Maybe a friend came back from a Reiki session calmer than you have seen them in months, and when you asked what happened, the answer was vague. Energy. Warm hands. "You just have to try it." That kind of description is fine for some people and a turn-off for others, especially if you are already careful about practices that promise a lot and explain very little.
This guide is for people on a healing path who keep wondering, what is Reiki, really? It gives a clear, honest picture before you book: where Reiki comes from, what actually happens in the room, and how to know whether it is being offered with care.
The short answer
Reiki is a Japanese hands-on practice in which you lie down fully clothed while a practitioner rests their hands lightly on, or just above, a series of places on your body, usually for about an hour. It is traditionally described as working with ki, or life energy. At its simplest, Reiki is a restorative practice of coming back to yourself: slowing down, becoming present, and giving the body space to settle and regulate.
Where Reiki comes from
Reiki was developed by Mikao Usui in Japan in the 1920s. Usui taught his system to more than 2,000 people before his death in 1926. One of his students, Chujiro Hayashi, carried the teaching forward, and Hayashi's student Hawayo Takata opened the first Reiki clinic in the United States in 1970. Much of the Reiki taught around the world today traces back through that line.
The word itself joins two Japanese terms: rei, often translated as universal, and ki, vital energy. The same ki appears as qi in Chinese medicine.
At the heart of Usui Reiki sit five precepts, recited daily by many practitioners. One common version reads:
- Just for today, do not worry.
- Just for today, do not anger.
- Just for today, respect all life.
- Just for today, work honestly.
- Just for today, be grateful.
They are small enough to remember and hard enough to live. For many practitioners, the precepts are the practice, and the hands-on sessions grow out of them.
What happens in a Reiki session
A Reiki session moves through four stages: arriving, preparation, the hands-on practice and integration. Each one belongs to the session.
Arriving. You sit down with the practitioner and talk about what brought you, how you are feeling, and anything about your health or history you would like them to know.
Preparation. You agree together on touch. Some people welcome light hands on the body, some prefer the practitioner to work a few centimetres above, and some want certain areas left alone entirely. You also agree on how to say "pause" or "stop" at any point. The practitioner prepares too: grounding themselves, then a moment of Gassho, hands together at the heart, and Reiji-Ho, asking Reiki to guide their hands to where attention is needed. A few quiet breaths help you both settle before the hands begin.
The hands-on practice. You lie on a treatment table or mat, fully clothed, often under a light blanket. The practitioner works from the crown of the head toward the feet, holding each position for around three minutes and adjusting by feel. When moving between positions, one hand stays in contact while the other moves, so the connection is never fully broken. Nobody massages, manipulates or presses. Most of the session happens in silence, and many people drift somewhere between waking and sleep.
Integration. You sit up slowly, drink some water and notice what shifted. There is time to talk about what came up, or to simply stay quiet before you walk back out into your day.
At SOMA, Reiki sessions are offered in Pai as part of a wider body-centred practice.
What Reiki can feel like
People describe a wide range of sensations during Reiki, and a quiet session with very little to report counts as much as a vivid one.
| What you may notice | How people often describe it |
|---|---|
| Warmth | The practitioner's hands feeling hotter than expected, or heat spreading under them |
| Heaviness | The body sinking into the table, limbs too relaxed to move |
| Tingling | Light buzzing or movement, sometimes far from where the hands are |
| Emotion | Tears or a sudden feeling with no clear story attached |
| Sleepiness | Drifting off, then waking at the end with little memory of the middle |
| Very little | Simply resting, and feeling calmer afterward |
In Reiki teaching, warmth under the hands is read as energy being welcomed, and coolness as the body taking only what it needs right now. None of these is a measure of success. The body responds in its own way on its own day.
How Reiki connects body, mind and emotion
Reiki has always treated body, mind and emotion as one system. A worry held for months, or grief that never found words, rarely stays in the head. It shows up as a tight jaw, shallow breathing, a stomach that never quite settles.
Modern science has a field for this link. Psychoneuroimmunology studies how thoughts and emotions interact with the nervous and immune systems, and one of its steady findings is that prolonged stress changes how the body regulates itself. When the body keeps signalling danger, it struggles to rest, digest and repair.
Reiki meets that pattern with the opposite signal: stillness, safe touch and nothing to do. That is the experience we offer at SOMA. The language of energy belongs to the Reiki tradition, and we share it as tradition. Clinical research has not shown Reiki to treat any medical condition, so we offer it alongside medical and psychological care, never in place of it.
Why trauma-informed Reiki matters
Trauma-informed Reiki matters because the practice asks you to lie still, close your eyes and be touched by someone you may have just met. For a nervous system that has learned to stay on guard, that combination can feel deeply restful or quietly alarming, and often it depends on how the session is held.
The Reiki code of ethics already points this way: always ask permission, never diagnose, never advise anyone to stop prescribed medication, and remember that the practitioner acts as a channel for Reiki, with no ego claim on the results. A trauma-informed practitioner builds on that and treats consent as something that continues through the whole hour. In practice that means:
- Touch is always your choice. Hands on, hands above, or hands kept away from particular areas, and you can change your mind mid-session.
- Your eyes can stay open. Nothing about Reiki requires you to close them or to drift off.
- You can speak. Saying "pause," asking for a blanket or shifting position is part of the session.
- Nothing is forced to happen. No one pushes for a release or reads meaning into your body for you. A person lying relaxed and open is also more suggestible, and a good practitioner holds that trust with care.
The same approach shapes every practice at SOMA, including our trauma-informed breathwork sessions.
Who Reiki may suit
Reiki tends to suit people who want something slow and gentle: those feeling run down or overstimulated, people who find talking hard right now, and anyone who wants to reconnect with their body without an intense or effortful practice. Because it is done clothed and without pressure, it is also a soft entry point for people who have avoided bodywork.
If you are dealing with a health condition, keep your doctor involved and let Reiki sit alongside that care.
If you would like to experience Reiki held slowly and with clear consent, you are welcome to contact us for bookings. We can talk through what you are looking for before your first session.
Key takeaways
- Expect to stay fully clothed and to be touched lightly, or not at all, depending on what you agree.
- Before the session starts, decide what kind of touch you are comfortable with and say it out loud.
- Judge a session by how safe and rested you felt, rather than by how dramatic it was.
- Use Reiki as a complement to medical and psychological care, never as a substitute for it.
- Choose a practitioner who asks about consent and explains the session before beginning.
Definitions
Ki: The Japanese word for life energy, equivalent to qi in Chinese medicine.
Usui Reiki: The system of Reiki taught by Mikao Usui and passed on through his students.
Attunement: The traditional initiation a Reiki teacher gives a student, after which the student begins practising on themselves and others.
Hands-off Reiki: Reiki given with the practitioner's hands held a few centimetres above the body instead of resting on it.