Reiki or sound healing: which one suits you?
By Vanessa Chugani · Updated August 2026
Choose sound healing if you want a no-touch, often group experience. Choose Reiki if you want quiet, one to one attention and are comfortable with light touch, for stress, poor sleep, grief or a nervous system that will not settle. Many people use both, for different things, rather than picking permanently.
Reiki and sound healing often get filed under the same vague wellness label, but they work differently. Reiki is hands-on or near-body: a practitioner works with you individually, in a quiet room, moving slowly through a sequence while you lie still. Sound healing works through the ears and the body's response to vibration, usually with no touch at all, often with a room full of other people rather than one practitioner and one client. Reiki is not a treatment for any medical condition. The same goes for sound healing. Both are more honestly described as rest for a nervous system that has been running hot. The real choice comes down to touch, company and attention.
| Reiki | sound healing | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens | Vanessa places her hands lightly on or just above your body while you lie down, fully clothed, and stays quiet through the session. | A practitioner plays instruments such as gongs, singing bowls or tuning forks around the room while you lie down and listen. |
| Physical contact | Light hands-on or near-body contact, always through clothing and always with your consent. | None. You are not touched at all. |
| Usual setting | One to one, in a quiet room in Canggu, or from a distance. | Often a group sound bath with several people in the room, though one to one versions exist too. |
| What it works with | Rest for a nervous system that has been running hot: stress, exhaustion, grief, anxiety, a body that will not settle. | Sound and vibration moving through the room and the body, which many people also find settling. |
| Cost here | EUR 188 in person, EUR 138 by distance, three sessions EUR 388, five EUR 588. | Ask the practitioner directly. Prices vary, and Vanessa does not run sound healing sessions herself. |
| Best for | Someone who wants quiet, individual attention and is comfortable with light touch. | Someone who is touch-averse, or who would rather be part of a group than alone with a practitioner. |
Which one suits you
Sound healing is the better call if you do not want to be touched at all, even lightly through clothing, or if you would rather sit in a room with other people than be alone with a practitioner. A group sound bath gives you exactly that: no physical contact, company rather than solitude, and often a lower-commitment way to try this kind of work for the first time. It suits someone who is touch-averse, or who simply prefers not to be the only person in the room. Reiki suits someone ready for individual attention on something specific: stress that has settled into the shoulders and will not leave, sleep that will not come, grief that has nowhere else to go, a system that has been running on empty for too long. Vanessa works with exactly that, one to one, in Canggu or from a distance.
Related questions
Can I do both Reiki and sound healing?
Yes. Some people go to sound baths for the group experience and book Reiki separately for one to one attention on something specific. They work differently, one through touch and one through sound, and using one does not rule out the other. There is no reason to choose only one for good.
Is one more effective than the other?
Neither is proven to work in a clinical sense, and it would not be honest to say one definitely beats the other. What matters more is which setting you would actually show up for: alone with a practitioner, or in a group, with or without touch. Comfort with the format tends to matter more than the label.
Do I need to believe in energy work for either one to help?
No. Plenty of people arrive doubtful and still find the session worthwhile simply as forced stillness away from a phone. Reiki does not ask you to believe anything first, and a sound bath does not either. Both only ask that you lie down and let the session happen.