Booking a Distant Reiki Session? Here's How To Prepare Your Room So It Feels Like My Reiki Studio

One of the lovely things about distance Reiki is that you don't actually need very much to receive it.

You don't need to cleanse your house first. You don't need the right crystal. You don't need to meditate, set an intention or get yourself into the right energetic state.

But if you've booked an online Reiki session with me, there is something quite nice you can do: recreate some of the Vibe Alchemy studio experience at home.

My in-person Reiki sessions are deliberately multi-sensory. There’s music, scent, soft bedding, an eye covering, weighted support and crystals around the table. None of those things are what makes Reiki work. I use them because I want the physical environment to support what we're doing energetically.

They also give your body lots of small signals that it is safe to stop paying attention to everything else for a while.

So, if you feel like making an occasion of your distance session, here are some of the things I use in my Auckland Reiki studio—and very simple ways to recreate them at home.

First: make yourself physically comfortable

Start with wherever you'd genuinely be happy lying down for the next hour.

That might be your bed, sofa, a daybed or even a comfortable spot on the floor. You can also recline rather than lie flat if that feels better for your body.

Wear something comfortable, make sure the room is a temperature you like, and grab a blanket if you tend to get cold when you're resting.

Then comes one of the less glamorous secrets of a comfortable Reiki table: support under the knees.

In the studio, I position and cushion the body so you're not using unnecessary effort simply to lie there. At home, a pillow, bolster or a couple of rolled-up towels beneath your knees can make lying on your back much more comfortable, particularly through the lower back.

The question isn't really, "How am I supposed to lie for Reiki?" It's: what would make my body need to do the least amount of work for the next hour?

If you have a weighted blanket, this is a very good time to use it

Weighted support is one of the elements I use in my in-person sessions, and clients regularly comment on how lovely it feels alongside the Reiki.

So if you already own a weighted blanket and enjoy using it, I highly recommend bringing it into your distance session.

You don't need to buy one specially. An ordinary blanket is completely fine. But if weighted pressure is something your body finds comforting, this is an excellent excuse to get it out.

Steal my extremely sophisticated eye-covering technique

You could absolutely use a sleep mask.

But in the studio I use something much simpler: a clean, soft washcloth.

Folded gently over the eyes, it blocks some of the visual input from the room and creates that lovely little sense of disappearing into your own world for a while.

It also means you don't need to buy a special Reiki accessory. Your bathroom cupboard has probably already supplied one.

Add scent—if scent is something you enjoy

Scent is another part of the experience I create in the studio, although I'm working with it on more than one level.

During Reiki, I use sprays I've created with specific combinations of flower and crystal essences, each designed around a particular energetic signature or aspect of the aura. As part of Responsive Reiki, I may be guided to use one of these during your session to bring—or “flavour”—the Reiki with those particular energetic qualities. I'll still be doing this at my end during a distance session, just as I would if you were lying on the table in front of me.

You don't need to try to recreate that part at home. Instead, if you enjoy scent, you might like to diffuse an essential oil that appeals to you or choose something you're intuitively drawn towards that day. That gives you the sensory experience of scent while I continue working responsively with the energetic elements of the session at my end.

And don't worry too much about what an essential oil is supposed to make you feel. If lavender takes you straight to your grandmother's bathroom, and that isn't a place that evokes tranquillity, lavender is probably not going to make your Reiki session more relaxing.

Choose something that smells good to you.

If you're sensitive to fragrance or simply don't enjoy it, skip this part completely. I'll still be working with the energetic qualities of my sprays at my end; you don't need to physically smell them for me to incorporate them into the distance Reiki.

Choose a crystal that calls out to you

If you have crystals at home, you might like to choose one or two to have with you during your session.

You don't need to work out which crystal you're supposed to use. Have a look at what you own and notice what you're drawn towards that day. You can place it beside you or hold it if that's comfortable.

I'll be working with crystals at my end too, selected through dowsing for your current energetic state and incorporated into the Reiki transmission. One of the interesting things about distance sessions is comparing what you've intuitively reached for with what I've independently selected—there's often an energetic narrative or relationship between the two.

So don't overthink your choice. If something calls out to you, bring it along.

Add the soundtrack

Sound is a big part of my in-person Reiki sessions.

I use music created by healing and sound artists whose work I've specifically purchased for professional use. For distance sessions, I'll give you access to a soundtrack option using the artists' own music available on YouTube, so you can create a similar sound environment at home.

You can use that, choose music of your own, or receive your Reiki in silence.

If you're sharing your home with other people, or you have: neighbours, traffic, children, flatmates or a charmingly vocal cat competing for your attention, headphones can be particularly useful.

Just connect and test them before your session, make sure they're charged, start whatever you're listening to, and then leave the technology alone.

Reduce the interruptions you can easily reduce

This doesn't require transforming your bedroom into a sacred temple.

It's really just about removing the obvious things that are likely to pull your attention back into ordinary life.

Put your notifications on silent. Let anyone else at home know that you'd prefer not to be disturbed for a while. Shut the door if you can. Make sure you're warm enough. Go to the bathroom before you settle in.

Then put the phone down.

The purpose isn't to create a perfectly controlled environment. It's to remove some of the little demands that would otherwise keep asking for your attention.

Why I bother with all of this in the studio

When I first began developing the Vibe Alchemy Reiki experience, I wasn't just trying to give the room a vibe.

I was thinking about what might help someone settle.

A comfortable body settles and receives Reiki in a way that a tense one does not. An eye covering reduces visual input. Sound frequencies amplify the energetic signature, and I intentionally work with tracks that reflect the softness of the Reiki energy. Warmth, weight, peaceful scent and privacy can all contribute to a subjective sense of comfort and safety.

Put enough of those small cues together and, for many people, it becomes easier to settle into the experience rather than spending the first half of it adjusting to their surroundings.

That's why the physical environment is part of my nervous-system-aware approach to Reiki.

And it's also why none of these things are requirements.

If scent makes you uncomfortable, don't use scent. If headphones annoy you, don't wear them. If lying on your back hurts, don't lie on your back. If the thought of assembling crystals, blankets and essential oils feels like another task on an already overwhelming day, forget the whole list and get into bed.

The environment is supposed to make receiving easier, not give you homework!

Your at-home Vibe Alchemy setup

If you do want the full version, your little home Reiki nest might include:

• somewhere comfortable to lie down or recline

• comfortable clothes

• a pillow, bolster or rolled towels beneath your knees

• a blanket, or a weighted blanket if you already have one and enjoy it

• a clean washcloth or sleep mask over your eyes

• a favourite scent or essential-oil diffuser

• one or two crystals that call out to you

• your supplied Reiki soundtrack, your own music or silence

• headphones if they'll help reduce distractions

• notifications switched off and a little protected time without interruptions

  
  

And that's it.

No energetic preparation required. No test you need to pass before I can work with you. No need to worry that forgetting your crystal has somehow ruined the Reiki.

You're simply borrowing some of the same sensory elements I use when someone comes into my studio and creating your own version of that experience at home.

Make it elaborate if that sounds fun.

Make it extremely simple if that sounds better.

Either way, when your appointment time arrives, get comfortable, start your music if you're using it, and let me take it from there.