What Is Reiki? How I Practice Reiki at Soulful Growth Academy

This post is part of the Reiki Orientation Series at Soulful Growth Academy. If you’re new to Reiki, I recommend starting with: What Is Reiki? How I Practice Reiki at Soulful Growth Academy.

I can remember my first introduction to Reiki through YouTube videos.

At the time, I had just begun learning about chakras and energy systems. I was going through a life transition and looking for something that could help me understand my sensitivity. I didn’t know how to explain what I was feeling.

A friend suggested I try crystals.

I replied, “Crystals?”

She said, “Yeah, let me explain.”

As she began talking to me about crystals and stones, I became more interested in their energy. She suggested a few crystals for me to try, so I went to a local metaphysical shop and found the crystals she recommended, plus a hematite ring. I also picked up a mini book on chakras because the first chakra book I found was a little too much for me to grasp at that time.

The store owner was knowledgeable and told me I had made a good selection. She told me to come back if I needed anything else.

I still wasn’t sure about all of this, but I was willing to see what it was about.

I put the hematite ring on my finger and started driving home. About ten minutes from my house, I noticed a sensation in my ring finger, almost like something was pulling downward or melting away.

I remember saying, “Hey, I can feel this ring. I feel a sensation in my finger.”

It didn’t hurt. It was actually pretty cool.

At that moment, I was hooked,  not because I understood everything, but because I felt there was something there worth learning more about. I wanted to understand energy management and how simple tools might help me ground, settle, and make sense of what I was sensing.

As I kept searching, I came across Reiki.

At first, Reiki reminded me of laying-on-of-hands practices I had seen in religious spaces, but Reiki offered a different framework and language for energy, presence, and care. As I learned more, I found many different claims about Reiki online. Some of them felt grounded. Some of them did not. I stayed curious and skeptical.

I wanted to understand subtle energy in a way that felt practical, steady, and real.

That led me to my first Reiki teacher.

Since 2020, I have continued studying Reiki, the subtle body, restoration, meditation, and body-based practices. I have also continued my own restoration work, and that has shaped how I practice Reiki now.

That first experience did not answer all my questions. It opened the door to better ones:

What was I actually sensing in my body?
How do we ground ourselves?
What does it mean to receive support?
How do we work with sensitivity without becoming overwhelmed by it?
And how can Reiki be practiced in a way that is steady, ethical, and rooted in restoration?

So, let’s start with the basics.

What Is Reiki?

Reiki is commonly translated as universal life force energy.

In the lineages I have studied, Rei points to universal presence, divine intelligence, or higher wisdom. Ki refers to life force energy,  the vitality that moves through living things.

Reiki is a Japanese practice often used for stress reduction, relaxation, and energetic support. Many Reiki traditions describe it as a hands-on or hands-near practice where the practitioner facilitates Reiki while the receiver rests.

At Soulful Growth Academy, I describe Reiki as a restorative energy practice that supports relaxation, steadiness, and reconnection with yourself.

That is the language that feels most honest for my work.

I do not see Reiki as something I use to prove how powerful I am. I do not see it as something I use to diagnose, fix, or tell people what is wrong with them.

I see Reiki as one way to create a grounded space where the body can settle, the breath can soften, and the person receiving can return to themselves with more steadiness.

Reiki Is Part of a Larger Energy-Awareness Tradition

Different traditions use different words for vitality, breath, energy, or lifeforce.

Some traditions use words like prana. Some use chi or qi. Reiki uses the language of Ki.

In my work, I use the word lifeforce to describe the felt sense of vitality, steadiness, and inner aliveness that helps us move through real life with more clarity and care.

This matters because many women I work with are not just tired. They are carrying a lot. They are rethinking what fits. They are realizing that something in their life needs to shift, but they may not have language for what they are feeling yet.

Sometimes the first step is not finding a perfect answer.

Sometimes the first step is slowing down enough to notice:

What am I carrying?
What feels misaligned?
What is my body trying to show me?
What do I need to return to myself?

That is where Reiki can be supportive.

How I Practice Reiki at Soulful Growth Academy

In my practice, Reiki is not a performance, a psychic reading, or a promise of specific outcomes.

It is a restorative session where I facilitate Reiki while you rest, breathe, and allow your body to settle.

A Virtual Reiki Session with me is simple and grounded. We begin with a brief check-in and intention. You get comfortable in your own space. I play soft music while you rest. The Reiki portion is mostly quiet, with the option for brief location cues if that helps you feel more comfortable. Near the end, I gently guide you back to your breath, your body, and the room before we close.

