Methods

This section highlighting the methods of giving and receiving reiki treatments features: Self Treatments, In-Person Treatments, Distant Treatments, and Group Treatments.

Self Treatments

According to the Cleveland Clinic, Reiki is a meditative practice that promotes relaxation, reduces stress and anxiety, and promotes a positive mental state through gentle touch. Reiki self-treatment is a way to benefit from the therapy in your own home. There are 10 positions that can be done during your Reiki self-treatment.

Why has Reiki self-treatment been recommended for me?

This document is being provided to you as a follow-up to a recent Reiki treatment you received at Taussig Cancer Institute. Reiki is a complementary therapy available to Taussig’s patients. Treatments provided by trained Reiki Master Therapists and patient- administered self-treatments have been found to be beneficial in supporting cancer patients’ healing journeys by:

Promoting relaxation
Reducing stress and anxiety
Increasing energy levels and reducing fatigue
Promoting an increased sense of positive well-being

Reiki therapy is provided to patients in Taussig’s treatment and exam rooms by Certified Reiki Master Therapists. There is no charge to patients for treatments performed at Taussig. Reiki therapists believe self-treatments can help patients to continue receiving the benefits of Reiki on a daily basis. This document details information about Reiki self- treatments, which you can perform on yourself at home, at your own discretion. These can be adapted to meet your own needs.

How do I prepare for a Reiki self-treatment session?

The following suggestions can help you prepare for your Reiki self-treatment. Read this information carefully.

Before beginning, remind yourself that Reiki is the universal life force energy that already exists within everyone. Reiki energy strengthens the body’s natural healing abilities.
Patients are encouraged to perform their Reiki self-treatment whether they feel well or not. View your Reiki self-treatments as special times you can set aside during the day to be peaceful and calm.
Set aside a regular time each day to perform your Reiki self-treatments. It is suggested that you start with a 20-minute self-treatment first thing in the morning and then another 20-minute self-treatment at the end of the day. These treatments can be performed for longer stretches of time if you would like (30 to 60 minutes). The time of day can also be adjusted to best fit your schedule.
Find a safe and comfortable space in your home to perform your self-treatments. Try to use this same space regularly. You can perform these self-treatments sitting in a chair or lying on your back on a sofa, bed, or the floor.
Unless you need someone present in the room for your care and safety, consider performing your self-treatments alone in the room.
Create a quiet environment without distracting noise. Many patients find it helpful to play some relaxing instrumental music during their self-treatments. Later in this document, a few examples of Reiki session music is provided.
When you are ready to start your Reiki self-treatment, go to your designated space, turn on your relaxing background music, and remove your shoes. If you are reclining, place a pillow under your head and place a rolled-up second pillow under your knees. For comfort, place a blanket over your body to stay warm. Close your eyes. Relax your body and mind. Notice and make mental note of any special places in your body or mind that need special attention in your session. Remind yourself that your Reiki self-treatment is being performed for the highest and greatest good. Breathe in easy and relaxing breaths during your self-treatment. Often it helps to focus your attention on your breath and body as you perform the various hand positions.

In-Person Treatments

The Reiki Page describes an in-person reiki trreatment as follows:

A Reiki treatment consists of the practitioner placing his or her hands on the clients body having only the intent for the energy to flow. There is no complicated rituals to perform. Only the simple exchange of energy between two or more people. Only the simple intent to share healing. Only the intentionality to ease the burdens of another and the willingness to receive.

According to Reiki teachings, the Reiki energy is smart for it knows where to go and what to do. The Reiki practitioner is instructed to allow the energy to flow, without directing the energy. It isn’t necessary to study arcane theories of the universe in order to use Reiki. Simple intent causes the Reiki energy to flow and the intent directs the energy. The best thing for the practitioner to do is nothing, but to get out of the way and allow the energy to do its work. Read More

The International Center for Reiki Training describes the process of a hands-on reiki session as follows:

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by “laying on hands” and is based on the idea that an unseen “life force energy” flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one’s “life force energy” is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.

The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words – Rei which means “God’s Wisdom or the Higher Power” and Ki which is “life force energy”. So Reiki is actually “spiritually guided life force energy.”

A treatment feels like a wonderful glowing radiance that flows through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and wellbeing. Many have reported miraculous results.

Reiki is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It has been effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect. It also works in conjunction with all other medical or therapeutic techniques to relieve side effects and promote recovery.

An amazingly simple technique to learn, the ability to use Reiki is not taught in the usual sense, but is transferred to the student during a Reiki class. This ability is passed on during an “attunement” given by a Reiki master and allows the student to tap into an unlimited supply of “life force energy” to improve one’s health and enhance the quality of life. Read More

Restore Naturally (Melbourne, Australia) describes an in-person reiki treatment in the following way:

During a Reiki treatment you are fully clothed while I, and other Reiki practitioners, hold our hands over different areas of your body acting as a “one way hose” for positive Reiki energy.

During a Reiki treatment you may experience pleasant physical sensations such as tingling and warmth or pleasant mental and emotional images. These vary from person to person because everyone experiences Reiki differently and no two Reiki treatments are ever the same.

