OBE (out of body experience) during/after distance Reiki

Hi guys,

I had a remote Reiki session with a friend last night. I must have been channeling for about 2hrs+. This morning i asked her how she slept. And she said not well at all. She described to me what I know to be as an OBE and that she felt a strong presence coming closer and closer, she didnt feel this presence as something positive but rather a negative energy.

Could this have been induced by my Reiki treatment? Has anybody ever had a similar response or experience from Reiki?

Usually I just get good feedback... not that this is necessarily bad.... But definitely strange for me....

LuvSoulJah wrote:Hi guys,

I had a remote Reiki session with a friend last night. I must have been channeling for about 2hrs+. This morning i asked her how she slept. And she said not well at all. She described to me what I know to be as an OBE and that she felt a strong presence coming closer and closer, she didnt feel this presence as something positive but rather a negative energy.

Could this have been induced by my Reiki treatment? Has anybody ever had a similar response or experience from Reiki?

Usually I just get good feedback... not that this is necessarily bad.... But definitely strange for me....

I have never had a client tell me that.
I have experienced ob before and during
my healing experience. I did not have a
name for it at that time, just weird.

I'm the same. Ben spoke to me on facebook bout this, but it's beyond my experience also. hopefully some of you here will know something?

Yes to both of your questions.

I've sent you a PM with some additional questions, and directed similar questions to Wayne. I'd like your feedback to those questions before I post a reply here.

Thanks

LuvSoulJah wrote:I had a remote Reiki session with a friend last night. I must have been channeling for about 2hrs+. This morning i asked her how she slept. And she said not well at all. She described to me what I know to be as an OBE and that she felt a strong presence coming closer and closer, she didnt feel this presence as something positive but rather a negative energy.

Could this have been induced by my Reiki treatment? Has anybody ever had a similar response or experience from Reiki?

Usually I just get good feedback... not that this is necessarily bad.... But definitely strange for me....

Hi LuvSoulJah.

Well, I started writing a reply offline immediately after I read your response, and four pages later sent you the PM... now my reply is a good seven pages long, and I think that warrants an even more formal response than I anticipated (which means significantly more revisions and editing). So, rather than publish the article here I'll just keep it conversational.

Yes, your friends experience could have been induced by the Reiki treatment. That does not mean that it was, it only means that it's possible. (And yes, I've had similar experiences.)

In spite of the rigidly systematic approach to Reiki that has evolved during the last decade, there is a subtle and profound spiritual energy of awakening that is transmitted through the Reiki process. This process of spiritual awakening is something that effects not only the recipient, but the provider as well--and it is also a process that is ongoing. The more one practices, the more one becomes spiritually aware (regardless of whether or not one is aware of the awareness).

Your friend may have experienced the negative energy as a result of the treatment because it more than likely helped her achieve a more relaxed, a more aware, state of mind.

Her increased awareness more than likely began to make her more aware of those negative energies, which may have any number of origins. They may have been internal to her, buried deep within her past, perhaps from this life, perhaps from others. She may have began to become aware of external negative energies, perhaps from neighbors if she lives in an apartment complex, or if she lives out in the woods away from others, perhaps something traumatic happened to someone else on that property. She may have began to become aware of you--of negativity in your current life that you suppressed or negative karmic energy that you need to heal through. Those are just a few of the possibilities of those origins, and ultimately they can only be answered by her.

Have you heard stories of Reiki students becoming sick after the attunement process? It's usually called a cleansing process and is commonly attributed to higher healing energies flowing through their system and purging out the negative energies. Although it seems like those negative energies are being purged, they are not. Those negative energies are not being removed, but rather they are being transformed into positive healing energies. In the case of those Reiki students, their life has stored up so much toxicity, so much negative energy, that much of it gets filtered through the energy matrix that manifests the physical body so the physical body manifests illness during the process--and then it gets better. But the body does not heal through that process because the negative energies were purged, rather because they were transformed into greater, into positive healing energies.

What's the basic difference between negative energy and positive energy? One feels good and the other feels bad.

What does negative energy and positive energy have in common? Both are an experience of the individual.

Can an experience be removed from a person? No.

Can the way an experience affects a person be changed? Yes. That change is transformation, and that's what Reiki treatments help manifest.

Thanks for sharing Buck. I agree with all or most of what you say... I would have most likely come up with a similar explanation. It resonates a lot. And much of it makes sense,especially in relation to the person I sahred the remote Reiki session with.

