The Reiki Cafe 

....that is my question.

Sometimes when giving a treatment I am compelled to take my hands off the body and hold my hands an inch or two away from the receiver. When I do this I always feel a surge of energy.
I've known practitioners to only use the hands-off technique, especially with people they've just met. But I'd like to hear thoughts and feedback on why, during a regular hands-on session, I would be directed to send energy this way?
Thanks in advance for your input!
Blessings,
Hanhepi Wi Winyan

coyotesong,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- compelled??

- classic Reiki is hands-on

- yet, there are times when working off the body an inch or two is very useful as well

- but, since it is a rather separate practice from hands-on Reiki with added implications I always get permission first before working off the body

- in general, though, I will not substitute hands-on with hands-off (if nothing else, this begins to approximate distance Reiki - I prefer hands-on reiki 98.77% of the time)

>:-}}

- so, in the context you present I would say - no worries

- I try to remember that when I practice Reiki for myself it is hands-on - so why would I want less than that for someone else (whenever possible)??

>:-}}

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Doing Reiki off body/in the energy field can coorect imbalances and heal things before they manifest within the body.

I always start by working within the energy field and then do a hands on treatment.

blackearth

honorable firekeeper---
Yes, compelled.
Your particularity towards semantics leads me to believe that:
A. You are an English professor, or
B. English is your second language. (insert little winky face here)

Am I close??

Yes, I too prefer hands-on. Can you elaborate about when it is preferable to work "off-body"? And also, if you will forgive the inquisition, what do you mean by added implications?

Namaste,
coyotesong

coyotesong,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- Quel amrun! Saesa omentien lle. Sut naa lle umien sina re?

- Lle quena i'lambe tel' Eldalie?

- Well, if not I will do my best in English

bagl

- why work off the body? There may be presences in the more subtle bodies that might respond to energy directed there rather than the dense body

- one may feel these or get clues from the person with whom one is doing reiki

- added implications?? Remember, intentionally poking around in someone elses subtle bodies, even with his\her permission, can leave us open to picking up some stuff we'd rather not have - and we might possibly share some of our stuff that others might not want or potentiate energy activity the person is not expecting (any of these scenarios being potential 'harm' issues)

- can this happen even during a hands-on only session? Sure. This is why permission, intention, and mindfulness are so crucial to Reiki practices. But I would say the liklihood is much lower for straight forward, hands-on only Reiki.

- hope this helps

- oh yes, my sparse bio says I am employed in a rehabilitation hospital (and not one for those whose broken English needs rehabbing)- bagl

- though the bio might be amended to read: "reitred! but too dumb to clean out his desk"

bagl

- take care,

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

Aaye!!!
Verdui', Firekeeper!!
Saesa omentien lle, as well!

Et merci beaucoup aussi, pour le bon conseil.

Okay, so if you will allow me to pick your brain even further---
This person I was working on carries much negative energy. In fact I have seen his chakra colors as dim, dirty, and rimmed with black.
Do you think this has anything to do with why I wanted to move my hands away? Is it perhaps my own intuition guiding me to back away?
The energy ran fierce when my hands were about two inches off, and slowed when I put my hands back on.

I bow to your good wisdom!

Aa' i'sul nora lanne'lle---
Hanhepi Wi Winyan

Just a thought but while reiki is handon maybe you are being lead at times to be hands off due to one of two things;

first maybe the hands off is needed because what you are sencing has not manifested in the physical and there for it is more responsive to hands off.

Second is that maybe the persons highest self is ready for the issue to be healed and worked on but the lower selves are not in that same line so hand off may allow the area to receive some but not all ..

One thing I have discovered in reiki is that what a person does not want to be healed will not be...so that has always made me wonder well what about the higher self and lower self you know that subconscious part of us that know and sometimes we wish our conscious selfves were only more intune with that part of ourselves..

Just a thought?
Stephanie

coyotesong,

/*\ Namaste :-}}

- Bitte Sehr!! Ta nae amin saesa.

- So, wie geht es ihnen, heute morgen??

>:-}}

- yes, sometimes one feels the need to take the hands off and work with the subtle bodies - this may be strictly therapeutic intent or might also amount to a sort of safey response as you suggest

- and sometimes one simply has to take the hands away all together to be sure one is not getting polluted oneself

>:-}}

- the energy rush you suggest when your hands were off the body could well reflect the person's attempts (whether aware of it or not) to clear out negativity - which sometimes ends up only that it is moved around in the energy bodies and not cleared out (I have heard several people comment, after practices in shamanic extraction work, that the target of the extraction was moved but the first attempt at extraction was not successful)

- increased energy activity in the subtle bodies can also be detected during work that is specifically intended for clearing of the energy bodies - I have found it instructive that at the beginning of clearing work with some folks that the subtle bodies are quiesscent yet become much more active as the work opens opportunities for the person to evacuate stuff he\she does not want

- hope this helps

DaHjajaj QaQ Daghajjaj!

>:-}}

Reiki All Around,

All Blessings,

Firekeeper

All the above, and then some.
I've heard of the subtle bodies that we all have, i.e.: emotional astral, etc., Maybe your being directed intiutivly to give a reiki blast to these bodies?
Also I remember reading a book by a healer who recieved his healing abilities from birth, :not reiki, but spiritual I think, anyway he said that he was giving a healing to a man who showed strong appearance of distress, sweating, paleness, etc., He asked his spiritual helpers what was going on, beacause I think he was distressed by the outcome, the answer was that the energy he was'giving' was to-strong, he then asked that the energy was less strong and so the healing went a bit smoother and better since the healee was less distressed.
Maybe it's something similiar?
Hands off when it's discerned that the energy be less strong, less gung ho, and more subtle?
myself I have trouble touching others, them touching me I'm better at but when laying on hands on others I'm very flinchy.
The black borders and shading I feel are barriers of protection, give them love and light, It's best to treat them with compassion rather than something to get rid off, their colour will change appropiately when they know no harm but love is meant. Or so goes my thinking.
best of luck.

Dear Jaquar,
I like your perspective of giving the black borders love and light.
thanks for your imput. Most helpful.
peace,
prosperity