Specific Expectations and Reiki Treatments

· Try not to expect specific results when either giving or receiving Reiki treatments. This is not always easy to do, especially if someone is going through an especially trying experience, or has a specific problem s/he would like to have healed.

· Often treating for a specific problem does have the hoped-for effect. At other times, however, Reiki treatments appear not to help at all. People focusing on specific physical symptoms are understandably disappointed when Reiki does not seem to alleviate these. Perhaps several treatments are required, that is, there is no instant gratification. Or perhaps there is some other situation in the person's life that Reiki is addressing, in subtle ways.

· One approach is to continue with full-body Reiki treatments even if the immediate problem is not resolved. Try to forget about assigning your own conscious priorities to what needs healing, and trust that Reiki is working for the highest good of the recipient - even if it is not always apparent what this "highest good" is. Applying this approach to my daily self-treatments, I have occasionally discovered that some things which used to bother me for years, whether physical or otherwise, no longer do. But not having focused on these particular problems, I cannot pinpoint precisely when they stopped bothering me.