Our readers comment on 'sending' Reiki to a list

Last week, frequent contributor Beth Lowell asked about 'sending' Reiki to a list, and quite a few readers responded.

Jeremy wrote:

I have come to realize that it is your intention from the heart that will help guide and facilitate Reiki. When you pray, you may pray for a situation, person, animal, etc, and you blindly trust it. Reiki is no different.

Thanks, Jeremy.

John wrote:

I think part of the confusion involves the concept of "sending" Reiki as opposed to "offering" it. The word "sending" implies that we can actively influence where Reiki goes and what it does when it gets there. That, of course, is counter to the basic tenet of Reiki which is to simply allow it to flow and trust that it will serve the highest good.

Many healers, not just Reiki practitioners, are under the misguided impression that they can in fact heal another. If that were true, we could simply go around "zapping" beings with Reiki and causing them to heal. The reality is that we can offer healing and perhaps facilitate healing, but it cannot happen without the consent of the recipient.

We are not responsible for the healing (or lack thereof) of anyone else. Even if we could assume that responsibility, I don't know that any sane person would want to! The only being over which we have any control is our own.

If we offer healing and healing happens, we can be joyful for that, but we can't take credit or responsibility for it. The universe (or Reiki, if you prefer) brought us together with the recipient at a time when the recipient was ready for the healing we could offer.

By the same token, the universe brings us together with those who don't heal because they're not ready for it. We learn from these that it's not our fault or responsibility that they don't heal. I think of it as Reiki's way of keeping us humble. :-)

The point is that the only thing we can do is to offer Reiki and trust it. We're taught from the beginning that Reiki always heals on some level and not to expect physical healing in all cases. I think it takes most of us a long time to fully accept that because we really want to be agents of healing which is why we got involved with Reiki in the first place.

Thanks, John.

And Beth responded:

Trust and intent are fine, but no one really talks about personal practice. I think Reiki is more than stating an intention trusting that Reiki will do the job. To do a distant treatment, I think, one needs to establish a meaningful connection with the recipient. I think it takes a lot of practice to be able to do a distant treatment, and to encourage newbies to just set their intent and let Reiki figure out the list is kind of negligent.

Of course people want to good. Many of them are so anxious to do good that they can hardly wait to receive that coveted level 2 attunement. Often, they’re told the attunement is not what matters; rather it is the intent that counts. So why not go ahead and send Reiki anyway?

Well I agree that attunements are not what matter because I daresay that many people who receive the level 2 attunement really can’t do an effective distant treatment despite their best intentions. They have simply not had the experience of enough practice. I can safely say that I was one of those people.

I understand the importance of language when talking about Reiki. I know we really don’t “send” anything, however I chose that language specifically because it’s the lingo of the group. People ask other practitioners to send Reiki, and when the practitioners have done so, they acknowledge that Reiki has been sent. But lets change the language. Assuming we know it’s an offering, let’s say we are going to do a distant treatment.

When I offer to do a distant treatment for someone, I need to establish that connection. I know that for myself it’s not possible to make a connection with someone who remains a nameless, faceless entity on some Internet list. In fact, I no longer offer distant treatments for those I do not know. I don’t think we can just set an intention and let Reiki do all the work. I think personal practice is what counts, only part of which is setting an intention.

It’s for these reasons that I don’t think I’ll ever send Reiki to, offer Reiki to or do a distant Reiki treatment for a “list.”

Thanks, Beth, and thanks for the question that started the discussion.

An anonymous reader wrote:

I have a pine needle basket that I have made and imbued with Reiki. I put
all the people and circumstances that I want to send Reiki to and hold the
basket in my hands and send Reiki to everyone at once.

Thanks, anonymous.

And Kelley Brown wrote:

Hi Beth:

Several month's ago I joined an online Reiki group. I became overwhelmed by the number of requests for Reiki and started experimenting with different ways of sending it to multiple people. Most of the time I do not know who these people are and often don't even know what they are needing the Reiki for. I started writing their names down on a list and putting my hands over the names and asking the Reiki to go to these people where it was needed. I feel that it works and have gotten feedback from the people I know who's names I have put on the list and it has been positive.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Kelley.

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