The First Reiki Treatment

Article by João Antão Marques

When you receive a patient for the first time (remember that there is no second opportunity to the first encounter), it is important to follow some steps in order to avoid some situations that could turn into a problem or lead the patient to lose his confidence in your capabilities.

Although with a Level II in Reiki we are ready to treat others, I recommend everybody to start working only after Level III-A, at least, as the Master Symbol is a very strong tool for the treatments. Personally, I’ve started after being an Usui/Tibetan Reiki Master/Teacher which, in Portugal corresponds to Level III-B.

In all moments, you have to show yourself, and behave, like a professional, confident and in full command of the procedures. I would recommend that, prior to opening doors to the public, you practice as a volunteer. This volunteer work will help you to build your confidence, improve your technique and, will teach you how to interact with the patients, moreover, you will be helping others and, I dare say, that this is one of the best things we can do, both to ourselves as to others. In my case, I’ve worked for one year with drug and alcohol addicts in a rehabilitation center and it was, indeed, an excellent experience.

In case you’ve decided to enter a business as Reiki Therapist (or if you’ve decided to treat others as a volunteer), a key factor is that, when preparing to receive your first client, you don’t fear the negative energies he may eventually carry. I stress this point because lots of people fear negativity and others refuse to treat people as they feel tired afterward and generally sweat during treatments, etc. This is due to a wrong procedure and lack of knowledge and bad preparation because, if they had been properly taught, they would know that our own protection and grounding are two of the keys for a safe treatment.

Fear will block your sexual chakra and will make you more prone to attack. Remember that Reiki practitioners are working with light and, accordingly, will attract negativity, that’s normal and there is no reason to fear that situation. Ask for the protection of Archangel Michael and the orientation of your Guides if you feel the need to do so. Good protection and grounding (check your and client’s grounding several times during treatment) will ensure that you will, always, be in control of the situation. To work without shoes is also a good practice as it will allow an easier connection with energies coming from the Earth that generally circulate around our feet.

As mentioned in a previous article, the best way for protection is, in my opinion, to draw a big CKR in front of you (try to end the movement in front of you Solar Plexus) and a CKR in all your chakras starting from Root chakra, you can also request the energy to seal both back and front chakras, if you feel so.

Protect yourself; Activate your hands with all your symbols (for extra energy draw also a CKR on the back of your hands, non-dominant hand first); Connect to the energy; Ground yourself and ground the patient and, start with confidence, Aura scan first. Never show a lack of confidence or insecurity to the client as you will lose him.

In my previous article “The Reiki Session” I’ve presented a possible sequence of the things to follow during the session.

If you are duly protected and grounded, even if the client is heavily charged with negative energy, you may feel “attacked” – feeling like if you were going to fall asleep, for instance – but with a Kenyoku, after the treatment you will feel ”as new” again (don’t forget to clean the floor afterwards with CKR and to clean the room and the working table and/or blankets used, between patients – generally a big CKR in the middle of the room will be enough to clean the space). In case you use crystals, they need to be cleaned as well.

The Aura Compression Technique, as explained in my article “The importance of an Energy Therapy – Uses of Reiki 4”, will strengthen your protection and can be used, during the treatment, in case you feel attacked.

I consider that having some knowledge about our clients’ background and the reasons behind the need for a Reiki treatment, is very important as it can give us some clues for the next sessions, so, in order to achieve that goal, it is convenient that you have one or several questionnaires covering several issues. I usually perform an anamnesis considering among others the following aspects:

• Age; Marital Status (eventual problems in the relation); Children; Academic Background; Previous Surgical Interventions, if any; Illnesses; Medicaments used or in use; Diabetes; Blood Pressure; Sports practice; Job; etc…
  It is important, as well, to assess the reasons behind the need for the Reiki treatment, namely:
• Curiosity; Localized Pains (where and their intensity); Mental/Emotional issues; Physical and Energetic issues; Evaluation on the Quality of daily life; What they intend to achieve with Reiki Treatments; Availability of energy for daily routine; Frequency of negative thoughts, depression, anxiety; etc….

All the above information will help you to choose the best way to start the treatment and, at the same time, will induce the confidence of the patient.

It is very important that you assess the level of knowledge the client has about Reiki. If the patient has no previous knowledge on Reiki, you should explain what Reiki is, how it can help, how it is applied and the reasons for a given schema, the sensations the client may perceive (always request feedback if he feels something different from what you mentioned).

Among the sensations the client may feel and although less frequent than heat, cold, tingling,…, we have:

• An increase in the heart beat – Don’t worry about the increase in heartbeat, unless it is very intense, as it will slowly fade away.
• Slight difficulty in breathing or weight on chest– This also will not last long; If it persists, clean the throat with an energetic blow (use Koki Ho technique).
• Heavy arms or heavy legs – Sweep arms from the elbow (if both arms, start from the left one) or, if necessary, place the non-dominant hand on the shoulder while handing the client’s hand and, Reiki for a couple of minutes; Sweep the legs three times, starting from the heap. Sweep movements, either on arms or legs, end beyond the fingers.

Don’t forget to explain that a healing crisis may eventually occur two or three days after starting the treatments, mention the expected symptoms, and its expected duration (once, in a quite heavy situation, one of my clients suffered, apart from bowels discharge, from a headache, fever, and vomiting).

After you gathered information on the client’s background and on how he felt prior to the treatment, it is very important to have feedback on how he is feeling after, therefore your questionnaire should also include a couple of questions, for instance:

Do you feel better?
Ο Emotionally  Ο Mentally  Ο Physically  Ο Energetically  Ο Not at all

Do you feel any pain relief?
Ο Bones   Ο Muscles   Ο Head  Ο Organs   Ο Column   Ο Cervical   Ο Does not apply

Have you achieved your objective with this session?  Ο Yes   Ο No

Will you continue with Reiki Treatments?   Ο Yes   Ο No

Remember that, in every treatment you perform, you must be protected (especially in distant healing because, as the energy touches the Aura first, all negativity in the Aura will reach you instantaneously). Even when treating a close member of the family, your wife/husband, for instance, you must consider him/her as a third party and, because of that, you have to protect yourself as well. Don’t think that the fact of being in constant contact with someone will work as a “protection factor” as it doesn’t. When we touch someone’s energy field, no matters whom, with the aim of treating him, all the negativity flows to us.

We are working with the Light, as I mentioned before, our vibration is higher than the majority of those around us, therefore, it is expected that negativity flows to us, just like insects fly, at night, to a lit bulb.

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João Antão Marques, a retired chemical engineer, is an Usui Tibetan Reiki Master/teacher living in Lisbon, Portugal, with training in Jikiden Reiki, Karuna® Reiki and Seichim, Lotus Light Jewel, Tibetan Bowls Massage and Therapy of Past Lives. Works as a volunteer with elder people in a Daily Center of the Portuguese Red Cross and has also worked with drugs and alcohol addicted. In the meantime, has published a book for non-Reiki people “Hello I am the Reiki”. João can be reached by mail at [email protected].