FAQ

What is Reiki?

Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which a "universal energy" is said to be transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient in order to encourage emotional or physical healing.

What Happens During a Reiki Session?

Awaken your Heart, Mind and Body – Experience the Healing Art of Reiki

• Are you ill, in pain, or in distress and seeking help to cope with your situation?
• Are you feeling low or anxious?
• Does everything feel ‘just too much’ at times?
• Need a way to recharge and gain peace of mind?

 

Choosing a Reiki practitioner

Reiki with Zen is insured, has agreed to abide by IICT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct for Professional Reiki Treatment Practitioners, and undertake ongoing professional development.

Your Reiki with Zen practitioner is a respectful partner in your holistic health and wellbeing program. When you choose Reiki with Zen as your practitioner you are assured of receiving the highest level of ethical and professional care. Jenny is Certified Reiki Master Teacher, offering Reiki Certification Courses to those who would like to learn a Complimentary and Natural Therapy. Please contact Jenny on 0461342544 to learn more about becoming a Reiki Practitioner.

Where does Reiki come From?

Reiki, as it is practiced in today, dates back to the teachings of Mikao Usui in Japan in the early 1920's. Usui was a lifelong spiritual aspirant, a lay monk with a wife and two children. In Usui's time, various lineages of Buddhist, Taoist, and Shinto practices coexisted as the dominant themes in Japanese spirituality and culture.

Usui's intense spiritual practices culminated in a profound revelation that led to the practice now commonly called Reiki. This realisation most likely occurred in 1922.

Usui traveled widely in Japan during the last four years of his life, offering his spiritual teachings to more than 2,000 beginning students, but training only 16 as Reiki Masters. One of his master students, Chujiro Hayashi, was a retired naval officer. Hayashi worked with Usui to excerpt the healing practices from Usui's larger body of teachings so that they could be more widely disseminated.

Awaken your Heart, Mind and Body – Experience the Healing Art of Reiki

• Are you ill, in pain, or in distress and seeking help to cope with your situation?
• Are you feeling low or anxious?
• Does everything feel ‘just too much’ at times?
• Need a way to recharge and gain peace of mind?

Reiki can help:

An abundance of anecdotal evidence about the benefits of Reiki treatment has been a catalyst for credible research into the effects of Reiki. The National Institutes of Health USA have trials underway to investigate the effect of Reiki on stress, fibromyalgia, AIDS, prostate cancer, painful neuropathy and cardiovascular risk factors.

Pamela Miles, author of Reiki: A Comprehensive Guide and leading US exponent on the integration of Reiki into mainstream healthcare facilities, writes:

‘Studies that have been done so far have showed promising results for using Reiki to reduce stress, anxiety and pain. The data include objective measures (decreased stress hormones, improved immune indicators, decreased heart rate and improved blood pressure) as well as subjective improvements in anxiety and pain.’

How can Reiki Help Me?

People use Reiki to relax and strengthen their wellbeing; reduce pain, anxiety, and fatigue; help manage symptoms; reduce side effects of medications; and support recovery after injuries or surgery. According to a national survey published in 2007, 1.2 million adults and 161,000 children received one or more sessions of an energy therapy such as Reiki in the previous year.

Reiki is a good integrative therapy to try because people generally start feeling better very quickly with Reiki. As anxiety and pain lessen, and people feel hopeful about regaining their health, they feel more able to incorporate other needed health interventions or make needed lifestyle changes. Reiki therapy often clears the mind, enabling patients to better evaluate the sometimes conflicting medical information being offered by various specialists, so they can make important treatment decisions with greater confidence. In this way, Reiki can help people become more actively involved in their own health. 

Today, Reiki is commonly used by three groups:

1. The general public at home, for themselves, family and friends
2. Reiki professionals offering therapy in their offices or other wellness and healthcare settings
3. Nurses, physicians, and other healthcare professionals, such as physical therapists, dentists, massage therapists, and chiropractors who integrate Reiki into healthcare during office visits or inpatient care in clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, and other healthcare facilities

What Can I expect in a Reiki Treatment Session?

