by LeAnn Brown
Audio recording found here: https://linenlavenderlife.com/reiki/
Preparing for a Session—In-Person vs. Long-Distance :
So this is to share a little about what Reiki Energy is and what to expect in a Reiki Healing Session. Reiki is an energy healing modality. It is one way or method of channeling healing life force energy to another person.
Reiki can be conducted in-person or long-distance.
If it is an in-person session, you can expect the room to be set-up similar to a massage treatment room. A quiet, private space. The lighting will most likely be dimmed. The practitioner will have relaxing, meditative music playing.
And, depending on the practitioner—and also having checked with you prior to ensure you don’t have any allergies or sensitivities—they may also incorporate aromatherapy. So they may be using essential oils…they may have candles or incense burning in the room. Some practitioners incorporate crystals into their healing practice and some are massage therapists so they may incorporate massage into the treatment. The room set-up and how the practitioner personalizes their own practice will vary, but generally, you can expect it to be a quiet, relaxing atmosphere.
Treatments are normally done lying on your back on a massage treatment table or bed. There will most likely be a bolster for your knees, a pillow, a blanket…to ensure your comfort through the length of the session. One hour is a common length for a full session and a half hour for a mini session. Sessions are conducted fully clothed so wear loose, comfortable clothing and decide if you would like to go barefoot or wear socks.
They may say a little to you once you are on the massage table to get you settled in and relaxed before they begin, but then most—if not all—of the treatment is done in silence.
What is happening is…prior to your arrival, the practitioner has aligned themselves with the healing energy. And by their intention to connect and channel this energy to you, along with your intention to receive the healing energy, this is how the connection is made and the energy is channeled.
The belief being that as the energy beings we are—and through the practitioner’s alignment and intention to channel the healing energy—they are then able to send healing life force energy to you through their hands. So they will walk around you as you lie on the table, holding their hands slightly above the body or lightly touching the body. What the Reiki practitioner is doing is tuning in, sensing and feeling, reading energy and asking the energy to do its work.
So they will be going over the entire body and assessing all the physical elements of the body: the organs, glands, nerves, bones, muscles, arteries…as well as the energy fields which surround and flow through our physical body.
The energy centers of our personal energy systems are called chakras and they are either flowing energy freely or they can be sluggish or blocked. So the Reiki practitioner is assessing this flow throughout all our systems on many levels, sensing and processing information they receive.
This is an intuitive based healing modality and so how the practitioner receives information will vary but they may see images or symbols in their mind’s eye, they may hear phrases, they may just have a sense or knowing. On a physical level, they may have heat in their hands or experience a tingling sensation. And, you may feel this. You may feel heat, tingling or just a sensation of energy moving as they work. You may pick up images or have flashes of memories come to mind. Or, you may feel or perceive nothing at all beyond a deep sense of relaxation. Every person and every session is unique.
So because the practitioner is going through this in a meditative state and processing a lot of information…this is why they normally wouldn’t be talking much if at all and this is why it is helpful for you to remain in a meditative, receptive state, as they work.
In a long distance session:
Personally, I prefer to schedule a long distance session at or near your normal bed time. I find that the majority of people have the most opportunity to have peace and quiet in their home at that time and can settle into their bed or elsewhere where they won’t be disturbed.
It’s a good idea to plan ahead of time and get yourself set up. Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. This can be your own bed or a sofa or anywhere you would like. I will have sent you an MP3—a link to some relaxing music to listen to—so make sure that’s all queued up and ready to go. If you have headphones, that’s perfect.
Set up your space to ensure your comfort for the length of the session (usually a little over 1 hour) and, just like the in-person session, make sure you have whatever you need to be comfortable. You’ll be lying on your back and so you might want a bolster under your knees, maybe a blanket…whatever you need to be at a comfortable temperature in this position for the duration of the session.
If you do yoga or you have a meditation practice, do whatever you might do to create an atmosphere for meditation and ensure the body is propped and relaxed. It’s a good idea not to eat or drink anything too heavy or too close to the start time so avoid alcohol or heavy foods.
Also, it’s recommended that you drink water after the session so have it set-up nearby. The idea being that the body will be releasing some impurities after the energy healing, so it is good to hydrate and help those to flush out of your system. And it is also a way of grounding the body after the energy work.
I will check in with you beforehand, usually a half hour to an hour before, just to ensure we are good to go at the scheduled time. If necessary, if something has come up at your home, we can normally push back the start time a few minutes. I’m usually able to accommodate that.
