At each level of Reiki, attunements are given by the Reiki teacher. Attunements are often described as the ritual/ceremony that sets up the opening of the energy body to receive Reiki. The Western attunment ritual involves the teacher placing the Reiki symbols into the hands and 7 chakra points of the client. When you are receiving your attunement your hands mostly stay in the prayer/gassho position throughout. I like to describe attunements as a short but potent Reiki treatment where you receive the essence of the teaching in energy form and honour the lineage and practice through the short ritual.
The attunement process we learn today didn’t come from Mikao Usui’s original teachings, so this process is often known as ‘the Western attunement ritual’ and was devised by early teachers in the lineage as a way to prepare Western students for practicing Reiki. The Western attunement process uses the Seven Chakra system which are symbolic correspondences that help us relate to the body/mind/energy/form connection and comes from India. The seven chakra system would not have been used by Dr Usui himself, (more on the chakras and different energy centres in the training) but the whole concept of the attunement process does have its roots in Eastern traditions of teaching ‘transmissions’.
Mikao Usui himself is said to have used a form of meditative transmission/attunement, which would have included students sitting in meditation with him and simply allowing the Reiki energy/the essence of his teachings to flow to the students. This style of attunement is traditional in esoteric Buddhist traditions that Mikao Usui has been a practitioner of, and this format is still used in the Japanese Reiki lineage today and is gaining in popularity in the West as we evolve and deepen our understanding in the origins of Reiki. Now that people have more confidence in Reiki and Eastern practices, we feel we need less to do to ‘prove’ something is of value and/or happening when we can’t see it, so we can trust in the energy, the Reiki, and more simply trust in the unseen energetic level.
In many Western Reiki traditions we are sometimes taught that the master opens the students’ chakras and the symbols are placed within their energy field. This is an old way of explaining attunements and is where we find a seeming contradiction. If the chakra system is symbolic and wasn’t used in Mikao Usui’s time, and Reiki is universal energy, and already is us, why do we need to have an attunement, how can chakra systems be accessed, and what can possibly be passed on that we don’t already have? I think to understand this more we can look at the original concepts of the attunement process and approach it as it serving two primary functions.
Firstly, I do believe that the Western attunement process, as it was initially devised, was devised in good faith as a framework for teaching Reiki in the West and to help Western students both connect to and get into the spirit/flow of Reiki as a spiritual practice. It gives new students a clear sensation of Reiki flowing to and through them so that students gain can confidence in Reiki by feeling that flow of energy and increase their confidence that something tangible is happening. The chakras are being used symbolically here too as they are the most simple and commonly used way of relating to energy in the body in the West, (thanks to the popularity of yoga,) and help us direct our awareness and trust in the sensations and work with correspondences such as the colours associated with the corresponding feelings/emotions/physical locations. Working with visualisations and the chakra is a powerful tool for our subconscious minds and and powerful teaching tool for explaining our body/mind connection and experience.
The second most important function of the attunement process is that it both passes on the essence of the teachings on an energetic level, while creating a sense of the sacred and sacred ceremony. When we create sacred space and perform ritual we are stating that we revere and value something. When we value something, we hold it as special and sacred, and we can show through ceremony that we value it by honouring it and treating it with respect and ‘stand on ceremony’. By creating a ceremony/ritual around the attunement process, the student is learning to value what they are learning, to be receptive to receiving, honouring and celebrating the Reiki tradition and honouring the connection to the Reiki lineage of teachers and tradition.
In the East and in Buddhism there are usually various initiation rituals and formal ceremonies that take place in order to receive teachings. In Buddhist traditions there is the emphasis on the ‘Five Certainties’ – a certain time, a certain place, a certain teacher, a certain student or gathering of students, and a certain teaching. These five certainties create the conditions necessary for the teacher to pass on the teachings. It is also important in Buddhist cultures to formally request and receive the teachings in a way that shows respect and reverence for them. When teachings are given, this is called receiving ‘Transmission’ and it’s more than the teaching, it is the essence or energy of the teaching being passed from teacher to student in the form of a powerful blessing (known in Sanskrit as adhistana). There are also stories of this happening in a mysterious way ‘mind to mind’ without any words being uttered, which is more akin to Mikao Usui’s traditional approach to attunements.
Here is a quote that helps to explain the Eastern transmission process further, which we can draw parallels from to help us better understand the process of attunement in Reiki:
“Transmission is when we can open up enough to that ‘boost’ from the power of the Buddhas and the lineage and we can feel as though something is activated in ourselves when it is. You could say it is happening all the time whenever we meet people or connect to nature, but that’s not enough, we have to cultivate that faculty [and cultivate the awareness and appreciation of it happening]. So transmission is a world of connections, a mandala, and we augment that power and blessing by the way we connect to that process and one another. In a formal transmission you’re creating a mandala, a world in which we can all focus in the same way at the same moment, augment our connections with each other [the Buddhas, the lineage and the teaching too]. You can’t really say what happens in a formal transmission. Some might say nothing happens but you can’t really say that, something has happened. But you do need to value it. If you don’t value it there is no power in it. So you set it [the formal transmission] up in the right way so you can feel that something is happening.” Quote from Tibetan Buddhist Teacher Lama Shenpen Hookham on the power of transmission.
