September 11, 2026
Reiki
Can Anyone Learn Reiki?
When someone first approaches Reiki, one of the most common questions is whether anyone can learn it. Some people believe that a particular sensitivity is required.
If we were to ask ChatGPT what it means to meditate, it would likely tell us that meditation is the practice of a series of techniques specifically designed to bring about a change in the consciousness of the person meditating, bringing them closer to a state of peace and mental calm, and to a clearer and deeper understanding of existence. And that would be a good definition of what meditative practice is. But I like to say that meditation is about creating a state of openness. That meditation is about creating an inner void, and allowing that void to take over everything. Let it grow until it ends up encompassing everything.
In this sense, meditation is walking the path of renunciation, because for there to be empty space within, a lot of things must leave. And that is, in fact, what we do during the meditative practice: by sitting down to practice, we renounce movement; by closing our eyes, we renounce processing visual information from all the objects around us; by renouncing the urge to turn our head to see what’s happening when someone makes noise around us, we renounce reacting to our environment, focusing our attention on a specific point (the breath, for example), we renounce being aware of everything else.
Meditation is, then, about learning to stop doing, learning to be loose, to “be without effort,” and it is in that “being without effort” where the void begins to emerge.
The yogis of ancient India were interested in that emptiness, and they meditated to reach it. They meditated to attain enlightenment, but when enlightenment arrived, life departed. Because to become enlightened meant to die. In the India of the ancient yogis, the practitioner worked hard to achieve the extinction of thought, but the extinction of thought was followed by the extinction of everything else. As the yogis themselves would say, letting go is not about the object being released, but about the subject who ceases to hold on. Thus, one begins by letting go of some things, but if one truly deepens in the practice, one ends up letting go of everything, including life itself.
In India over 2,000 years ago, the meditative path was, therefore, the path of extinction. That was how the internal practice path was walked, but today that path is different. We no longer aspire to transcend existence; we aspire to anchor ourselves in it. We meditate to be a little more calm. To have a bit of peace. To keep going. To keep being alive.
The path of transcendence is now the path of survival. In the field of mindfulness, which is a specific type of meditative practice, meditation even helps us improve performance. It is the internal practice placed at the service of the system that oppresses us. The ultimate demonstration that what once served to die to the world now serves us to survive in it.
When someone first approaches Reiki, one of the most common questions is whether anyone can learn it. Some people believe that a particular sensitivity is required.
A few years ago, the idea of learning Reiki online generated a certain amount of controversy. For some people, a practice traditionally passed from teacher to student necessarily had to be learned in person. For others, distance had never been a real obstacle to the practice of Reiki.
During a Reiki session, it is common to experience warmth, relaxation, sleepiness or emotions. Each person experiences Reiki differently. After around 8,000 sessions, I share the sensations people describe most often, what we may experience in the days that follow, and what we currently know about its benefits.