Infact I had another friend nearly have a similar experience, during a hands on or present Reiki session. This experience and the way or intensity of how I myself percieved energies on many different levels on this occasion was very new to me also, although at the time it felt like the most natural thing in the world... And like something that wasn't new or strange to me at all. I might mention that the person I shared this experience with is also quite spiritually awake and also works with healing energies and crystals. I started the session from a distance, standing nearly 3 meters from my friend. As soon as I put my hands up to begin the session I felt this very cool (cold) energy radiate from her...streaming into my hands. The closer I got the more intense it became. At about 10cms from her solar plexus this cool energy began to fill my hands... I likened it to hotair-balloons being filled with hot air...just in this case it was my hands and more like cool air. After a while of this energy flowing into my hands it settled down and formed a hemispherical electromagnetic/biomagnetic field the contours of which could be perfectly felt nearly like going over a turned over glass bowl with your hands. I might note here, that my friend had her hands folded ontop of each other on her solar plexus... So my intuition told me she was protecting something here. I didn't want to override this protection barrier out of respect so I didnt penetrate it with my hands, but just tried to send it as mucch reiki as it would let me.
All of a sudden as if reflexively trying to catch a baseball in mid-air, I swung my left arm out to catch something. What I caught was a stream of energy, of the same cool nature as earlier mentioned with the force of a firehose behind it... and that is what it felt like. At this point my friend reacted and asked me what I was doing. She exclaimed it was too intense and she could feel herself "taking off" (leaving her body). With my intent I tried to calm the stream of energy down and slowly ended the session...

LuvSoulJah wrote:...I didn't want to override this protection barrier out of respect so I didnt penetrate it with my hands, but just tried to send it as much reiki as it would let me....

Since you "send Reiki," I wanted to offer the following thoughts:

The three lowermost chakaras are said to represent the lowest levels of energy manifestation that create the body and mind. The root chakra is believed to manifest the physical body, the sacral chakra is believed to manifest the emotions, and the solar plexus chakra is believed to manifest the mind. Are you able to specifically sense the difference in these chakras, these "layers of the aura" that manifest a person?

If so, are you able to perceive differences within each layer compared to itself? Meaning, if you explore/perceive the root chakra, the 1st layer of the aura, can you sense variations that suggest something is wrong or right, unhealthy or healthy, with the physical body? If you perceive the sacral chakra or 2nd auric layer, can you distinguish between emotional energies that are floating and will eventually change (emotions that are just a normal part of existence that have no negative impact on a person) and emotions that are suppressed (either from the current life, or previous lives)? If you can perceive the third chakra, the 3rd auric layer, can you distinguish the different levels within it, such as the vibrational frequency of the mind compared to the vibrational frequency of the personality? If you can perceive those three chakras, those three local layers of the aura, can you sense how they combine and interact with each other harmoniously, and inharmoniously (hiding or suppressing "negative" energies within neighboring layers)?

If you receive Reiki from different individuals, does it always feel the same?

If so, what is the same about it?

If not, what is different about it?

Do you really know that when you send Reiki, it is really "Reiki" that you are sending?


And please feel no obligation to answer these questions here. All of the above are questions that I ask myself every time before, during, and after performing and receiving a Reiki treatment and/or attunement.

you pose some good questions that demand some reflection and consideration...A lot of the questions though, I dont think I have any answers for... they would amount to speculations and or assumptions.... I could theories... but I do not know if that would be of any help... usually theories just lead to more questions. The only thing I have been attuned to is Reiki and I do not practice any "magick". I can say straight off the bat though that I amn't very adept at distinguishing between different auric layers or chakras concerning energies. In the case I mentioned above it seemed more like I was recieving/reading energy through my hands (byosen reiki scanning - perhaps!?). I mentioned my friend also practices forms of energy work, and maybe this had something to do with it. I haven't figured it out myself as of yet. But I haven't percived energy like this before with anyone else. That being said, I mainly use Reiki for myself and sometimes do remote sessions with friends.

The following day we decided to approach it again. This time I did it with a more traditional approach and hands-on without any scanning. what stood out to me most was the cold nature of the energy that I had felt the day before and agin on this acccasion. I drew the SHK symbol on her solar plexus... and in that instant I got a strong reaction from her again. She got very cold all of a sudden... was shaking and then began to cry, she had to get up...When she returned I felt compelled to ask her to try to remember a cold situation she found herself in in the past... to me it seemed like it was something that happened a long time ago... Then she remembered... And told me of a time when she was a baby and her mother had to flee from their home with her in the middle of the night on a bitter cold winter night in Hungary... and how she felt her mom's fear and pain and the cold. Whether this had anything to do with the nature of the energy I percived from her I will never know for sure. I can only hope that the experience helped her somewhat in dealing with these emotions.

