Sharing Reiki with Clarity & Confidence

Dawn Hancy
May 1
10 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

Inspiration

The main reason many people start Reiki training in the first place is to help others. Why did you decide to take that first class or get a Reiki Attunement? What was your vision for Reiki in your life?

Reiki equals transformation. It can be subtle, gentle and patient, and it goes beyond physical healing and relief from symptoms, though it can give us that, certainly. Reiki transformations start with valuing our own worth more deeply.

Transformation #1: Self-Healing

Yes, the foundation of Reiki practice is our own self-healing, though I’ve encountered quite a few people who have been surprised by this, including Reiki practitioners.

I encourage people to first learn to value and honor themselves with practice devoted to their healing and personal growth every day. It can be tempting to skip this step and want to just get on with healing and helping the world. This can seem like a noble and loving sentiment, but if this sounds like you, I encourage you to question your intentions.

Do you put yourself last on the list of people who need and deserve your care? Do you ever move up from the bottom that is never reached? Are you on that list at all?

Do you consider yourself a person who values everyone equally? Does that include you? Does your healing practice reflect this?

Even if we have a pretty good self-image, we can always deepen our self-understanding and get to know ourselves better. Reiki is a gentle and compassionate teacher, showing us patience and mercy we can absorb and internalize and then radiate out to others.

For more on Self-Care see related blog posts.

Is it more blessed to give than to receive? What does that say about receivers - aren’t they blessed too? There doesn’t need to be any comparison or competition here. It is equally blessed to both give and receive. It’s called sharing!

Reiki Is Radiance

Reiki is a perfect example of the equalizing power of sharing, where giver and receiver blend energy fields to create a stronger force than either alone.

We use various forms of the words “give” and “receive” for expedience, yet Reiki Providers* do not heal our clients. We are all healers.

One beautiful gift of Reiki is the way healing fills the practitioner first before radiating out to bless the world. This is mutually empowering because we’re not giving away our vital energy to help someone else. We’re also not taking on their distressed energy to heal it. We are simply bringing more healing energy into the world!

Those who receive Reiki treatment are actually the primary healers. Reiki Providers help enhance the natural healing abilities of the one receiving with our training, tools and techniques and our own energy field that is enhanced by Reiki Attunement and practice. Yet there’s more to sharing Reiki than just this energy enhancement. If we’re not prepared for this, it can be disappointing or worse, even devastating.

Frustration

Have you ever wanted to talk with someone about Reiki or offer a Reiki session and felt any of the following . . .

. . .nervous, awkward, not knowing what to say, feeling unprepared, afraid of not knowing the answers, trying to convince skeptics, wanting people to like you, believe in you, trust you, wanting to feel validated, needing to be an expert, feeling pressure to perform, wondering if you’re doing it right, feeling alone, not as smart or good at this as other people, wondering if it will work, doubting yourself, reacting to triggers and snags, operating from conditioning instead of authenticity, fitting in, wanting to bring everyone along with you, wanting to share this wonderful gift with everyone, taking their responses personally, wanting to share with those closest to you, afraid of persecution?

You are not alone

Many of these are natural feelings whenever we learn something new or offer some part of ourselves. It can feel vulnerable, we lack experience and frankly, most of us haven’t learned the needed skill set of effective presentation and holding space for others.

The good news is, it’s not you! There’s nothing wrong with you that will always make people react badly or make you feel unready. You can learn these skills and grow your comfort zone.

And honestly, people with healing skills and ability, as well as other spiritual gifts, have actually been persecuted in the past, and still may be in some places. But usually, for most of us, the greatest actual threat we face when offering to share Reiki is someone will politely decline (which can still feel like painful rejection), and if we choose our opportunities wisely, most of the time we’ll enjoy a positive response.

Transformation

Transformation #2: from Practitioner to Provider

When we share Reiki, we are truly bridging the perceived gap between the mystical and the mundane. Reiki is extremely practical as well as esoteric, and we can focus on the practical side in our practice and sharing, to help us feel more grounded, clear and confident There are basic mental, emotional and physical skills we can develop to help ourselves and others with Reiki.

