The Importance of Asking Permission to Give or Send Reiki

Were you taught in your Reiki courses the importance of asking permission to give or send Reiki? This article has come about, because of a comment from a subscriber to Reiki-Rays, after my “When your client doesn’t feel the energy” article was published.

She writes:

“I found this article very interesting. After a recent massage the therapist (and, I found out later, Reiki master) said to me, “I’ll bet you were wondering what all that was during the massage! I added some Reiki, so you probably saw flashes of light or some other effects. I hope that it didn’t startle you, but you are probably feeling wonderful!” In all honesty, I didn’t feel a thing, either during or after the treatment, and if she hadn’t told me about the Reiki I never would have guessed.”

This concerns me greatly because one of the most important aspects of Reiki is obtaining permission from your client to give Reiki. The above mentioned Reiki Master has not upheld the integrity of Reiki and for me this is not acceptable. People must know they are receiving Reiki especially if they are physically in your clinic. The reason is simple, people have the right to accept or reject any healing, and by not telling them you are taking away their free will and the control they have over their own health.

Right from the beginning with my Reiki 1 students, I emphasize they must have permission to give Reiki. I explain when they leave the course – excited and full of wonder and amazement about Reiki, they may want to give reiki to everybody and everything…. And yet it’s ESSENTIAL they ask permission. They are not to go up to their husband/wife and say “Right, I’ve learned Reiki today and ask that you lie down on the couch so I can practice, because I need to hone my skills”. But rather, they are to ask, “Darling, would you like to receive some reiki? As you know I’ve learned it and would like to practice and if you are willing, can you please lie down on the couch and tell me what you feel? If you don’t want to that’s ok, I’ll ask one of the kids”.

I teach about permission because it’s such an important aspect of Reiki and besides that I feel it’s respectful. I also teach, further along in my courses, that if you are going to use any other modality other than reiki, your client should be made aware of this as well, especially if they’ve come for a Reiki session. For example, I use Hypnotherapy a lot with my reiki clients, and they are all made aware of this beforehand and have the choice to say “no thanks, just the Reiki please”. If you are going to include reflexology or massage into a ‘specifically booked Reiki session’ than the client should be aware of what modalities will be utilized in their treatment.

This permission “granting” is also essential for Reiki that is sent via distance. A practitioner should always have permission from the person to send reiki, even though it’s a distance treatment. Granted, sometimes it’s not possible to gain permission if the person has been in an accident and is unconscious, and so once must obtain permission from spirit. “To my dear angels above in love and light, I seek permission to send Reiki to Billy Smith, who is unconscious and can’t give permission.”

When you do this, you will have a distinct feeling of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in your heart and I suggest you follow that guidance. It won’t lead you astray.

If you have a definite feeling of yes, when you go to do the treatment, start off you invocation with something like:

“To my dear angels above in love and light, I ask to channel reiki, healing energy, for the total healing of mind, body and soul for Billy Smith. Should for some reason this reiki not be for his highest good, please allow the reiki to be absorbed by the trees and grass, and nature, surrounding the hospital. In love and light, I thank you.”

This way you are assured that you are doing the ‘right’ thing and if for some reason Billy Smith’s body doesn’t want to absorb the reiki (even after you have obtained permission) the energy will go on to be absorbed by nature. Simply beautiful!

Thank you for reading this article and I hope it explains why it’s so important to obtain permission to give or send reiki.

With love, light and harmony.

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