Many don’t know what to expect from a reiki session, but you have to understand it can be a very personal and individual experience. Everyone will feel things slightly differently. Your practitioner works a vessel to discharge vital energies within your body, allowing it to begin healing itself. Here’s some things you could expect from a reiki treatment.

Ethics: The session is your time and everything which passes between you will be kept confidential.

What to wear: Wear loose fitting clothes. Leave jewelry and belts at home. Your attire should allow for complete relaxation, easy breathing and completely free energy flow. Tying long hair back will allow your therapist to reach your important neck area more easily.

The room: Often the room will be dimly lit, there may be music playing or water fountains trickling. On most occasions the reiki will take place with you lying on a padded treatment couch to allow ease of access to energy centers (chakras) that run the length of the body. If any of these aspects feel they do not suit you, let your therapist know. This is your time, and your reiki treatment should be exactly how you want it.

Scanning: Initially your practitioner will do what is called a Byosen Scanning. Byo means sick and sen means line, and it means that the practitioner will be searching for areas of sickness in the body. This is a gentle stroking of the energy field around your body to check for any rips or tears. This may feel strange if they do not touch you, but it’s normal. This initial preparation increases the effectiveness of your reiki treatment many fold.

Flushing energy: As the reiki healer focuses on flushing energy through your body, you will feel more and more relaxed. Sometimes you may feel a slight tingling. Just be very open to the energy. The more open you are the more powerfully you will feel its effects.

Hand placing: Some Reiki therapists like to place their hands in a set sequence of places, and remaining there for 5-10 minutes. Others prefer to go more on intuition. Reiki energy goes to the parts of the body which need healing most. People often talk of a phenomenon called phantom hands which occurs when you almost feel like a second set of hands is on your body. This happens as the energy flushes through the body and concentrates on a needy place. This feels interesting but is not disturbing if you know to expect it! You might also feel really cold and start to shiver while others feel really hot. Many have even described a tingling feeling in a body part like pins and needles as if your leg is waking up after having fallen asleep. These feeling are also normal.

The Practitioner may also use crystals, pendulums and other tools to help them. Each practitioner is different. If you are uncomfortable with something that the practitioner is doing then please bring this to their attention.

After treatment: Many people say they leave a reiki treatment without the pain they went into the room with. Most say they feel very relaxed. Often the healing is more on an emotional or spiritual level, allowing the patient to connect more deeply with themselves. This spiritual healing forms the basis for physical healing. It is not unusual, some days after a reiki treatment, for quite intense emotions to rear their heads. The powerful energy release can often stir people to face things they may have been avoiding. Once addressed it is very usual for the patient to feel a lot better about life and their health in general. Most people look forward with great anticipation of the relaxation of their next reiki treatment.