Then, once we have confirmed we are ready to go, we have no further connection on the phone or the computer. So no Facetime. No Skype. This is one of the biggest questions people have—they assume I am staying on the line in some way and will ask if they need to have the phone near their head or facilitate some connection like that with me—but that’s not the case. We are just in our separate spaces—wherever we are in the world—and at the specified start time, you will already be in position and begin listening to the MP3, just keeping yourself in a relaxed, meditative, receptive state for the duration of the session.
You can gauge the end time based on the music. So when it’s over, feel free to get up, drink your water…or if you feel inspired to stay and meditate for a few moments…do that…or perhaps you are inspired to journal afterwards… —It is different for each person, so just tune-in to what you are feeling and go with your own guidance.
An often-asked question re: the long-distance session :
I like to reassure people—and I’m often questioned about this:
Please know you can’t “ruin” the session!
It’s okay if you keep dozing off.
It’s okay if you fall asleep and sleep through the night and don’t get up and drink the water as recommended.
…If you are disturbed momentarily e.g. someone walks in.
…If you have to change your position or you have to get up and go to the bathroom…
…Just return as quickly as possible and resume the relaxed, meditative state as soon as you can.
Having said that, though you can’t ruin the session by falling asleep, it is my personal preference that you do stay awake in a relaxed, tuned-in state, perceiving and making mental notes as to whatever you sense or feel in your body or any messages or images that come to your mind throughout the session—just taking all that in. The reason for this is that we will go over the session later (usually scheduled for a few days after.) At that point, in sharing what transpired for each of us, for example, maybe you felt a sensation in a specific area or maybe an image or memory came to mind at a certain point in time…It is in this way that we can make those connections that invariably happen. I like doing this because it is just a way of further validating the experience for you.
At The Quantum Level—Energy Healing at a Distance :
The idea that we can send/receive healing energy at a distance can be a little difficult to fathom for people who are new to this concept. And I understand that. It can seem impossible—the idea of energy traveling and connecting with another person—whether we’re talking about a long-distance session or an in-person session, but I understand it might be especially difficult to comprehend how a long distance session could work and I’ll explain a little about that here:
Modern science tells us now that what appears as matter is energy. Everything is energy. At the quantum level, atoms are not composed of physical particles, but rather vortices of energy that are in relation to one another. So, everything in the universe exists in this interconnected field of energy. Every living being—and material object—emits and receives energy, and is continuously in relationship with everyone and everything else.
This realization that what appears as a material object is actually energy—this was discovered in the early 1920’s—and whether or not you’ve heard much about quantum physics, you have probably heard that a solid table, anything in our environment that we perceive as solid—is actually energy.
There’s much you can read about this…and I’m happy to provide links to various research on the topic if you’d like to delve into it more. (It is fascinating.)
Basically, what we see happening is that science is catching up to what many ancient cultures—the spiritually attuned—have spoken about all along. They continue to have different terms from one another, different language—but they are pointing to the same truth—that we are energy beings and we are all connected.
Though scientists have witnessed it, they are still working to understand the mechanics of it. Einstein, in 1930, called it “spooky action at a distance.”
Today, scientists use the word “entanglement” and what they say is that entanglement arises naturally when two particles are created at the same point and instant in space.
One experiment demonstrating this: Scientists took a particle and split it into two equal sized particles. Then, the two were separated by a distance of 14 miles. They found that anything they did to the first particle simultaneously created a reaction in the second particle.
There are many other ongoing studies and focus on this to understand why this is so, but nonetheless, mainstream science is seeing and attesting to what used to be relegated to the realms of mysticism. Again, it’s what some ancient cultures—the spiritually attuned have passed down through the generations…Highly advanced in this way, they already knew that we are energy beings—light beings—everything is made of this and everything is connected.
So everything and everyone affects everything and everyone else. It’s no longer just a quaint saying, “We are all one.” or “ We are all connected.” Science is finding that this is literally the truth. And, they are even starting to understand that it is by our focus (what scientists call the observer in the equation)—the observer is what changes the outcome—this is what creates a specific result.
So, it can be said in the process of facilitating an energy healing session, it is attention and intention—THIS is how we align with healing life force energy and how it is possible to connect with another—conduct a healing session—no matter the distance. Space and time are not prohibiting factors at the quantum level.
If someone has a healthy skepticism that can be great, because they can be motivated to seek more information, gain more knowledge and thus become more comfortable with these concepts.
I like to tell people as long as you are open to receiving a session—through the experience of it—you will find the truth of it for yourself.
And again, intention is everything. It is intention, my intention to align and channel it to you and your intention to receive it—on whatever level you are open to it at this time—that makes the connection feasible. So, yes. As long as we are aligning with each other energetically in this way, you will have some experience that validates it for you.