Reiki can be administered by anyone who has training, which could be a professional practitioner, a healthcare provider, a friend or family member, or even you yourself if you have been trained in Reiki. Moreover, there is no typical setting: a quiet place is preferable, but Reiki can be done anywhere, no matter what else is happening either around or directly to the recipient. Moments of touch from a Reiki-trained practitioner can bring comfort in an acute or emergency situation, such as the onset of the flu, or after an injury or surgery.

That said, this section will explain what to expect in a full session or modified full session received from a Reiki professional who has taken at least Reiki I Training.

Whom should I see?

To make sure that you have the best possible experience, take the time to find and choose a Reiki practitioner with whom you feel comfortable and who meets your standards.

You'll want someone who clearly describes the process and how he or she structures the session so you have an idea of what to expect. Your actual experience of the therapy is very subjective, but knowing what the practitioner will do next will help you relax into his or her care. 

What is the setting?

A quiet setting where you are not disturbed is always desirable. Professional Reiki Practitioners have a dedicated space or are experienced in creating that space specifically for you. They frequently play soft music during the session as a way of masking ambient noise, but let your practitioner know if you prefer silence.

Those receiving Reiki in a hospital, hospice, nursing home, or other healthcare settings may have a shorter session (15 or 20 minutes), while some private practitioners give 60-90 minute sessions. Most sessions are somewhere in between.

Is there an Intake Process?

Some Reiki Practitioners have intake forms and/or conduct a health interview.  You may be asked to sign a consent form.

The Reiki Practitioner will explain the process, and ask if you have any specific needs. Be sure to let the practitioner know if you have a health condition that might impact your lying flat on your back or front or if you have any areas that are sensitive to touch. 

What does the session consist of?

A complete Reiki session is offered to a fully clothed recipient who is lying on a treatment table or sitting comfortably supported in a chair.  This can also be done in the comfort of your own home, remotely.

Most commonly, Reiki is offered through light, non-invasive touch with the practitioner's hands placed and held on a series of locations on the head and front and back of the torso. The placement of the hands should never be intrusive or inappropriate, nor should there be any pressure.

Additional placements on the limbs can be done as needed (for example, if there is an injury or surgical scar), and some practitioners routinely do so. The Reiki Practitioner can hold her hands just off the body if needed (for example, in the presence of an open wound or burn), and some practitioners always offer Reiki in this way.

What might I Experience?

"I feel very refreshed and seem to be thinking more clearly." "I think I fell asleep." "I can't believe how hot your hands got!" "I feel more relaxed than even after a massage." "My headache is gone." These are some of things people typically say after a Reiki session.

The experience of Reiki is subjective, changeable, and sometimes very subtle. People often experience heat in the Practitioner's hands, but sometimes the Practitioner's hands feel refreshingly cool. Other common experiences are subtle pulsations where the Practitioner's hands are placed or cascading waves of pulsations throughout the body.

People often comment how comforting they find the experience of Reiki to be. An interesting study reported that recipients frequently feel that they are hovering in a threshold state of consciousness, simultaneously aware of their surroundings and deeply indrawn. Some people fall into a deep, sleeplike meditative state. Sometimes, the experience of Reiki is dramatic, while for other people, the first session in particular may be uneventful, although they feel somehow better afterward. The most common experience is an almost immediate release of stress and a feeling of deep relaxation.

Reiki is cumulative and even people who don't notice much the first time usually have progressively deeper experiences if they continue. Besides the immediate experience of the Reiki, you may notice other changes that continue to unfold as the day goes on: perhaps stronger digestion, a sense of being more centered and poised and less reactive, and sleeping deeply that night.

What should I do during the session?

