How to Choose a Good Online Reiki Course

A few years ago, the idea of learning Reiki online generated a certain amount of controversy. For some people, a practice traditionally passed from teacher to student necessarily had to be learned in person. For others, distance had never been a real obstacle to the practice of Reiki.

Today, online Reiki courses are much more common. However, under the same name we can find very different approaches: from courses consisting mainly of written material or downloadable documents to complete training programmes with recorded classes, live sessions, Reiju, teacher support and extensive learning materials.

So, before choosing an online Reiki course, perhaps it is worth starting with an earlier question.

Can Reiki be learned online?

My answer is yes, although I think it deserves some nuance.

Technology allows us to connect across distances in ways that would have been difficult to imagine only a few decades ago. A video call allows us to talk, see each other, practise together, observe how a technique is performed, ask questions and establish a direct relationship between teacher and student, even when we are thousands of kilometres apart.

Obviously, a video call is not the same as being together in the same room. But I also don’t believe that online training necessarily has to be distant or impersonal.

From the perspective of Reiki itself, moreover, the question of distance is not particularly unusual. In the second level of Reiki, we learn Enkaku Reiki, the practice of Reiki at a distance. This practice was already part of the system in the time of Usui Sensei.

This does not mean that learning Reiki online and learning it in person are exactly the same. They are not. But it does remind us that within Reiki—as is also the case in different Eastern traditions—physical distance has not necessarily been considered an obstacle to practice.

Personally, I have taught Reiki for many years both in person and online. The two approaches have different characteristics, but I believe both can offer deep and complete training when they are thoughtfully structured.

Not all online Reiki courses are the same

Online Reiki courses did not begin with the pandemic.

Long before then, distance-learning courses could already be found on platforms such as Udemy and other specialised websites. I remember some of those early courses: in many cases, they consisted mainly of a collection of documents or PDFs that students downloaded and studied on their own.

These types of courses still exist and can be perfectly valid for someone looking for a first introduction to Reiki, even without any previous practice. In reality, they are workshops similar to reading a book about Reiki.

Over time, however, online teaching has evolved enormously.

Today we can find courses with dozens of recorded classes, practical demonstrations, meditations, manuals, individual meetings with the teacher, live classes, student communities and other resources that make it possible to create a much more complete learning experience.

For this reason, simply saying that a course is “online” tells us very little about what the training will actually be like.

Live, recorded, hybrid and self-study courses

One of the first things we can look at is how the course is taught.

Some online courses are taught entirely live, usually by video call. These are probably the closest to an in-person class: teacher and students share a schedule, can talk, practise together and address questions as they arise.

There are also fully recorded courses. Their main advantage is freedom: we can study whenever we want, repeat a class as many times as necessary and adapt the learning process to our own pace.

Between these two formats are hybrid courses, which combine recorded content with live meetings, tutorials or individual sessions. In this way, they preserve the freedom of independent learning without completely giving up contact with the teacher.

Finally, there are still courses based mainly on written material, books or downloadable PDFs. These tend to be simpler and more affordable options, although naturally they offer a different experience.

I don’t believe there is one format that is universally better than the others. It depends on what each person is looking for, their availability and also the way they prefer to learn.

What matters is knowing what we are choosing before we begin.

What does the course actually include?

Beyond whether the training is in person or online, I believe this is one of the most important questions.

Two Reiki Level 1 courses may share the same name and yet offer very different content.

It is worth looking carefully at the programme.

A complete course should allow us to understand what Reiki is and learn about its history, become familiar with the principles or Gokai, learn and practise self-treatment, receive Reiju and acquire the knowledge necessary to give a Reiki session to another person.

Depending on the school and lineage, different traditional Japanese techniques, meditation practices, cleansing or purification methods and other exercises that form part of the system may also be taught.

More content, however, does not necessarily mean better training.

A course with one hundred videos is not necessarily better than one with thirty. In the same way, a twenty-hour course is not automatically better than a ten-hour one.

I believe what matters is that there is a coherent and sufficiently comprehensive programme and that, by the end of it, the student understands what they have learned and feels prepared to practise.

Who teaches the course?

Sometimes we pay a great deal of attention to the programme, the price or the number of hours, and very little to the person behind our training.

For me, this is an important question.

We can look into the teacher’s training, lineage, experience as a practitioner and background in teaching Reiki. We can also observe how clearly they explain their own training and where what they teach comes from.

But there is perhaps something simpler:

Listen to the teacher before choosing them.

Today, it is relatively easy to find a video, article, interview or post by the person we are considering studying with.

Listen to them. Observe how they speak about Reiki, how they explain it, how much importance they give to practice and how they refer to other schools or ways of understanding it.

We do not need to agree on everything, but it is probably important to feel a certain affinity with the person from whom we are going to learn.

Reiki is not simply a collection of techniques to memorise. The way it is transmitted also matters.

Is there ongoing support?

One of the major differences between online courses can be found precisely here.

Some courses effectively end the moment we purchase the content: we receive access to the materials, and from then on the learning process depends entirely on us.

Others allow us to contact the teacher, send questions, attend tutorials, participate in live meetings or become part of a student community.

Again, none of these options is necessarily better for everyone. But it is worth knowing what we are looking for.

Especially if this is our first experience of Reiki, being able to ask a question when something is unclear, share an experience that arises during practice or simply receive some guidance can be very valuable.

There is a difference between buying content and receiving training. Both can make sense. They are simply not exactly the same.

Reiju, certificate and lineage

It is also worth checking how the course approaches these three aspects.

Reiju is the Japanese name given to the transmission or initiation that traditionally forms part of Reiki training. Different schools may perform it in different ways and, in online training, there are also different approaches.

I believe the important thing is that the school clearly explains what it does, how it does it and why.

A diploma or certificate, on the other hand, confirms that we have completed a particular course. If our intention is to continue with further levels later on or to practise professionally, it may be worth checking whether the course provides some form of certification.

We can also ask about lineage.

Lineage shows the succession of teachers through whom the teaching has reached us and allows us to understand a particular school’s relationship with the tradition of Usui Reiki Ryōhō.

I consider this valuable information. But we should not confuse a certificate or lineage with practice.

A certificate confirms that we have completed a course. It does not automatically make us good Reiki practitioners. That comes later. Through practice, time and experience.

So, how do we choose a good online Reiki course?

Perhaps the most useful question is not simply whether we should learn Reiki in person or online.

We can find excellent in-person training and other courses that are much more superficial. Exactly the same is true of online teaching.

Before choosing a course, we can look at what it includes, who teaches it, how the learning takes place, whether support is available, how Reiju is integrated and what resources will be available to us.

We can also ask ourselves something much more personal:

“Do I feel comfortable with the way this person or school understands and teaches Reiki?”

Because learning Reiki is not simply about accumulating information. It is about learning a practice. And for that we need information, of course, but also time, experience and practice.

The format matters.

The quality of the teaching matters much more.