What does a Reiki session feel like? Do you feel warmth? Is it normal to fall asleep? Can you cry during a Reiki session? And what happens afterwards?
These are common questions, especially before receiving Reiki for the first time.
After more than twenty-five years of practising Reiki and around 8,000 individual sessions, my first answer would be that everyone experiences something different.
Even the same person may experience each session differently.
Some people feel warmth, cold, tingling or a deep sense of heaviness. Others feel as though their body has become extraordinarily light. Some become emotional or cry. Many fall asleep. Others remain awake throughout the session, in a state of deep calm.
And, although less common, some people feel very little at all.
None of these experiences, by itself, determines whether a session has been better or worse.
During a Reiki session, the person remains fully clothed, usually lying comfortably on a treatment table. There is no need to do anything special, concentrate, control the breath or try to empty the mind.
The practitioner gently places their hands on different areas of the body or, in certain positions, holds them slightly above it.
Little by little, the body usually begins to relax.
Breathing may become slower and deeper. Mental activity begins to settle. Our perception of time can change and, quite often, we enter that curious territory somewhere between being awake and asleep.
From there, experiences can be very different.
One of the sensations people mention most frequently is warmth.
Sometimes it is simply the warmth of the practitioner’s hands. At other times, however, the sensation feels more intense or appears in a different part of the body from where the practitioner’s hands are placed.
Cold or a feeling of coolness can also be experienced.
Tingling, subtle pulsations, spontaneous muscular movements, changes in breathing or the need to take a deep sigh are also quite common.
Some people feel certain parts of their body becoming particularly heavy. Others describe exactly the opposite: an extraordinary sense of lightness, as though the body occupied less space or its boundaries had become less defined.
Sometimes even the clear perception of where the arms or legs are seems to disappear.
None of this needs to happen.
Physical sensations may be intense, very subtle or almost nonexistent.
Yes. Very much so.
I have not kept a statistical record of my sessions, so what follows should not be interpreted as the result of a scientific study. It is simply an estimate based on my professional experience.
After approximately 8,000 Reiki sessions, I would say that around seven out of ten people fall asleep at some point during the session.
It is not always a deep sleep.
Many people drift in and out of sleep and, when the session ends, tell me:
“I don’t know whether I fell asleep.”
It is something I hear very often.
There seems to be an intermediate space in which the body is deeply relaxed while some awareness of what is happening around us remains. We hear certain sounds, occasionally perceive the presence of the practitioner’s hands and, at the same time, images, disconnected thoughts or fragments of dreams begin to appear.
Other people simply fall deeply asleep. That is perfectly fine.
There is no need to remain awake during a Reiki session or to pay attention to the practitioner’s hands.
Emotions can also arise.
In my experience, approximately one in ten people cries or visibly expresses some kind of emotion during a session.
Again, this is simply a personal estimate based on my professional practice, not a scientific statistic.
Sometimes the person knows exactly why they are crying.
A memory may arise, a concern, a loss, a person or a particular situation. At other times there may be tenderness, gratitude or a feeling of relief that is difficult to explain.
And sometimes tears simply come. Without a thought. Without a memory. Without any obvious reason.
I don’t believe that every emotion arising during a session needs to be interpreted or necessarily given an energetic meaning.
We spend much of our lives doing things, thinking, solving problems and responding to stimuli. Remaining in silence for an hour, with our eyes closed, feeling cared for and with absolutely nothing to do creates conditions that are unusual in everyday life.
Sometimes, when everything becomes quiet, emotions find space.
During deep relaxation, images, memories or sensations that are difficult to classify may also arise.
Some people see colours or shapes. Others remember places or moments from childhood. Sometimes a particular person spontaneously comes to mind.
It can also happen that something we have been thinking about for days suddenly seems to arrange itself differently.
Not necessarily because we find an answer.
Sometimes we simply stop asking the question.
These experiences can be meaningful to the person having them, but I don’t believe they necessarily need to be interpreted. The mind continuously produces memories, images and associations. In silence, we may simply become more aware of some of them.
Yes.
Although not everyone understands Reiki from a spiritual perspective.
For some people, a session is primarily an experience of relaxation and wellbeing. For others, Reiki is also part of an inner or spiritual path.
Over the years, some people have described experiences of profound unity, expansion, gratitude, silence or presence. Occasionally, they speak of a sense of peace that is difficult to put into words.
These are deeply personal experiences.
I believe the most respectful thing we can do is receive them without trying to appropriate them through an explanation.
We do not need to turn every sensation into a symbol or every experience into a message.
Nor do I believe that an intense spiritual experience means that a session has been deeper or more meaningful.
Sometimes something extraordinary happens.
At other times, the extraordinary thing is simply to be at peace.