Addressing the whole being—Healing on all Levels :
So what are we talking about when we use the word “heal”? Can you have a Reiki healing session when physically you feel just fine? What is the purpose?
“Healing” may evoke images of being sick or injured, however, many use Reiki for the deep relaxation it provides. Whether or not you have a physical symptom, it can be said that caring for your body this way—understanding the importance of bringing the body to balance and taking time to relax—is, in itself, healing. Used this way, energy healing can be a pre-emptive method, a practice of self care for optimal health, bringing the body to balance on subtle levels as opposed to waiting for physical symptoms to appear—such as pain or anxiety—to loudly indicate something is off-balance. So relaxation and keeping the body in balance this way is one reason you might have what is called an energy healing session.
And it is my belief we chose to come into this 3-D physical plane to have experiences and to learn from duality, from contrast. For the purpose of exploration and expansion, we chose not to remember the powerful beings we are—that we are connected to Source…we are Source as we are a fractal of Source, containing all that it is. But, we chose this because we wanted to learn from the contrast…the illusion of being separate from this consciousness, this intelligence, the creator—whatever term you wish to use—We are That. We are all on our own unique path and all paths lead back to this knowing.
But again, we came here for the experience, to experience duality—to experience contrast. And we have free will—which is an important element in all of this. We have free will to make our own choices in all the many experiences there are to be had here. And within this world we have co-created here on this planet—the culture we are in, the way society has perpetuated various belief systems and set up modes of living—we often become very far removed from the balanced light being we truly are:
We live day in and day out, immersed in the energy field of stress:
— There is physical stress such as accidents, injuries, falls.
—There is chemical stress from bacteria, viruses, herbicides, pesticides, sugars in our foods, heavy metal toxins and other pollutants in our environment.
—There is emotional stress from trauma such as family tragedies we experience, loss of a job or worry about our finances.
—There are all sorts of traumas we may take on in our childhood and throughout our lives.
So we’ve finally realized—modern medicine now knows—that 90% of disease, the ultimate cause of dis-ease, is stress. It just manifests in the body in various physical symptoms and then we call it by whatever name we’ve come up with for that particular set of symptoms.
And what is stress? Stress is energy at a certain frequency. It is energy caught up in blocks of tension, not flowing to facilitate health and well-being. In our modern day world, we often end up in a fight or flight mode for the better part of our days. Our energy that would normally be available to us to maintain and regulate a healthy system is being expended instead in stress mode—in all the ways I just mentioned. It’s the body out of alignment, out of balance.
The body is amazing. It is able to heal itself—it is designed to heal itself, to bring itself to balance—if we cooperate and create the right circumstances to enable it to do what it naturally does. However, if we ignore the signals it is sending us, if we do not remove ourselves from toxic, stress-inducing environments—if we ignore the advice to connect and live in harmony with nature, to release this way and find balance—if we put added stress on our systems through the foods we eat, through chemical abuse (prescribed or otherwise), through toxic environments and relationships…all these things and more eventually wreak havoc in our bodies.
The immune system will do whatever it can for as long as it can to keep us going because that is just how phenomenal our bodies are and the intelligence behind the scenes so-to-speak…The intelligence that keeps us breathing without a thought, digests our food without us having to think about it—everything is designed and in place to facilitate health. But we often don’t think about ourselves that way. Instead, we have a very disempowered view of our bodies, our health and our own personal power.
We have been misled to believe we have little to no power over our bodies, our health, our environment. Our modern society—and those who wish to have power over others—economic and political control over the population—perpetuate the notion that disease is to be expected. That it is something that creeps up on us as in the “ravages of aging” or suddenly “hijacks” the “unlucky ones.” We see that in all the media: all the ads—our whole world—it seems, is set up to instill fear. Fear and stress are marketed to us every day, everywhere we turn.
If we can begin to see things differently—and quantum physics is opening up these ideas to the mainstream now: the knowledge that we are energy and everything is energy—all things are energy vibrating at a specific frequency—If we begin to open our minds to these concepts, it becomes obvious to us then that the energy you are exposed to or take into your body (in the form of food, for example) is highly important. It is imperative that it be of the highest frequency possible—the most light and life force still within it—meaning in literal terms that it be as fresh as possible, as pure as possible…that it be in its whole, natural form—not tainted with antibiotics, additives, preservatives, pesticides—not processed and refined.
When we ingest all these chemicals and toxins, our bodies have to then go to work— and are overworked—trying to do damage control to eliminate all we’ve put into it the best way it possibly can. All this creates stress on our bodies and immediately or eventually manifests in upset to the system—emotionally, mentally and/or physically—all systems can be thrown off and will be thrown off eventually if we continually bombard our system with low-frequency fuel.
