Quick Answer: If you experience cranial pressure, a headache, or nausea while practicing Reiki, I believe you may be trying too hard to direct the energy instead of allowing Reiki to flow. In my training, I teach Reiki as a self-guiding force. Relaxing, getting out of your head, allowing the Reiki to move through you, and using Energy Protection can make an enormous difference.
Are you learning Reiki and struggling with cranial pressure?
Maybe it starts as pressure in your head and gradually turns into something that feels almost like carsickness or motion sickness.
I see this frequently when teaching students live.
The good news?
You can learn how to correct it.
I've taught thousands of students Reiki over the years, and sometimes a student simply needs a little more help learning how to stop thinking about the process and begin feeling it.
Reiki Is a Self-Guiding Force
This is one of the most important things I want my students to understand:
Reiki is self-guiding.
All too often, we want to tell Reiki exactly what to do and exactly where to go.
We start thinking:
Am I doing this correctly?
Where should the energy be going?
Should I be feeling something right now?
And all of that thinking can interfere with surrendering to the experience.
I often tell my students:
Don't think. Feel.
With experience, you can become much more precise with how you work with energy. But when you're first learning, your job isn't to micromanage Reiki.
Your job is to learn how to channel it.
Why Do I Feel Cranial Pressure During Reiki?
In my experience, cranial pressure can be a sign that instead of allowing yourself to channel Reiki, you're pulling energy from the environment around you.
That can eventually create nausea or a motion-sickness type of feeling.
I've even experienced this while teaching students remotely.
When someone in one of my live trainings begins struggling with the technique, I can sometimes feel that cranial pressure myself. That's my signal to stop, go back, and help the student correct what they're doing.
This is one of the reasons I spend so much time teaching students how Reiki feels, rather than simply giving them instructions and sending them on their way.
Try This Reiki Exercise
Start by relaxing your shoulders.
Then think, feel, imagine, or visualize Reiki coming into the top of your head.
Allow it to travel down through your body, all the way to the center of the Earth.
Then feel it coming back up through your feet, traveling through your body and flowing out through the top of your head like a fountain.
For learning purposes, imagine Reiki flowing out through your right hand and into your left.
Then stop trying so hard.
Let Reiki do its thing.
If You're Still Struggling, Place Your Hands on Your Sacral Chakra
Put your thumbs into your belly button with your fingers pointing downward.
Slide your hands down slightly so you're cupping your Sacral Chakra.
Relax your shoulders again.
Breathe.
Feel the Reiki coming into the top of your head, down through your body to the center of the Earth, back up through your body, out through the top of your head, and through your hands.
Don't get caught up in perfecting the visualization.
The visualization is simply helping you learn the process.
Eventually, you won't need it.
Don't Forget to Bubble Up
Energy Protection is a critical part of the Mohr Method of Healing® Reiki Training System.
I teach my students to Bubble Up every time they channel Reiki—even when they're working on themselves.
Think of it like putting on your seat belt when you get into a car.
It's simply what you do.
Think of something that gives you a genuinely wonderful feeling.
Maybe it's holding an animal, hiking outside, sitting by a fire, taking a bath, being wrapped up under a blanket, or remembering somewhere you felt completely happy and safe.
Feel that feeling within yourself.
Then imagine your protective bubble surrounding you.
Don't overcomplicate it.
You're the Surfer, Not the Wave
This is one of my favorite ways to explain Reiki.
Reiki is the wave. You are the surfer.
You aren't trying to be the wave.
You're allowing the wave to carry you.
Think about learning to ride a bicycle.
In the beginning, you're thinking about everything.
Once you've learned, you aren't riding down the street thinking:
Don't fall over. Don't fall over. Don't fall over.
You just ride.
Reiki can become the same way.
Eventually, You'll Just Know Reiki Is On
When I'm channeling Reiki now, I don't consciously walk myself through the entire visualization.
I don't have to.
I simply know Reiki is on.
I've also learned the physical evidence my own body gives me. My ears become red, my chest can become red, and I burp.
Your evidence may be completely different.
Your hands may heat up.
You might experience tingling, vibration, pressure, temperature changes, or another sensation that becomes unmistakable to you.
Collect your evidence.
That's how you begin building confidence in what you're feeling.
Master the Flow Before Moving On
If you're experiencing cranial pressure while practicing, I encourage you to work on this basic process before moving into treatments on other people or Remote Healing.
You don't need to rush.
Master the feeling of allowing Reiki to flow without pushing, forcing, or overthinking it.
Once your body recognizes the process, it becomes easier and easier.
And eventually, you may not need to consciously think about the process at all.
You simply turn Reiki on.
Want Help Learning to Channel Reiki?
If you're struggling to feel Reiki, experiencing cranial pressure, or simply want validation that you're practicing correctly, you don't have to figure it out alone.
I offer Reiki training, live practice classes, monthly Live Q&As, and opportunities to receive hands-on feedback as you develop your skills.
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