Astoria resident. Favorite practitioner moved to Los Angeles. Or: found someone whose work resonates, but they practice in London. Or: cannot get to Manhattan this week because of the project deadline, the sick kid, the subway delays that turn a 45-minute commute into two hours.
Does Reiki work when practitioner and client are not in the same room?
This is the question that makes skeptics laugh and believers pause. It is also the question that kept many people connected to their practitioners during pandemic lockdowns, and the reason distance sessions have become a permanent part of how Reiki is offered in New York City and beyond.
Distance Reiki Defined
Distance Reiki is a session conducted when the practitioner and client are in different physical locations. The practitioner sends Reiki energy across space, sometimes across the city, sometimes across continents, while the client receives it wherever they are.
Practitioners who offer distance sessions have completed training that includes specific protocols for remote work. The details of that training are covered in our guide to the three levels of Reiki training.
This post focuses on what you experience as a client, not how practitioners learn the technique, but whether distance sessions might work for you and what to expect if you try one.
Who Uses Distance Reiki
Distance Reiki works well if: You cannot travel to a practitioner (mobility, schedule, location). You have an established relationship with a practitioner who moved away. You want to try Reiki but feel anxious about in-person sessions with strangers. You travel frequently and want continuity with one practitioner.
Distance Reiki may not be ideal if: You have never had Reiki before. in-person is usually better for your first experience. You need the physical presence and touch to relax. You struggle to create a quiet, private space at home. You are highly skeptical. the conceptual leap of distance healing may create too much resistance.
Practical requirement: You need a private, quiet space where you can lie down undisturbed for 45-60 minutes. If you share a small apartment with roommates and no private room, in-person sessions at a practitioner’s space may work better.
The Formats: How Sessions Are Conducted
Distance Reiki takes several forms, depending on the practitioner’s style and your preferences.
Synchronized phone or video sessions are the most common format. You schedule a time, connect via call or video platform, and the practitioner guides you through the session in real time. You might begin with a brief conversation about your intentions. Then you lie down or sit comfortably while the practitioner works. They may stay on the line throughout, occasionally checking in, or they may work in silence with a call at the end to discuss the experience.
Video sessions let you see the practitioner, which some clients find grounding. Others prefer audio only, finding the visual element distracting. Phone sessions work well for those who want connection without screens.
Scheduled silent sessions involve no real-time communication. You and the practitioner agree on a specific time window, say, Tuesday at 7 PM for 45 minutes. During that window, you rest quietly while the practitioner sends Reiki from their location. Afterward, they might email or text notes about what they sensed during the session.
This format requires trust. You do not have the reassurance of the practitioner’s voice or presence. But for some clients, the solitude deepens the experience. You are alone with your own sensations, without the subtle performance of being observed.
Hybrid approaches combine elements. Some practitioners send a voice recording to guide you into relaxation, then work silently, then send another recording afterward. Others begin with a video call, do the energy work in silence, and reconnect to close.
There is no single correct format. What matters is that you and your practitioner agree on the structure beforehand so you know what to expect.
What Clients Report Feeling
The honest answer is that experiences vary as much in distance sessions as in person. Some people feel nothing unusual. Others report sensations remarkably similar to in-person work.
Common reports from distance sessions include:
Warmth or tingling in specific body areas, particularly the hands, feet, and head. Clients sometimes describe this as surprising, they expected that without physical proximity, they would feel nothing physical. The sensations can be subtle or quite pronounced.
Emotional shifts. Tears, laughter, waves of sadness or joy that seem to arise without clear cause. This mirrors what happens during in-person sessions, where emotional release is common.
Deep relaxation. Many clients fall asleep during distance sessions, just as they do in person. They often report unusually restful sleep that night.
Imagery and colors. Some people see colors, shapes, or scenes in their mind’s eye during sessions. Whether these have meaning or are simply the brain’s response to deep relaxation is debatable. Either way, they occur in distance sessions as in person.
A sense of presence. Some clients report feeling that someone is with them, even though they are alone. This can be comforting or unsettling, depending on the person.
Nothing noticeable. This happens too, and it does not necessarily mean the session was ineffective. Effects can be subtle or may emerge over the following hours and days rather than during the session itself.
| Reported Experience | In-Person | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Physical sensations (warmth, tingling) | Very common | Common |
| Emotional release | Common | Common |
| Deep relaxation / sleep | Very common | Very common |
| Visual imagery | Some clients | Some clients |
| Sense of practitioner presence | Strong | Variable |
| No noticeable sensation | Some clients | Some clients |
A typical first-timer experience might go something like this: you lie down on your bed in Brooklyn while your practitioner works from her apartment in the Village. You expect nothing. Ten minutes in, your hands feel warm. Then your feet. By the end, you feel like you just had an in-person session. You cannot explain it, but you cannot dismiss it either. This pattern, initial skepticism followed by unexpected sensation, appears frequently in practitioner accounts of client feedback.
