You lie on a table. Clothed, in a quiet room. Someone places their hands on you — and then something happens you didn't expect. Maybe warmth. Maybe a tingling. Maybe the simple realisation that, for the first time in weeks, you are breathing all the way in. What exactly happens in a Reiki session is hard to predict. But how it unfolds — that can be described.
This article walks you through a Shingon Reiki session: from preparation, through the practice itself, to completion. And it shows where a Japanese session differs from what the West has come to call standard.
The preparation 準備
In the Japanese tradition, a Reiki session does not begin the moment hands touch the body. It begins earlier — with the preparation of the practitioner. In Shingon Reiki, this preparation has three steps, all built on the three secrets, Sanmitsu 三密.
Kenyoku Hō — purification
The practitioner clears their own energy body through the "dry bath" — three strokes across the upper body, three along the arms. It releases what has clung to you and creates a clean starting point.
Gasshō — alignment
The hands come together in Gasshō. A short silence. The practitioner aligns: breath, posture, intention. This moment is the threshold between everyday life and practice.
Reiji Hō — asking for guidance
The practitioner asks the Reiki energy to guide the hands where they are needed. The practitioner does not steer the session — the energy does. The practitioner follows.
In Western Reiki this preparation is often skipped or shrunk down to a brief "tuning in." In the Japanese tradition it is non-negotiable. Without Kenyoku, you walk into the session carrying your own energetic load. Without Gasshō, alignment is missing. Without Reiji Hō, you work by template instead of by perception.
The session itself 施術
The receiver lies clothed on a table — or sits, if that is more comfortable. Eyes closed. The practitioner stands or sits beside them and begins by laying on the hands.
In the Western standard there is a fixed grid: positions at the head, the upper body, the abdomen, the back. Each one held three to five minutes, then on to the next. The grid is useful as a starting point — but it is not what the Japanese tradition calls complete practice.
In Shingon Reiki the practitioner does begin with the foundational positions, but lets Byōsen perception lead. Where the hands feel warmth, tingling or pulsing, they linger. Where perception is neutral, they move on. Every session is different — because every body, in every moment, is different.
Length varies. Forty-five to sixty minutes is typical. The Japanese tradition imposes no rigid timer — a session lasts as long as the energy flows and Byōsen indicates. Sometimes thirty minutes are enough. Sometimes more is needed.
What the receiver experiences 体験
Experiences during a Reiki session are as varied as the people who receive one. There is no "right" and no "wrong." Some feel warmth — sometimes intense, sometimes subtle. Others feel tingling, heaviness, or a sense of spaciousness. Some see colours behind closed eyes. Some fall asleep — which the Japanese tradition reads as a good sign, because it points to deep letting-go.
What matters: a Reiki session is not a passive experience. Even though the receiver "only" lies there, active work is happening in their energy body. The energy goes where it is needed — not where the mind expects it. Which also means: the experience does not have to be spectacular to be effective. Sometimes the deepest thing that happens is a silence you didn't know existed.
Reiki is not a medical procedure. It does not replace a doctor's visit and offers no diagnosis. What Reiki offers is a space — a space where the body comes to rest and where energy can flow. What happens inside that space is different for each person and cannot be predicted or guaranteed. Individual experiences vary.
The completion 終了
At the end, the practitioner slowly lifts the hands away from the body. In the Japanese tradition a second Kenyoku follows — this time to not carry the receiver's energy along. Then Gasshō — gratitude for the session, for the receiver, for the energy.
The receiver needs a moment to come back. Like after deep meditation or an intense dream. A glass of water. A few quiet breaths. Not a leap back into everyday life, but a gentle crossing.
In Shingon Reiki, no interpretation follows the session. The practitioner does not announce what they "saw" or "felt" — unless the receiver asks. The experience belongs to the receiver. The practitioner has done their service. The rest happens in silence.
The difference from Western practice 違い
In Western Reiki a session is often a service: you go, you lie down, you receive Reiki, you leave. In the Japanese tradition it is a ritual — with purification, alignment, completion. The difference is not technical. It is in the stance.
In Shingon Reiki, every session is an act of connection — between practitioner and receiver, between both of them and the Reiki energy, between the practice and the 1200-year-old lineage in which it is rooted. That does not make the session more complicated. It makes it deeper.
Experience Shingon Reiki
A Reiki session in the Japanese tradition begins with purification and ends in silence. What lies between is a space you have to experience yourself.
Your Path in Shingon Reiki Japanese Reiki Techniques