How Do You Develop Sensitivity? Techniques For Developing Sensitivity

These techniques for developing sensitivity do not need the Reiki symbols, but they are sometimes used in conjunction with them. Indeed, Usui's original method taught the symbols and accompanying mantras solely to activate particular powers in students, and after those skills were fully manifested, the symbols were rarely employed.

How Do You Develop Sensitivity?

This initial method cultivates hand sensitivity, allowing you to acquire the ability to sense subtle energies. It takes somewhat longer than the Western way, but it works quite effectively, so give it a try as an option.

• Begin by rubbing your palms together until they feel warm, followed by the backs of your hands, then each thumb and finger, and lastly, your palms together once more.
• Separate your hands and shake your wrists ten times, up and down and left to right. Hold your hands about 20 cm (8 in) apart with the palms facing each other and feel the tingling sensations of the energy between them.
• Focus on your breath, and exhale the air with a "haaah" sound each time you exhale. Consider the space between your hands, and while you continue this deep breathing exercise (called Hado), imagine that you are breathing in and out through your hands.
• Finally, clench your fists and then release them.
• If necessary, repeat steps 1–4 before proceeding to step 6.
• Place your hands approximately 20 cm (8 in) apart at chest height and envision or imagine carrying an empty balloon. Continue to gaze at the area between your palms with your eyes half-closed, visualizing a balloon there. Continue with Hado breathing, exhaling with a "haaah" sound, and feeling and intending that the energy from your hands is entering the balloon. As you inhale Reiki into this fictitious balloon, your hands spread further apart as the balloon fills with energy and grows larger, and as you exhale, the balloon contracts, and your hands close together.
• Maintain this vision for a time, and the sense of energy flowing into and out of the area between your hands will gradually become more genuine. When this occurs, you can revert to normal respiration. Experiment with the energy between your hands by bringing them together and then separating them, always with the palms facing each other, to feel the tingling and warmth of the energy.
• Finally, clench your fists and then release them.
• If necessary, repeat steps 6–8 before proceeding to step 10.
• Bring your hands down into your abdomen, palms pointing toward the Tan-dien (about 3 cm/112 in below your navel), maintaining them around 10 cm (4 in) away from your body. Feel the energy pouring from your hands into your Tan-dien and hold it there until you can feel it pretty strongly, which indicates that you have developed sufficient sensitivity to detect energy variations in different regions of your body.
• Now, move your hands gradually to different regions of your body, allowing time for your hands to experience the energy. Maintain your palms facing inward while scanning over each major chakra, beginning with the root chakra and ending with the crown chakra. (If you notice that your sensitivity is waning, repeat steps 1–3 until the energy is restored.)
• Repeat all of the preceding activities until you are completely secure in your ability to perceive energy effortlessly and clearly.