Sending Distance Healing – Is Prior Permission Really Necessary?

As a Reiki Master Teacher and Practitioner, I know that getting verbal permission from someone in need, before sending them distance healing, is a sticky ethical issue for Reiki, and other Healing Practitioners. This unwritten prior permission requirement has been a strongly emphasized rule among many healing modalities, for ages.

On the prior permission rule, I personally part with the majority of opinion. I’m frequently asked, by someone other than the recipient, to send distance healing, and I don’t ask for prior permission. I just send it…

I want to qualify that this discussion is not about sending distance healing, when permission has been verbally denied. Here we’re discussing cases, when prior permission has, in fact, not been sought.

Basis of the Prior Permission Rule

The basis of the prior permission rule, is that healers are urged not to impose healing against the free will of recipients. This is also the foundation of my case against the need to always ask for distance healing permission.

I know for a fact, that a healer can’t violate someone’s free will, by inflicting a healing on them, even if they really really want to…because I’ve tried. The recipient can either accept, or reject distance healing, even if they don’t consciously know it’s coming, and no harm ever results. Therefore, my personal view is, if there’s no harm, there’s no foul.

From Where is the Real Permision Granted?

I learned from my in-person Reiki sessions, that it’s not the recipient’s conscious self, where the real permission is granted, but rather their subconscious self.

If a recipient doesn’t want healing, on the subconscious level, they will reject it, even if they’ve signed permission, paid for the session, and are lying on my Reiki table. I’ve experienced client deflected Reiki, reversing up my arms, into my face, for an entire in-person hour session.

The real permission is not granted until healing is allowed to enter their body, and the healing effect occurs. The recipient has complete control over this. Therefore, I feel that if there is, in fact, a healing effect, either in person, or at a distance, the permission has been granted, whether verbally stated, or not.

Why Would Someone Reject Healing?

This begs the question, why would someone reject healing, on a subconscious level, while consciously requesting, and paying for it? There are a small percentage of clients, who ask for healing, yet something in their subconscious self will not allow it to be received, due to some perceived benefit from prolonging the illness.

This may be a misdirected need for self-punishment, the desire for the attention received from others, or receipt of financial restitution behind not accepting healing energy. Perhaps the client has confused their self-identity with the illness, or an important karmic situation has not as yet fully played out.

This doesn’t mean that healing won’t be allowed by the recipient’s subconscious, at a later date. Sometimes healing requires a consistent peeling back of the layers of blockages, before the recipient can open up to healing a particular issue.

Final Defense For Not Seeking Prior Permission

Ethically, I equate not asking for permission before sending distance healing, with not asking for permission before sending prayers to someone in need, which is a natural response upon hearing of suffering in another. We don’t ring up the recipient of our prayers, to ask if they will allow us to pray for them. We just pray…

Regardless, of my personal beliefs, I don’t push my take on the prior permission rule on my Reiki students. I instead, ask them to search their own hearts, for their own personal ruling on the need for prior permission. We know that Reiki can do no harm, and always goes where it’s needed, as long as it’s received by the recipient.

However, should the recipient reject distance Reiki, or another distance healing modality, it simply bounces off of them, and goes to another person nearby, or to the Earth, which is in dire need of healing. Again, no harm, no foul, I rest my case. Lol!