"If you receive Reiki from different individuals, does it always feel the same?"

To the best of my knowledge I have only ever recieved Reiki from one person.

"Do you really know that when you send Reiki, it is really "Reiki" that you are sending?"

Is there any way to know?

LuvSoulJah wrote:"Do you really know that when you send Reiki, it is really "Reiki" that you are sending?"

Is there any way to know?

Yes.

could you elaborate on that?

There is a saying: One can lead a horse to water, but one cannot make it drink.

Starting with the questions you already ask yourself before, during, and after treatments and attunements is one of many good first steps.

Good luck in your quest.

Ok. Thanks, I think. I took this quote from your website "Reiki Sangha Magazine" ; "The Reiki Sangha Magazine defines Reiki as “universal life force healing energy” and recognizes all forms of spiritual healing and spiritual energy-work to be Reiki."

What I take from this then is that the question shouldn't be whether I was practicing "Reiki" but rather was I practicing a form of "spiritual healing" or "energy-work"?!

hmmmm

That's one possible way to explore the definition. I believe that you were practicing Reiki with respect to your abilities. Another way to explore the definition is to ask the question: When I practice what I understand and accept to be Reiki, how will my potential of spiritual growth be affected by utilizing or not utilizing my natural abilities and skills?

I'm all for utilizing my own abilities and skills. I think it would be counter-productive to not utilize them in regards to my own spiritual growth. But what is my own and what is not? I was not conscious of being able to do any energy work of any kind before I was introduced to Reiki some 10 years ago. To my knowledge what a Reiki attunement does or is, is an awakening on a spiritual level or a re-opening of channels that one hadn't utilized or even aknowledged to be there possibly, prior to the attunement. Others may be introduced to Reiki after other spritual/energy-work practices. I cannot define what Reiki is for sure only how I experience it and perceive it. Some say it's a frequency coming directly from the creator and unique unto itself. I can't argue with that, nore do I feel a need to. However I feel that all is connected. And how one can percive engery is a matter of what one allows oneself to perceive without forcing anything. "Be transparent, innocently allowing "magic" to come through you rather than needing to create it. Open to heart-knowing and limitless possibilties.

A lot of this, well all of it, is beyond my experience. In Reiki anyhow. I know within the Reiki experience, we're interacting with the purest part of ourselves. in respect to an absent treatment, we command, or instruct this interaction (via SHK) to interact with another some distance away. The person then has a response, this response is what the Reiki experience is. For me, it's why an in-perosn treatment the practitioner can recieve Reiki, but not in absent. As we not within their auric field.

Reason i bring this up, is because, since whatever a perosn experiences is more to do with them, than with the practitioner, whatever they expereince is there for their benefit.

why have an OBE? I dunno exaclty. My issue, is that this can be unsettling for someone who may be some distance away, if, they become unsettled by it. The practitioner isn't there to help. My instinct tells me possibly the person maybe needs to look at personal grounding issues. Perhaps there's a lot going on in their life. A spiritual response can be just as telling as a physical manifestation like in Byosen.

warmest wishes
Wayne

Thanks for your insight guys. I appreciate it. I'll have to look deeper into this myself... try to gain more experiences with other people or anyone willing to be a guinea pig lol. Maybe my Reiki teacher, Maire, might have some clues for me also....

LuvSoulJah wrote:The following day we decided to approach it again. This time I did it with a more traditional approach and hands-on without any scanning. what stood out to me most was the cold nature of the energy that I had felt the day before and agin on this acccasion. I drew the SHK symbol on her solar plexus... and in that instant I got a strong reaction from her again. She got very cold all of a sudden... was shaking and then began to cry, she had to get up...When she returned I felt compelled to ask her to try to remember a cold situation she found herself in in the past... to me it seemed like it was something that happened a long time ago... Then she remembered... And told me of a time when she was a baby and her mother had to flee from their home with her in the middle of the night on a bitter cold winter night in Hungary... and how she felt her mom's fear and pain and the cold. Whether this had anything to do with the nature of the energy I percived from her I will never know for sure. I can only hope that the experience helped her somewhat in dealing with these emotions.

I never ceased to be amazed at the various outcomes of a healing session....

as for OBE's during or after a distance session..... To my knowledeg, the recipients I have worked with, have never encountered any 'negative' energies or experiences.

hey there

very interesting discussion indeed.

in situations like LuvSoulJah referred, i usually try to think naive by assuring myself that during reiki session, a state of oneness (sometimes through mindfulness, and sometimes through HSZSN working without our intent) comes into play... when we are connected with the universe without barriers we are more prone to sense things which we have no metaphor to compare, and which our mind does not readily gives a shape... but nevertheless our mind (and our ego, claiming to 'know everything') does not stop its try to understand what we've been receiving or sensing.... this produces inadequate description, halo images, paranormal feelings, etc.

