Performing Reiki
There is no right or wrong way to perform reiki. Every practitioner will have their own distinctive style on where and how they place their hand. In addition to that, every practitioner will have their own distinct way of detecting the location of any trauma or blockage.
Practitioner One is an extremely formal practitioner that believes in setting up the massage table, placing gentle glowing tea lights about the room and have soft music playing during the session. Practitioner One feels that this really adds to the healing atmosphere for both the client and the practitioner. During the session, the practitioner will follow all of the major and minor chakra pathways. The practitioner also has the ability to see the organs and bones within the body with their third eye, to detect where the traumas or blockages occurred. After the lesson, Practitioner One tells the client about the broken arm as a child, the three c-sections during child birth, and then proclaims that the lower three chakras are blocked because the client put their needs aside for the needs of others. They need to start focusing on their own needs, nurturing themselves, and setting their own boundaries.
Practitioner Two doesn’t own a massage table, so they have their clients lie on the couch or sit in a chair to perform reiki. There are no tea lights or music playing, but the practitioner will cast a healing circle before beginning. During the session, the practitioner will follow all of the major chakra pathways. This practitioner has the ability to detect chakra blockages because the chakra “looks dark” or “is clouded”. It’s not an ability they feel that they can really explain. After the session, Practitioner Two tells the client that the lower three chakras are blocked because the client put their needs aside for the needs of others. They need to start focusing on their own needs, nurturing themselves, and setting their own boundaries.
Practitioner Three doesn’t practice reiki formally, but will perform reiki on their family members in need. The practitioner prefers to perform reiki while the “client” is sitting in a chair. Since the practitioner is very close to their own family members it makes it unusually difficult to detect charka blockages or traumas as being too close to someone can cloud the vision. Because of this, Practitioner Three specializes in traumas to the body. The “client” will come to ask for a reiki session for various pains such as twisted ankles, carpal tunnel, or virus/bacterial infections and illness, so the practitioner is already informed of the location of the problem. Practitioner Three will lay their hands on or in the general area of the trauma and perform a localized reiki treatment. In this example, Practitioner Three is treating a twisted ankle. The practitioner feels the reiki energy go through multiple cycles of “high flow, low flow, high flow” which tells the practitioner the reiki energy is flowing to multiple sections of the body and not just the ankle they are treating. During the treatment, the “client” informed the practitioner that they felt the energy flowing not only at their ankle but swirling in their stomach. The practitioner informs the “client” that they probably put their needs aside for the needs of others. They need to start focusing on their own needs, nurturing themselves, and setting their own boundaries.
Whatever the reason the practitioner has decided to take up reiki, reiki is perfectly adaptable to everyone’s style and personal abilities. There is no right or wrong way to practice reiki. Reiki should be given with love in one’s heart and free of attachments.
I’ve personally given reiki to people at barbeques while sitting in a chair because they wanted to know what reiki was, to family members not living the same state but suffering from a trauma, to clients who would like a formal reiki treatment and to my plants to encourage growth. Sometimes I will also perform reiki on jewelry for myself or my client to wear so that the healing energy will continue to resonate within the stones and heal whoever was wearing it.
Whatever the reason you find yourself drawn to reiki, it is probably one of the most useful skills you can have as you may find multiple uses for it in your life. As reiki is not bound by a particular practicing style or ability, it will work well with any personal belief system.