What Reiki is, and how it may support you
The same energy, met in different states — and the quiet ways it can show up in a body.
“If everything is energy, what makes Reiki different?”
Water is always H₂O — and yet it takes very different forms. Tap a form to feel the difference.
Where Reiki comes from
Reiki is a Japanese practice, a little over a hundred years old, passed from teacher to student by hand.
Mikao Usui completed a twenty-one day retreat of fasting and meditation on Mount Kurama, near Kyoto. Afterwards he described a way of healing through the hands that could be taught to others.
Usui opened a clinic and began teaching. One of his students, Chujiro Hayashi, a former naval officer, shaped the practice into a clear sequence of hand positions.
Hawayo Takata, who had been treated at Hayashi’s clinic, brought Reiki to Hawaii and trained the teachers through whom it spread across the world.
Reiki is offered in homes, clinics and hospitals in many countries — always alongside medical care, never in place of it. The lineage is still passed hand to hand.
Usui’s precepts are still read at the beginning of many classes: just for today — do not anger, do not worry, be grateful, work with diligence, be kind to others.
How may Reiki support you?
Warmth, tingling, a deep calm — or simply falling asleep. There is no “right” way to experience Reiki.
The body slows out of constant tension into real rest. Many people simply sleep better afterwards.
Where energy feels depleted, stagnant or unsettled, Reiki supports a return to something more even.
Some people become aware of what they have been carrying — and find it easier to gently set it down.
What happens during a Reiki session
Nothing is asked of you except to lie down and rest. Here is the whole of it.
A short conversation about what brought you here and what you would like support with. There is no assessment and nothing you need to explain well.
Nothing is removed and nothing is applied. You rest on your back on a mat or a bed, with a blanket if you would like one, and close your eyes.
I move through a sequence of positions from head to feet, sometimes resting my hands gently, sometimes holding them just above the body. Most people feel warmth, a soft current, or simply fall asleep.
At the end you take a few minutes to return before sitting up. I share anything I noticed, if you would like to hear it, and you leave with water and no instructions.
“How do you know it isn't just a placebo effect?”
I wondered the same thing. So out of curiosity I ran three small observations with flowers — hands-on Reiki, distance Reiki, and a Reiki symbol. Each time, the flowers that received Reiki stayed vibrant longer.
If it were all placebo — what about the plants?