How to Prepare for a
Reiki Session

Some years back, a friend of mine was given an acupuncture gift voucher. When she arrived for her session, the acupuncturist told her to hop up on the massage table and, without any instructions, proceeded to put needles into her. He placed them all over her body and, at a certain point, even rolled down the waistband of her pants so he could insert some needles around her hips.

Having never had acupuncture before, this was all rather unsettling, and a short way into the session, my friend ended up pulling out the needles and fleeing – never to return.

Unfortunately for the acupuncturist, while he may have had great technical ability, he lost a client because he failed to make her comfortable before the session. In fact, if he had simply done a few simple things before the session, my friend would most likely have ended up very happy with his work.

The mistakes the acupuncturist made are the same any healer can make, so it’s worthwhile brushing up on basic pre-sessions dos and don’ts. This article will show you exactly how to engage with clients pre-session to ensure they are in the best place to be receptive to your healing.

The first basic principle to remember is that you need to put clients at ease. They are often a little nervous before a session, so you need to relax them and show them you care.

To do this, I always have a pre-session chat with clients. I sit them down and ask them first what they hope to get out of a session, and then whether they have had a Reiki before (or Pellowah/Chi Activation, if that is what I’m giving them).

I could probably talk about the weather to put them at ease, but asking them why they have come and questioning them empathetically on this is a great way to show I care. It will also give me information that may be useful for the session.

Asking them whether they have had a Reiki (Pellowah/Chi Activation) session before gives them another chance to talk and relax while helping me to determine how much information I need to give them. Naturally, if they’ve had healing sessions many times, my intro spiel can be shorter.

Even if a client has had the healing modality I’m giving them before, however, I will still give a brief explanation of how it works, how I work, and what they can expect.

How Reiki Works (And to an Extent Pellowah and Chi Activation)

While Reiki potentially works in thousands of ways, I find it simplest to say that it works by rebalancing the body’s energy system, in particular by replenishing areas that are low in energy and clearing energy blocks. With a better energy flow and more energy to work with, the body is then in a great position to heal itself.

For those who need it, I explain that Reiki draws on ‘universal energy’ and, as such, neither healer nor client can ever be depleted of energy during a session.

How I Work with Reiki

There are many styles of Reiki, so it’s always comforting for a client to know how a healer is going to work.

I work intuitively, so I tell clients that I will move around the body, sometimes hands-on (naturally respecting private areas), sometimes hands-off, working anywhere I feel they would most benefit from Reiki.

I don’t ask clients whether they are okay with hands-on healing as this might start them worrying about it. If they are uneasy, however, this will be clear when I tell them how I work, and I can then offer to do the entire session hands-off. This, however, has only happened to me on one occasion. Clients tend to follow your lead, so if you are nervy about touching, they will be nervy.

If you are happy and confident about it, they will be too. Asking whether they are okay if you touch them may actually plant a seed of doubt and anxiety in their mind!

What a Client Can Expect

It is important that you let clients know what kind of sensations they can expect, for otherwise, they may well get a shock when the Reiki energy goes to work. Explain that every healing session is unique, but that typical sensations they might experience are:

• Heat
• Tingling
• Sleepiness (or just deep relaxation)
• Stomach rumbling
• Pain
• Twitches

It is important to say that all of these sensations are good (even pain!) since they indicate that the Reiki is working.

If you don’t say anything, however, then people who get stomach rumbles (and that’s almost everyone!) will generally become self-conscious, and people who experience pain may start to panic.

If you tell them beforehand, however, that a sensation of pain during a session is simply like having a knot in your shoulder poked by a massage therapist, then clients will usually be pretty relaxed about any pain should it arise.

One important thing to note is that you should mention all of these possible Reiki sensations in a relaxed manner, one after the other. By not focusing on any one item in particular, you are unlikely to plant the idea (and contribute to the manifestation) of, say, pain during the session.

Mentioning all these things together makes it hard for a client to remember them – unless they occur in the session. Then your forewarning will be remembered, and they will be relaxed about whatever goes on.

Final Steps

Once clients are comfortable with me and know both how Reiki works and what to expect from a session, I get them to hop up on the massage table. Once there, I tell them to relax, shut their eyes and stay as present as they can to the sensations they get during a session. I tell them that from time to time, their mind will wander, and that’s okay. When they catch themselves daydreaming about something far away from where they are, then they simply need to bring their focus back to the room.

I also explain that they don’t need to ‘help’ the session run well by meditating and the like, because it will actually work best if they simply relax and try to stay present with the sensations that arise.

If there are no sensations, then I tell them just to focus on the touch of my hands or the music that I am playing (if I’m playing it). That helps them to stop drifting off into reverie and will make it easier for them to experience sensations as fully as possible when they do occur.

Conclusion

Before a session, make clients feel comfortable by asking them questions and showing them you care. Then tell them how you work and what they can expect in a session.

After that, it is simply a case of getting them up on the massage table and telling them to stay as present as possible (without stressing when their mind wanders here and there).

If you have done your pre-session work well, then your client will be relaxed, receptive – and ready to be energetically transformed!

(Article by Jeremy O’Carroll)

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