Traditional Reiki Techniques
The reiki system is, at its heart, a healing tradition, and it offers numerous techniques for initiating healing in ourselves and in others. Like the symbols and mantras, these healing techniques, or chiryô, range from traditional practices that were a part of Usui’s original teachings to newer methods developed within the many offshoots of Usui’s system. In this chapter, we’ll cover techniques that can be traced back to Usui himself or methods that are taught by Japanese branches of reiki that claim to be working in a traditional manner, and in the next chapter, we’ll cover non-traditional reiki techniques.
The following four techniques are from the booklet Reiki Ryôhô no Shiori, and they can be easily incorporated into a treatment session.
Exercise: Sensing Imbalances (Byôsen Reikan Hô)
Byôsen is described as “disease radiation,” and it refers to the energetic sensation given off by areas of imbalance. To scan the body for byôsen, center yourself by bringing your hands in gasshô, palms together at heart center, eyes closed, focusing on your breath for a few cycles. Open your eyes and hover your hands a few inches above the body, slowly scanning until you feel a sensation in your hands that might include tingling, pulsing, heat or cold, itchiness, and so on. Place your hands on that part of the body and remain until the sensation has passed. Move onto the next area of imbalance. When finished, bring your palms together at your heart and give thanks.
Exercise: Detoxification (Dokukudashi)
Place your hands on the stomach, three fingers’ width below the navel, and set the intention, “I am getting rid of poison.” Maintain your concentration on this intention and remain in this position for thirty minutes. (Yes, this is a long time! You might want to pull up a chair.) This treatment can be repeated a few times for more severe cases.
Exercise: Blood Exchange (Koketsuhô)
This is a strengthening technique and is well suited for those who are chronically ill or recovering from a major illness or injury. It is recommended to repeat this treatment anywhere from two weeks to six months, depending on the severity of the condition. The Reiki Ryôhô no Shiori gives two variations:
• Upper Body Blood Exchange: Making direct skin contact, place the palms on either side of the spine at the top of the back and sweep the hands out to the sides. Repeat down the entire length of the back. Repeat fifteen to twenty times. Then, place two fingers on either side of the spine, and sweep down from the back of the neck to the hips, pressing on either side at the bottom, just above the hip bones. Repeat this about fifteen times.
• Whole Body Blood Exchange: Complete a reiki treatment on the head, lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines. Place the palms on either side of the spine at the top of the back and sweep the hands out to the sides. Repeat down the entire length of the back. Repeat fifteen to twenty times. Then, place two fingers on either side of the spine, and sweep down from the back of the neck to the hips, pressing on either side of the spine at the bottom, just above the hip bones. Repeat this fifteen times. Place the hands a couple of inches above the neck. Hold your breath as you sweep your hands down the length of the back to the tailbone. When you reach the tailbone, separate the hands and sweep them down the legs to the feet. Rub and sweep both arms, starting at the shoulder and moving to the tips of the fingers, repeating a few times. Sweep down the backs of the thighs to the toes to finish.
Exercise: Transferring Will Power (Nentatsu)
This technique allows you to send your thoughts to the recipient, and you begin by focusing your awareness “on your front hairline,” concentrating on what you want to send to the receiver.1 For example, you might send the thought “the illness will be cured,” and you can also send the five precepts. Maintain this concentration for a few minutes. You can repeat this technique in subsequent sessions for very ill patients. The Reiki Ryôhô no Shiori explains that because reiki is a spiritual therapy, the results are largely dependent on the recipient’s mental state. If someone is in a headspace that isn’t conducive to healing, you can give them a boost by sending your thoughts with this technique.
There are two methods for this technique. The first is taught by Hiroshi Doi. The second is from a 1933 book by one of Usui’s students, a healer named Kaiji Tomita. Both are suitable for generating a more powerful flow of spiritual energy through the body.
Method One
Sit in seiza (kneeling, sitting back on your heels with an upright spine), hands in gasshô at your heart center. Close your eyes, and recite some of the waka (see page 222) or other meaningful text of your choosing to clear your mind.
Perform kenyoku hô (instructions follow)
Perform jôshin kokyû hô (instructions follow).
Perform seishin toitsu (instructions follow).
Recite the five precepts.
Give thanks with hands in gasshô (palms together at heart center).
Method Two
Sit in seiza and concentrate on uniting the body and the mind. Place your hands in gasshô without creating tension in the arms and shoulders with the aim of gathering and concentrating energy from the heart center into the hands. Relax your shoulders and lightly clasp your hands. Perform jôshin kokyû hô, which is designed to purify the mind. Silently recite waka or the text of your choice, allowing the words to resonate deep within you, until you feel one with its meaning. At this point, your hands should be feeling warmer with an electric-like tingling sensation. Repeat this process for five consecutive days, starting with a thirty-minute practice and gradually increasing to an hour.
