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How Does Distance Reiki Work? A Practitioner's Perspective
What happens when Reiki doesn't involve touch, the practitioner isn't in the room, and you can receive a session while sleeping in your own bed?
Most people’s first question about distance Reiki is some polite variation of, “How the hell is that supposed to work?”
Fair question.
We think about connection in physical terms. My body ends here, yours begins over there, and if something passes between us, it has to cross the space in between. In the physical world, that’s generally how things go. But I keep wondering whether physical distance tells us everything about connection.
I’ve practiced Reiki for more than a decade, in both the Western Usui and traditional Japanese Jikiden lineages. I can explain what I do and what I was taught. I can’t give you a scientifically established explanation for how it works. What I can give you is the tradition, my experience as a practitioner, and why distance sessions became such a big part of my work.
There’s quite a bit more to it than closing your eyes and sending good vibes into the universe.
From Rooftop Reiki to Distance Healing
I used to offer rooftop Reiki sessions when I lived in the historic Chapman Building at 8th and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. The skyline, the open air, the city stretching out around us. Very Instagram-worthy.
What the photos didn’t capture were the sirens, the helicopters, and whoever was yelling from the street eight floors below. Downtown LA has never been particularly committed to a peaceful atmosphere.
Here’s what surprised me: people still relaxed. Clients settled right into it, helicopters and all. That taught me something I’ve carried ever since. Stillness doesn’t require silence, and the setting where we receive care shapes the experience in ways we rarely notice.
Now my sessions happen at a distance, with clients in their own beds. No traffic, no parking, no unfamiliar treatment room, no getting dressed and driving home afterward. And hopefully fewer helicopters.
Clients tell me they love this, and I do too. Making space for yourself is hard enough without adding another appointment and another commute.
But convenience is the boring part. The interesting question is how any of this works when we’re not in the same room.
What Reiki Is (and Isn’t)
Reiki is a Japanese spiritual practice associated with Mikao Usui, who developed his system in the early twentieth century. The word is usually translated as “universal life energy,” which is a decent starting point. Rei carries a sense of the spiritual or sacred, and ki is life energy, a cousin of the Chinese qi. The characters hold more than one English phrase can carry.
In Reiki, the practitioner works with that energy rather than producing it from their own body. I like that distinction, because I’m not the source of anyone’s healing. I don’t have a personal supply of magical energy that I ship across the country. That would be an exhausting business model.
My job is to practice what I was taught, bring attention and intention to the session, and notice what I perceive.
Distance Reiki Isn’t a Zoom-Era Invention
People assume distance work is a recent add-on, something invented when spiritual services moved online. It isn’t. In Japanese Reiki it’s called enkaku chiryo, and it’s taught at Okuden, the second level of Jikiden Reiki. Many Western Usui systems include it too.
Jikiden means roughly “directly transmitted,” and its teachings come through the lineage of Chujiro Hayashi and Chiyoko Yamaguchi. I studied Shoden and Okuden in that tradition, alongside my Western training through Master Teacher.
The progression is what stuck with me. First you learn to work with your hands. You practice paying attention, you learn to notice sensations, you learn how to work with another person. Only then do you learn distance treatment, and within the tradition it isn’t a separate practice. It’s the same skill, applied differently.
That skill includes something called byosen: sensations a practitioner feels in their hands, like warmth, tingling, or pulsing, that the tradition interprets as information about where attention is needed. It’s an interpretation that belongs to the Reiki tradition, not a medical diagnosis. In person, I might feel something and stay in that spot. At a distance, there are no hands on you, but I’m still working with what I perceive.
I Can’t Prove It. Here’s What I Can Tell You.
This is the less satisfying part. I can explain how I practice, what I perceive, and how I establish the connection within the tradition. I can’t tell you how distance Reiki works in a way science has established, and I’m okay with that.
Within Reiki, the idea is that energetic connection isn’t necessarily limited by physical proximity. During a session, I use the Okuden techniques and focused attention, working with you in mind and with whatever we discussed beforehand. Then I get quiet and notice. Sometimes it’s a sensation in my hands.
Sometimes it’s an image, a feeling, or a piece of information that arrives intuitively. Sometimes I sense movement or shifts in the energy.
That’s my experience. It isn’t proof of a mechanism, and I wouldn’t ask you to treat it as one.