Starting with our own self-healing practice gives us experience working with Reiki before we involve even one other person. We enjoy the benefits of Reiki like greater calm and less stress, better overall health and wellbeing. We become more familiar with sensations in our hands and more aware of our whole bodies. We strengthen our intuition and may connect with spirit guides and Divine guidance. All of this gives us great talking points and stories to share that others will understand and relate to often better than facts.

Here are some of the mental and emotional gifts we can cultivate when we learn to transform our experience from confused to clear, and cringing to confident . . .

. . . knowing we don’t need to be totally prepared or know exactly what we’re going to say, realizing it’s okay to not know and every time will be at least a little different, demonstrating compassion for ourselves, practicing confident posture, holding safe space, being patient with ourselves, honoring other’ sacred “no,” supporting people wherever they are on their journey, embracing our challenges, modeling humility as part of mastery, grounding and centering ourselves, giving others permission to not know things, holding wonder as sacred, always learning, listening fully, centering them and their journey and how we can support them, enjoying the chance to express ourselves, Manifesting consciously, trusting ourselves, our guides and our intentions, opening our hearts to bless the world, and enjoying the opportunity to share this precious gift!

From Confusion to Clarity

Reiki is a magical art and yet there are some concrete aspects we can learn and develop. Often people believe they need to take the next level of training when what they need is more practice and support with the skills they’ve already learned, even if they are beginners. Then there are other skills to learn so they can create positive Reiki experiences for themselves and others.

The information you need to learn is may not be primarily about Reiki, though it’s helpful to be clear on some Reiki basics like how it’s different from other modalities, what people commonly experience, how safe and gentle it is, where it came from, and perhaps a few other things. Just the basics, though! Dazzling people with information overload is not likely to help calm them into a receptive healing state.

It’s about them

Usually people interested in hearing about Reiki are wondering what’s in it for them, and rightly so. Reiki is empowering, so if you focus on that, you may feel the power of your compassion for them strengthening you from within, and they’ll feel your caring energy touch them before you ever make physical contact. This is the essence of Reiki treatment anyway, not a bunch of hand positions and symbols. Keep it simple.

If you have questions about Reiki or feel you may need more information or clarity on your training, please reach out to me at connect@essentialarts.net.

From Cringing to Confident

Once you realize feeling nervous is natural, you’ve turned your first obstacle into a stepping stone on your path to Reiki sharing success. Bringing our unspoken, nebulous feelings out into the light of clarity can take the sting away.

In the first class I teach beginning students, Bring Reiki to Life, I’ve created a lesson I call Name Them, Tame Them and Claim Them. It’s about expecting challenges and being ready for them instead of hoping they don’t come along. They will, and that’s okay. These are opportunities for growth and practice.

Name them

Some challenges are pretty universal and some will be unique to you. Nearly everyone gets anxious doing new things, for instance. The ones that are unique to you can contain hidden gifts that are also yours. Identifying these challenges can help you realize they are finite, not a judgment on you as an entire person. Once you know what they are, you can work with them one at a time.

Claim them

Once you bring your challenges into the open, it’s important to discern which ones are yours to work with. Focus on those so you don’t get lost in frustration with things you can’t change. Hot tip: this includes other people’s beliefs and attitudes. Work on yourself and let them be them.

When you choose what to work on and in what order, or at least what’s first, you put yourself in charge. This is a powerful step toward confidence because you’re less oriented to being a victim of circumstance or other people’s reactions.

You choose your challenges, set your own goals, and measure your success against that, not someone else’s expectations or actions. Since you’re in control of these things, you can simply keep going until you succeed, making course corrections along the way as needed.

Tame them

So how do you actually transform your challenges? First, I try to stay away from the language of conflict and violence like conquering and battles. There is no enemy here, you’re working with yourself, and it’s a healing path, not a war.

Again the first transformation in taming your challenges is your own healing, self-unity, alignment and compassion. You are on your own side. This may take some practice if you’re used to criticizing yourself, but it’s worth the effort.

How you tame your challenges depends partly on what they are, but let’s come full circle and remember the foundation of self-Reiki practice. Bring your challenges into your Reiki practice, whether it’s hands-on healing or working with the Five Reiki Principles.

Other challenges around Sharing Reiki with Clarity & Confidence can be transformed in the upcoming class and retreat with that name!

