Frequently Asked Questions

Reiki is a gentle energy practice rooted in Japanese tradition that supports your nervous system in shifting from states of chronic stress into rest and restoration. It works with your body’s bio-electrical field, the same field measured by EEGs and ECGs, to bring coherence and balance to your system. When your energetic field settles, your nervous system often follows, allowing your body to access its natural capacity for healing and regulation.

Research from institutions including Harvard, Yale, and the National Institutes of Health has explored how Reiki supports overall balance in the body’s systems. When your system is balanced, self-healing is optimized. Reiki creates conditions in which the body can down-regulate from fight-or-flight states, allowing the parasympathetic nervous system to come back online. This is the part of your nervous system responsible for rest, recovery, and restoration.

Good news, no, but having an open mind and believing in your body’s innate ability to heal itself will go a long way. Your mind doesn’t need to believe in Reiki for your body to experience relief and lasting change. Reiki works with your body’s natural bio-electrical field and nervous system responses, which function independently of conscious belief. Many people who approach Reiki with curiosity or even skepticism notice tangible shifts in how they feel, how they sleep, and how they move through emotional intensity.

Reiki works beautifully alongside all medical care, therapy, medication, meditation, and lifestyle changes. It enhances your emotional capacity, reduces overwhelm, and creates internal space, which often makes your other supportive tools easier to access and engage with. Many people find that Reiki deepens the effectiveness of their existing practices.

Reiki is a complementary holistic practice for nervous system and energy body support. Sessions are mostly quiet and do not involve a lot of processing through words. I will welcome you into your session and we’ll settle in and I may also offer brief reflections at the end of your session depending on what feels aligned, but the core of the work is quiet nervous system regulation and energetic balancing. 

The better question might be: why not both? I don’t think of Reiki as a replacement for meditation, but rather as a necessary complement to it. Both practices support nervous system regulation, but they do so in fundamentally different ways, and understanding this distinction can help you build a more complete and sustainable wellness practice.

Meditation is an active form of nervous system regulation. It asks you to do the work of directing your attention, observing your thoughts without judgment, and learning to detach from the constant stream of mental and physical sensation. This is incredibly valuable, particularly for neurodivergent individuals, because it strengthens executive function, builds the capacity for sustained focus, and cultivates a kind of witnessing awareness that allows you to observe yourself from a calmer, more distant vantage point. The calm that meditation produces is real, but it comes as a byproduct of this active, intentional practice of awareness and focus. You are training your brain to do something it may not naturally do on its own, and that training has profound long-term benefits.

Reiki, on the other hand, is an entirely passive form of nervous system regulation. Rather than asking you to generate your own calm through effort and attention, Reiki invites you to simply receive. There is no focus to sustain, no thoughts to redirect, no attention to anchor. You lie down, you allow the energy to move where it needs to go, and your nervous system responds by settling into a state of deep rest and repair. For those whose brains are already working overtime just to get through the day, this passive reception can offer a kind of relief that active practices cannot. Research shows that Reiki activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing heart rate and blood pressure and signaling to the body that it is safe to let go.

The two practices serve different purposes and meet different needs. Meditation builds your capacity to regulate yourself through awareness and focus. Reiki offers your nervous system a chance to be held and supported without any effort on your part. Together, they create a more complete picture of what it means to care for a sensitive or neurodivergent nervous system: sometimes you need to strengthen your ability to show up for yourself, and sometimes you need permission to stop trying so hard and simply receive.

Reiki doesn’t require physical touch, visual cues, or physical proximity to be effective. During your session, I connect with your energetic field through trained attunement, focused intention, and a regulated presence. I practice the same way online as I do in-person, but without all the sensory overwhelm, physical hurdles to get dressed and arrive at a particular location, or pressure to perform or mask.

I often use a seven-stone layout as a physical anchor for your body to represent your chakras, placing each stone intentionally to represent your main energy centers. This helps ground the session somatically while allowing your nervous system to settle without needing to “do” anything.

You can rest, lie down, sit up, turn your camera off, close your eyes, or move around. The work meets you exactly where you are.

This is one of the most common questions people ask, and it deserves a thoughtful answer. The short version is: even if you believe Reiki works primarily through the placebo effect, that doesn’t make it any less effective or valuable. But there is also growing evidence that something measurable is happening in the body beyond what placebo alone can explain.

Let’s start with what we know about placebo: many studies comparing “real” Reiki to “sham” Reiki (where a practitioner mimics the movements without channeling energy) find that both produce positive outcomes like reduced anxiety, less pain, and increased relaxation. This suggests that the experience itself matters: the quiet, nurturing environment, the focused attention, the permission to lie still and be cared for. These elements create a calming ritual that signals safety to the nervous system, and that signal has real physiological effects regardless of whether you believe in energy healing. If the placebo effect is what allows your body to finally relax and begin repairing itself, that is not nothing. That is your nervous system doing exactly what it is designed to do when it feels safe.