Here are a few suggestions:

1. If you have music that you particularly enjoy and which is relaxing, bring it to your session and ask the practitioner to play it. You can also request silence if you prefer.
2. Use the rest room before your session so that you are able to lie down comfortably.
3. Especially if you have any shyness about being touched, ask your practitioner to show you the hand placements before starting so you are very clear what to expect.
4. Let the practitioner know your needs before you start. For example, if you have trouble breathing and lying flat is uncomfortable, say so. Or mention if you have had surgery recently and don't want to be touched where the scar is still tender (the practitioner can float her hand here). If you are pregnant or have digestive complaints, it may not be feasible to lie on your stomach. Inform your practitioner.

As the session progresses, you will feel more relaxed. If you become uncomfortable, you can adjust your position at any time. Be sure to ask for anything that will add to your comfort, such as additional support under your knees or a blanket. This is your special time and your practitioner is there to help you.

Receiving Reiki is a wonderfully passive experience. Don't try to relax, just let the Reiki relax you. Your state will shift quite naturally as the session proceeds. Meanwhile feel free to daydream, enjoy the music, or simply observe your breath or the sensations of the therapy.

What happens after the session?

Do not expect a diagnosis, as that is not part of Reiki. Some practitioners may make common sense suggestions for after-care, such as drinking water and following your body's needs.

Although people typically leave a Reiki session feeling refreshed, sometimes they notice feeling more tired in the evening than usual. This is not viewed as an adverse reaction, but rather as the body's natural healing response, something to be heeded. People commonly report a sense of calm and mental clarity and sleeping well after Reiki.

How many sessions should I receive?

Reiki with Zen may suggest a series of sessions. Four sessions is a traditional recommendation and gives you time to evaluate what benefits you are receiving. Discuss with your practitioner how best to space the sessions to suit your needs and your schedule.

In the presence of a serious health challenge, Reiki with Zen often recommend four sessions over four days.

Are there any safety concerns using Reiki?

Reiki has not been found to have any adverse effects.

Because there is nothing about a Reiki session that can interfere with conventional medical care, Reiki has no known contraindications and can be used concurrently with any medical intervention.

The touch of Reiki is very light on or even off the body. The recipient is not required to ingest any substances, so there are no concerns about mixing substances (such as herbs) and prescription medications.

Reiki will not override the action of medical interventions, but rather support the patient while he or she goes through them, restoring balance in body, mind, and spirit to the degree possible. Patients who feel well even when fighting chronic illness are more likely to complete their medical treatment and be active partners in their health care.

Because the activation of Reiki pulsations in the practitioner's hands adjusts to the changing need of the recipient, and stops when appropriate, you can't get too much Reiki, no matter how long the practitioner's hands are in place.

All that said, remember that it is up to you to be responsible for your own medical care and seek appropriate help. Do not go to your Reiki practitioner for a diagnosis and do not avoid recommended medical tests or treatment. In an emergency, call Triple zero '000'.

Can Reiki intensify symptoms?

Occasionally people experience a temporary aggravation or intensification of symptoms during or after a Reiki session. This may be as simple as a momentary feeling of discomfort at the site of an old injury or surgical scar. Such an experience resolves quickly and may be part of the body's process of healing.

A temporary aggravation of symptoms sometimes occurs when people suffering from chronic conditions elect to receive multiple (and perhaps longer than usual) Reiki sessions in quick succession.

In this scenario, the person initially feels better-a general improvement in wellbeing and/or relief from specific symptoms-followed by a transient period in which the recipient either feels very tired and/or the symptoms return.

Traditionally, this is seen as a positive response that indicates that the body's healing mechanisms have been stimulated and the body is actively engaged in a healing process. A hallmark of this process is that the client is not anxious about the return of symptoms, but intuits that this is simply the body doing what it needs to do.

Continuing Reiki through this period brings comfort, reduces symptoms, and speeds the return of wellbeing. However, if there is any doubt, it is important to seek out whatever medical advice or health care is deemed appropriate

For further information and a confidential discussion, please call Jenny at Reiki with Zen on 0461342544 or book your Reiki Healing session online