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1000 Hands

Reflecting on Reiki and its physical sensations during this time of isolation. May you all be well. Sending Reiki to you daily.

Raised Hands image

After a Reiki session my client said to me, “How do you do that? It felt like you had a thousand hands. I knew that you had moved and yet it felt like your hands remained where you had been touching me before. How could it be that I felt your hands – like 1000 hands?!”

Many clients have told me the same thing, especially after I move from the ankle hand position, that the sensation of my hands remain long after I’ve moved to the next position. And when I have received a Reiki session, I often have the same experience. I know that the practitioner is no longer standing by feet, for example, however, I feel that they are still there.

What causes this 1000 hands sensation?

We are energetic beings. When we connect to Reiki energy during a session, our energetic bodies continue to draw on the energy of the universe even after the practitioner’s hands have moved on to another part of the body.

I have heard some practitioners explain it differently. They say that there are other beings present in the room who “take over” offering the Reiki as the practitioner moves on to another hand position. Though I don’t fully reject the possibility of that (and I often imagine the loving presence, during a Reiki session, of my teacher, Libby Barnett and the lineage of teachers before her) I think that something else is going on.

I think something unembodied is at play.

It is indeed the invisible energetic force – Reiki — that is being accessed by the recipient and that continues to be drawn upon even after the physical hands of the practitioner are moved.

To explain it through angels or spirit guides continues the belief and perception that hands, or touch, are necessary for the transmission of Reiki energy. Indeed, that is not the case as is evidenced by the effective use of absent or distance Reiki.

So the next time you’re in a Reiki session, [my hope is that this is not too far in the future] sink deeply into the table, feel the support of the earth, connect with universal life force energy, and your soul’s highest intention and perhaps you’ll feel the 1000 hands. If not, know that Reiki is there for you and always presented for your highest healing good.

What’s your experience with the 1000 hands of Reiki? Please share your experience in the comments below.

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Please know that I continue to send daily Reiki for healing and peace for you and wider world.

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Warm Hands, Reiki Hands

There is a well-known story told of Mrs. Takata’s (the Japanese-American woman who brought Reiki to the United States) experience of a Reiki session at Hayashi’s Clinic in Japan.  During the session she was so amazed by the warmth coming from the practitioners’ hands that she started searching for the source of the warmth in their sleeves.  The practitioners were amused by her searching and went on to explain about Reiki and the warmth she was experiencing. Indeed the warmth coming from a practitioner’s hands is one of the “signs” of Reiki and one of its famous attributes.

One of my classmates in my Reiki 1 Class with Libby Barnett at Kripalu in 2001, was a Registered Nurse.  She spent a lot of time holding people’s hands before and during stressful procedures and she hoped that Reiki would provide her with warm hands.  I remember Libby saying that maybe it would help, though, maybe it wouldn’t.  It was all dependent on her experience. By the end of class, my classmate reported that her hands were warmer, but only while offering Reiki.

I have had many experiences of this sensation as well.  As a recipient of Reiki, I have felt the practitioner’s hands as intensely warm and filled with energy.  As a practitioner, I have been told many times, “Your hands are so warm!”

Last year, at the Wellness House, a client was sitting on the Reiki table after a session and commented on how warm my hands are.  I couldn’t help but smile at her and reached out my hands so she could feel them.  She was startled to find them quite cold!  I explained to her that my hands were physically cold, but that she was experiencing the warmth of Reiki.

Indeed, sometimes my hands are physically warm during Reiki in addition to the sensation of warmth from the Reiki energy itself.  This is another area of the unknown in Reiki.  Where does that sensation of warmth come from?  The answer is that it comes from a non-physical realm.  This can be puzzling to talk about, however, when one experiences Reiki the mind is quieted and one understands the warmth on a deeper level.

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I want to heal YOU

As a Reiki Master, sometimes I can’t help but feel this way, “I want to heal YOU!”  Some of that feeling is not a bad thing.  It definitely can be a motivator that gets one to learn Reiki and to practice it — at times.  However, the Reiki Practitioner or Master is not the healer in the Reiki session.  It is the Reiki that does the work.  It is Reiki that creates the environment for the body to heal.  It is Reiki that opens someone’s mind or heart to a new possibility.  It is Reiki that supports someone to make a change in his/her life.  It is Reiki that calms the mind and brings that blissful state of being.  It is not me.

However, this feeling of wanting to do the healing, of wanting to be the healer, is very strong.  I find it especially strong when offering Reiki to family members and friends.  I so strongly want to help them and heal them that my ego creates lots of negativity and frustration when I don’t do the healing.  When I cannot heal them.

There are some rituals and states of mind that are helpful.  For instance, it is vital for the Reiki Practitioner/Master to remember that she/he is a conduit, channel, pathway, facilitator — the one who offers.  It is the recipient who is in charge.  Sometimes as I wash my hands between Reiki sessions, I imagine my ego washing away along with any germs.  Another ritual that is helpful, is placing my hands in prayer position before placing my hands on the recipient in order to enter a state of offering — a state of service.  A place where . . . the Reiki is the star.

Wishing you abundant Reiki and a lightness of ego!

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