At the same time, research also points to physiological changes during Reiki sessions that go beyond what we typically attribute to placebo. Studies have shown that Reiki can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, leading to measurable decreases in heart rate and blood pressure, as well as increased heart rate variability (a marker of nervous system flexibility and resilience). These are objective, measurable outcomes that suggest something is happening at the level of the body’s stress response, not just in the mind’s perception of relief.

So is Reiki “just” a placebo? Perhaps the more useful question is: does it matter? If you find relief, relaxation, or comfort from Reiki, whether you attribute that to energy, to the power of belief, or to the simple act of being held in a calm and caring space, the benefit is still real. Reiki is not a cure for any condition, and it should never replace conventional medical treatment. But as a safe, non-invasive complement to the care you are already receiving, it offers something that many people find genuinely supportive and life-changing, regardless of how they explain why it works.

Life force energy is the vital, non-physical energy that flows through all living things and sustains our health and vitality. This concept appears across cultures and healing traditions throughout history: it is known as Ki in Japanese, Qi in Chinese medicine, and Prana in Indian philosophy. While the terminology varies, the underlying idea remains consistent. There is an energy that keeps us alive, and when that energy flows freely, we experience health and well-being. When it becomes blocked or depleted, we may experience physical illness, emotional distress, or a general sense of being unwell.

One way to understand this is to think of life force energy like a river flowing through your body. When the current is strong and smooth, you feel healthy, vibrant, and resilient. But stress, injury, illness, or emotional trauma can create blockages or stagnation in that river, disrupting the natural flow. Over time, these disruptions can manifest as physical symptoms, chronic tension, anxiety, or a feeling of being stuck. Reiki works by helping to clear those blockages and restore the natural movement of energy through your system, allowing your body and mind to return to a state of balance.

Another helpful analogy is to imagine that your body runs on an internal battery powered by this life force energy. When you are stressed, overwhelmed, or unwell, your battery becomes depleted and you may feel exhausted, foggy, or emotionally drained. Reiki helps to recharge and balance this energy system, giving your body the support it needs to activate its own natural healing capacity. Rather than adding something foreign to your system, Reiki simply replenishes what has been lost and removes what has been blocking the flow.

While life force energy itself is invisible and cannot be measured with current scientific instruments, many people report tangible sensations during a Reiki session. These may include feelings of warmth, gentle tingling, a sense of heaviness or lightness, or a deep and profound relaxation. These experiences are signs that energy is moving and rebalancing within your body, even if you cannot see it happening.

Whether you understand life force energy as a literal phenomenon or as a useful framework for describing how stress, tension, and trauma accumulate in the body, the experience remains the same. People can feel stuck, depleted, or disconnected and after Reiki, many people feel lighter, clearer, and more at ease. You do not need to believe in life force energy for Reiki to be effective, but understanding the concept can help you make sense of what you may feel during and after a session.

I’ll welcome you at the start of our session and give you space to share anything you’d like or ask any brief questions. If you don’t have anything to share, we’ll get started right away, skipping small talk so you receive the full time with Reiki.

Before I begin, I may choose to play Hz frequency music during the session based on what feels aligned for our work together. You’re welcome to listen or mute it if you prefer silence. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, you’ll still experience the subtle physical vibrations of the Hz frequency music in addition to the Reiki energetic work itself.

You can let me know (either through the intake form or verbally before we begin) whether you’d like me to gently bring you back to full consciousness at the end of the session, or if you’d rather I close quietly so you can continue resting or meditating without interruption.

I often use a seven-stone layout as a physical anchor for your body to represent your chakras, placing each stone intentionally to represent your main energy centers. This helps ground the session somatically while allowing your nervous system to settle without needing to “do” anything.

You can rest, lie down, sit up, turn your camera off, close your eyes, or move around. The work meets you exactly where you are.

No, your camera can be off for the entire session if that feels more comfortable. You’re welcome to lie in bed, sit in the dark, keep the lights low, turn your screen off, curl under a blanket, fidget, stim, or move however your body needs to move. Reiki doesn’t require visibility or complete stillness, just openness and willingness. 

This work is built for people whose emotions hit harder than others’, who recover more slowly after stress, whose inner world feels heavily cyclical or easily overwhelmed. It’s for people who struggle with meditation, or find that other wellness tools that work for others don’t seem to work for them, or who want support that doesn’t ask them to perform or exhaust themselves to access. 

This work tends to resonate most with people who prefer slower, gentler modalities over high-intensity interventions. If you’re looking for an energetic-support practice that honors your capacity and doesn’t require you to perform or explain yourself, this is a good fit.

This space is open to anyone of any gender identity who experiences cyclical or seasonal emotional patterns, PMDD or PMS, hormone-related shifts, neurodivergent nervous system sensitivity, burnout cycles, overstimulation, or difficulty regulating after stress. While the majority of my clients are women (including trans women) because PMDD and cyclical shifts disproportionately affect them, all are welcome. If your inner world is cyclical, seasonal, or easily overwhelmed, you belong here.

You do not need an official diagnosis. There are far too many systemic, financial, logistical, racial, and gendered barriers to receiving formal diagnoses. I work with many people who self-identify through lived experience, pattern recognition, or community affirmation. If you resonate with PMDD-like cycles, hormonal shifts, emotional intensification, or post-ovulatory dysregulation, you are welcome here.