Since 2002 I have treated hundreds of people with Reiki. After receiving Reiki people commonly people report that they feel:

lighter
happier
more relaxed
as if they have been meditating
freer in their body with less physical pain
freer in their mind as situations that once bothered them no longer do
Reiki helps restore you to a state of balance by unlocking your body’s natural healing abilities because it directly influences your central nervous system – it allows you to relax.

With Reiki, I can help you to manage:

Stress, anxiety, grief and depression
Painful conditions (shoulder, lower back & neck pain, fibromyalgia) that do not respond to other manual therapies
Life and spiritual challenges
Your Reiki treatment can compliment other treatments you may already be receiving such as physiotherapy, counseling, psychotherapy, and massage. Read More

Distant Treatments

The Center For True Health describes distant reiki treatments as follows:

What is Distance Reiki Healing?

Distance Reiki is a technique within the system of Reiki that enables you to give a Reiki session beyond the limitations of time and space. It expands the practitioner’s ability to transmit spiritual energy beyond physical touch. In other words, it’s a way to offer Reiki without the recipient being in the same room with you.

Why do I prefer calling it Absentee Healing?

From a traditional Japanese Reiki perspective, the Reiki Absentee Healing Technique focuses on offering Reiki from a state of Oneness, or connection to everything. In this way, you aren’t “sending” Reiki, instead you’re feeling one with another person and sharing Reiki this way.

The word distance implies separation (the opposite of being in a state of Oneness) so I prefer using the word absentee instead. For me, this is further supported by the use of the Reiki symbol and mantra HSZSN (often referred to as the Distance Reiki symbol) in conjunction with the Absentee Healing technique. HSZSN is all about helping us be in a state of Oneness.

How Absentee Reiki Works

The Absentee Reiki Technique is usually 15-20 minutes long, but can continue longer if you like. The practitioner schedules a time and date with the recipient (or client) for the Absentee Reiki session. By setting up a specific time the recipient can be in a receptive state (such as lying down or meditating during the treatment).

In advance of the session, the recipient will also email a photo of themselves to the practitioner, along with their name, age, location and any intention they have of what they want the session to support (e.g. a physical or health issue, goal, or challenge). Having these details will help the practitioner connect to the client or recipient if they haven’t met before. Read More

The knowledge of modern quantum physicists involves an understanding of Wave/Particle Dualism, which helps to explain the ability of reiki practitioners to perform non-local (distant) treatments. (See below)

‘The new quantum mechanical notion of relationship follows as a direct consequence of the wave/particle dualism and the tendency of a “matter wave” (or “probability wave”) to behave as though it were smeared out all over space and time. For if all potential “things’ stretch out indefinitely in different directions, how does one speak of any distance between them, or conceive of any separateness? All things and all moments touch each other at every point. The oneness of the overall system is paramount. It follows from this that the once ghostly notion of “action-at-a-distance,” where one body can influence another instantaneously despite there being no apparent exchange of force or energy, is, for the quantum physicist, a fact of everyday reality. It is a fact so alien to the whole framework of space and time that it remains one of the greatest conceptual challenges raised by quantum theory.’ The Quantum Self, by Danah Zohar (1991)

The Peaceful Runner describes Distant Reiki Treatments in the following way:

We accept other energy frequencies that we cannot see, such as electricity, radios, cell phones and wi-fi. Initially, these frequencies were thought to be too unbelievable to be true, but now they are accepted as normal functioning services. In order for them to work, they have to be tuned in and Distant Reiki works the same way.

The Reiki practitioner acts as a conduit and tunes the healing energy to the person it is being sent to and then it flows through the energy currents that exist naturally. Distance is not an obstacle for Reiki in the same way that it isn’t for cell phones or the internet. Read More

Group Treatments

According to the Reiki Healing Association, the Benefits of a Group Reiki Treatment are:

Group Treatment is quicker taking as little as six to ten minutes to complete a full Reiki treatment.
Group Treatment is very powerful. The client receives an intense burst of healing energy. This often has the effect of kick starting the clients’ natural healing process.
Group Treatment allows the team to form a bond and create a unique energy. As we all experience Reiki in different ways, clients will often notice the different energy vibrations from different Reiki practitioners.

Group Treatments | Back Hand Positions

Guidelines for Conducting a Group Reiki Treatment

All the normal preparations and procedures of a full Reiki treatment still apply to a group session.
Before you begin a group treatment decide who will work on the head positions and ultimately control the healing session.
Depending on how many Reiki practitioners are involved in the group treatment decide who will work on the various hand positions. Don’t forget to decide who will complete the session by smoothing the clients aura.
If four or more practitioners are taking part in the healing session you can have one practitioner at each end of the clients’ body while the other practitioners work in the middle.

This is a wonderful way to treat many people in a short space of time and ideal for therapy days. However, remember to wash your hands before and after each treatment under cold running water to dissipate any negative energy and assist grounding for each member of the team.

Spend time sharing experiences. Group treatment is a great way to learn and grow together.