My sessions emphasize restoration, relaxation, grounding, body-based noticing, quiet reflection, steadiness, and gentle aftercare.

You do not have to do anything during the session except rest, receive, and allow yourself to settle.

If your mind wanders to your to-do list, the rest of your day, or whether you are “doing it right,” you can gently return to your breath. You do not have to force anything. Breathe, rest, and allow yourself to settle.

My role is to hold a grounded space and facilitate Reiki.

Your Body • Mind • Soul do the work of receiving and integrating what supports you.

The practitioner does not decide what needs to be released or when it should be released. The practitioner holds space while the body and mind respond in their own order.

What Reiki Is Not in My Practice

It is just as important for me to explain what Reiki is not.

In my practice, Reiki is not psychotherapy. You are not receiving treatment for a mental health condition.

Reiki is not medical care. I do not diagnose symptoms, interpret medical concerns, or tell you what is happening inside your body.

Reiki is not crisis support. If you are in crisis or immediate danger, please contact emergency services or an appropriate crisis resource in your area.

Reiki is not fortune-telling, a full energy report, or a promise of specific outcomes.

Reiki is also not a space where I tell you your chakras are broken, closed, punctured, or leaking. That is not the language or lens I use. I approach the chakra system as a reflective map rather than a diagnosis.

You are whole whether or not you ever book a Reiki session with me.

Reiki can be meaningful, calming, and supportive, but it does not replace medical care, mental health care, legal support, or any other professional service that may be needed.

If something physical or mental health-related needs professional care, it belongs to the appropriate licensed provider.

Reiki and Restoration

One reason Reiki can feel supportive is that it creates conditions for rest.

During a session, you are invited to slow down, breathe, lie down, or sit comfortably, listen to soft music, and let your body settle.

In my practice, restoration means coming back to yourself after life, responsibility, relational patterns, or survival have pulled you away from your own steadiness, vitality, and truth. 

A Reiki session can give you space to begin that process. Not by forcing answers. Not by making dramatic claims. Not by telling you something is wrong with your energy.

But by creating a pause.

A place to breathe.

A place to notice.

A place to receive.

A place where you are not responsible for managing everything for a few moments.

That matters.

I do not claim that Reiki cures or fixes. I do believe creating space for the body to settle matters. Reiki is one way to do that.

Why I Use a Restoration Lens

I use restoration language because many women do not need another person telling them what is wrong with them.

They need a space where they can slow down enough to notice what they are carrying, what feels misaligned, and what may need care, clarity, support, or release.

Restoration is not about becoming someone else.

It is about returning to yourself with more steadiness.

It is about noticing what has been overextended, what has been unattended, what has been pushed down, and what is asking to be restored.

Sometimes that restoration begins with a quiet session where your only job is to rest.

What a Reiki Session May Support

A Reiki session may support:

• relaxation

• grounding

• feeling more settled

• reconnecting with the body

• quiet reflection

• emotional softening

• a sense of steadiness

• awareness of what your body, mind, or soul may be asking for

I use the word may on purpose.

Every person experiences Reiki differently. Some people notice warmth, heaviness, lightness, emotion, or deep calm. Some people fall asleep. Some people notice nothing specific at all.

There is no “right” Reiki experience.

The invitation is to rest, receive, and notice without forcing meaning.

Who Reiki May Be a Good Fit For

A Reiki session may be a good fit if you are:

• carrying a lot and needing space to settle

• rethinking what fits in your life or spiritual practice

• wanting a grounded restorative experience

• curious about energy work but not wanting fear-based or exaggerated claims

• ready to reconnect with yourself through Body • Mind • Soul

This is not a crisis space.

This is a restoration space.

Reiki Is One Room in the Soulful Growth House

At Soulful Growth Academy, Reiki is one of the restorative doorways.

It is not the whole house.

My larger work includes reflection, writing, values, boundaries, relational pattern awareness, body-based practice, and lifeforce restoration.

Reiki is one way to begin slowing down enough to listen.

And sometimes, slowing down enough to listen is the beginning of coming back to yourself.

If you are curious about receiving Reiki in this grounded way, you can learn more about Virtual Reiki Sessions here: Your Journey Options.

Continue the Reiki Orientation Series:
Next: What to Expect During a Virtual Reiki Session