OBE is also one such state when we sense something without having a corresponding ability to interpret it with clarity... OBE is difficult or unusual in first couple of instances, since we are new to climate that exists beyond our realm of definitions and understanding.... people who have recurring OBE experiences, often develop an ability to clearly interpret what they would be seeing... its just a customization of the envelope of our understanding to new things

during reiki sessions where i happen to be detached from all the surrounding world, i often experience as if 'something is happening' but my poor mind does not grip what exactly is happening... this is where our ego or mind triggres its claim and starts trying to understand what is happening, failing the very process of happening, and we are back to or body realm of physical understanding...

the key to prolong such experiences like OBE, it is best that we somehow train ourselves to not to attempt to 'understand' them during the experience... it is a state of concentrated detachment, where we are feeling something without the need of understanding what exactly we are feeling... sometimes we dream where we know we are dreaming, and sometimes we dream without the feeling that we are in a dream.... OBE experience can be of both types likewise


while Buck has so aptly said, do we exactly know if we are sending 'reiki' when we are sending reiki apparently, i can't help but smile at this deep insight


take care

salman

Hi Salman - nice to "see" you again!

I'm afraid I don't have too much to add here because I don't have any experience with OBEs but I believe that OBEs and absent Reiki healing are two completely separate phenomena - although it appears that they could happen simultaneously!

It is my understanding that OBEs either occur through a conscious attempt to do so, using specific techniques or spontaneously, usually during a moment of intense stress or danger or some other heightened emotional state.

Absent healing, in Reiki Ryoho, is usually achieved in a calm state, using HSZSN (or SHK in Wayne's case, apparently! ). There is no astral travel (or OBE) involved only the acknowledgement and enhanced awareness of the existing interconnection between the practitioner and the client. Once the initial "connection" is made, it is really just like an in-person Reiki session - no need to concentrate, just relax and smile!

But, Salman, you give some excellent advice about what to do just in case OBE and absent healing happen to occur at the same time for some reason.

Colin wrote:Hi Salman - nice to "see" you again!


It is my understanding that OBEs either occur through a conscious attempt to do so, using specific techniques or spontaneously, usually during a moment of intense stress or danger or some other heightened emotional state.

OBE's.....out of body experiences, also occur during wonderful healing sessions and in states of deep meditation.... some people can 'flip' out of their body during intense pain or in the moments you mention, but many people experience OBE's quite naturally through a deep healing state. I had my first OBE ( that I distinctly remember) when I was about 7..it was lovely the second distinct OBE that I remember was when I was about 9 and I was at the dentist, in those days they used to knock you out with the big gas mask over your face and I was petrified, there was no way I was gonna let them put me under....I kept fighting it and fighting it then the next minute I flipped out of my body and was at the back of the dentist and nurses leaning over me....I was only there for seconds then must have flipped back in my body cos the next thing I remember is waking up tearful with a bloody mouth!

So, can you remember what your situation was when you had your first OBE, aged 7?

Your second one certainly sounds like it falls into the "moment of intense stress or danger or some other heightened emotional state" and I'm sure many of us can relate to that!

yep on both counts.... first time I was led in bed thinking about my name, sharon........sounds a bit daft now, but I was playing around with it.I kept saying it over and over again then I'd try all different ways of saying it with emphasis on different letters..I guess i was trying to identify myself with my name in a strange childlike kind of way......anyway as i was playing around suddenly the letters broke apart from each other( in my mind's eye) and started dancing I kinda realised that I was not my name, my name was just a word ( difficut to explain the realisation I felt twas many moons ago) anyway....as my name broke apart and a realisation struck me, I felt a very strange tingling at the top of my head ( I was led in bed in the dark at the time) and I felt like my head was being pulled towards the headboard and at the same time my body felt very very heavy and began sinking into the mattress yet at the same,I felt like I was starting to float above the matress........then vey suddenly I shot forward and starting whizzing sykward and went through a deep night sky with thousands of stars whizzing pass me top speed, it was very very fast,very star trekky! ahaha I know I went somewhere, but can't recall it, then next minute, I was back in my body, it was a great experience, I loved it.

Now since becoming an adult I am aware of the various energy centres of the body and understand about the crown chakra, logically thinking it would appear that some part of my energy body exited my physical body via the crown......it was so strange and wonderful because it didn't just feel like my 'awareness' it felt like my full physical body, yet I knew my full physical body was led on the bed.. it was great! ( hope this made sense)