What is Reiki?
Reiki is a simple Japanese energy healing system that anybody can learn — for their own wellbeing and to support others. It began in Japan over 100 years ago as a way to encourage self-healing, personal growth, and spiritual connection. By the time Reiki was taught in the West in the 1970s, the focus had shifted more towards using it as a hands-on healing treatment for others. Today, people often explore Reiki as a relaxing, complementary therapy—something you can use on its own or alongside other approaches like massage or reflexology.
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Why do people learn Reiki?
Here are a few possible reasons for learning Reiki:
To feel more peaceful and centred in a busy world,
Releasing emotional tension and lightening your load,
Supporting loved ones with Reiki energy,
Discovering a deeper sense of inner peace,
Reducing feelings of stress and overwhelm,
Learning a system which gives you a tool you can use in your everyday life,
Connecting more fully with your spiritual self,
As a pathway to strengthen intuitive abilities,
To offer professional treatments to the public, (requires a Reiki Second Degree qualification).
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How Do I Learn Reiki?
To learn Reiki, two things are needed: you receive an attunement (or empowerment) to connect with the energy, and you learn how to use that energy for your own wellbeing and to help others.
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When you're attuned (or empowered) at beginners level, known as Reiki at First Degree level, you’re actually not being introduced to anything new or foreign. The Reiki empowerment simply helps you become aware of a natural energy that’s always been within you—it’s like making a formal introduction to something that’s already part of who you are. While in theory someone might access this energy alone, in practice it’s the attunement that allows you to consciously work with Reiki, both for self-healing and to support others.
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It might surprise you to learn that Reiki empowerments can be given in person or at a distance—there’s no difference in effect, since the teacher is simply helping you recognise and connect with what’s already within you. Once you have been connected to the energy of Reiki, you’ll need guidance on how to use Reiki: how to meditate with the energy to strengthen your connection to it, how to give yourself a Reiki treatment, how to give treatments to others, and how to work with the energy intuitively.
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When choosing a Reiki teacher, what matters most is having someone who is committed, clear, and supportive—someone who ensures you’ve had enough practice and can answer your questions. Reiki is a beautifully simple and accessible system, and with the right guidance, anyone can learn to use it.
My Reiki First Degree Course
My Reiki First Degree courses combine the best of both worlds: a high-quality, pre-course home study element, requiring about 6 hours of study, and a focused, practical live training day with me in Chiswick, West London.
So, if you’re joining me either directly as one of my personal students, or through Taggart King at Reiki Evolution, you’ll be studying the same system and have access to the Reiki Evolution Support Facebook Group afterwrads. You'll begin by working through our multimedia study pack in your own time—this includes a comprehensive manual, multiple audio tracks, and plenty of guidance to help you build a strong foundation before we meet. Whatever your preferred learning style, the course materials will offer clear, no-nonsense information to help you become familiar with what we will be putting into practice on the live training day.
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When you come to the in-person course day, because all attendees will have a foundational understanding of what we will cover, we can focus fully on hands-on energy work, intuitive practice, and the magical experience of receiving empowerments, doing Reiki meditations, self treatments, and treating one another. My class sizes are very small—usually no more than four students—so you’ll have lots of individual attention, space to ask questions, and time to practise. This structure means you arrive confident and prepared, with the live day dedicated to connecting you to Reiki energy, experiencing what it feels like and using what you’ve learned, and helping you begin to use Reiki on yourself and others.
Giving a Reiki Treatment
When you practise Reiki, you're not diagnosing or trying to fix anything. Instead, you act as a channel for universal energy, which flows through you to the person you're treating. The energy is drawn according to what the client needs in that moment—you’re not controlling it, but creating a calm, supportive space where their own energy system can draw Reiki energy through you as needed, to help come back into balance.
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While there is skill involved in giving Reiki, it’s not about memorising techniques or applying book knowledge. As you grow in your practice, you learn to trust your intuition, which can come in many different forms, and you learn to pay attention to what your hands are sensing. Over time, your treatments become more fluid and responsive, guided by the energy itself. Reiki is about learning to work with the energy, not controlling it. That is how a Reiki practitioner develops their ability, through developing intuition rather than through applying knowledge.
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When you give a Reiki treatment, you’re not using your own personal energy or draining your reserves. Instead, you’re acting as a channel for universal energy, which flows through you to the recipient. Far from being tiring, the process is often uplifting and revitalising for the practitioner too—you receive the benefits of the energy as it flows.
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When you use Reiki for yourself—through self-treatments, energy meditations, or visualisations—you're able to do so because you've been “attuned” to the energy. This attunement creates a strong, reliable connection to the flow of Reiki. Many people who already practise energy-based disciplines like Tai Chi often find that, after learning Reiki, they experience the energy moving through their body more clearly and intensely. So, Reiki supports your own wellbeing just as much as it supports others during treatments.