Free Online Reiki Training - First Degree Reiki and Self Healing

 

Lesson 5: The Hand Positions for Reiki Treatment

 

 

It has been widely said that when a student is ready, the teacher appears. Much can be said about the path toward Reiki. Many people get into our natural spiritual gifts by getting a recommendation by a friend, by stumbling upon it in their day-to-day life, or by seeing for themselves the positive testimonials from others. This may have even been the place you’ve ended up after a long search for how to restore your intuitive zest for life. In any case, you’ve come to this training and can now begin to prepare for using Reiki to heal your life into something fuller, better, and more peaceful than ever before. Here is where you will become initiated into the process.

 

Before you start, it is important to trust this process. Being skeptical is okay, but when going into it, the power of your inner Reiki will only become sincerely unlocked if you trust it to be within yourself, and you believe in its all-encompassing power. Trust Reiki. Then, you may go on to what is called the First Degree Initiation into Reiki, which you will only ever need or go through once.

 

First Degree Initiation

 

With a newfound curiosity and trust for the spiritual power of your inner gift, it’s time to begin the initiation process. This includes a process of four attunements, or adjustments. The generally accepted process of initiation is done in a workshop – this means there is a teacher, or Reiki Master, that holds a small ceremony to initiate new pupils into Reiki learning. This teacher will perform and anoint individuals (as outlined further in this section) in a workshop setting. This will be done if you choose to get initiated through such a workshop.

 

Yet, this is not the only way to get initiated. You may also self-attune yourself, and initiate yourself into the free-flowing, mindful powers of your birth-given energy. There are guidelines and details you may want to consider before making your initiation choice. Additionally, if you’ve already made up your mind, there are resources to help you prepare and learn how to become a channel of Reiki whether you choose to do it yourself or go to a Reiki Master.

 

The initiation process is typically kept a secret, to honor the sanctity of the ritual. This is why there is not a solidified, 100% official source to guide you through the self-attunement. This is something you would have to learn firsthand by attending a workshop and getting initiated by a teacher.

 

However, there are a few accounts of different approaches to self-attunement and here is one. 

 

A Self-Attunement Procedure for Reiki I

 

Step 1: Breathe deeply and relax your whole body.

Step 2: Visualize or imagine the Universal healing energy enfolding your whole being.

Step 3: Ask the Reiki masters of the past, incuding Mr. Ususi and your healing guides to join this attunement ceremony and surround you with their love and support.

Step 4: Set your intention that you are going to trust this process and that you are fully supported by the Universal healing intelligence. 

Step 5: Visualize or imagine the universal healing energy is flowing into every part of your body.

Step 6: Invoke Cho Ku Rei, the basic power symbol of Reiki by first imagining the Cho Ku Rei symbol within your auric field as you say the sound Cho Ku Rei either silently or verbally,

Step 7: See and feel the symbol and blend with the energy of the Cho Ku Rei symbol .

Step 8:  Now one at a time, visualize or imagine the Cho Ku Rei symbol in your heart center, the palms of your hands, the soles of your feet, all of the energy centers (chakras) throughout your body while intoning the sound Cho Ku Rei 3 times for each part.

Step 9: Complete the Reiki Level 1 attunement by thanking the Reiki masters and healing guides for their blessings and support.  

 

* Free distant Reiki I attunement is conduted every Sunday at 10:30 p.m. HST / 9:30 a.m. GMT + 1. 

I conduct distant Reiki attunements to initiate students into the use of Reiki for self-healing. My strong desire is to give you the ability to use Reiki so that you can benefit from the power of Reiki and create a positive shift in your life.

 

 

After Your First-Degree Initiation

 

A 21-day cleanse will be in order after your attunement, in order to cleanse and heal each of your chakras. There will be a 1-day cleanse for each of these energy centers, seven in total, and the weeklong cycle shall repeat three times in a row. The energy used for healing, after your successful initiation, can now begin to flow freely through your hands at just the mere thought or concentration on healing. This is the beauty of awakening the Reiki energy within you.

 

In a sense, healing with Reiki is like being born again, where you can let go of all the old emotional pains and bad habits to start anew. Emotional, moody, or even physical reactions may occur, making you believe you are sick or something is wrong. Let them happen and do not be alarmed! This is Reiki’s way of removing the toxicity from your body.

