Reiki for Chronic Conditions: A 3-Step Protocol

Throughout my career as a Reiki practitioner, the majority of my clients have initially sought my help as a result of chronic pain. I’m not typically a person’s first stop along this journey: most people exhaust their traditional medical resources before turning to alternative techniques like Reiki.

But when they do, they’re often satisfied with the relief that follows from even a single Reiki treatment.

The trouble, however, is that the relief you get from that first treatment is rarely enough: chronic conditions require a prolonged treatment regimen as part of an integrated healing program.

Treating Chronic Conditions with Reiki

There’s a specific protocol Reiki practitioners follow in order to give someone relief from chronic pain or illness. Step 1: Give daily (or alternate daily) treatments for two to three weeks until a “healing crisis” occurs. Step 2: Taper treatments to twice or three times per week, eventually reducing overall treatments to once per week as needed. Step 3: Perform monthly ‘maintenance’ treatments as needed until the person’s condition is either healed or significantly improved.

Additionally, it’s recommended that someone within the person’s household -- a family member typically -- be made Reiki so that the suffering individual can receive daily treatments when necessary.

When Reiki Doesn’t Heal Completely

Sometimes the chronic condition is never completely healed. This often occurs because a person’s life contract -- an agreement for certain conditions or life challenges to occur in order to further evolve one’s soul -- does not allow for a complete healing to take place. Life contracts, or Karma, exist for our best interests; Reiki won’t heal the condition completely if doing so will hinder our soul’s growth.

Reiki Practitioners Often Offer Discounts, Trades and Sliding Payment Scales

Because Reiki, at its core, is a humanitarian healing art, most practitioners offer discounts or service fees based on a sliding scale in order to help make Reiki available to all. If funds are still an issue, practitioners, myself included, will occasionally offer to attune family members -- a process that would cost significantly less than would ongoing treatments -- so that finding relief can still be possible. And of course, attuned family members can then benefit from Reiki themselves.