Discover how Reiki cleanses and harmonizes your chakras through gentle energy healing. Learn what happens during a session, the effects you’ll feel, and what 2025 research reveals about Reiki’s effectiveness.
Reiki is a Japanese method of energy healing that works through the practitioner’s hands. Universal life energy – that’s what moves through. The name tells you everything: rei means universal, spiritual energy, and ki is the life force in all living things. It works on multiple levels at once. Body, mind, energy – all of it.
Mikao Usui developed this in early 20th-century Japan. It spread worldwide because it’s gentle and it works. No physical manipulation. No invasive anything. You don’t even take off your clothes. The energy addresses imbalances before they show up as symptoms – before your body starts screaming that something’s wrong.
During a Reiki session, the practitioner works with somewhere between 18 and 24 points on your body. Some correspond to major organs and body systems. Others are pure energy points – the chakras included. Your chakras are getting worked on, whether that was part of the plan or not. Just happens naturally.
Seven energy centers running up your spine – that’s what chakras are. Base to crown. Each one handles a different territory. Physical stuff, emotional patterns, spiritual connection – they’re all linked to specific chakras. When these centers get blocked or knocked sideways, you notice. Your sleep goes weird. That shoulder pain won’t quit. Anxiety shows up out of nowhere. Seems random, but it’s not.
When Reiki energy moves through, it finds its way around obstacles. Clears blockages. Releases tension that’s been sitting there for who knows how long. Restores your natural balance. After a session, people talk about feeling lighter. Calmer. Cleaner somehow, from the inside out. The practitioner’s hands rest on or hover just above your energy centers – that’s where the universal life force goes to work, flowing straight to whatever needs it most.
Sometimes a Reiki session happens without a specific agenda. These holistic sessions work on a simple principle – clear away what doesn’t serve you, invite in what does. That’s it.
This requires trust. Real trust in the energy itself and in something bigger than your to-do list. There’s a knowing here that Reiki energy understands what you need better than any diagnosis or prescription could capture. The practitioner becomes a channel. The universe does the rest.
Here’s what matters – this energy has its own intelligence. It knows where to go. The practitioner doesn’t need to figure it all out beforehand or plan the perfect session. Just show up. Stay present. Get out of the way.
But Reiki sessions can also target specific stuff. Particular chakras feeling stuck, physical areas screaming for attention, mental patterns you’re trying to shift – the practitioner can focus extra energy there. That concentrated attention often creates bigger shifts.
Say you can’t speak your truth or you’ve got throat issues. Spending time on your throat chakra makes sense. Anxiety tying you in knots? Extra focus on the heart and solar plexus chakras can untangle that. This targeted work complements the overall balancing – you get general harmony and specific support exactly where it’s needed.
Reiki looks simple. It is simple, actually. But it works. More than a million people worldwide practice this form of energy healing. Makes it one of the most common ways people work with energy. If you’re just starting to explore spiritual development, want to understand how energy works, or need something practical for keeping your chakras balanced – Reiki’s a solid place to begin.
After a Reiki session, you’ll probably feel calm. Not surface calm – the deep kind that settles way down into your bones. There’s lightness in the body. Energy is moving more freely. People describe it as loosening up in places that had been locked tight. Your mind stops racing so much. Less noise up there. Some people get a burst of energy and want to actually do things. Others just want to be still and process.
Either way works.
Sometimes people go through what practitioners call a healing crisis. Old emotions bubble up. Physical symptoms surface temporarily. Your body’s releasing stored energy, clearing out what no longer serves. It might feel uncomfortable – honestly, it can feel pretty rough for a day or two. But that’s the healing working its way through you. Give it a couple of days, and you’ll come out the other side feeling more like yourself than you have in a long time.
The real magic shows up over time. Some people feel dramatic shifts after one session. But Reiki tends to build on itself. Regular sessions – whether you’re receiving them or learning self-Reiki – create profound changes. Your overall well-being shifts. How you handle stress transforms. Your connection to something larger than yourself deepens in ways you can’t quite explain but definitely feel.
Researchers ran a meta-analysis in 2025 – basically combining data from multiple studies to see what holds up. The study confirmed the effectiveness of Reiki therapy in improving quality of life. They looked at 661 people aged 14 and up. The results showed real improvements after Reiki therapy.
Significant means measurable, repeatable, real.
