Category Archives: reiki sensations

Scanning at a distance

reiki scanning teddy bear

Using props

In “How to send Reiki distant healing (Part IV)” I spoke about different ‘props’ that you can use when sending distant healing: sending Reiki into a teddy bear, or a pillow, or even into your upper leg.

All these props serve to represent the recipient’s body, helping you to focus your attention on the recipient and direct the energy into a particular part of their body at a distance. You are bolstering your intent by using the prop to make your intention ‘concrete’.

But in the same way that you are using the intermediate of the teddy bear, say, to help ‘transmit’ the energy, you can also receive information from the recipient about where the energy wants to go in greatest amounts, and we can do this by ‘scanning’ the teddy bear (or pillow).

Scanning a prop

Scanning, when used on a client on a treatment table in front of you, is a method where you hover your hand(s) over their body, a few inches away, and drift your hands from one place to another, paying attention to the sensations of heat, pulsing, fizzing, tingling, heaviness etc in your hands, by way of finding those areas that are drawing most energy, so that you can spend longer treating those areas.

Your hands can then guide you in terms of how long you treat in a particular area since you will notice that, after a while, the flow of energy subsides and you can then move on to another hand position.

And we can scan the teddy bear of pillow, who represents the recipient, and we can hover our hands, drifting our hand from one place to another, noticing the flow of energy through our hand into the prop, into the recipient.

An area of great need in the recipient will show itself by a more intense flow of energy into a particular part of the prop.

Just like in a live Reiki treatment, when you find an area on the prop that is drawing a lot of energy then you can treat that area for longer, until the flow of energy subsides.

So the distant connection to the recipient works two ways: as a way of directing Reiki to them, and also as a way of receiving information about where the energy needs to go.

Over to you

If you haven’t experimented with this sort of thing before, why not have a go and let us know what happened by posting a message below.

Want to find out more about Distant Healing?

reiki book second degree manualsA whole collection of distant healing methods are contained in the 110-page Reiki Evolution Second Degree manual. This isn’t just available to Reiki Evolution students: anyone can work with our manuals.

You can order a professionally-printed copy, or you can download your manual right now.

Here are the links that you need:

Reiki Second Degree manual

Reiki Second Degree eBook

 

 


Author:
Picture Credit: Horia Varlan

 

What if I get it wrong?

When we go on a Reiki course, whether at First Degree, Second Degree or Master Teacher level, we are given instructions telling us how to carry out various tasks, and if we are conscientious then we will try our best to follow those instructions to make sure that we are ‘doing it properly’. So whether we are treating ourselves, giving someone else a Reiki treatment, or performing an attunement on a student, we hope to achieve the desired results by doing it right, by following the instructions to the letter, and if it appears to us that the desired results have not been achieved then we tend to surmise that we have not followed the instructions properly, that we have forgotten something vital and done it wrong, and we may believe that the lack of an expected result is our fault.

If only we could have done things properly then things would have been different.

But there are two problems with this. Firstly, in reality, not following all the instructions will have very little effect on the efficacy of our treatment or attunement and, secondly, a lack of an expected response or result does not mean that we have done it wrong, or that something has not worked properly.

Treatments that ‘go wrong’

Let’s think about Reiki treatments for a while. We have been given a set procedure to follow by our teacher and perhaps we have a certain ritual to carry out before we commence the hands-on treatment. Perhaps we have been given a standard set of hand positions to follow or a set of things that we are ‘supposed’ to do at the end of a treatment, to bring things to a close. We carry out the treatment and then the recipient says that they didn’t feel very much, or they didn’t feel anything at all, or they felt unsettled and not relaxed, and we think back and realise that we missed one of the ‘introductory’ stages, or we got the words wrong, or we forgot to say something, or we used the ‘wrong’ sequence of hand positions, or we missed out a hand position or two, or neglected to carry out one of the closing stages of the treatment.

Because the treatment ‘didn’t work’ (apparently) we then assume that this is because we got the treatment wrong, we did the wrong thing, we forgot a vital stage, and it’s all our fault.

But we should remind ourselves that not everyone in the world of Reiki is taught to carry out treatments in exactly the same way. Other people may have stages to go through and phrases to say that are very different from how you were taught; they may not have even heard of half the things that you were taught to do, and yet their treatments work perfectly well. Should we assume that they are not doing things properly because they are not doing it the same way as you? Or should we assume that your treatment is inadequate because you are missing out vital stages that other people were taught to go through? Of course not: there are many different ways of approaching giving Reiki treatments, different traditions, different styles, different flavours, some simple, some complex, and they all achieve the desired results.

So we should realise that the ‘vital’ stages that we were taught to go through are perhaps not quite so vital as we first thought. Reiki accommodates many different ways of working and no phrase or hand movement or ritual is absolutely necessary. Reiki is above all that fiddly detail. It doesn’t matter.

What matters when you treat someone is that you focus your attention on the person you are working on, that you feel yourself merging with the energy and the person in front of you, that you allow yourself to disappear into the energy, neutral, empty, no expectations, and just let it happen. Anything else beyond that is just frippery, icing on a cake that was fine when it was plain. We don’t need to gild the lily, we don’t need to adorn unnecessarily something that was already beautiful, or to make superfluous additions to what is already complete.