Research on Reiki and hormonal health suggests that regular sessions can support the body in regulating stress responses, which in turn may influence hormonal balance. When the nervous system is chronically activated, it can disrupt the endocrine system and intensify cyclical emotional patterns. Reiki helps bring the nervous system into a more regulated state, which can create space for the body to restore hormonal equilibrium.

Many people living with PMDD or cyclical emotional shifts report meaningful changes after consistent Reiki sessions. Common experiences include feeling emotionally steadier during days that normally feel volatile or unpredictable, recovering more quickly after emotional flooding or sensory overload, experiencing less overwhelm when the luteal phase begins, sleeping more fully even during hormonally intense weeks, moving through emotional waves without losing entire days or weeks to shutdown, and noticing fewer days where everything feels unmanageable. People often share that Reiki gives them a sense of internal calm they haven’t been able to access through meditation, breathwork, or nervous system tools alone. The practice seems to work at a deeper level, beneath conscious effort, allowing the body to recalibrate in ways that feel both gentle and profound.

Neurodivergent nervous systems often live in states of continuous heightened arousal, constantly scanning, reacting, compensating, masking, and managing sensory and emotional input at lightning speed. The parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for rest and recovery, often doesn’t get much opportunity to activate. Reiki invites the parasympathetic system back online through cues of safety like warmth, stillness, breath, and grounded presence.

For people with ADHD, Reiki can help reduce hyperactivity and impulsiveness, when desired, by supporting a calmer, more focused mental state. Many people report feeling clearer, lighter, or more settled after sessions, not because Reiki fixes ADHD, but because it gives the nervous system space to breathe between all the demands. For autistic individuals who experience heightened sensory input, difficulties with interoception, and persistent nervous system dysregulation, Reiki offers a gentle, sensory-friendly practice that doesn’t require conversation or performance. The session is paced entirely by your comfort, and for non-speaking or minimally verbal people, the healing happens through presence rather than words.

Common benefits that neurodivergent people experience through Reiki include reduced anxiety and stress, improved sleep quality and duration, better emotional regulation during transitions or meltdowns, decreased sensory overwhelm, improved interoception, faster recovery times, enhanced focus and concentration, and a greater sense of feeling grounded in their bodies. Because Reiki is non-invasive, quiet, and can be done without touch, it’s especially helpful for people who are sensitive to light, sound, or physical contact.

You do not need a diagnosis. I fully honor self-identification. Many people are never able to access formal assessments due to cost, stigma, masking, or systemic barriers. If you know or suspect that you’re neurodivergent or experience the world differently, you belong here.

PMDD goes far beyond typical premenstrual symptoms. It often includes debilitating mood shifts, physical pain, insomnia, sensory sensitivity, brain fog, and cyclical depression. Many people describe feeling like a completely different person during their luteal phase, experiencing what I call a very deep “inner winter” every month.

Many people live with PMDD for years before receiving a diagnosis due to systemic barriers including lack of provider awareness, diagnostic criteria requiring months of symptom tracking, and dismissal by healthcare providers. Self-identification can be transformative and even life-saving when formal diagnosis feels out of reach. If you recognize yourself in these patterns, you deserve support whether or not you have an official diagnosis.

Cancellations made less than 24 hours before a scheduled one-to-one session, as well as missed appointments or no-shows, result in the session being forfeited.

For package holders, the missed session will count as one used session.

No. Group Reiki sessions, nature circles, and other live or date-specific events cannot be rescheduled.

Because these offerings are tied to a specific date, time, location, and group capacity:
    •    Cancellations are not eligible for rescheduling
    •    Cancellations are not eligible for refunds
    •    Missed events are forfeited

Please book live events only if you’re confident you can attend.

Yes. One-to-one sessions may be rescheduled with at least 24 hours’ notice using the link in your Acuity confirmation email or by contacting me directly.

This applies to:
    •    individual one-to-one sessions
    •    sessions booked as part of a package

Rescheduling preserves the value of your session and does not constitute a refund.

Appointments are scheduled based on current calendar availability. 

New appointment times are released on a rolling basis.

All services are non-refundable, including one-to-one sessions, packages, group sessions, live events, and digital products. Once purchased, payments cannot be returned.

Reiki is an experiential modality, and results vary from person to person. If you’re unsure whether this work is right for you, you’re welcome to reach out with questions or book a complimentary introductory call before scheduling.

If I ever need to cancel due to illness, capacity, or emergency, you will be offered a full refund (unless you would like the opportunity to reschedule for a different time/day).

Yes, I hold a limited number of sliding scale spots for people experiencing financial hardship. Please reach out through the contact form if you’d like to be considered. I do my best to make this work accessible, especially for those who genuinely need support but are navigating difficult circumstances.

I do not collect, store, or document anything you may share during a session. Our Privacy Policy covers this clearly: information shared in sessions is voluntary, not recorded, not stored, not tracked, and not added to any file. Click here to read our Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy