Reiki Attunements - The What, The Why, And My Opinion

Sarah-Louise
9 hours ago
10 min read

Let’s talk about Reiki attunements ...

So the last few weeks I have been working on creating my Reiki Master Teacher handbook, and this is the level where I am teaching others how to teach and attune their own students to Reiki. So, as you can imagine, Reiki attunements is something that I have been diving deep into. There are a lot of opinions, perspectives, and somewhat gate-keeping out there when it comes to Reiki attunements, and so while I am deep in this topic right now, I really wanted to share more about them here, share my opinions, and also (and mostly importantly), the actual history of them … because guess what? There have been a lot of changes and developments to them over the years.

I remember when I took my first Reiki level one course, the attunement process was like this mystical thing, and there wasn’t really much information available about them. What I did know (or was told) was that the attunement was like an initiation of sorts. It was a practice or ritual that essentially takes you from someone who does not and cannot use Reiki, to someone who can immediately use and channel Reiki … and this is a very common way the attunements are spoken about. I was told they were a series of hand movements and symbols used and performed by the Reiki Master Teacher, and this is what opens your channel and allows you to become a conduit of Reiki.

And after receiving my first Reiki attunement, it did feel like this. It felt like a ritual and an initiation, and it felt special. It really felt like it defined a new chapter in my life, and my second attunement for Reiki level two felt even more special and powerful. It felt again like an initiation, and because Reiki level two enables you to do this work for others, it felt even more potent as the start of a new chapter.

And this is how I still love to see attunements. I love to give attunements to my students knowing this is a new chapter they are starting. It is a ritual and a ceremony of sorts to mark their new journey, whether that's for themselves, or to share with others. Because of this, the attunement process feels sacred every single time. But even with this in mind, do I believe the attunements give someone an ability they didn’t have before? No. Do I believe you need an attunement to be able to work with energy or to be an energy healer? Absolutely not. And, do I believe the attunement is needed to allow someone to channel Reiki energy? Also no. Let me explain …

Reiki is known as a very traditional practice, but actually, it was only 100 years ago that Usui (the founder of Reiki) channelled it for the first time. That’s actually not that long ago when you think about it, and yet the practice of hands-on healing has been around forever across all cultures. In fact, Usui himself was studying hands-on healing well before Reiki came to him. Energy healing is one of the most natural and innate things in the world, and embraced within so many traditions, cultures and practices … yet Reiki is the only one where an ‘attunement’ is explicitly required, and is said to pass down the ability. Now, where it gets super interesting, is when you dig into the history of Reiki, Usui himself didn’t even see the attunements in this way …. and they weren’t called attunements, they were referred to as Reiju which translates to ’spiritual blessing’.

According to the limited records that are available for Usui’s direct teaching, Usui didn’t perform these Reiju as a way to pass on power, instead, they were viewed as more of an energy transmission and a blessing as the name suggests. They were a way of helping the student connect to and ‘attune’ to the energy of Reiki, not as a ‘passing down of ability’ but as a way to expand the student’s innate ability to feel energy, and attune to the frequency of Reiki. A little bit like he was helping his students turn their radio dial to Reiki, so that they could easier tap into Reiki themselves.

The Reiju was seen as something to support the student’s spiritual journey, and help them open their channel more. Because of this, they weren’t only given once, they were given multiple times whenever it felt right. There were no set amount of Reiju given, it was an intuitive process based on the student and how they were progressing (and if a Reiju was needed). This practice of giving ‘Reiju’ was never seen as passing on abilities, but more as developing and activating the abilities that are already within.

Even the word Reiki translates to Universal Energy. Meaning it is an energy that is already available and around all of us, and it is available to everyone … energy doesn’t and can’t gatekeep. We ALL have the ability to work with, and be a channel for energy. There are many energies we can channel for healing, and Reiki is only one of them, but even with Reiki, we all already have the ability to tap into it. There isn’t anyone ‘up there’ saying you did something right or wrong, or you have not been attuned yet, therefore you cannot access this energy … energy doesn’t work like that. Energy works through intention only. It is always intention. Therefore could you technically connect to and channel Reiki without an attunement? Yes. BUT (here’s the but) will it be a lot easier, and will you feel more sensitive to it, and have a more open channel after an attunement? Also yes. And here’s why …

When someone receives an attunement, they are receiving the frequency of Reiki. When you feel that frequency, and your channel connects to it, it becomes easier to tap into again and again. I find this very clear with something like Spirit Guides too. Once someone has connected to their Spirit Guides once, whether directly or through someone else, it is far easier to then connect again … it’s like once your radio station has accessed a frequency for the first time, it becomes a lot easier to retune to it time and time again … and this is how it feels with the attunements. As well as this, when you receive the attunement, you're also receiving a clearing of your channel and energy body - this all helps you to be a clearer and cleaner channel … whether that is for Reiki energy, another healing energy, or again something like Spirit Guides (and this is why it’s common to have your intuitive connection get stronger after an attunement or any sort of energy work).

This is also why Usui gave multiple Reiju to continuously support his students in developing their channel and connection to Reiki, but this is also something you can do yourself through regular self-healings. The more you use Reiki, even on yourself, the easier and quicker you can tap into it, and the more sensitive you will be to energy and energy moving. By doing regular self-healings, you will also be continuously opening and clearing your channel (among MANY other benefits).