So follow the instructions that you were given, by all means, but don’t fret if you don’t follow the sequence exactly, and please allow yourself the freedom to tailor your routine according to what feels right for you; find your own style and comfortable way of working rather than slavishly following a set of instructions passed on to you by another person. Go with what feels right for you on that occasion; be guided by intuition.

And why should we assume that the treatment did not work, that the session did not give the recipient what they needed, just because they felt very little, or felt nothing happening, or felt unrelaxed during the treatment? While many people have a wonderful time while being treated, seeing coloured lights, feeling tingling sensations or intense heat from the practitioner’s hands, experiencing deep relaxation and peace, melting into the treatment table, not everyone experiences that. Not everyone is the same. Not all recipients have a great time when they receive Reiki. Some people feel nothing, some feel very little, and some are quite unsettled by the whole experience. But no matter what they noticed happening, they received what they needed, and they experienced whatever sensations they needed to experience.

It’s nice to have positive feedback at the end of a treatment session, and people saying how relaxed they were and how hot our hands were etc. helps to boost our confidence, but such things are not compulsory and not everyone will say these things. We didn’t mess up their treatment because it would be very difficult to mess up a Reiki treatment: Reiki is foolproof!

Attunements that go wrong

The same comments apply to the carrying out of attunements. There are very many different attunement styles being used in the world, some quite simple, some quite complicated, and there will be stages and ritual movements or phrases/affirmations being used by some teachers that are not being used all by other teachers. One teacher may be going through – to them – a vital stage that others do not replicate, while others will be doing ‘necessary’ practices that we do not follow. And yet all these attunement styles work.

So while we should always try and do our best, and follow the attunement instructions that we were given, we should not worry terribly if we realise that we have missed out a particular stage or forgot to say a particular phrase, or failed to draw a symbol perfectly. What is important when attuning someone is your underlying intent; the details of the ritual are there to create a ritual ‘space’ in which the attunement can occur, but there are no really vital stages that have to be carried out no matter what, so we should not worry.

And we should remember that the reaction of a student to an attunement will vary greatly. If a student feels very little or nothing we should not assume that the attunement has not ‘taken’; this would not be possible. Equally, we should not assume that a student who experienced ‘bells and whistles’ has been far more effectively attuned. Such sensations and experiences are nice for the recipient but do not really indicate anything significant. Attunements work, even with some mistakes, and sometimes the recipient has an amazing experience; sometimes not. It doesn’t matter what they feel or don’t feel.

Finally

So we should feel confident that Reiki is giving the recipient what they need, whether they are receiving a treatment or an attunement, we should try our best and be conscientious but we should not worry too much if we don’t follow all the instructions. We should allow ourselves to find our own style, own comfortable way of working, which may be a little different from other people’s but which is just as valid, and we should not assume that a lack of ‘bells and whistles’ on the part of the recipient means that something hasn’t happened. There is no one ‘correct’ way to do things, there is no correct response to treatments or attunements, and Reiki accommodates many different styles and approaches. So we can relax!

Experiencing Reiki: Is this really happening – or is it me?

I love to share the enthusiasm generated by students when they talk about working with Reiki, either on or after a course.  What I’ve noticed in particular is the amazement of many who can’t quite believe the powerful sensations they are feeling. 

Students who attend Reiki First Degree courses are always excited and surprised by the sensations they feel in their hands when scanning and treating others in the group.  This excitement is palpable, evoking comments such as, ‘I could feel tingling in my hands’ or ‘I was aware of intense heat’.  Then, as though unable to believe this, a little frown appears, followed by a softly spoken, ‘Am I imagining this?’

 After empowerments, some students describe the wonderful experience of receiving Reiki as light, colour or other sensations, very often again adding, ‘I wondered if it was me, imagining it!’  This is understandable as we are not used to feeling such sensations in every day life, for example, whilst taking the dog for a walk or doing the weekly shopping (unless we tune into Reiki at the same time of course!). 

Reiki 2 students are very often taken aback by the power of the energies they are introduced to at this level.  Yet, quite a number have expressed the thought that it might be their imagination at work when, during or after the course, the energy feels very much more intense. They may also question whether the greater sense of calm that they are noticing is because of Reiki, or all in the mind! 

You may feel one or many physical sensations or experience a different emotional state whilst practising, receiving empowerments or carrying out Reiki meditations.  These will be so powerful that, as you continue to practise regularly, you will be convinced more and more that you are not imagining things. 

So, please don’t worry if you have doubts.  I do remember questioning the source of the sensations I was experiencing at the beginning of my Reiki journey. Rest assured, that any uncertainties you may have will rapidly disappear as you become more familiar with the wonderful Reiki energy by practising self-healing, receiving empowerments and treating others. Any concerns about these being in your head will disappear and be replaced by an absolute belief and trust in Reiki. 

Sadly, Western culture tends to demand scientific proof of everything, not preparing us for experiences that may not quite fit in with our model of the world. Remember that energy is all around us and that we are working with something that has always been there, it’s just that we’ve simply changed our focus.  So, it’s quite okay for you to question in the early stages, ‘Is it me?’ but before long you will be basking in the knowledge that you are out of the equation and, in getting yourself out of the way, you are allowing Reiki to flood through you and beyond. 

Enjoy your journey!

Warm wishes

Marilyn Harvey