Do I need to undress for a Reiki session?

No. You stay fully clothed throughout, with your shoes off, lying on a treatment table or seated if that suits you better. Hand positions rest on or above clothing, never on bare skin, so there is nothing to prepare beyond wearing something comfortable to lie down in.

Does she touch me for the whole session?

Hands rest in each position for a few minutes before moving to the next. The sequence runs from the head down to the feet, and you turn over partway through if that suits you. It follows a set order each time, adjusted around what your body needs on the day.

What happens to the hand positions in a distance session?

There is no physical contact, since there is no body in the room to touch. The same order still shapes a distance session in principle, and she holds that sequence in mind throughout the hour, without anything ever placed on you directly. It counts the same as an in-person session toward a package.

How are hand positions used in a full Reiki treatment session?

A full Reiki session follows a set sequence of hand positions that moves down the body, from the head to the feet. It is the same sequence taught within Usui Shiki Ryoho, the lineage she trained in, and each position is held for a few minutes before she moves to the next. A full session runs about an hour.

The sequence, from head to feet

She usually starts at the head, with hands resting near the eyes, the temples and the base of the skull. From there the sequence moves down the front of the body: the throat, the chest, the stomach. If it suits you, you turn over partway through and she continues across the shoulders and the lower back, then finishes near the knees and feet. Most positions are direct, light contact. A few, especially close to the eyes or over a tender spot, are held just above the body instead. The same sequence is what she teaches step by step in Level 1 training, so anyone who has had a session already knows the shape of what comes next in a class.

What it feels like lying there

You stay fully clothed, shoes off, lying on a treatment table, or seated if lying down does not suit you. Many people notice warmth where the hands rest. Some feel a light tingling. Some feel nothing distinct beyond an hour of being properly still, and that is just as normal. This is not massage: there is no pressure and no working of the tissue, and it does not diagnose or treat any medical condition. If what is bothering you is a specific injury or a mechanical problem, a massage therapist is often the better first call, and the difference between the two is worth reading if you are deciding between them.

Adjusting the sequence for you

The order above is a starting point, not a script fixed in place. A sore shoulder gets more time. A position that presses on the stomach is dropped from pregnancy sessions, which she adapts by trimester and usually works with you side-lying rather than flat on your back. If any position is not comfortable, tell her and it changes.

Distance sessions and packages

A distance session covers the same ground without a hand ever touching you, since there is no body in the room to work on. What that involves, and why the format still holds up as a full session, is covered in what distance healing actually is. Both formats count toward the three and five session packages, so a package can mix in-person and distance if that fits your week better. A 2025 review of eleven randomised trials found that sessions of an hour or more, repeated eight times or more, produced the largest gains in quality of life. That is the case for choosing a five session package over a single visit, if one session leaves you wanting more of what it does.