The Attunement Process

The preceding chapter on learning Reiki was all about the different tools and techniques that Reiki healers use to heal themselves as well as the others.

This chapter talks about the “Attunement process”, or rites of initiation into Reiki – a practice that has been the epicenter of a fierce debate in the Reiki world.

Traditionally, Reiki has been taught from Master to disciple – it has passed from “hand to hand”. This has been a ritual that has been followed by the practitioners in the decades gone by. And as is a characteristic of rituals, this ritual now has become rigid and inflexible insofar as the insistence – by people who respect tradition and are conservative in nature – that the “Master to disciple” or “Attunement” policy
*must* be strictly adhered to.

According to these conservatives, any Reiki practitioner who practices Reiki is incomplete if a human mediator does not “attune” them.

Exactly what is this attunement process? What is the magic behind this attunement process which apparently makes it so compulsory for any Reiki learner to undergo attunement in order to attain Reiki nirvana? What goes on during the attunement?

We shall, in the pages ahead, take a look at the attunement process of the Usui Natural System of Healing, and try to address the questions that we have posed ourselves above. Then we shall take a look at an attunement process that I have formulated myself.

Attunement – The Traditional Way

This is how the traditional attunement process takes place:

At the appointed time, the Master and the attunement recipient gather in one room. The Master spends some time in meditation that grounds and centers them.

The Master formally informs the recipient that the attunement is their ceremony. It is suggested to them that they open themselves to all the experiences that are about to commence.

The Master stands before the recipient. The recipient sits before the Master, with enough space around them so that the Master can walk around the recipient easily.

The Master raises their own hands high, to the level of the shoulders, with their palms facing outward, towards the recipients. This is the classic, “opening-up” pose.

In this pose, the Master walks around the recipient and completes one circle. The Master then stands behind the recipient.

Part one of the ceremony begins. The Master holds the left hand palm over the head of the recipient. The left hand is meant to receive energy, while the right hand performs the function of giving.The Master draws the symbols with the right hand over the recipient’s crown.

Part II of the ceremony begins. The Master walks around to the front of the recipient.

The Master takes the hands of the recipients between their own. The hands are held together. This is the first symbolic gesture of “taking” the hands – the operative tools of the Reiki practitioner – of the recipient for attunement.

The Master draws each symbol one after the other on the dominant hand of the recipient. Each symbol is drawn once, and the Master silently chants the name of the symbol thrice.

The Master touches the forehead (the third eye) of the recipient lightly with their middle finger.

The Master draws each symbol one after the other over the third eye of the recipient, while chanting silently the name of the symbol thrice.

The Master now gently separates both the hands of the recipient.

The Master visualizes the master symbol in the palm of their dominant hand. This hand is held over the recipient’s less dominant hand, and the Master gently pats it. This symbolic gesture transfers the master symbol into the recipient.

Now the Master visualizes the master symbol in the palm of their less dominant hand. This hand is held over the recipient’s dominant hand, and the Master gently pats it. This symbolic gesture transfers the master symbol into the recipient.

The Master now blows gently in the space between the hands of the recipient. The Master then brings the palms of the recipient together again.

The Master then gently pushes the hands of the recipient towards the latter, as a symbolic gesture of “giving back” the hands to the recipient. The Master then touches the recipient in the heart area gently, symbolically signifying closure of the process.

The Master steps back and bows.

The Master walks around the recipient, and completes the circle by standing in front of them.

This is it. This completes the attunement process. After having gone through this ceremony, it is deemed that the Reiki learner is now a Reiki practitioner, and can heal themselves as well as others.

Some practitioners do talk about a twenty-one day cleansing process that precedes Reiki attunement, but my study of the original system propagated by Usui Sensei tells me that the cleansing process is an add-on and not part of the original prescription.

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