Does It Actually Work? The Evidence Question
This is where intellectual honesty requires careful language.
The scientific evidence for Reiki in general is limited, and the evidence for distance Reiki specifically is even more sparse. Most Reiki research focuses on in-person sessions, and even that research has significant methodological limitations, small sample sizes, difficulty creating proper placebos, inconsistent protocols.
A few studies have attempted to examine distance healing. A systematic review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2000 examined distant healing studies across various modalities (not just Reiki). The review found that about 57% of the studies showed positive effects, but the methodological quality was often poor. The authors concluded that evidence was insufficient to support strong claims either way. More recent research remains limited, and no major study has definitively answered the question.
What we can say:
Many clients report subjective benefits from distance sessions. Whether these benefits come from the energy transmission itself, the relaxation response, the power of intention and expectation, or some combination of factors remains unknown.
The mechanism by which distance healing could work is not explained by current scientific models. Practitioners describe it in terms of connection and intention rather than physical proximity. Skeptics note the lack of established mechanism. Neither side has definitive proof.
From a practical standpoint, if distance sessions help you feel better, if they reduce your stress, improve your sleep, help you process emotions, that benefit is real to you regardless of whether science can explain the mechanism.
The honest position: distance Reiki works for some people in the sense that they experience benefits they find valuable. Whether it works through energy transmission, placebo effect, relaxation response, or something else entirely is unknown. If you are curious, the only way to know whether it works for you is to try it.
When to Choose Distance Over In-Person
Distance Reiki is not always the best choice, but it serves specific situations well.
You cannot physically get to a practitioner. Mobility limitations, illness, geographic isolation, or simply an impossible schedule. If the alternative is no session at all, distance is better than nothing.
You have an established relationship with a distant practitioner. You found someone whose work resonates with you, and they moved away or you moved away. Distance lets you maintain that connection. This matters because the practitioner-client relationship affects outcomes. Switching to a new local practitioner means starting over.
You are traveling. Business trips, vacations, family visits. Your stress does not pause when you leave the city, and neither does your need for support. Distance sessions let you maintain your practice while away from home.
You want to try a practitioner before committing to in-person. A distance session can be an audition. You get a sense of their energy and approach without traveling across the city. If it resonates, you can book an in-person session. If not, you saved a commute.
You prefer the privacy of your own space. Some clients find it easier to relax at home than in an unfamiliar treatment room. They can wear whatever they want, lie on their own bed, have their pet nearby. The comfort of familiar surroundings can deepen the experience.
When in-person is likely better:
Your first Reiki experience. The in-person encounter helps you understand what Reiki feels like in the fullest sense. The room, the table, the practitioner’s physical presence, all contribute to a complete introduction.
You specifically want physical touch. Some practitioners work with light touch; others hover. If touch matters to you, in-person is the only option.
You have difficulty focusing at home. If your apartment is noisy, chaotic, or simply too associated with daily stress, you may find it hard to relax there. The treatment room offers a contained space dedicated to nothing but your session.
You want the ritual of going somewhere. The commute, the arrival, the separation from daily life, this transition itself can be therapeutic. Distance sessions lack that boundary.
Preparing for a Distance Session
Preparation matters more for distance sessions than in-person because you are responsible for creating your own environment.
Find a quiet, private space. Ideally somewhere you can lie down comfortably without interruption. Silence your phone. Tell housemates not to disturb you. If you have children, arrange coverage. A door that locks helps.
Set up your space. Dim the lights if possible. Some clients light a candle or put on soft music, though check with your practitioner about background sound during phone sessions. Have water nearby for after. A blanket is useful, body temperature can drop during deep relaxation.
Dress comfortably. This is your home, so wear whatever you relax best in. Remove restrictive clothing, jewelry, glasses, or contacts if they bother you.
Test your technology. If using phone or video, confirm the connection works. Dead batteries or poor signal will disrupt your session. Have a backup plan if the call drops.
Arrive on time. Log on or call a few minutes early. Use that time to settle, take some breaths, and transition out of whatever you were doing before.