Exercise: Dry Bathing (Kenyoku Hô)
This technique is great for purifying your energy field, like wiping the energetic slate clean, and I like to use it between client sessions. It’s also useful anytime you feel like you need to “shake things off,” perhaps if you’re in a funk or otherwise stuck in an unproductive mental loop.
1. While seated or standing, place your right palm near your left shoulder, just over the outer edge of the collarbone (clavicle). Brush this hand over your skin, diagonally across your chest to your right hip.
2. Repeat on the opposite side, placing your left palm on right collarbone, swiping it diagonally to your left hip.
3. Repeat steps one and two.
4. Use your right hand to stroke your left wrist, over your open left palm and off the ends of your fingertips.
5. Use your left hand to stroke your right wrist, over your open right palm and off the ends of your fingertips.
6. If desired repeat steps 4 and 5.
Exercise: Breathing Method to Focus the Mind (Jôshin Kokyû Hô)
This exercise is not recommended for people who are pregnant or have high blood pressure. If you feel light-headed at any point, stop immediately and return to normal breathing.
Inhale through your nose and envision drawing reiki into your body through the nose. You might feel the reiki entering as tingling, heat, vibration, or waves, or you can visualize it as white light. Envision pulling the breath and the reiki down to your hara (slightly below the navel) with this inhale. On the exhale, visualize the reiki streaming out through your entire body, radiating into your surroundings. With each successive inhale, focus your awareness on reiki drawing down into your hara, followed by reiki expanding and permeating your entire body and streaming outward on the exhale. Continue for anywhere from five minutes to half an hour.
Exercise: Concentration or Unified Mind Technique (Seishin Toitsu)
Some sources refer to this technique as jôshin kokyû hô, and as mentioned above, it is not recommended for people who are pregnant or have high blood pressure. If you feel light-headed at any point, stop immediately and return to normal breathing.
With your hands in prayer position at heart center, focus your awareness on the hara (slightly below the navel). On the inhale, draw energy in from your hands, down into the hara. On the exhale, reverse the process, visualizing energy moving from the hara, down the arms, and out through the hands. Repeat these inhales and exhales anywhere from five to thirty minutes.
Exercise: Staring or Eye-Focus Method (Gyôshi Hô)
Reiki is said to emanate from the entire body but most strongly from the hands, eyes, and breath. This technique uses the eyes to focus healing energy and is especially useful when direct contact with the recipient is not possible. Gaze at the area of the body where you wish to give reiki, and intend that reiki flow from your eyes to the recipient’s body. You can move to other areas or conclude the treatment once you have a sense that this particular area has received all the reiki that it needs right now.
Exercise: Navel Healing Technique (Heso Chiryô Hô)
Due to its focus on the umbilicus, this technique is said to heal your relationship to the mother—either in a biological or archetypal sense—while also strengthening the kidneys. Place your middle finger in the navel and apply slight pressure until you feel an energetic pulse (not a blood pulse). Allow reiki to flow until you feel a harmony between the energetic pulse and reiki. This can be done on yourself or clients (with their permission, of course, as not everyone will be comfortable with touch in this sensitive area).
Exercise: Breathing Method (Koki Hô)
This technique is useful for sending reiki to areas without touch, and it can be used on its own or as part of a longer session. With hands in gasshô at your heart, calm and center your mind. Inhale through your nose, focusing on drawing the breath into your hara. Hold the energy in this area while you trace Symbol One in your closed mouth with the tongue, then blow the breath onto the area to be treated. You can also visualize Symbol One as you exhale. (Make sure your breath is fresh, especially if you smoke, before using this technique with clients.)
Exercise: Stroking Treatment (Nadete Chiryô Hô)
While performing this technique, maintain the intention to clear the energy of the meridians and the organs, and carry out the stroke with the palm of your hand. The Stienes explain that nadete chiryô hô originates in Traditional Chinese Medicine, which gives the following emotion-organ associations:
Heart: Hurt, pain, joy, excitement, shock
Stomach: Sadness, worry
Liver: Anger
Spleen: Depression, frustration, resentment, pensiveness
Kidneys: Fear 2
To treat the front of the body, start in the middle of the chest at the heart, sweeping your palm over the area (when working with female clients, I will hover over this area and sweep a few inches above the body), then sweep down to the stomach (left upper quadrant of the abdomen), over the liver (right upper quadrant), and travel all the way down the outside of the right leg, flicking energy off the toes in one continuous sweep. Begin again at the heart, sweeping down over the stomach and spleen (left upper quadrant), and down the outside of the left leg, once more flicking energy off at the toes. Return to the heart, and sweep over the shoulder and down the arm, flicking energy off the fingers. Repeat on the opposite arm.
Place the index and middle finger of both hands in between the brows, fingertips touching, and hold for twenty seconds. Sweep the fingers out to the temples, and hold for twenty seconds. Sweep over the ears and flick the energy off. Place the index and middle fingers on either side of the nose, just below the eyes, and hold for twenty seconds. Sweep out to the ears and flick off the energy.
