Why Does Reiki Require an Attunement?

Many of my beginner Reiki healing students, have asked, why an attunement (initiation ritual) is required for Reiki certification. The Reiki method requires an attunement at each of its 3 certification Levels, but it’s the initial Level 1 attunement that is required for the student to actually begin to channel and run Reiki.

For this attunement requirement, Western Reiki Teachers take a lot of heat, due to the fact that other hand healing modalities, currently practiced in the West, such as; Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch, Quantum Touch, and Reconnective Healing, do not require attunements in their certification training.

Reiki’s Eastern Roots

My answer to the question of, why does Reiki require an attunement, begins with the explanation that Reiki is not a modality originating in the West like those listed above, but rather is an import from Pre-World II Japan.

Thus, Reiki’s development in Japan by its founder, Mikao Usui, was strongly influenced by the Eastern philosophies (not to be confused with religions) of that part of the world.

The term attunement, in Reiki, refers to an initiation into a specific Level of practice, similar to initiations historically performed in Eastern spiritual practices e.g., Yoga, Buddhism, Meditation, and Martial Arts. In Eastern Philosophy, practices are passed down from teacher to student along with the important initiation into that practice.

An age old Eastern philosophical belief, is that if one enters into a spiritual practice, without an initiation from a teacher, they’ll receive some mediocre benefits, because all spiritual practice is beneficial. However, if one has received the initiation into the practice from a teacher, they’ll receive the full blown benefits, intended from the practice.

This explains why Reiki, with its Eastern influence, still carries its, from-teacher-to-student, attunement process.

Is an Attunement Really Necessary, for Reiki to Work?

Once my students understand that the Reiki attunement is an “Eastern thing,” their next question is, but is the attunement actually necessary to channel Reiki energy? This question has been much argued, with strong opinions on both sides, but my answer is unequivocally, yes.

Certainly, a Reiki attunement is not a necessity to be an effective hand healing practitioner, or the non-attunement healing modalities wouldn’t have any clients. They all are, in fact, quite effective for their clients.

It’s all energy! right? We are all a product of energy, possessing a personal energy field, and swimming in a larger common energy field (Universal Energy Field). We can all transmit energy from our personal energy field, to the personal energy field of another, right?. Exactly! That’s the point of Reiki’s initial Reiki 1 attunement.

The difference in Reiki, from other old, and new, hand healing modalities, is not only the attunement, but also that, after the attunement, Reiki practitioners are then channeling healing energy from the Universal Life-force field, rather than transferring their personal energy into the Client, depleting their personal store of vital energy.

This was the legacy of Usui Sensei, who discovered a way to not use his own energy in hand healing. Usui Sensei’s success in developing a hand healing modality that transfers energy directly from the Universal Life-force, rather than personal energy, and his attunement process to accomplish this, was a giant leap over other hand healing methods, of his, and the present time.

Frankly, Reiki teachers believe, since it’s the Reiki Level 1 attunement that initially opens the student to channel Reiki from the Universal Life-force, it follows that, a hand healing practitioner who hasn’t received a Reiki Level 1 attunement, is transfering their personal energy to others, rather than Universal Life-force energy.

How Does the Initial Reiki 1 Attunement Work?

To my students, I explain the attunement process, as a ritual where I’m “acting out” my intention to pass the ability to the student to channel Reiki from the Universal Life-force Field to themselves and others, and the student is “acting out” their intention to receive that ability, by participating in the ritual. The acting out of an intention, makes it much more effective.

Thus far, I’ve not had an instance when the attunement process has failed to deliver just as it’s promised to do.

Although, it seems like magic, that before participating in this attunement ritual the student is not channeling Reiki from the Universal Life-force, and immediately after the attunement, they are. It’s my belief that the attunement is effective mostly due to intention, and only minimally due to technique.

Whether you agree, or disagree with the necessity of Reiki attunements, they remain a vital portion of the Reiki healing modality, and are what distinguishes Reiki from the other hand healing modalities. Plainly, you will not receive a Reiki certification without receiving an attunement at each level of Reiki training.

Therefore, those would-be Reiki practitioners, who are opposed to the attunements in Reiki, might find one of the non-attunement modalities more to their liking. I’ve trained in many of them, and find them to be effective in transferring energy to clients.

I just prefer Reiki because of, rather than in spite of, its Eastern spiritual roots, and because with Reiki, I’m not transferring and depleting my personal energy.