What I find genuinely interesting is how much we still don’t understand about consciousness, perception, and what connection even is. I don’t think we need to invent explanations to take those questions seriously, and I don’t think we should stop asking them either.
It’s also not a passive experience for me. I’m working throughout. But I don’t assume every image or sensation is a profound message, and not every session needs a dramatic explanation. Some are subtle. Some are surprisingly interesting. Mostly I try to pay attention without forcing an outcome, and afterward we talk about what came through. You don’t have to accept my interpretation as the final word. Your experience counts too.
One honest note: some people report relaxation or less stress, and experiences vary a lot. Distance Reiki hasn’t been established as a treatment for any medical or psychological condition. I’m offering a spiritual practice, not a guaranteed result.
Where Crystalline Soul Healing Fits
I also use Crystalline Soul Healing®, which I studied directly with its founder, Jamye Price. It’s a separate practice with a different framework: the Higher Self, energetic patterns, and what the modality calls the lightbody.
They complement each other, but they aren’t interchangeable. Reiki draws on my years of training in Japanese and Western traditions. Crystalline Soul Healing has me working more consciously with intuitive impressions, energetic imagery, and communication with the Higher Self. I don’t decide in advance that everyone needs the same thing. I start with your intentions and let the session develop from there.
What a Session With Me Looks Like
It’s simpler than it sounds.
First, we talk. At your appointment time we connect by phone. You tell me what’s going on and what you’d like support with. You don’t need a polished intention. “I’m exhausted and need a little peace” is plenty.
Then you go about your day. The session happens later, while you’re resting or sleeping. You don’t need to sit at a screen, stay on the phone, or hold a meditation posture. Get in your own bed and go to sleep. There is no spiritual participation trophy for staying conscious.
The next day, we reconnect. I share what I perceived, including any intuitive information, and you share whatever you noticed. Some people describe sensations, dreams, or feelings. Some just had a good night’s sleep. Some have nothing to report, and that’s fine.
What Does It Feel Like?
Everyone’s different. Some people feel warmth, tingling, or deep relaxation. Some have vivid dreams or emotions. Some fall asleep, and some notice nothing at all. You don’t need to feel energy moving, see anything, or wake up transformed.
Spiritual practices come with a lot of expectations, and people hear extraordinary stories and wonder if their quieter experience means something’s wrong. It doesn’t. I’d rather you be curious about your actual experience than spend the session trying to have someone else’s.
You also don’t need special preparation, crystals, candles, or an elaborate meditation practice. If you love those things, great. The only useful prep is thinking about what you’d like support with: a difficult relationship, feeling overwhelmed, a transition, or plain curiosity. All fine places to start.
Please don’t turn receiving Reiki into one more thing to do perfectly. You’ve got enough of those.
Quick Questions
Is distance Reiki as effective as in-person?Within Reiki traditions, distance treatment is considered legitimate practice, not a lesser version of hands-on work. There isn’t enough high-quality scientific evidence to say the health outcomes are equivalent. I’ve done both, and I value distance sessions for the flexibility and comfort they give clients.
Do I have to believe in Reiki for it to work?No. Be curious, skeptical, open, or somewhere in between. I welcome questions and I don’t expect you to suspend your critical thinking.
Can I receive a session from another city or country?Yes. We coordinate the phone call and follow-up across time zones, and you receive the session in your own space.
If You’re Curious About Reiki’s Japanese Roots
Frank Arjava Petter’s books are a good place to start. He’s researched Reiki’s Japanese history extensively and helped bring historical materials to Western readers. Reiki Fire and This Is Reiki cover the history and development of the practice, and The Hayashi Reiki Manual, written with Tadao Yamaguchi, goes deeper into teachings associated with Chujiro Hayashi. Knowing where a practice comes from changes how you approach it.
Why I Keep Asking
After a decade of practice, I still don’t have a tidy answer. I have a lot of questions about consciousness, about connection, and about the gap between what we can perceive and what we can explain, and I’d rather stay in that gap honestly than pretend it isn’t there.
I also love that something I once offered on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles can now be part of your evening at home, wherever home is. No commute. No helicopters. Nothing to do except make a little room for yourself and let someone else do the work for once.
If you’re curious, I’d love to work with you.
With grace and gratitude,
Shannon
Your Spiritual BFF
Reiki and Crystalline Soul Healing are complementary spiritual practices. They do not diagnose, treat, or cure medical conditions and are not substitutes for medical or mental health care.
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