The researchers dug deeper. They found that Reiki worked across different formats. Eight or more sessions at 60 minutes each showed clear benefits. But even quick sessions – less than 20 minutes – improved people’s overall quality of life. So you don’t need hours of treatment to feel a difference.
What makes this research matter is its breadth. The participants included cancer patients navigating brutal treatments. People managing chronic health conditions. Healthy individuals just wanting to feel better day to day. Across all these groups – all of them – Reiki therapy led to notable improvements in quality of life.
This kind of validation bridges something important. It shows Reiki’s benefits reach across populations and conditions. Whether someone’s facing serious illness, managing ongoing health challenges, or simply wanting to enhance their wellness, the research suggests Reiki offers real improvements. Measurable ones.
So we can say with growing confidence that Reiki has solid scientific backing, at least within complementary and wellness therapies. This gives people reassurance – especially those who appreciate spiritual practices but also value evidence-based approaches. You can have both.
More research is always welcome. But what we’ve got now connects ancient healing wisdom with modern understanding. Gives skeptics something concrete – proof that Reiki’s benefits aren’t just people feeling nice things, but actual measurable improvements in how they’re doing.
Reiki healing offers a practical way to cleanse your chakras and figure yourself out better. Maybe stress and emotional overload are running your life right now. Maybe you’re looking to build an actual spiritual practice instead of just reading about one.
What makes Reiki work for so many people is that you don’t need much. Reiki healing can become your daily ritual of balance, peace, and conscious contact with the energy of life.
Anyone can learn it. No special equipment. No complicated steps. No perfect setup required.
Keep going with it – receiving sessions or learning to practice yourself – and you might find it cracks open things you didn’t expect. You start understanding yourself differently. Old emotional wounds you forgot about start healing. You feel more connected to the energy moving through all living things.
Try it. See what shifts.
During a Reiki session, the practitioner works with 18 to 24 energy points on your body – including your seven main chakras. Universal life energy flows through the practitioner’s hands to these energy centers, clearing blockages and releasing stuck energy. Think of it like water finding its way around obstacles. The energy naturally moves where it’s needed most, restoring balance to your chakra system without the practitioner having to force or direct it.
No. Your chakras don’t have to be out of balance to receive Reiki. While Reiki definitely helps clear blocked or imbalanced chakras, it also works on other stuck energy throughout your body – things that might not be affecting your chakras directly but are still holding you back. Many people receive Reiki simply for maintenance, stress relief, or spiritual growth, not because something’s specifically wrong.
Most people feel something right away – deep calm, lightness in the body, or energy moving more freely. Some notice the effects building over the next day or two as the energy continues to work. For deeper issues, you might need multiple sessions to really clear things out. Research shows that even short sessions under 20 minutes can improve quality of life, though 8 or more sessions at 60 minutes each tend to create more lasting changes.
Both. In a holistic session, Reiki flows to all your chakras and clears whatever needs attention. But sessions can also target specific chakras if you’re dealing with particular issues – throat chakra for communication problems, heart chakra for emotional blocks, solar plexus for power and confidence issues. The practitioner focuses extra energy on those areas while still balancing your whole system. The energy’s intelligent enough to know where to go.
During the session, you’ll probably feel deeply relaxed. Some people notice warmth, tingling, or energy moving in their body. Others fall asleep. After the session, most people feel lighter, calmer, and clearer. Your mind stops racing as much. That shoulder pain might ease up. Sometimes old emotions surface temporarily as stuck energy releases – this is normal and actually means the healing’s working. Give it a day or two and you’ll come out feeling more like yourself.
Absolutely. Anyone can learn Reiki – that’s part of what makes it so accessible. After basic training, you can practice self-Reiki to keep your chakras balanced on your own. Place your hands on or near each chakra point and let the energy flow. It’s straightforward enough to do daily in just 5 to 15 minutes. That said, working with a trained practitioner helps when you’re stuck on something deep or need someone to spot patterns you’re missing because you’re too close to your own stuff.
Reiki works with universal life energy channeled through the practitioner’s hands – it’s gentle, non-invasive, and you stay fully clothed. Unlike meditation or breathwork where you’re actively doing something, Reiki is completely passive. You just lie there and receive. The energy has its own intelligence and flows where needed without you or the practitioner having to figure everything out. It complements other chakra healing methods well – you can combine Reiki with yoga, meditation, crystals, or whatever else works for you.
