How Reiki Is Performed
There are two main ways Reiki is performed on others:
1. In person
2. From a distance
But first, here’s what makes me your expert:
I’m Heather Larson, a Reiki Master in Wichita, KS. I’ve been practicing Reiki since 2012 and I became a Usui Master in 22014. I’ve offered Reiki sessions and classes in Wichita since then. I’ve given Reiki sessions to more than 100 people for a total of 160+ hours.
How In-Person Reiki is Performed
When you book an in-person Reiki session, you will receive a channeled energy session while lying fully-clothed on a massage table. However, Reiki is not massage. The two often get confused because many licensed massage therapists offer Reiki as an add-on service, some offer it as a stand-alone service as well.
Reiki is a 100-year old traditional hands-on Japanese relaxation technique. Reiki itself means “life-force energy” or “source energy.” The literal translation of Reiki is “spiritual wisdom life energy.” It’s pronounced ray-key. While there are now 250 “kinds” of Reiki practiced in the United States today, I choose to stay with the original brought to the world by Dr. Mikao Usui in 1922.
As Reiki is handed down through teacher to student, the ability to channel the energy to others comes at Reiki Level 2. At level 3, or Master Level, you are able to transfer the power of Reiki to students of your own and begin working to offer client sessions or classes. Reiki is neither licensed or regulated in the U.S. currently, though there is talk of regulation in various states.
Side note: I don’t believe in charging anyone thousands of dollars to learn Reiki. There are plenty of teachers who won’t make you do that!!! (I am one of them).
Read more about Reiki regulation in the United States
Learn the 7 ways Reiki helps reduce stress.
When you lie on the massage table to receive Reiki, the Reiki Master usually lays their hands on or around the chakra centers of your body—always in an appropriate manner. We never actually touch your heart chakra, located in your chest, for example.
But if touch is an issue due to past trauma, the magic of Reiki is that no one needs to lay their hands directly on your body. You can tell your Reiki Master (or practitioner) you don’t want touch in your session. Reiki will still be channeled to your energy body, esoteric body, and chakras. You will still receive the benefits of Reiki, which are relaxation and promotion of healing.
Why is that?
Because Reiki is an intelligent energy. It goes where it is needed to go and does what the body needs it to do. You aren’t receiving any “less” of a Reiki treatment because you aren’t being physically touched.
Distance Reiki is Enkaku Chiryo in Japanese
Whenever possible, I like to use the traditional Japanese words in my Reiki practice. I know that—kind of like in yoga how not many Westerners speak Sanskrit—many don’t understand what the Japanese words of Reiki mean. But I’d like to make them more familiar and honor Reiki’s rich and beautiful heritage of the past 100 years.
Enkaku Chiryo (en-kah-koo cheer-ee-oh) means Distance Reiki.
Distance Reiki can work across both space and time. I can send Reiki to you wherever you are in the world 🌎 I can also send it to a past or future situation. For example, if you believe you are going to experience anxiety over a big presentation you’re about to make at work, I can send Reiki to that hour and place where you’re scheduled to give that presentation.
In Distance Reiki, I like for us to meet over Zoom or phone so that we can interact live. Distance Reiki is calming, and meditative, and is just as powerful as an in-person Reiki session.