The majority of my students start off their Reiki and energy healing journey not able to feel energy deeply, but through these regular self-healings, and our attunement, that very quickly changes. It’s easy to assume that sensitivity to energy is something some people have and some people don’t, but that really isn’t the case - it is something that everyone can develop and open up. Being able to feel energy is just like one of our other five senses, but for most people, this is switched off from a very young age. We are not encouraged to feel, or to intuit, or to tap into these sensations, and for most of us we are taught energy isn’t real … and in the same way you could strengthen any of your senses (eg. smell) by working with them more, you can absolutely do this with the sense of feeling and sensing energy. And this is what the attunements and regular self-healings can really help with, and help you develop. So, as I said, do you need an attunement to tap into Reiki energy? No. But do they help? Absolutely.

Now, the purpose of attunements wasn’t the only thing that changed over time. The way they were performed has also shifted since. Attunements are now ‘generally’ done by doing a very specific set of hand movements on the student, a certain breathing technique over their crown, and in their hands, and this is to be done in a certain sequence, alongside the use of symbols. It’s all very elaborate and sequenced, and it looks cool as someone first working with Reiki for sure. But this isn’t how it was ever done originally.

Firstly, Usui did them by meditating with his student with hands touching, or his hands on the student's head. That was it. Literally an energy transmission. No hand movements, or breath, or techniques for moving energy around the body … this was all added in later lineages. The attunements were simple, and just done as a passing of energy. The other big difference was the use of symbols. It is believed that Usui didn’t even use the master symbol during the Reiju. He also didn’t teach symbols to everyone and that is a whole other topic which I actually talked about here. The idea that the master symbol needs to be used to pass down Reiki, was something that never came from Usui, and was added later as the levels of Reiki became more structured.

So you might then be asking why it all changed and how it all became what we teach and share now - and the answer is - it got westernised. Need I say more? As Reiki got taken to the west, the concept and practice of Reiki, went from something that was originally a very intuitive practice (one of Usui’s biggest teachings was the use of what you feel and sense), and it became a strict system, with levels, rules, and correct/incorrect ways of doing things. Now, although that doesn’t sound necessarily great that it has changed that much, it is also what makes it so appealing as a place to start for energy healing - because it is a series of steps that you follow and you don’t need to use your intuition if you don’t want to (or if you don’t trust yourself yet).

This is actually what makes it so perfect as a foundation for energy healing, and not even just a foundation, but a practice that can impact you hugely within your own energy, and for others if you go down that route. Reiki is powerful, and can have an enormous impact even when sticking to the steps given, and so this is by NO means me saying it is wrong how it’s taught now. But what I do think is that it’s important to know it isn’t the only way to practice it.

When I teach Reiki, I teach the official and traditional way, but I also make sure my students know that this isn’t the only way to practice Reiki. As with everything with energy, it is the intention behind it that moves it.

I make sure my students always feel empowered knowing there are many ways of doing everything with Reiki (and I always share multiple methods), because what matters isn't following rules perfectly, it's understanding and feeling the intention behind the practice and working with integrity. I have taught some incredibly powerful students, who are repeatedly told by THEIR clients that their healings were the most powerful and impactful Reiki healings they have ever had … and I guarantee most of them work intuitively and adapt from the traditional methods in some way, not because they don’t know them, but because they understand energy and intention enough to trust their own intuition - and their results speak for themselves. I make sure they feel empowered, learn to trust themselves, and never work on clients from a place of fear - because that's the worst thing you can do as a practitioner.

Now, I also want you to know that I am by no means here trying to downplay the attunement process either. As I said at the beginning, I LOVED receiving my attunements, and I LOVE giving them, they really are such an exciting part of the process. And the truth is, creating rituals or ceremonies around them HELPS. When you and the student create a space like that, whether in person or online, and you both hold such intention with what is happening - creating a sacred space will only ever give even more power to it. The difference is the practice isn’t seen as this passing on of gifts or abilities. I personally don't think it's healthy for a student to feel that way about the Reiki teacher, and I don’t think it is healthy for any Reiki teacher to be thinking that either. When I am giving attunements, I see them as a developing of what is already within them, I see my students as already holding the gifts, already holding the abilities, and we are simply helping them to open those up more.

As well, as I said before, the attunements really do also mark this new chapter in someone’s life starting, and that is exactly what learning Reiki is. It was one of the biggest milestones in my life that made the biggest difference to me as a person, how I felt, my work, business and purpose, and the start of my intuitive gifts opening … and that is absolutely something to have a ritual or a ceremony around (and absolutely something to make a big deal out of). I would never want to downplay the experience - because it is a big deal, and when someone learns Reiki, especially for the first time … it really is the start of something very special, and something that is with them for the rest of their life. And for that reason, despite the history and how they were originally, attunements remain one of my favourite things about my work, and something I look forward to giving every single time.

If you are looking to start or move forward in your energy healing or Reiki journey, and you connect with me as a teacher, I am currently enrolling for April and May attunements. Here is a bit more information on my courses:

Available levels:

Reiki Level 1: Learn to work with Reiki for self-healing. Perfect if you're new to energy work.
Reiki Level 2: Become a certified practitioner. Learn the symbols, distance healing, and how to work with clients.
Intuitive Energy Healing: Go beyond Reiki, and step into your Soul's healing & intuitive gifts.

All certifications include:

Online learning you can do at your own speed
1:1 attunements (including a full energy healing and intuitive reading)
Personal 1:1 support throughout
BONUS: Vibrational Living course - managing your energy day to day
BONUS: Healing the Nervous System module
BONUS (Level 2 & IEH): Facilitating group healings online or in person

Take a look at the courses here

P.S. I also have an intuitive development course available!

If you aren’t sure what level is right for you, or if you have any questions, please get in touch! Email me at hi@sarahlouisesutton.com or DM me on Instagram @sarah.louise.sutton

Thank you for being here, and sending you so much love!