To treat the back of the body, start at the base of the neck and sweep down the spine to the tailbone, clearing the heart, kidneys, and spine meridians.
Exercise: Hand Pressure Method (Oshite Chiryô Hô)
This technique is useful on areas that feel tense and stiff. Apply pressure to the area with fingertips, a soft fist, or palm, and send reiki into the area. You could combine this method with trigger point methodology by applying firm pressure to the area for at least thirty seconds. (A license to touch may be required to do this, depending on local laws.)
Exercise: Purifying Inanimate Objects (Jakikiri Jôka Hô)
This method is only suitable for inanimate objects, such as crystals, jewelry, your house, car, and so on and is not recommended for use on people, animals, or plants.
Hold the object in your non-dominant hand and place your dominant hand about four inches above the object. Focus on your hara and make three horizontal chopping motions with your hand, stopping abruptly after the third chop. Give the object reiki for a few minutes. If the object is too large to hold, like your house, for example, draw Symbol Three in front of it, chanting the mantra three times, then perform the technique, visualizing your hand moving over the object.
This technique is good for energizing and strengthening willpower. Place one palm over the hara (slightly below the belly button) and the other hand on the back, behind the hara. Send reiki until your hands naturally lift off by themselves.
An alternate method, used to purify and clear the body, is to place one palm over the hara and one palm on the forehead, joining earth and heaven energy. Hold this position for about five minutes, then move the forehead hand and place it over the lower hand, so both hands are resting on the hara. Hold for about twenty minutes, then bring hands into gasshô and give thanks.
Exercise: Patting with Hands (Uchite Chiryô Hô)
Like nadete chiryô hô, this technique comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it can be done with the palm or back of the hand, the side of the hand (like a “karate chop” motion, only much gentler!), or the fingers. Create the motion at the wrist without using the force of the entire arm. While you work, hold the intent to clear the energy of the meridians or organs.
For the upper (above the hips) front of the body, pat with the back of the hand. Start at the heart and pat down in a straight line (avoiding breast tissue) to the hara, being mindful not to use too much force over the abdomen. Begin again at the heart, this time moving out to the shoulder and down the inside of the arm, repeating on the other arm. Starting just above the hip bone, pat down the outside of the leg until you reach the knee, then switch to the inside of the leg, moving down to the feet and finishing by flicking the energy off the toes. Repeat on the other leg. On the back of the body, pat from the base of the neck along the spine, all the way down to the tailbone to clear the meridians.
Exercise: Reiki Exercise (Reiki Undô)
Undô means “exercise,” and this technique was introduced to the Gakkai by Kimiko Koyama, a former president of the Gakkai.3 It can be found in other cultures, such as qigong in China, subud in Indonesia, and latihan in India.
Find a safe place where you can roll around on the floor unharmed. Begin with hands in gasshô and say, “Reiki exercise start!” Take in a deep, rich inhale and let it out completely, releasing your body as you do so, allowing movement to arise naturally in the body. You may need to take in a few rounds of deeper breaths before the body relaxes enough to start moving spontaneously. It can take practice to let go of inhibitions and let the body move organically, so continue practicing on a daily basis. If sounds arise, let them. If feelings come up, give yourself space to experience them.
Exercise: Concentrated Spiritual Energy (Shûchû Reiki)
This is a group exercise that can be performed at a reiki share, class, and so on. One person is the recipient and lies down on the treatment table. The practitioners place their hands on the body, covering the main sections and any areas of imbalance. Give reiki and then finish with hands in gasshô to give thanks.
Exercise: Creating a Current of Energy (Reiki Mawashi)
Another group exercise, this allows participants to feel the energy flow, increasing their energetic sensitivity. Sit together in a circle and start with hands in gasshô, eyes closed, and give thanks. Then, each person places their hands out to the side with the left palm up and the right palm down. Each person’s left hand will be under the right hand of the person to their left, and each person’s right hand will be above the left hand of the person on their right. The hands are hovering, not touching. The teacher begins by sending energy to the right, and it travels around the circle, growing in intensity. Then, everyone swaps the orientation of their hands, right palms facing up, left palms facing down, and the teacher sends energy again, this time to the left. Finish with hands in gasshô, giving thanks.
Exercise: Distance Treatment Method (Enkaku Chiryô Hô)
According to traditional teachings, this method is not about “sending” reiki to another person or place; it is about becoming one—or more accurately, realizing that you are already one—with the recipient. You can use a photograph of the recipient, writing their name, age, and location on the back, or you can write this information on a piece of paper if you don’t have a photo. You can also simply visualize the person between your hands. Begin in gasshô and set the intention to perform enkaku chiryô hô. Hold your hands over the photo or visualize the recipient and feel the connection. Maintaining focus on the recipient, draw Symbol Three, then Two, then One while chanting the accompanying mantras. Continue focusing on the recipient for as long as you feel the energy flowing, then end by bringing hands into gasshô and giving thanks.
In the next chapter, we’ll look at additional reiki techniques that come from a variety of non-traditional sources.