Sharing Reiki with Clarity & Confidence ~ Class & Retreat

This live virtual class and in-person Vermont retreat will cover the 4 key elements that allow you to actually enjoy sharing your Reiki experience and skills with others, just as you’ve wanted in your heart for so long.

Reflect: Valuing & Telling Your Reiki Journey Story

Why & how you chose Reiki

Your Reiki training

Your Reiki practice

Challenges

Experiences Sharing Reiki

Vision, Intentions, Manifesting

Learn: Logistics for Lightworkers

Reiki Basics

Ethics & Guidelines

Cleansing/Clearing Our Energy

Cleansing/Clearing Spaces

Energetic Protection

Choose: Commit/Initiate Sharing

Set Intentions: Why

Know Your Audience

Choose Whom

Choose When, Where, How

Provider Responsibilities

Show up: How to "Talk Reiki" without Feeling Weird + Hands-on

Stealth Reiki: Radiate

Describe vs. Define

Share Your Experience

Confident presentation

Rhythm & Ritual

Hands-on Demos

Full Sessions

Bonus: Reiki PathFinding

What other skills and passions do you bring to your Reiki Path?

Who would you love to help with Reiki?

What else would you need to learn?

Sharing Reiki class

We’ll focus on communicating about Reiki from writing your own Reiki story to talking with family, friends and strangers about this wonderful gift you’d love to share with the world. We will also go over some logistics around sharing hands-on Reiki treatments, but it’s an online class, so we’ll save most of that for the in-person retreat.

You’ll be guided and supported through this 4-week class with group discussion, homework, a playbook and workbook, videos and slides, and a dedicated private group for this class as well as Reiki Practice Circle membership.

Sharing Reiki retreat

To deepen and expand on our experiences in the class, we’ll gather for 3 days in beautiful Vermont for an in-person retreat. You’ll have plenty of time for hands-on Reiki practice in giving and receiving both short demonstrations and full sessions along with self-Reiki practice. We’ll revisit the class practices and skills for more levels and layers of understanding and experience that are so crucial for building clarity and confidence. You’ll also have time to just rest and relax, explore the lovely area or work with the things you’re learning.

As a transformational, educational, healing retreat, we’ll these three energies in caring community that supports you wherever you are on your Reiki journey, whether you’re just learning to share Reiki for the first time or you’re a seasoned Provider wanting to hone and deepen your skills. We’re a one-room-schoolhouse where everyone is on their own path and we honor ourselves and one another, not in competition but in partnership and solidarity. I say this not because I expect you to criticize or judge others (and please don’t), but because you may find that you are tempted to compare yourself to someone else and feel you should be further along your path in some way.

Start by honoring where you are right now as the perfect place to begin. Everything offered and suggested is for you to use in the ways that are best for you and all participation is voluntary. You will be challenged, but the goal is ultimately greater comfort, not more suffering. This is not a one-size-fits-all step-by-step program, though everyone can benefit from the same ideas and practices in their unique ways. In fact, my favorite thing is seeing my students take my teachings and make them their own. I always keep learning too! We are truly in this together.

So let’s do this! Registration for Sharing Reiki with Clarity & Confidence is open now. I’m going to keep the group small so all have time to share and interact meaningfully, so reserve your spot right away. Find more details and choose the package and payments that are right for you at www.essentialarts.net.

I’m so excited for the special gifts you have to share with the world through Reiki and your unique presence!

Bonus ~ Word Play

*Here’s what I mean when I’m talking about people who practice the Essential Art of Reiki. Others may use different terms.

Everyone who practices Reiki for their own wellbeing or to help others is a Reiki Practitioner, even if they've just had an Attunement.
A Reiki Provider shares Reiki, whether offering a Reiki session or communicating about Reiki.
A Reiki Virtual Provider has completed Level 2 and can use those tools and techniques to provide distance or Virtual Reiki sessions.
A Reiki Pathfinder has learned about multiple ways of using Reiki with friends and family, in community or professionally, and has chosen a specific Reiki Path for their focus.
A Reiki Master has completed Level 3 Reiki training and accomplished those symbols, skills, tools and techniques.
A Reiki Student Teacher has completed Levels 1, 2 and 3 and is in training to become a Reiki Teacher.
A Reiki Teacher or Reiki Master Teacher has completed Levels 1, 2 and 3 and additional Teacher Training.