That is perfectly fine too.
In my experience, however, it is not particularly common.
Of the approximately 8,000 sessions I have given, I would estimate that no more than five people out of every hundred finish a session saying they felt absolutely nothing.
This does not mean that 95% of people “feel Reiki energy”. My observations do not allow me to draw that conclusion.
It simply means that the vast majority describe some perceptible experience during the session: warmth, cold, tingling, relaxation, sleep, changes in body perception, emotions, images or simply a profound sense of calm.
But there is no need to pursue any of these sensations.
You don’t have to feel warmth.
You don’t have to see colours.
You don’t have to become emotional.
You don’t have to fall asleep.
And you don’t have to try to feel Reiki.
In fact, during a session, there is nothing you need to do.
At the end of a session, we always allow a few moments to come back gradually.
After lying down in a state of deep relaxation for some time, getting up immediately can feel strange.
Many people describe calm, lightness and mental clarity.
The body may feel rested, movements slightly slower and breathing peaceful.
Some people feel sleepy.
Others experience exactly the opposite: they feel rested, clear-headed and more energetic.
There is one very simple phrase I have heard countless times at the end of a session:
“I feel so calm.”
Perhaps this is also one of the best ways to describe the immediate experience after a Reiki session.
Not everything surrounding a session necessarily ends when we get up from the treatment table.
Some people sleep particularly well that night. Others continue to experience an unusual sense of calm for the rest of the day or even for the following few days.
Occasionally, people tell me that a situation that would normally have triggered a strong reaction is still there, but they experience it with a little more distance.
A certain emotional sensitivity may also remain.
After a session in which deeper emotions have arisen, some people feel the need to rest, go for a walk, spend some quiet time or simply have a little space for themselves.
There is no universal response.
Nor do I think it is helpful to automatically attribute everything that happens afterwards to Reiki.
Sometimes we have a headache simply because we have a headache. We may be tired because we haven’t slept enough. We can have a bad day after receiving Reiki.
In some complementary therapy circles, the term “healing crisis” is used to explain almost any discomfort that appears after a treatment. Personally, I prefer to be cautious with this kind of interpretation.
If an important, persistent or concerning physical or psychological symptom appears, it should be assessed appropriately and, when necessary, discussed with a qualified healthcare professional.
Reiki is not a substitute for medical or psychological care.
Research into Reiki exists and has grown considerably in recent years, although it remains limited compared with research into other therapeutic interventions.
Some studies and reviews have reported positive findings particularly in relation to anxiety, pain, stress, relaxation and quality of life.
A meta-analysis published in 2024 included 13 studies with a total of 824 participants and found a statistically significant reduction in anxiety associated with Reiki interventions.
Another meta-analysis, published in 2025 and focusing on randomised controlled trials, analysed 661 participants and found a small but statistically significant improvement in quality of life.
Clinical trials have also reported improvements in pain, anxiety and stress in certain groups of patients.
These are interesting findings.
But they should be interpreted with caution.
Studies of Reiki differ considerably in their methodology, the number and duration of sessions, the populations studied and the quality of their design. Some reviews have reported positive results, while others have concluded that the available evidence is still insufficient to draw firm conclusions about Reiki’s effectiveness in treating specific medical conditions.
For this reason, I believe we should avoid both claiming that Reiki can cure everything and claiming that there is no scientific research into Reiki.
Neither is true.
Research continues.
It is impossible to establish a specific duration.
Some people notice relaxation only during the session itself. Others continue to feel its effects for hours or days afterwards.
It also depends on why the person has come, their personal circumstances and what they are going through at that particular moment in their life.
A single session may provide a space for rest and wellbeing. When someone is going through something deeper—prolonged stress, a difficult emotional period or simply a desire to take better care of themselves for a while—it may make sense to receive several sessions.
But I don’t believe in creating dependence on a therapy.
The aim should always be for the person to feel better in their life, not to feel that they constantly need to return to the treatment table.
I cannot know.
After around 8,000 sessions, I still cannot predict what someone will experience when they lie down on the treatment table for the first time.
They will probably relax.
Perhaps they will feel warmth.
Perhaps they will fall asleep.
An emotion may arise.
For a while, they may even lose the precise sense of where their hands or legs begin and end.
Or they may simply lie quietly, listening to their own breathing.
All of it is fine.
Over the years, I have learned not to expect anything extraordinary from a Reiki session.
And perhaps that is why I still appreciate them.
We live surrounded by stimuli, obligations, screens, thoughts and things constantly demanding our attention.
During a Reiki session, there is nothing to achieve.
Nothing to understand.
Nowhere to get to.
For a while, we can simply close our eyes, rest and allow ourselves to be cared for.
Sometimes, that is enough.
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