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 desire to ease the burdens of another and the willingness to receive.
The Reiki energy is smart for it knows where to go and what to do. The Reiki practitioner does not direct the energy nor is it necessary to study arcane theories of the universe in order to use it. It is simply intent which causes the Reiki energy to flow and intent which directs it. 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.
There is a treatment protocol traditionally taught to Reiki practitioners which
involves a series of hand positions. These positions are well spaced along the
clients body and together they provide good coverage of the clients entire body.
While the energy does go where it is most needed, it is frequently observed
that it stays near where the practitioner has placed his or her hands. By covering
all parts of the body evenly the patient will, by default, get the best treatment
possible. These hand positions are a good place for a practitioner to begin
practicing Reiki. With experience he or she should feel free to experiment based
on the needs of the moment.
Any set of hand positions are only a guideline (though I suppose some Reiki Masters insist on using only the hand positions they teach). Most Reiki practitioners use intuition or other methods to say which positions are to be used in each healing, varying from the traditional positions as the situation warrants. One common method is the sweep in which the practitioner sweeps his or her hands through the clients energy field looking for hot spots. These indicate places needing healing energy.
Their hands can be placed on top of the clients hands, with the energy being beamed through the clients hands. The practitioner may also hold their hands above the area in question so there is no touching and beam the energy from a slight distance. The hands in many places very near the sensitive areas trusting that the energy will flow into the areas not directly treated. The remote healing techniques of Reiki level II can be used also.
Practitioner comfort is quite important while practicing Reiki. A full treatment can easily last for an hour and if the patient is lying on the floor how can the practitioner remain comfortable hunched over for that long? Better is for the patient to be seated in a chair that gives the practitioner easy access to their whole body. Massage tables are very good for Reiki since they can be adjusted, are comfortable, and allows the patient to relax more fully. Some companies make tables meant specifically for Reiki which allow a rollaround chair to go underneath the table.
There is an interesting correlation with Reflexology. The theory in Reflexology
is that when our bodies first form all parts of the body in one place, and as
the body grows an energetic connection is formed such that the soles of the
feet, the ears, and the palms of the hands, all contain a map of the rest of
the body. In reflexology the matching places in the feet, ears or hands are
massaged to stimulate different parts of the body. As one becomes more in tune
with and aware of the energy pay attention to the energy around the clients
feet.
With Reiki it is quite possible to treat oneself as well as others. Treating oneself is simply placing your own hands on yourself and intending for the energy to run. By treating onself you can more quickly know what the experience of receiving Reiki is like.
Comfort is sometimes harder to arrange depending on where the energy is needed. Being inventive most of the places in ones body can be reached. For those body parts which cannot be reached one can try the remote healing techniques to do a remote healing to yourself.
This was written by David Herron.