So food (and the purity of our water) are highly important to our energy and the high-vibrating frequencies of health and happiness we wish to have, while we are residing in physical form, in these body vehicles.
We can also carry the burden of any number of stresses, as I mentioned before, due to an injury or holding on to a trauma or belief system we took on at some point in our lives. Many things we unknowingly take on in childhood. We can be carrying these invisible burdens for years, not realizing they have been blocking the flow of energy in our system. Not realizing this is why we aren’t feeling well. Such traumas or limiting beliefs can reside as blocks of tension in our bodies until we identify their presence and release them. —All these things and more may be addressed in an energy healing session.
Expectations—Honoring the Individual’s Journey :
If it is appropriate, an energy block or a physical manifestation—such as the pain we are experiencing or other dis-ease—may be released within the session. And the caveat “if it is appropriate” relates back to our free will. Since we all have free will, it is up to the person or the higher self of that person (this is who we are actually obtaining permission from…so it is up to the higher self) whether it is time to release any particular ailment, in any form it may be in. Again, either in the physical, emotional, mental or the energy fields, the auric fields surrounding the body.
The reason for this is the belief that we are souls, spiritual beings having a physical experience and we chose to come (to this 3-D Earth experience) and learn lessons. So we came with this life plan and we knew we wanted contrast (which, as we know often comes in the form of one or more of the traumas I’ve mentioned.) Therefore, we may find our soul is not yet finished with the resulting lessons within that particular circumstance yet. It may not be appropriate to release it yet.
As a Reiki practitioner—or any energy healer of integrity—we are taught we can ask for a healing of anything we pick up on…we can see suffering in the world and wish to alleviate it, but we must always respect the journey of the individual and just trust that if it is to be released it will be at the appropriate time for the highest good of that person.
And, it should be noted, that many times, a healing will occur over a period of time because an important part of the soul’s journey is to be self-empowered, to understand what THEY need to do in order to release something. So, for example, in a session the Reiki practitioner may pick up information leading them to tell the client to do some specific action—such as a specific breathing exercise, for example. And, so the client then has the information—they know what to do in order to bring the body to balance—but THEY must follow-through in order to realize the results they are seeking. It is put in their hands.
It is also common that in the same session, let’s say, for example, a block is perceived somewhere in the body and it’s understood it’s a trauma that has been held for a long time, say from childhood—but because it is appropriate that it go then, it does. It is time for it to be released and it is. And so, in a typical healing session, there will always be a number of things noted, addressed and worked on with the expectation that some things may be released without any further action needed while other things require action or some modification in lifestyle in order to be released over time.
Reiki is just one method for connecting to universal life force energy that is available to all. There are many methods one can use to align themselves with this energy. So it’s important to remember that. And to also remember that the Reiki practitioner—though sometimes referred to as the healer—is actually not doing the healing. They are the channel or conduit because they have expressly requested that this be so and have aligned themselves through specific methods—in this case, taught to them in the Reiki tradition. But it is Source energy that is doing the healing. And this is the energy that is available to all beings.
I feel the most important thing we can do for our fellow human beings is to empower them with the knowledge that they have access to this healing life force energy just as much as anyone. Whether they choose to facilitate it through the Reiki tradition or any other method, it is the same energy we are speaking of—it is there for all. No exceptions. So just be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise. There is usually some political, economic and/or religious agenda. People through the ages—this is often the story they will tell—is that they have the exclusive path or exclusive access to this—and this is not the case.
This is the most important message to convey in all of this: This healing energy, life force energy, is available to all and you do not need to subscribe to any particular belief system in order to bring it forward. It is your birthright. Period. Please do not let any person or any organization lead you to believe otherwise.
I believe our primary objective within any session should always be to empower those who come to us for healing with the knowledge—the remembering—of the powerful beings they truly are. This is the greatest gift we can give someone—that they know they have access to this healing life force energy within them, just for the asking. It is available to all of us, when we are ready to connect and receive it.
There is no hierarchy, there is no prerequisite, we all have equal access to Source energy, simply for the asking. At times, I may be the one holding the lantern as we walk the path together, at other times it may be you. This is the gift of our connected nature. We are all One with Divine Source Energy—We are just here (in the illusion of separation) helping each other remember. Holding the lantern up for one another as needed.
This concludes this recording…If you would like further information or would like to schedule a session, please contact me via the form on this page [https://linenlavenderlife.com/reiki/ ] and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Sending light & love to you. Namaste.