Reiki, without the mystique

You lie down, fully clothed, and I rest my hands lightly on or near you in a series of positions while you rest. I stay quiet once we start. Nothing is asked of you: no story to tell, nothing to solve. Distance sessions follow the same shape without me in the room, at a time we agree on.

A Reiki session isn't timed to the minute: it runs as long as it takes for you to settle and for the work to close, whether in person in Canggu or by distance. How many you need varies by person, not a formula. Options range from a single session to a three or five session package, valid either way.

No, you keep your clothes on for a Reiki session in Canggu. You lie fully dressed on a treatment table while the practitioner's hands rest lightly on or just above your body. There is no massage oil and no undressing involved. Wear something loose and comfortable, and you are ready.

Traditional Reiki uses light touch on the shoulders, head and feet, or hands held just above the body without contact. Both work the same way. You can ask for hands-off at any point, before or during a session, no explanation needed. Distance sessions (EUR 138) are also available if you would rather not be in the room at all.

Feeling nothing is common and it does not mean the session failed. Some people feel warmth, tingling or a heavy calm. Others feel nothing at all and still leave more rested than when they arrived. Both are normal. What matters is the hour of rest, not a particular sensation.

Yes. Distance sessions are a full session, not a shortened version: you settle somewhere quiet at an agreed time while Vanessa works from wherever she is. Many people find it just as restful as being in the room. A distance session costs EUR 138, and three and five session packages work for either format.

Reiki during pregnancy involves no manipulation, pressure or oils: hands rest lightly on or near the body, fully clothed. Sessions are adapted for each trimester, including how you are positioned. It offers rest, not medical treatment, and works alongside your prenatal care rather than replacing it. Available in Canggu or by distance.

Yes. Vanessa offers Reiki throughout pregnancy, including the first trimester, and adapts each session to that stage. It is rest and support, not a medical treatment, so it sits alongside your midwife or doctor's care rather than replacing it. In-person sessions in Canggu are EUR 188, distance sessions EUR 138.

Ask who trained them, where, and in which lineage, and confirm the attunement is given live rather than through a recording or automated download. Notice whether they call the chakra system ancient (it isn't) or promise that Reiki cures anything (it doesn't). Someone specific about their own training and honest about the limits is worth trusting.

A legitimate Reiki certification comes from a traceable lineage such as Usui Shiki Ryoho, is taught live by a real teacher in person or online (never a recording or automated attunement), keeps groups small, and includes a manual, the attunement itself and support afterwards. A teacher who won't explain it in scientific terms is usually the more honest one.

Yes, when a teacher guides it live. What makes an attunement real is a teacher present with you in real time, not the distance between you. Vanessa teaches Reiki Levels 1 through Master Teacher live online, never from a recording and never automated, at the same price and standard as training in Canggu.

Reiki course prices vary because of what is actually included: how many people are in the group, whether the teaching and attunement happen live or through a recording, and whether a manual and support afterwards come with it. A higher or lower number does not by itself tell you which of those you are getting.

There is no set timetable. Training runs from Level 1 through to Master Teacher, each level EUR 488, taught live in Canggu or online in groups of six or fewer. You move to the next level when you are ready, since classes are arranged around each student rather than run to a fixed calendar.

Yes. Usui Shiki Ryoho runs in order: Level 1 comes first and Level 2 builds directly on it. Training here is taught live, in Canggu or online, in groups of six or fewer, often one to one, with no fixed calendar. Each level is EUR 488 and includes the manual, the attunement and support afterwards.

Yes. Master Teacher is the level built for that: it's the final step in my training path and includes what you need to attune and teach your own students. It costs EUR 488, the same as every level, taught live in Canggu or live online, never as a recording.

Yes. Most people who train with Vanessa never take on a client. Level 1 teaches you to work on yourself, and often on family, whenever you need it, before sleep, after a hard day, through a difficult stretch. The training holds up on its own, as a skill for your own life, not only as the start of a practice.

A Reiki attunement is the short, guided process a teacher leads at each level of training, traditionally described as opening a student's connection to Reiki so they can work with it themselves. Vanessa gives every attunement live, in person or online, never recorded. Feeling nothing during it is normal.

No. A session works the same way whether you believe in it or not, because it works with the nervous system rather than with conviction. Sceptics who simply lie down for the hour report the same things regulars do: easier sleep, less tension. Curiosity is enough; belief is not required.

Reiki is not a religion. It has no doctrine, no worship and nothing you need to believe for it to work. It comes from a Japanese lineage, Usui Shiki Ryoho, but a session asks nothing of your faith. People from every religion, and none, receive Reiki without conflict.

Usui Shiki Ryoho is the lineage of Reiki passed from Mikao Usui to Chujiro Hayashi to Hawayo Takata, the form she brought west. It differs from other versions you might meet: no crystals, no claimed mechanism, and the chakra system is taught as a useful twentieth-century framework rather than an ancient one.

Yes. Once you're attuned through Level 1 training, self-practice is one of the things Usui Shiki Ryoho teaches: resting your own hands on your body to give yourself the same rest and support you'd offer someone else. Most students use it for stress, poor sleep or a mind that will not settle.

There is no fixed rule. People training to give Reiki to themselves often settle into a short daily habit once qualified. People coming in for sessions tend to do better with more than one: a 2025 review of eleven trials found that sessions of an hour or longer, taken eight or more times, worked best for quality of life.

Most people do best with a quiet hour afterwards: water, a short buffer before anything demanding, no rush back into traffic or a screen. Some feel sleepy, some feel light and clear, both are normal. Effects can keep unfolding for a day or two, so notice sleep, appetite and mood rather than judging everything in the first ten minutes.

Yes. Most of the people I train are in their fifties and sixties, often arriving after a career or once children have grown. There is no age limit and no fitness requirement. Training runs in small groups of up to six, or one to one, in Canggu or live online, at a pace arranged around you.

"Reiki" is Japanese: "rei" is usually translated as universal, and "ki" means life energy, the concept behind chi and qi in other traditions. The word describes the system that reached the West through Hawayo Takata, who trained with Chujiro Hayashi, who trained with Mikao Usui in Tokyo in the 1920s.

Level 1 gives you the first attunement and self-treatment for yourself; Level 2 adds a second attunement plus the symbols and technique for working at a distance; Master Teacher gives the third attunement and the ability to attune others. Each level is EUR 488, taught live in Canggu or online, in groups of six or fewer.

In a full session, hands rest in a set sequence from the head to the feet, held a few minutes at each position, including the back if you turn over. Contact is light, sometimes just above the body near sensitive spots. Distance sessions follow the same sequence without touch. A full session runs about an hour.