In late 1994 during my very first class - a 3 day weekend of teaching Reiki 3 and Reiki Master -  I received an interesting comment from one of my students.  He said he had attended a Reiki share the previous evening at which Takata master student Barbara Brown was attending.  At one point Barbara told him she found it curious that all the Reiki she felt from the participants seemed rather weak; except for his energy which seemed quite strong. I wondered at this as I had been told that all Reiki energy was the same, and that with the first attunement we had access to all of it.

Variations of a Flavour

Then as I began to receive training from different Reiki Masters, and as my own ability to sense energy began to grow, I noticed that much of the Reiki from my various teachers felt different in some way to me. I was also doing graduate Awakening Light Body and Conscious Channeling training, so my own ability to sense energies was growing and becoming more refined.  It was as if each Reiki energy was a variation, much like a slightly different type of chocolate, yet all having the same energy base.

Years later, I was approached by some practitioners who said they had  received distant attunements from a former student of mine.  They felt they had what I called Threshold Reiki energy, yet as I checked their energy I could tell they did not resonate with the same Reiki energy I use.  Something had obviously changed in their reception.

In early 2011  I taught Gendai Reiki Master level to a person who had already received this style training in his home country.  He was concerned as to whether he had been given all the same information I had when I worked with Mr. Hiroshi Doi, it's founder.  Not only was he surprised that I had more material to share and that it was more correct, but he was very concerned to discover my distant Gendai Reiki attunements felt much stronger than his in-person attunements from his former teacher.  I then wondered how many other Gendai students were experiencing this as well. 

Over the years I would sometimes get comments from readers about their concerns about attunements received, especially distant ones.  Some Reiki Masters go as far as to discount the validity of distant attunements, yet I had always found them to work equally as well for me as in-person ones (see my article "Do Distant Attunements Work?")   It appeared that many Reiki masters only seemed to do a half-hearted job when giving attunements or reiju, especially distant ones. 

But I feel it is not really their fault. They may simply not understand how an attunement, like any other ceremony or ritual, can be improved on in order to give someone the best possible experience.   It is no wonder that some schools will say that distant attunements are not part of their teachings, but I feel the problem lies also with in-person attunements or reiju,. Some sort of support  or understanding along the way has been missing in some Reiki training methods.

Increasing the Focus and Strength of the Signal

Years ago in my own Threshold Reiki Master classes I began to teach my ideas on helping the new Reiki Master become more focused and stronger with his or her Reiki energy.  I developed a way to teach them to be able to present specific versions of an energy, rather than just blending them all together.  I call this my Threshold Reiju Workshop.  After all, if you are taking training like Gendai Reiki where founder Mr. Hiroshi Doi focuses only on the Reiki he received from former URR Gakkai president  Mrs. Koyama (repeatedly over 6 years), most likely you would wish to experience exactly what he shares in his own classes,  not some blending of other Reiki energies along with it. 

I find that for potentially a really good energy awakening or transfer, one needs to be extremely well focused on the recipient, extremely well focused on the energy, and of course be able to hold that energy to a greater degree than the recipient (which isn't always possible.)  This of course holds true for any attunement or reiju, given by distant means or in person.  This may seem a bit of a challenge for some, but after a time it just becomes habit.

My biggest lesson in being able to hold an energy was in 1999 when I gave a simple open ended attunement to a 35 year veteran Chinese Qigong master.  The process I used involves measuring how much the recipient accepts and I would thus stop the flow when it felt like he was no longer receiving - usually this is less than a minute.   However, I discovered he could hold much more energy than I could handle. As I attuned him I felt like I was transferring energy from one warehouse to another. Eventually I halted the attunement as I couldn't flow anymore without falling over - I was just too saturated with energy. His reaction? He just smiled and said it felt "nice."

Have you ever seen one of the old analog stereos with the different meters on them? One meter was for signal strength, to tell you how strong the radio signal was being received.  The other meter was a tuning meter, to tell you how close you were to being exactly on station (with no off-station static).

In energy work, the highest signal strength would normally be what it's originator could connect with and then make available to others.  Producing an exact copy of that energy would be like being in the exact center of the tuning meter of the stereo.

Signal Strength

Assuming we received a good copy of an energy, I find that for most of us, the individual strength in an energy comes with constant use, much like the ability to handle a larger amount of wine or spirits, or to handle certain types of new food. The body needs to get used to it over time. This integration period is different for each of us.  As we integrate it, and even after it is well blended, we can build our potential to hold more by simply working with this energy as much as we can.  A really good way to call on and hold a lot of energy is to offer frequent attunements, or to simply give yourself a self-attunement or self-reiju from time to time.  Another way is working with and flowing extreme amounts of healing energy, as in the case when offering these to very sick people.

Each new energy, especially if it is quite different from others we have experienced, may require retraining this ability with that specific energy from time to time.  It's kind of like that old fashion analog stereo receiver with it's signal strength meter. Note that in the URR Gakkai,  their form of reiju is given to all members at each monthly meeting.  This is a practice I have been trying to encourage with Reiki Masters who conduct Reiki shares, circles or exchanges.  After all, what better way for you the Reiki Master to experience many attunements/reiju at any given time.

Focus

The ability to remain focused simply means that you are not allowing yourself to be distracted during a process. Usually the normal Reiki ceremony takes care of that in person, but even there a person can become distracted.  So when you begin a distant attunement or reiju, it might be best to firmly imagine yourself in the exact same place and time as the recipient. In this way you are going beyond time and space and being in the same moment as the recipient.  (many scientists now say there is no real time and space.) 

When I am in that attunement/reiju space with the person, I also channel or blend with my own guides and theirs, and have them set up a protective space to keep out any distracting energies (for the recipient and for me.)  Channeling their guides is also what allows me to attune the person to a boosted level of their own Highest Ki (note that each one feels different to me. See my article on Reiki and Highest Ki.) 

Tuning Right on Station

And finally, you should try to be right on station with the energy you are intending. It's like that old fashion analog radio, working with it's tuning meter, tuning it right onto the station without any of that off-station hiss. This means you are then sharing exactly what the teacher shared with you. It often helps to imagine yourself once again in the same space with your teacher, receiving the energy at its strongest that you can hold (this will increase each time you do this and then work with it), and then intending this energy to be what you are using in the attunement. I do this for each energy, including the symbol energies. 

The real challenge in a distant attunement or reiju is not so much working with experienced and gifted energy workers, for they can usually reach out and lock onto the energy you originally intended.  The real challenge is with those who do not have this ability, those who are new to energy work, and need to be guided through the process, gently. This can be true even in an in-person attunement.

Update: July 2012:  In the past year I added another simple, yet powerful, addition to the process of Reiki attunements and healing sessions, whether in person or distant.  Students of mine are reporting finding an increase in their own success rate when using these ideas all these together.  I now teach these in my Threshold Reiki Master class and my Threshold Reiju Workshop.