Reiki or meditation: do you do it yourself, or let someone hold it for you?
By Vanessa Chugani · Updated August 2026
Choose meditation if you want a skill you build yourself, on your own time, for free. Choose Reiki if what you need right now is to stop doing and be looked after for an hour, with someone else holding the space so you don't have to do anything at all.
Meditation and Reiki both help with a mind or body that will not settle, but they ask something different of you. Meditation is something you do: you sit, you direct your own attention, and the skill builds slowly with practice, on your own, usually for free. A Reiki session is something that happens to you while someone else holds the space. You lie down, you do not have to focus on anything, and for an hour nothing is asked of you at all. The real choice is not which one works. It's whether you want to be the one doing the work, or whether what you need right now is to be held while someone else does.
| Reiki | A meditation practice | |
|---|---|---|
| What actually happens | You lie down while she works with you, hands resting lightly or just above you, and you don't have to do anything. | You sit by yourself, or in a class, and direct your own attention: breath, a mantra, or simply noticing. |
| Who does the work | She holds the space. You can arrive completely wiped out and it still works, because nothing is asked of you. | You do. It only works if you keep showing up and keep bringing your attention back, session after session. |
| On a day you have nothing left | Still works. You don't need focus, willpower or a clear head to receive it. | Harder. A racing, exhausted mind has less to work with, and sitting still can feel like more effort, not less. |
| Building a daily habit | Sessions are occasional, not something you do yourself every day at home. | Built for daily practice, on your own schedule, for free, once you know how. |
| What you take away | An hour of rest for the nervous system, and the choice to come back when you need it again. | A skill that travels with you: something to reach for at your desk, on a flight, before you sleep. |
| What it costs | One to one in Canggu is EUR 188, or EUR 138 by distance session. | Depends on where you learn it. We don't know what any teacher or app charges, so we won't guess a figure. |
Which one suits you
Meditation suits someone who wants a skill of their own: a habit they can build at home, for free, and use anywhere, at a desk before a hard meeting or lying awake at 3am when no one else is around. If you're disciplined, want something you control from the first session, or you're on a budget and want a daily practice rather than an occasional appointment, start there. It also keeps working long after you've learned it, without booking anything. Reiki suits a different moment: when you are too tired, too wired or too overwhelmed to do anything yourself, including sit still and focus. You don't build a skill in the session. You lie down, and for an hour someone else holds the space while your nervous system gets a rest it hasn't had in a while. That's what it's for.
Related questions
Can I do both?
Yes. Many people meditate on their own and come in for a Reiki session when they need more than they can give themselves that week. They're not competing: one is a daily practice you build, the other is an hour where you don't have to do anything.
Is a Reiki session a replacement for learning to meditate?
No, they're different things. A Reiki session doesn't teach you a skill to take home: it's rest for an hour with someone else holding the space. If you want a practice you can do yourself, meditation is the one to learn.
Which is better for anxiety at 3am?
Whichever one you can actually reach. Meditation you can do alone in bed, right then, for free. A Reiki session needs booking in advance, so for the middle of the night, a meditation practice you already know how to do is the more useful one to have.