Reiki and the Practice of Witnessing
As a new Reiki practitioner, I would often feel drained. After saying farewell to my client, I would realize I had a splitting headache, aching limbs, or that my mood was down or anxious. In short, offering Reiki to others often felt like “work.”
At the time, I was under the impression that it was my responsibility to cure my client’s woes. No wonder my shoulders were so tense! I was unwittingly absorbing their pain as my own.
Those days of being a martyr are done. The way I approach Reiki healing sessions now, around a decade later, feels like pure, unencumbered joy. In energetically working with thousands of souls, I have been guided by the Universe to correct my error-filled ways. I see now.
What I have learned is the art of Witnessing.
Witnessing is a way of honoring the sovereignty of the soul.
When I meet with someone who’s suffering, my only mission is to witness their soul. (I have no attachment to any “results” or how the Reiki energy will affect the person.)
By maintaining a focus on pure Witnessing, I am freed from strain, stress, and pressure. My client feels safe, warm, and loved.
In the following paragraphs, I’ll share with you two simple, yet powerful Witnessing techniques that you can use in your professional Reiki practice, spiritual counseling, or any holistic healing modality.
Witness All Facets in the Present Moment
Everything begins with the eyes. When you meet someone, support them by gazing into their eyes as much as possible.
Stop talking so much. Stop thinking about your own life. Stop over-glorifying your own knowledge. Instead, turn your vision toward them. Make them your whole entire world for this moment.
Yes, help them to feel truly seen.
No matter how wise you think you are, your primary objective in this sacred space is not to dispense your wisdom. No. That’s not the point of limitless Reiki. Rather, utilize the precious space to convey to this beautiful soul that they themselves are wise, that they themselves are divine.
It is good, also, to slow down. Share a cup of tea with slow, graceful gestures. Speak mindfully, taking many breaths. When you walk from room to room, go with them as if on a leisurely beach: no clocks, no calendars. Invite all bodily processes of movement to be conducted with a feeling of eternity. Indeed, the purpose of this healing space is to counteract the fact that most of us live in a blurry world where social interactions tend to be rushed. Allow this space to feel refreshing. Allow the person to feel that forever is finally here.
Yes, the purpose of a Reiki session is for your soul to meet their soul. Through the gaze of the eyes and the openness of the ears, meet them. Listen to what they say, as well as to what they don’t say. Listen for the way their shyness or their fears express. Listen for how their body moves, how they carry themselves. Listen for all the clues: all the ways their unique personality manifests in this particular moment in time, ranging from their choice of dress, haircut, to the kind of car they’re driving.
Let yourself feel and experience the totality of them without judgment.
As I observe my client during a session, I am wordlessly radiating unconditional love and acceptance. I am honoring them as a unique incarnation. In my heart, I’m bowing to them. Although their conscious mind may have no idea about what I’m sharing, their soul is fully aware. Thus, there is a deep release for them, a letting go.
Visualize Perfect Health and Radiance
When someone comes to me for a healing session, my intention is to view them in all of their Divinity.
I look into their eyes and watch for glimpses of beauty, purity, strength, light, and perfection.
When I look in this way, when I Witness in this way, the person no longer has any woes. My client is, in fact, already healed!
When my client voices their struggles and heartaches, I am a safe space of non-judgment. I will listen. Yet, in my heart, I am not swept away by their stories. I will empathize with them, I will offer words of compassion — and yet, in the deepest part of me, I see something more.
When my client is laying on the Reiki table, receiving the flow of healing energy, I am visualizing them as already whole and healthy. Nothing needs to be done; nothing needs to change. They already are perfect, just as they are.
As you draw or imagine the Reiki symbols, breathe into the knowing that your client is already healed.
The symbol is simply a celebration, a recognition of what already is.
Visualize their body as brilliantly radiating with golden light. Visualize them as happy, smiling, energized, joyful, blissful, free. Visualize abundance for them: a circle of supportive friends, a refrigerator full of nourishing food, plenty of money in the bank. Visualize wisdom flowing to them. Visualize them skipping through a sunlit field or doing cartwheels on a blue beach. Visualize them laughing with pure joy. Gaze at their face and notice the intricate beauty of God’s love shining through every strand of hair. Worship them as the angel that they are.
Saying Yes to Love
To practice Reiki is to bask in another’s divinity. In so doing, we remind ourselves of our own divinity. We are, truly, all in this together. Waking up is a group project.
People may come to healers thinking that they are broken — but, hopefully, they will soon enough remember that they are perfectly whole, perfectly perfect.
What we healers do is simple, really. We open our hearts. The radiance flows out, effortlessly, shining light into the darkness. In this way, we can view the trials of dis-ease as the ultimate gift— because it prompts us all to go deeper, to find a better way.
Reiki is a moment of connection, a moment of remembrance. We release our grip on outdated ways of understanding. We say Yes and open ourselves to something infinite, something radiant and always. We open our hearts as the Loving Witness. This, my friends, is the effortless cure to all that ails us.
