I believe it all to be true. The first portion is excerpted from a post I wrote at different message board in a forum for which I am the moderator for alternative therapies.

"To be able to use Reiki, you need to be attuned by a Master/Teacher. No way around that part. But there's good news below.

You can learn online, and there's a lot of good info available at no cost. When Mikao Usui first started treating people, he did it for free. Then, after a time, found he was treating the same people over and over again, because, since it was free, they didn't take the care they should or place any value on the Reiki, so as a result, he started charging for his treatments. Reiki today is based on an 'energy exchange' of some sort. To a Master/Teacher who earns his/her living from Reiki, the exchange is in money. It works like this. You'd study the Reiki manuals provided by your Master, sometimes at home over several weeks, or at a weekend session, receiving knowledge and culminating in the attunment. The next levels would be taught the same way. A period of time is necessary between levels so you can practice on yourself and whoever you can coax into a treatment. This gives you a 'feel' for the energy and helps you to connect and work with it. Most practioners of the western style of Usui Reiki have 3 levels, R1, R2 and Master/Teacher. Some break down the M/T level, calling the Master level 3a and Teacher 3b. The Master/Teacher I'm working with doesn't break it down, but she does require that enough study and practice is done to deserve the attunement to M/T.

Today, there are almost countless M/T's on the web who'll attune you for free if you tell 'em you've studied. A few require that you send 'em a completed test so they know you at least read the manual once. The 'energy exchange' that most of those Masters ask for is to make a donation to charity, or if you're broke or just can't afford to, do some charity work or even join a group in sending Reiki to those folks who've asked for a distant treatment.

A hands-on attunement should also include in-person support during your journey, most distant attunments offer email support but that's all. It's an important area to think about and for the amount of money you're going to pay, you should get it with no hesitation.

Another major difference between being attuned by a hands-on Master/Teacher and a distant attunement is you'll receive a certificate stating the lineage of your M/T, and the modality of Reiki you've been attuned to, which you could use to show you've been properly trained in that modality. Most free distant attunements do not include an offer of a certificate. Some will send a blank one for ten or fifteen dollars, but very few, if any, include their lineage. Granted, a certificate is only a piece of paper, but if Reiki is going to be used to generate income, you'd want a certificate and the lineage to justify your prices.

I studied on the web and received distant attunements to R1 and R2. I'm studying for M/T now, through a local Reiki Master/Teacher and paying for my attunement to M/T by assisting her in group treatments, with what I'd be paid in cash going instead to my training and attunment. A very fair exchange as far as I'm concerned. I don't plan on offering Reiki for pay, so the certificate isn't important to me although I will have it if I ever need it.

Manuals for study available free on the web vary a bit, with the best of the bunch for traditional Usui Reiki from Peggy Jentoft and Vincent Amador. As a last suggestion, I'd reccomend starting with Usui Reiki at first and other modalities later. Traditional Usui Reiki was the first and other modalities are based on Usui-Sensei's method. PM me if you'd like addy's for groups that offer training and attunment on the internet, with good support after attunment."

The biggest obstacle people face is after attunement, in keeping their practice regular and often, with as busy as most folks lives are today, it's takes a commitment to your Reiki to set aside the time necessary. You NEED to practice daily, doing self-treatments daily, I even Reiki my food and drinking water. My dog gets a treatment daily, several friends get treatments weekly, I participate in a Reiki Circle/Share weekly, perform self-Reiju every Friday night, and my grandaughters receive Reiki every time I see them. It's like Be_Reiki...Do_Reiki...it becomes a way of life and living that certainly hasn't hurt me, but instead, has helped me become a better person.

My .02 worth here, and I'm sure there are M/T's out there who'd blast me into oblivion for even suggesting 'free' distant attunements, but I'll stick by what I've written here, Be_Reiki and Do_Reiki as long as I breathe.

Namaste!

tomas

ya:) you are right the most important thing is to be Reiki and do it every day

i consider that to be one of the biggest draw back as well. most of people who are just about starting out with or are in our mid life stage of our lives are mostly so caught up in the "rat race" of survival and climbing up the corprate ladder that ... sparing time even for our own good is difficult.

today not only are most people our age faced with extermely firece competition but also by mundane yet important stuff like living up to other peoples expectations, mantaining certain standard of life style, social obligations and thing like this that in most of cases by the time we are done most of us even lack the enegry to walk back to our beds.

i hope i am making a little sense.

the people i know to be out of the day to day rat race have enuf inherited money to live thier lives out as they wish or people who have well, old & retired and have earned their rights to do exactly as they deem fit.

no, i am not saying that a person who earns very little or nothing cant be happy or step out of the rat race... its just that in today's world they are an increasingly rare find.

Abhishek