What Is Reiki? A Beginner’s Guide to This Energy Healing Practice
You’ve heard about Reiki, and now you have questions — namely, what is it? Is it spiritual? Scientific? Relaxation or energy work?
The answer: it’s a little bit of all those things!
Reiki is an energy healing practice designed to help your body and nervous system slow down, rest, and rebalance.
Whether you’re curious, skeptical, or thinking about booking your first session… hi! I’m happy you’re here, and I hope this post answers some of your questions 😊
Reiki is pure, high-vibration life energy that exists in all living things,
and this idea of life force energy appears in many different traditions around the world! In Hinduism and yoga philosophy, it’s called prana. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it’s known as qi (or chi). We could even go back to our elementary science classes, where we learned that all matter is made up of tiny particles of energy, vibrating at different frequencies 💫
During a Reiki session, a practitioner acts as a channel for this energy, allowing it to flow to the recipient in a supportive way. Often, this results in feelings of safety and relaxation, which can help us to shift into our parasympathetic nervous systems. Here, our bodies can best focus on healing and functioning at their highest levels.
While Reiki can sometimes sound mysterious or “woo,” the experience itself is pretty simple: resting comfortably while a practitioner offers you supportive energy, which in turn allows your body to do what it was made to do.
My Experience With Reiki
I first experienced Reiki during yoga teacher training, when my teacher offered energy work after a challenging and emotional morning. I remember a wave of calm warmth and support washing over me — it felt amazing.
A couple years later, Reiki resurfaced through a favorite podcast, where Reiki Master Molly Donlan explored Reiki from both a scientific and a spiritual perspective.
Hearing those two viewpoints side-by-side helped ground my understanding of the practice, so that instead of feeling overly mystical or abstract, Reiki suddenly felt very approachable. It felt so approachable, in fact, that I soon signed up for Molly’s Reiki I training… and then her Reiki II as well 😂
Now I use Reiki daily, and I kind of can’t imagine life without it. I use it to fall asleep, to support my daughter when she’s stressed about school, and to support my plants when they’re struggling. I use it to energetically cleanse my home and the studio. And I’ve used it to help me stay calm and grounded during some really hard periods of life.
Reiki is for everyone, regardless of your belief system, religion, experience, or anything else.
And people come to it for many different reasons.
It can feel especially good when you’re feeling:
Overwhelmed, burnt out, or stressed
Disconnected from yourself
Overly tired
Out of balance
Or like something’s just kind of off
One of the most meaningful things Reiki offers us is the opportunity to slow down, reconnect with ourselves, and support our nervous system. This is when our body can rest, heal, and function at its best.
So What Happens During a Reiki Session?
You can book a distance, or an in-person Reiki session with me. Either way, the process begins with a short intake form. This helps me understand what brought you in and how I can best support you! It also includes questions about your goals for the session, as well as any areas of the body you’d like me to pay attention to or avoid.
For distance sessions, we’ll meet in a Zoom chat at your scheduled time, and you’ll make yourself comfortable in a calm, quiet space at home.
For in person session, we’ll meet in our studio, a space lovingly built to feel calm, quiet, and cozy, with soft lighting and a comfortable atmosphere to help you relax. I’ll help you get comfortable on a massage table — we offer blankets, pillows, candles, music, tea.... whatever helps you feel the most relaxed!
Before I begin to share energy, I’ll guide you through a gentle body scan and a bit of breathwork to help you feel grounded and present, and then during the Reiki portion of the session, you simply relax while I channel supportive energy to you! Depending on your preferences, this may happen in one of three ways:
Distance Reiki, where energy is sent while you rest at home, or, if you’re in the studio, while I sit across the room
Hands-above Reiki, where my hands hover above your body without touching
Hands-on Reiki, where my hands rest lightly on certain areas of the body. I always respect personal boundaries and never touch the throat, chest, or groin areas.
During each session, I send Reiki to your whole self, with a focus on any areas we discussed in your intake form. I’ll also work with your body’s chakra system, and then close the session by gently clearing and supporting your energy field.
When the session ends, I’ll guide you through grounding breathwork to help you return comfortably. Then we have time to talk about anything you noticed or experienced during the session, and I can share anything I observed as well. I can also put all of that info into an email, if you’d prefer!
Is There Science Behind Reiki?
Reiki is still being studied, but research on energy therapies and relaxation practices has been growing!
A 2025 randomized controlled study involving cancer patients found that participants who received Reiki experienced significant reductions in stress, anxiety, and pain levels compared with placebo and control groups.
Another study found that mothers of hospitalized children who received Reiki sessions showed significantly lower anxiety levels compared to those who received placebo or no treatment.
Other research has suggested Reiki may support relaxation by activating the parasympathetic nervous system — the part of the nervous system responsible for rest and recovery.
While more research is still needed, these findings suggest that Reiki may help the body enter a calmer, more regulated state.
It’s important to know that Reiki is not a replacement for medical or mental health care. Instead, it works best as a complementary practice that supports the other things you’re already doing to care for yourself.
Reiki as a Wellness Practice
At its heart, Reiki offers something that many people don’t experience often enough: a space to simply rest and receive care.
Whether you’re exploring Reiki out of curiosity, looking for support during a stressful season, or wanting to deepen your wellness practices, a Reiki session can be a gentle way to reconnect with yourself. I hope this has been helpful!
Have more questions? Leave a comment or send an email and I’m happy to get back to you!
