What Is Reiki: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Reiki is a Japanese technique for relaxation and energy balancing, in which energy is passed through the palms, by light touch or a little way off the body. The word comes from Japanese: rei means universal and ki means life energy - the same concept the Chinese call qi and the Indians prana.

Beyond the definition, Reiki is first of all a practice. Not something you understand by reading, but something you feel by receiving a session or by learning to work with it yourself. This guide tells you honestly what it is, what it is not and how you can begin.

Where Reiki comes from

The system was developed in Japan, in the early twentieth century, by Mikao Usui. After a period of searching and intense spiritual practice, Usui formulated the method we know today as Usui Reiki and began to pass it on, through initiations.

The transmission has continued from master to student, in an unbroken line, up to the present day. This is an important feature of Reiki: it is not learned from books or videos alone. There is a part that is passed on directly, from person to person, through what is called an initiation or attunement.

Several branches have appeared since Usui. The most widespread is still Usui, the base system. Karuna Reiki is a system developed later, which you take after you have completed the Usui path, and it works with different symbols and a different intensity.

How a Reiki session works

This is the question I am asked most often, so it deserves a concrete answer.

We start with a few minutes of conversation about what brings you: your sleep, your energy levels, a harder stretch of life, a pain that keeps coming back. You do not need to arrive with a diagnosis or a prepared explanation. It is enough to say what you notice.

Then you settle comfortably, lying down or in a chair. You stay fully clothed - Reiki involves no undressing, no massage and no physical manipulation. I work with my palms on the body or a little way off it, in silence, moving through a number of positions.

Throughout all of this you have nothing to do. You do not need to concentrate, to meditate or to believe in anything in particular. Many people fall asleep. Others feel warmth, tingling or waves of relaxation. Others feel nothing in particular.

It is worth underlining: all of these are normal responses, and the intensity of the sensation says nothing about how well the session went. People who feel nothing dramatic often notice the effects in the following days, in their sleep and in how they feel generally.

At the end I tell you what I noticed and leave you with a few simple pointers for the days ahead: more water, a little rest, attention to what comes up.

What Reiki is not

Here I prefer to be very clear, because a lot of exaggeration circulates around this subject.

Reiki is not a medical treatment. It does not cure disease, it does not diagnose and it does not replace a consultation, tests or the treatment prescribed by your doctor. If you have a health problem, your first stop is the doctor. Energy work can go alongside medical care, never instead of it. If you are undergoing treatment, continue it.

Reiki is not a religion and it does not ask you to give up your faith or adopt another. People of every denomination come to my sessions and courses, as do people with no religious belief at all.

Reiki does not require you to believe in order for the session to have an effect. You are not asked to sign up to anything.

And, perhaps most importantly: Reiki is not a solution that works in your place. It does not replace the decisions you have to make, the work you have to do or the care you owe your own life. It is a support, not a substitute.

The levels and the initiation

Usui Reiki is learned in four levels.

Level 1 is the first step and is open to anyone, with no prior experience. Here you receive the first initiation and learn to work with yourself and with those close to you. For most people, this is the only level they need.

Level 2 brings the symbols and the possibility of working at a distance. Level 3 and Master are for those who want to practise with other people and, respectively, to pass the system on.

The initiation is the moment that opens the channel you work through. It is what separates a Reiki course from a simple theoretical presentation: you can read about hand positions and symbols anywhere, but the initiation is received from a master. Once received, it stays yours.

The levels are not skipped. Each one rests on the one before, and each initiation needs its own time to settle. A course that promises you Master in a weekend is selling you a piece of paper, not a practice.

About certificates, plainly

If you learn Reiki, you receive a certificate from the master who initiates you. What that certificate attests and the context in which it can be used are things I go through in private, with each person, before they enrol.

Distance Reiki: does it really work?

It is a fair question, and I often get a sceptical version of it, which I appreciate.

In the Reiki tradition, from Level 2 onwards you can also work at a distance, through a dedicated symbol. In practice, we agree on a time slot, you stay quietly at home and I work during that slot. Many people report the same sensations as in a face-to-face session: warmth, relaxation, drowsiness.

I cannot demonstrate the mechanism and I will not pretend that I can. What I can say is that, for people who are not in the Cluj area or cannot travel, this is the practical option, and the way the session unfolds and what people report afterwards stay the same. If you are sceptical, start with a face-to-face session, if that is convenient for you.

What the research says

This is worth stating plainly, because honesty here matters more than enthusiasm.

There are studies suggesting that Reiki helps with relaxation, with reducing anxiety and with general wellbeing, often in medical settings, as a complementary therapy. At the same time, the quality of many of these studies is limited: small samples, the difficulty of building a credible control group, results that do not reproduce consistently.

What the research does not show is that Reiki treats or cures disease. There is no evidence for anything of the sort, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something.

My conclusion, after years of practice: Reiki works well where deep rest and a drop in inner tension work, and that is not a small thing. But it is not medicine and it should not be used as though it were.

How often a session makes sense

There is no rule and I am wary of inventing one, because it would sound like a subscription.

For one difficult stretch, a single session can be enough. For older situations that have settled in over time, two or three sessions a few weeks apart usually make sense. For those who want to maintain how they feel, a session now and then works much like going for a massage from time to time.

I will tell you honestly when I think you no longer need to come. I would rather work with people who come back because it does them good, not because they were told they must.

Who Reiki is for

In my experience, people come to Reiki in three kinds of situation.

The first: a hard stretch of life. Prolonged stress, restless sleep, exhaustion with no clear cause, the period after a loss or a break-up. This is where Reiki helps most visibly, because it works on exactly the capacity to rest and to settle again.

The second: wanting to be able to help yourself. There are people who, after one or two sessions, realise they would like to have the tool themselves. For them, Level 1 is the answer.

The third: people who already work with others - therapists, massage therapists, medical staff, teachers. For them Reiki becomes one more tool, one that fits on top of what they already do.

How to begin

You have two routes, and neither is better than the other.

You can start by receiving a Reiki session. It is the simplest way to find out whether Reiki says anything to you, without committing to anything. You see how it goes, you see how you feel afterwards, and you decide.

Or you can start straight away with the Reiki Level 1 course, if you already know you want to practise. The course is held online, over Zoom, in Romanian, with subtitles for participants from other countries.

If you are not sure which option suits you, write to me briefly about what you are going through and I will tell you honestly what I think - including when the answer is that you should start with something else, or that I am not the right person to help you. There is no point signing up for something that does not answer your actual need.