 

Your intuition and emotionally psychic powers will increase during this period. Reiki will automatically work to heal your body and the emotional centers, and will allow you to begin again with a fresh perspective of health. Reiki will go to the places that need to be healed, and that need attention to become more grounded. In this way, the more you use Reiki, the stronger the energy will become, and a better channel for the energy you will become. Apply the healing techniques on yourself regularly, remain calm, and your balance will remain firm.

 

Now that you have been attuned by the first-degree of initiation, the way you respond to both external and internal stimuli, and you will find that balance is easier to find and maintain. With Reiki flowing through your hands, you can begin to practice and channel the energy with every part and aspect of your life: your pets, the things you consume, your work projects your creative projects, and your home. Begin to try the process and you will begin to notice how effective and quickly Reiki will heal you, and make positive each part of your life.

 

Starting With Your Hands

 

Once you’ve become a part of your initiation, whether done at a workshop or performed yourself, you can begin to enter the sphere of healing powers and positions that the art of Reiki has to offer. The beauty of Reiki is that once the healing energies are transferred from one individual to the next, the energy intuitively knows the places on the body that need healing, and floods to those places. What this means is that you need not worry about knowing exactly where to direct your energy – it goes to the proper places automatically, as the ailment attracts it on its own. What you must focus on is the actual transfer of energy, and you will do this by learning the hand positions that can do this.

 

We will briefly explain hand positions by the chakras they correlate to, and then we will movie into self-treatment and treating others with these hand positions.

 

Let’s begin with the first hand position starting, with the Crown Chakra:

 

Hand Position 1: A hand, or two hands, placed gently on top of the head. This can be done while you or a friend are sitting up, or lying down with your back flat against a hard surface.

 

Hand Position 2: Both hands cupped and placed over the eyes. This responds to the Third Eye Chakra.

 

Hand Position 3: One hand on each side of the face, over the temples. This should be done with the lower part of palms closer to the jaw with fingers pointing up past the ears.

 

Hand Position 4: Both hands behind the head, in a position parallel to the forehead. Think of putting your hands behind you to rest your head in during a relaxing moment. This should be just above or on the base of the skull.

 

Hand Position 5: Both hands, with fingertips just touching one another, placed on the back of the neck, on the lower half, connecting to the top of the shoulders.

 

Hand Position 6: Place hands around the neck with the lower end of palms covering the throat – meaning your fingertips on either hand should not be touching the fingertips of the other.

 

Hand Position 7: The T position. Your left hand should cover the heart, or Heart Chakra, with the lower palms near the wrist facing left and fingertips pointing to the right, and your right hand should be placed underneath your left, fingers facing upward, palm against your body.

 

Hand Position 8: Place hands on pectorals or just atop the breasts, palms against your body, with fingertips facing inward and just touching one another.

 

Hand Position 9: Place hands just above the navel on the Solar Plexus Chakra, palms against your body, with fingertips facing inward and just touching one another.

 

Hand Position 10: Place hands just below the navel, palms against your body, with fingertips facing inward and just touching one another.

 

Hand Position 11: Place hands so that they form a downward-facing V inside your hipbone, with each hand resting on the front-inner area of groin.

 

Hand Position 12: Hands should go, depending on placing of back or front, either atop the kneecaps or behind the knees.

 

Hand Position 13: Hands flat on the back, over the shoulder blades.

 

Hand Position 14: Hands flat on the back, in the place where the waist would be in the front.

 

Hand Position 15: Hands flat on the back, over the topmost part of the buttocks, where the coccyx would be.

 

Hand Position 16: Hands flat on the topmost part of the feet.

 

It is important to mention here that these hand positions should serve as a guide to you, not as a set directive that must be followed strictly. As a beginner, this set of hand positions will help you discover how to start your healing process, and practice will help you learn what feels best. Remember, it is essential to Reiki that you trust your intuition. So if your intuition is telling you to do something different than what the guide dictates, follow your gut and do what feels right.

 

Some positions have been overlapped when broken down into numbered positions. There are also other healing places that vary from different schools of thought or formal Reiki healing practices. For example, typically Reiki healers do not venture below the Root Chakra for healing hand positions, but in Hand Position 12, there is a healing portal suggested on the knees. Following is a diagram of the 12 basic positions so you can see what they will look like on a real body. Use this as a reference point when you need a reminder of where your hands should go while you are practicing your skills of healing!