As I channel, I am guided by what I feel; it is not a mechanical technique. There were no set hand positions when Usui first started teaching Reiki and all of his work was done intuitively and over areas of imbalance (painful areas).

“Contrary to Western assumption, symbols do not make one’s Reiki ‘more powerful’. Spiritual power is accumulated through practice alone. Usui did not actually introduce the shirushi and jumon until fairly late in the development of his healing system, and when he did so, it was with the intent that they be helpful to individuals who had difficulty focusing and accessing the energy.” – The London School of Usui Reiki Ryoho

Keep your mind open to enable the energy to flow unblocked, letting it imprint information as you do so. Do not concentrate so hard on hand positions, symbols or colors that your mind is closed from other things. Do not let them become restrictions.  As you open yourself to be guided, feel the energy flow through you and let your body, heart and mind listen, and you will start to feel maybe you should go over there for a bit or stay here longer etc.

Below I have made suggestions on how you can begin to listen and how to focus. There are no strict rules and as you practice you will find the way or other ways that suit you. However, you should not touch someone in an intimate or private place, or any place that they would feel uncomfortable. It is totally unnecessary. Please note that when I channel, usually my hands are never actually touching the other person’s body.

Intention is very important. We are creators and we create with our intentions. When we channel to others, we should intend to assist in their healing, intending to channel pure energy into them. We all have our own issues and to ensure you do not pass these vibrations on, you should be in a peaceful state when channeling. As you channel, the energy will also help you return to this state. Please avoid channeling to others if you are not physically or mentally well.
 
Channeling the Energy

1. Have the person lying in front of you, as this is normally the most comfortable position for them. They should be at a level comfortable for you to work at and be able to easily reach all parts of their body. They can of course be sitting, if lying is not possible, as long as they are comfortable and relaxed and you can easily assess the areas you need to focus on. However, some pains may be due to other attributes and energy may have to be channeled in other areas apart from the area in pain. Therefore lying down is recommended so that you can feel for any other areas that may need healing.
2. Open your crown chakra (imagine the top of your head opening) and allow the energy to flow through you and in you.
3. To help the person relax, tell them to take a few deep breaths. As many people will be unsure about how deep or long the breaths are or are shy about it, take the deep breaths with them, sounding them out so they can follow.
4. During this time I like to make a ball of energy between my hands so I can feel the energy coming through and then place my hands slightly above their body (about 2 ½ inch to start with, this may vary from ½ inch to 2 ½ inches during a channeling session.)
5. I have no set place where I start, but most commonly I find I start around that persons head to help them relax. I place one hand above their crown, palm facing the top of their head, and the other palm above their third eye, or have my hands either side of their head beside their ears.  If there is a particular area they are concerned with, say a broken leg, you can also start focusing in that area.
6. As I channel I move my hands in a small circular motion and slightly back and forth. As if I’m ever so slightly rolling the energy through, like during the energy awareness exercises but even slighter. And then my hands are still for a while and then again I move my hands in a small circular motion and slightly back and forth.
7. When I say my hands are still sometimes, I mean sometimes they are just still, and I’m just relaxed feeling the energy come through. Other times, my hands are in the same position but I am kind of pushing at the same time. To clarify this, stand in front of a wall and place your palms up against the wall and push gently. Your hands stay in the same place but you are pushing. Now step back, and pretend there is a glass wall in front of you like a mime artist. Place your palms on the imaginary glass and gently push, keeping your hands in the same position. Just like that. I kind of alternate between this, relaxing my hands (not so that they flop, but to allow the flow) and moving my hands gently, as above.
8. When I feel it is the right time to move my hands to a new place over the person’s body, I do so. I move them to where I feel guided or I feel needs energy or where energy is low. If a particular area of a person’s body need healing you can focus on that area, but note that it may not be the area which is causing the pain. Therefore try to keep your mind open. It’s highly likely that there are blockages elsewhere as well and channeling the energy to other areas of the person’s body can help clear these.
9. When you finish, put your hands together and thank your guides, the universe, Source or God. Then tap the person gently on the shoulder to wake them up. Let them take their time getting up, there is no rush. They may need grounding, which you can go through with them. When they are imagining roots going from their legs into the ground, you came run your hands down the bottom of their legs downwards into the floor following the roots.

 
Below are some additional techniques I use during the healing (I have not integrated them into the above as it is not meant to be a mechanical system):

1. Slowly hover your palms over the person’s chakra points and channel energy over each chakra area while visualizing its associated coloured light. Spend more time at the chakra areas where you feel the energy is low, or your visualization of the colors is not as strong compared to the other positions, until you feel them stronger or when you feel it is time to move to a new position.
2. Once you have channeled energy into one area of a person, you can try lifting your palms up and point your fingers slightly up. Ensure that your wrists and elbows are relaxed and slowing bring your hands back to the same position above the person body in a kind of bouncing movement in a gentle up and down. As you do this you may be able to feel the energy give a slight resistance to your hands coming down, like a slight support. If you push very gently on this support you may be able to feel the energy push slightly back up and support your palms. Just like the Ball of Energy exercise, when you pushed your palms in slightly squeezing the ball of energy, the energy gives a slight resistance. You can use this to feel where their energy is low i.e. where there is less support or resistance. You may not be very sensitive to the energy levels when you begin channeling, but with practice it will come.
3. We store a lot of our energy in our tummy, in the navel area. When someone’s energy level is depleted I like to channel energy into this area to help restore their energy levels. After channeling here for a while, you can check the energy level by following the above no.2 step.
4. I like to channel love and energy in to the Heart area. Actually while I’m channeling I like to send love out or happy thoughts to the person, and sometimes visualizing light (maybe white or a chakra color) around the person’s body or body area being treated, and/ or light coming from my hands, or down from my whole body, to the person.
5. Focusing on the whole body, I like to run my palms slowly above over the person’s body and feel for where there are low spots of energy or see if you can sense blockages. If the person has low energy, i.e. their whole body feels low in energy, channel energy into them all over first, then feel to see which areas need more energy.
6. If the person’s hands feel cold, I like to place my palms over each hand and channel. I do this also if I would like them to feel and recognize again how the energy feels in their hands.
7. A lot of tension is stored in the shoulders, so I like to stand behind the persons head and place my palms either side of them above the soft area just under the shoulders, where blockages occur, and channel energy down into their body.
8. The feet of course are connected to the whole body, so don’t forget the feet and soles.

 

Healing helps heal physical, mentally and spiritually. Therefore open your mind to all these areas and try and sense what is needed.

 

Distant Channeling

To help focus, it can be done where you would normally channel healing to someone i.e. standing in front of your healing bench. Just imagine the person lying in front of you as if they were there for a normal healing. You can also just as simply do it sitting down, imagining the person in front of you.

1. Imagine that person is in front of you.
2. Do exactly as you would do if that person was in front of you, channel the energy and feel for the same things.

As you become more attuned to the Qi and are more open, you will be amazed at how connected we all are and what you can feel, even though that person is not in front of you in this dimension.
 

Please note: All the information is general in nature to assist those on a search for knowledge on all aspects of well-being. None of the information forms medical advice or should be taken as form of treatment without the advice of a physician.

 

Further Reading:

Energise Yourself

Initial Energy Awareness

Chakra Healing

 
Please contact me, if you can help translate these pages into other languages so more people can learn.