Reiki on a yoga retreat or Reiki training: which one suits you?
By Vanessa Chugani · Updated October 2026
Choose the retreat add-on if you want one restful Reiki session folded into a holiday you have already booked. Choose training if you want to learn the craft itself: the attunement, the practice, and the ability to work on yourself and others long after the retreat ends.
A Reiki add-on on a yoga retreat and training with a Reiki Master Teacher solve two different problems, not a scale of the same thing. One gives you a Reiki session woven into days you have already set aside for yoga and rest. The other teaches you the craft itself: the attunement, the practice, the ability to work on yourself and the people you love long after you fly home. Neither replaces the other. A retreat add-on is a lovely way to meet Reiki for the first time. Training is a longer undertaking, usually one level at a time, in a lineage called Usui Shiki Ryoho, taught by a Reiki Master Teacher rather than whoever is rostered on at the retreat that week.
| a Reiki add-on inside a yoga retreat package | training in a lineage classroom | |
|---|---|---|
| What you actually get | One or two Reiki sessions folded into the retreat schedule, alongside the yoga. | A full teaching: manual, attunement and guided practice, building from Level 1 to Master Teacher. |
| Who is giving it | Whoever the retreat has booked for Reiki that week, not necessarily a dedicated teacher. | A Reiki Master Teacher working in one lineage, Usui Shiki Ryoho, in groups of six or fewer, often 1:1. |
| Time needed | None beyond the retreat days you have already booked. | Days per level, live in Canggu or online, dates arranged around you rather than fixed in advance. |
| What you leave with | A restful session and a memory from the retreat. | The ability to practise Reiki on yourself and others afterwards, with support from your teacher. |
| Who it suits | Someone who wants rest woven into a holiday, nothing extra to learn or carry home. | Someone who wants a skill for life, or is weighing it as a second career. |
| Where it happens | Wherever the retreat is held, usually once. | In Canggu or live online, never recorded, repeatable level by level. |
Which one suits you
A retreat add-on suits someone who wants rest, not responsibility. The yoga has already loosened your body, and a Reiki session on top of that lets your nervous system settle further before you fly home. Nothing to learn, nothing to come back for. Training suits someone who wants to leave with a skill, not a memory. If you are retraining after a career, after children, or after a loss, and want something you can offer yourself and your family for years, not one afternoon, that is who a Reiki Master Teacher is teaching: Level 1 onward, in small groups or 1:1, built around your schedule rather than a retreat calendar. Reiki itself is rest and support for a nervous system that has been running hot for a long time. How much of that you want to carry home is the real choice.
Related questions
Can I do both, a retreat session now and training later?
Yes. Many people meet Reiki on a retreat first, then decide months or years later that they want to learn it properly. There is no fixed calendar for training, so there is no deadline to work around, and a Reiki Master Teacher can start you at Level 1 whenever you are ready.
Is training harder to get into than a retreat add-on?
It takes more of your time, not more qualification. Training runs in small groups of six or fewer, often 1:1, with dates built around you rather than a retreat's fixed schedule, so the main difference is the commitment, not who is allowed to attend.
Is a Reiki session on a retreat the same lineage as training here?
Not necessarily. Retreats often bring in whoever is available locally, and lineage varies. Training with a Reiki Master Teacher here follows one named lineage, Usui Shiki Ryoho, passed down from Mikao Usui through Chujiro Hayashi and Hawayo Takata, so you know exactly where it comes from.