In Japanese, Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism there is a special ritual and ceremony that takes place before a student can receive the transmission of some teachings. This is ritual is called Abisheika or an Empowerment. It is said to prepare the student for the receiving the teachings, and in certain situations, those who haven’t had these empowerments or initiations aren’t able to receive the teachings until they do.
From Wikipedia: “The abhiṣheka ritual (灌頂, kanjō) in Shingon (Japanese) Buddhism is the initiation rite used to confirm that a student of esoteric Buddhism has now graduated to a higher level of practice. The kanji used literally mean “pouring from the peak”, which poetically describes the process of passing on the master’s teachings to the student.” Mikao Usui was practising in a Japanese esoteric Buddhist tradition before he set up his Reiki system of practice.
I believe this is where the attunement process comes from and where we get the English translations from, which can be quite alien to us as Westerners when we have no reference point. I think that understanding the historical and cultural backdrops for attunements as transmissions, helps us to make much more sense of it all, give it power and value the attunement much more.
As Reiki is universal life force energy, the transmission and initiation – the attunement- is all about energy. You could say it’s an energetic transmission of the teachings and the power/blessing of the Reiki lineage. It’s like a mini-Reiki treatment, an energetic passing on or ‘pouring in’ as we heard the Japanese Buddhists call it – a blessing of the essence of the teachings. The attunement process devised for Western students helps focus the attention of the student and raises their awareness to sense that something important is happening when the teachings of Reiki are passed onto us. It gives students the opportunity to tune into the frequency of the Reiki/energy that is us/surrounds us, as well as honouring the teachings, and receiving that as an energy exchange and blessing.
As with many things in life, what you put into something is indicative of what you get out/receive from it. So if you approach the attunement process in the spirit in which is it given, with knowledge (of the history of the practice of initiation and transmission ceremonies as outlined above), with openness (even if you are sceptical!), with a sense of the sacred, with reverence to the lineage, tradition, the teachers, teachings and values, and to the Reiki – as universal energy, the source of all and infinite connection to all nature – you are giving it power and I believe you will also receive something sacred in return, which I have experienced myself. This might be in the form of sensations or emotions that reflect back the opening to the sacredness or experiencing the beauty and the wonder of the universe – the Reiki energy itself. You may even experience seeing colours or images flash to mind. And if you decide to value the experience and remember that how we perceive something affects how we experience it, you may be surprised at how special and moving the process can be. So, keeping openminded is paramount.
However, if we were to decide before we’ve even received the attunement that it’s nothing special, or not ‘real’, we will be completely closed off to the energy and the mysteries of the universe. It will close that space that opens up to the magic, mystery and unknown, so we can pretty much guarantee our experience will meet our closed off expectation. If we decide to remain open, to be curious and respectful and open to receive a ‘transmission’ of the Reiki teachings through the attunement process, we might be surprised at how much we experience.
As Reiki is being channelled by intention by the teacher to the student and through the chakra system by intention, the Western attunement process can have the same effect as an intensive Reiki treatment. It’s useful to remember that saying ‘where attention/intention goes, energy flows’ here. Many people experience a sense of peace and well-being during an attunement along with other energy sensations such as warmth and tingling, but if you don’t experience anything physical, stay open to the possibility something is still taking place on unseen/unfelt energetic level.
It is often quoted that for 21 days after Reiki attunements it is said you may feel a sense of purification and detoxification and cleansing. In recent years though it is thought that this 21 day clearing process is more about having the space to build up the habit of practising Reiki. Yet even so, if you’re engaging in essentially a new meditation practice everyday and working intentionally with energy, it’s important to take good care of yourself during this time and notice how you feel, as these new practices can create big changes in our lives and new levels of awareness and sensation in our bodies.
Also when you begin your Reiki journey it can sometimes bring up or can increase your awareness of what needs attention within you and around you for your own healing journey. It is traditional to recite the Reiki ideals/principles for that 21 days and to be mindful of what you eat and drink. You may begin to feel much more in tune with subtler energy sensations in yourself and around you after being taught Reiki, so go gently with awareness.
When I teach the Reiki teaching module at the Level 3/Master level, I also include teaching the original Japanese meditation style attunement process, which I have also received from my teachers. It gives students the experience of both and they can then decide which they prefer to use in their own practice if they go on to teach.
When receiving an attunement you will be seated on a chair with your eyes closed. We will ground and centre and I’ll put my hands on your shoulders (with permission). I will then move my hands to the crown of then head, before moving them above and around the body. I will then move to the front and ask you to put your hands in the prayer position. I’ll then take your hands in one hand, while ‘placing’ the Reiki symbols into your hands with the other, while asking you to move your hands above your head, in front of your heart and up to the third eye chakra. It takes a few minutes each time, with four attunements given in total. It will all be explained as I go and should be as relaxing an experience as receiving a reiki treatment.
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