The great thing with Reiki is that it works even when we are asleep, or watching TV, or commuting to work on the bus. Reiki is an automatic flow through your hands and the body then draws on this energy in an intuitive way to where it is needed. This means you do not need to be consciously thinking about it, or even conscious at all!
We do recommend you try to stay awake and do a conscious practice, but this is not because of the Reiki or anything to do with its effectiveness. It is because Reiki helps create a deep meditative practice that has a whole list of known benefits including better focus, memory, deeper inner insight and awareness etc etc. So combining Reiki with your own inner meditation practice is by far the most powerful and growing form of practice.
However, if you are falling asleep yet managing to keep your hands on your body, you are still receiving Reiki and your body is still acting on the energy – so you will still feel benefits. The question is how deep do you want to go with Reiki, and how much benefit do you need or want in your daily life. If you are searching for a deeper inner peace then meditation is really a key element to this. If you are just trying to fix a few health issues, stock up on some energy to get through the day, or release some stress – the more adhoc ‘fall asleep or watch TV’ variety will probably be effective enough to meet your needs. At the end of the day, any Reiki is better than no Reiki.
If you are going down the ‘deeper inner peace’ route and want tips on how to stay awake, a few strategies to try:
Stay seated or propped up
Do it in the morning when you are fresher, or during the day if you can
Play music with bells or chimes to keep your mind more alert
Try to focus on a meditative tool such as watching your breath or visualisation
Drink coffee before your session. That’s a joke folks 🙂
But try not to stress! Stress is what we are trying to release, and telling yourself off or feeling you are not ‘doing it right’ it counter-productive. Your Reiki practice is your own personal choice and your body responds primarily as it needs to, so if you are falling asleep and nothing seems to keep you awake, then simply accept you are probably very sleep starved and this is exactly what you need right now!
photo credit: peterned Sleeping Beauty via photopin (license)
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