Clarify the format beforehand. Will you talk throughout? Just at the beginning and end? Not at all? Knowing what to expect reduces anxiety during the session.
| Preparation Area | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Space | Quiet, private, comfortable lying or sitting |
| Distractions | Phone silenced, housemates notified, pets settled |
| Comfort | Comfortable clothes, blanket, water nearby |
| Lighting | Dim or soft preferred |
| Technology | Tested, charged, backup plan ready |
| Timing | A few minutes early to settle |
The NYC Context
New York City creates specific conditions that make distance Reiki relevant.
Commute time is real. Getting from Crown Heights to a practitioner in Chelsea might take 90 minutes each way, plus the session itself. A three-hour commitment becomes five hours. For busy professionals, parents, or anyone juggling multiple demands, that arithmetic matters. A distance session recovers those commute hours while still providing the session.
Post-pandemic normalization helps. Before 2020, distance sessions existed but felt fringe. The pandemic forced practitioners and clients to try them, and many discovered they worked. Now distance is a standard offering. It no longer carries the stigma of being second-best.
Access expands. New Yorkers are no longer limited to practitioners within the five boroughs. You can work with someone in California whose approach aligns with your needs, or continue with a practitioner who left the city. The pool of options grows enormously.
Flexibility increases. A distance session can fit into gaps that would never accommodate travel. Between meetings. During lunch break. After the kids are asleep. The threshold for “I can fit in a session” drops dramatically.
Some NYC practitioners now offer exclusively distance sessions. They found during the pandemic that their work translated well to remote delivery and that clients valued the convenience. Others offer hybrid models, some in-person, some remote, client’s choice.
Finding Distance Practitioners
Most Reiki practitioners who offer distance sessions indicate this on their websites or profiles. When searching, look for explicit mention of “distance,” “remote,” or “virtual” sessions.
Questions to ask a practitioner offering distance Reiki:
How do you conduct distance sessions? What format, phone, video, silent? What is the structure?
How long have you been offering distance sessions? Experience matters. Someone who adapted during the pandemic has several years of practice by now. Someone who started last month is less tested.
What do your clients typically report? Their answer gives you a sense of what to expect and how honest they are about variable outcomes.
What technology do you use? Some practitioners have preferred platforms. Make sure whatever they use works for you.
What is your cancellation policy for distance sessions? This is often more flexible than in-person, but clarify.
Session costs for distance Reiki vary. Some practitioners charge the same as in-person; others charge slightly less, recognizing lower overhead without a physical space. Expect to pay $60 to $150 for a distance session with a NYC-based practitioner, though prices vary by experience and reputation.
The Skeptic’s Reasonable Position
If you remain skeptical about distance Reiki, that skepticism is not unreasonable. No known physical mechanism explains how intention could affect someone miles away. The evidence base is thin. Alternative explanations, placebo, relaxation, the simple value of scheduled rest, are plausible and perhaps sufficient.
But consider: you do not need to believe in energy transmission to benefit from a distance session. The act of scheduling time for yourself, lying down in a quiet space, focusing on relaxation and healing, and having another person hold intention for your wellbeing, these elements alone have value. Whether Reiki “energy” crosses the miles or not, you still get the benefits of dedicated rest and attention.
The pragmatic approach: try it. See what you experience. If you feel better, the mechanism matters less than the outcome. If you feel nothing, you lost an hour and some money, which is also what happens when any wellness intervention does not resonate with you.
Distance Reiki will not be right for everyone. But for those who live in a city that never stops demanding their time and attention, the option to receive healing without leaving home is worth knowing about.
Questions That Come Up
Is distance Reiki as effective as in-person?
Client reports vary. Some people find distance sessions equally effective; others prefer in-person. The limited research does not definitively favor one over the other. Your own experience is the best guide.
What if I fall asleep during a distance session?
This is common and fine. Many practitioners consider it a sign of deep relaxation. You may still receive benefits even while sleeping.
Do I need to do anything during the session?
Usually just rest and remain open. Some practitioners give specific instructions; others encourage you to simply relax without effort. Clarify expectations beforehand.
Can I do a distance session at work?
Technically yes, if you have a private space where you will not be interrupted. However, the environment matters. A quiet room at home is usually more conducive than an office where you might be distracted by work thoughts.
How do I know if the practitioner is actually doing anything?
You cannot verify it in the moment. This requires trust. Starting with practitioners who have established reputations and reviews can help. Some practitioners send notes afterward about what they sensed, which some clients find validating.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Reiki is a complementary practice and should not replace professional medical treatment. If you have a health condition, consult a licensed healthcare provider before beginning any new wellness practice.