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.

Yes. Reiki during pregnancy is non-invasive: no manipulation, pressure or oils, and hands rest lightly on or near the body while you stay fully clothed. Sessions are adapted for each trimester. It is rest, not medical treatment, and it 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 for how often you should do Reiki. People training to give it 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, self-treatment for yourself and your first work with the Reiki symbols; Level 2 adds a second attunement, deeper work with the symbols and the 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.

Before a session I take a few quiet minutes to settle myself, wash my hands and clear my own mind so I can be fully present. The treatment room is kept quiet, warm and private, with the phone off. I talk the client through what to expect before we begin, so nothing feels unfamiliar.

Reiki suits most people at most times, including through pregnancy, grief and periods of high stress. It sits alongside medical care, not instead of it, so an acute injury or a new symptom needs a doctor first. Once that is in hand, a session works well with the tension and exhaustion that often surrounds it.

A Reiki circle usually means several people in one room with practitioners dividing attention between them, so it is more communal and each person gets less individual time. A private session is one person, one practitioner, the whole hour. In Canggu, Vanessa's practice offers private sessions and small-group training, not open circles.

No. Reiki training and sessions are open to anyone; men take up both. There's no rule in Usui Shiki Ryoho limiting it to women, and the lineage itself passed through men and women. In Canggu more women tend to walk through the door, but that's about who tends to seek this out, not who's welcome.

Yes, completely. Reiki suits some people and not others, and there is no way to know which you are until you try it. Book one session before anything else. If it helps, you can build from there. If it does not, you have lost an hour, not a commitment, and you are still welcome to ask questions.

Consistency comes from making self-practice small and physical, not from waiting for a free hour. Anchor it to something you already do daily, like brushing your teeth, and start with a few minutes wherever you like. Training at Playground Soul includes support after, so if it stalls, get in touch.

Yes, for one level. Training has no fixed calendar: Vanessa arranges dates around each student, taught live in Canggu or live online, never a recording. A single level often fits inside a trip. If you want several levels or Master Teacher, plan for more time, or start in Canggu and continue online once you're home.

A Level 1 day has no fixed clock: it moves through the history behind Usui Shiki Ryoho, the hand positions, your attunement, and time practising on each other, usually across a full day in Canggu or live online. Groups stay small, often one to one, and dates are set around you rather than a calendar.

Not much. Bring comfortable, loose clothing you can sit or lie still in, a water bottle, a notebook, and an open mind. Vanessa provides the manual, the attunement, and support afterwards. Training runs in small groups of six or fewer, often one to one, in Canggu or live online, so dates and pace are arranged around you.

You lie fully clothed on a treatment table while I place my hands gently on or just above your body, avoiding the abdomen in the first trimester and adapting positions so you are comfortable throughout. Sessions run about an hour and focus on the areas where tension tends to gather: the shoulders, back, hips and feet.

No. There is no scientific evidence that Reiki symbols work in the way the tradition describes. What attunement does is give you a framework and permission to practise. Whether the symbols carry any independent effect is unknown, and any teacher who tells you otherwise is overstating what is actually known.

Yes, in general Reiki is often practised with animals, though usually hands-off and a few inches from the body, so the animal can choose to come closer or step away. It is not a treatment for illness. Playground Soul's training teaches the same hand positions students can then apply to animals in their own lives.

There's no fixed number. One session is enough to feel what Reiki does. Most people who want more choose the three-session package (EUR 388) for something they're actively working through, or the five-session package (EUR 588) for longer support. A 2025 review of eleven trials found the biggest improvements in quality of life came from eight or more sessions.

Yes, for the nervous system: a 2022 review of fourteen trials rated the evidence high for stress and depression and moderate to high for anxiety, in people who were genuinely struggling, not people who were already fine. It will not diagnose or treat a medical condition, but real change shows up: calmer, sleeping better, less wound up.