The 'Original' Usui Self-treatments

The original method for giving a self-treatment is something quite new for Western Reiki, and only came through to the West in the year 2001. People are finding that this approach seems more powerful and feels more intense.

This is what you do...

  1. Sit comfortably on a chair and close your eyes.

  2. Imagine a carbon copy of you sitting in front of you, maybe on the floor, with its back towards you.

  3. Imagine that you are treating yourself, by resting your imaginary hands in a series of hand positions on the head (see the diagrams below).

  4. Imagine yourself holding each imaginary hand position for about 5-6 minutes.

  5. While holding each hand position, focus on imagining yourself channelling Reiki through your hands into the imaginary you that is sitting in front of you.

By focusing your intent clearly, and by visualising and imagining consistently, the energy seems to flow very strongly. If you have a problem with visualisation, do not worry. It may come with practice. However, you can simply 'intend' that the energy is passing into you at a certain point, and it will do so, without you having to visualise clearly.

NOTE:  As you do this, you may feel 'hands' on your head. If so, it may be a simpler approach for you to imagine an 'imaginary you' standing up behind you and sending Reiki into the five hand positions, so that the "imaginary you" is giving the treatment, instead of receiving it.
Try both approaches to see what works best for you.

The standard hand positions are as follows.
First Position:
Front of forehead along the hairline, with your hands held with fingertips touching each other in the midline, and your palms facing towards you.

Hold for about 5 minutes

First Position
Second Position:
Hands hovering by the temples.

Hold for about 5 minutes

Second Position
Third Position:
One hand cupping the back of the head, with the other hand resting on the forehead.

Hold for about 5 minutes

Third Position
Fourth Position:
Both hands at the back of the neck/base of skull. The thumbs are joined from the tips to the base, and are pointing upwards. The rest of the palm and the fingers gently curve round the sides of the base of the skull/upper neck.

Hold for about 5 minutes

Fourth Position
Fifth Position:
Rest both hands on the crown, overlapping one another.

Hold for about 5 minutes

Fifth Position

These hand movements (facing, opposed, away from you) are mudras from a specific Boddhisattva, a senior disciple of the Buddha who was renowned for his healing abilities: someone called Binzuru. These hand positions are invoking the healing powers of Binzuru at an unconscious level.

One big advantage of the 'original' self-treatment method is that it is something that you can do unobtrusively when sitting with your eyes closed anywhere: on a train or a bus, as a passenger in a car, or waiting in the departure lounge of an airport.

If you don't have 25-30 minutes to do the full session, then just cut down on the amount of time you spend in each imaginary hand position, but do go through the sequence of five.

What is exciting about this technique is that it demonstrates that Reiki will simply follow your thoughts, it will follow your focus. You simply use a visualisation to focus your intent in a particular way, and Reiki does what you intend!