Is Reiki Draining Your Energy?

What to do if you feel drained after Reiki sessions…

A few strategies to supercharge your energy

This article addresses why we sometimes feel drained after giving Reiki. Why Reiki is not the cause. And a few suggestions on how to avoid feeling depleted after energy healing sessions.

“Is there something I can do differently so Reiki doesn’t drain my energy?”

This was the question a Reiki practitioner from California recently reached out to me about. Her Reiki sessions suddenly seemed to be sucking the life force energy right out of her. It was so bad, she thinking of stopping them altogether.

If you are feeling tired, drained or energetically depleted after a Reiki sessions, the first thing to know is …. it’s not Reiki’s fault. Reiki is not the cause.

Why Reiki doesn’t drain your energy…

Three of the Four Tenants of Reiki provide a case for why Reiki doesn’t drain a practitioner’s own energy:

1. Reiki knows where to go. Reiki is spiritually guided life force energy. As supreme, divine intelligence, it knows and goes where it’s most needed. It requires no effort on our part. We do not need to consciously think about where to send Reiki or how to heal the recipient. In fact, giving Reiki requires minimal effort. We simply state our client’s intention for the healing, invoke Reiki, and let it flow. Easy peasy. Divine intelligence takes care of rest.
2. Reiki can do no harm. Since Reiki is divinely guided life force energy (think pure Source love and light), by its very nature, it can do no harm to the recipient or to the practitioner.
3. Reiki does not deplete the practitioner’s energy. The practitioner is a channel for the energy. Think of a pipe with running water. The pipe doesn’t get depleted or tired from water flowing through it. In fact, when it comes to Reiki. The healing energy benefits both the recipient and the practitioner. Performing Reiki often invigorates the practitioner.

Four things that can drain a Reiki practitioner’s energy and what to do about it.

When we feel drained and depleted before, during or after Reiki sessions, the cause is not Reiki. The real culprit is within. Some of the primary ways we get in our own way as Reiki practitioners are: ego, emotional over investment, lack of faith, energy leaks, and not doing Reiki in a way that is personally fulfilling for you. Below I’ll review each of these in a bit more detail and suggest a one or two solutions for each.

#1 Emotional Over Investment

You really want to help the person heal. Here our compassionate personality causes us to exert our own personal influence and energy. Of course, we all want to help others heal. It’s why we became certified in Reiki. However, this beautiful desire to help others can be an energy drain when we become emotionally over invested in the outcome. We need to surrender the outcome and trust that Divine intelligence knows the soul’s highest healing intention and is orchestrating that. One of my intuitive coaches, Jane Horvitz used to say, “Sometimes we are planting the seed. Sometimes we are watering the garden. And, sometimes we are helping them harvest.” Reminding myself of this is a form of encouragement when a session doesn’t appear to have had the impact I had hoped for. I trust that Source and the individual’s higher self knows what is best for them and that whatever level of healing occurs during the session is perfect for today.

#2 Ego Takes the Wheel

You really want the recipient to feel the energy / have a positive outcome / be an amazing energy healer. These are all examples of when our ego is getting in the way and causing us to try too hard. We’re afraid the recipient won’t feel anything. We’re afraid a small outcome means we aren’t a very good energy healer. We’re afraid that if the recipient doesn’t experience something then we didn’t do our job right. Anytime we are feeling fear, our ego is getting in the way. Hey we’re human, it’s normal to think these things. The key is to lovingly acknowledge our feelings and desires, then counsel ourselves to just get out of the way so Divine Source can do its work.

TIP1: One of the things I find helpful in keeping my ego in check, is my Opening Prayer. I say this prayer out loud at the start of every session, inviting Divine source to lead the way and asking “my ego self and personality to step aside so I am a clear and open channel for healing and insight.” (Get a copy of my Opening Prayer). 

TIP2: The second thing is that I periodically check in with myself during a session to see how I’m feeling. Do I feel like I’m trying too hard or over efforting in any way? If so, I remind myself that “God’s got this.” or “Reiki’s got this.” It’s not me doing the healing. I’m just a loving conduit. I might also affirm the Healer’s Prayer from A Course In Miracles (shown to the right).

#3 Energy Leaks

You are leaking energy – Has life gotten a bit hectic? Not getting enough sleep? Are you rushing around trying to get a bunch of things done but never completely finishing anything? If so, it’s time to slllllooooowwww down, plug back into Source and ground your energy. It’s not that Source ever leaves your side. It’s that YOU leave Source when you allow the craziness of life to take you away from your center.

TIP1: Consider establishing a morning routine that grounds you in Spirit. I call this my “daily devotion.” For me it’s not “have to” but a “want to.” I enjoy maintaining a personal connection with the Divine. I typically meditate or journal, do a little spiritual reading, and say a prayer asking the Divine to “take the wheel” and work through me. This daily devotion takes fifteen to twenty minutes but it’s well worth the time as it sets the stage for having a day grounded in Spirit.

TIP2: If you are feeling depleted in the middle day, try these quick grounding exercise or recharge yourself with this fourteen-minute Pools of Light Chakra Cleansing and Healing meditation.

#4 An Unfulfilling Process

You are not doing Reiki in a way that fulfills you. In order to be a good Reiki practitioner, we all start by emulating the processes our Reiki Master Teacher instructed us on. This is a good approach for a new student. But after you’ve been doing Reiki for a while, Reiki and your intuition will become your best teacher. This reminds me of something one my best friends, Jan, said about cooking. Jan says anytime she’s learning a new recipe, she does it exactly as the recipe instructs her to. She doesn’t experiment or get creative. However, once she’s made the dish and tasted it for herself, she then trusts her own palette and experience and modifies the recipe as she’s inspired to. It’s similar with Reiki, when we are learning and practicing Reiki, we should do the process as we were taught. However, once we become more experienced I believe Spirit wants to make use of our unique talents and gifts. 

So what do I mean by “you’re not doing Reiki sessions in a way that brings you joy?” A recent example brought this understanding into my awareness. A fellow Reiki practitioner, I’ll call her Monica, reached out for insight and advice because she was feeling incredibly drained following her group Reiki sessions. When she first began doing the group sessions she felt excited and energized, but lately she was feeling so drained and depleted that it worried her. After reaffirming that Reiki never drains a practitioner’s energy and can do no harm, I asked permission to intuitively tune into her energy. What I discovered was that while the process might have felt wonderful for other Reiki practitioners, for Monica it felt burdensome, regimented and restrictive. You see Monica is, in addition to being a Reiki healer, a very creative soul and a talented singer and songwriter. I received intuitive insight that she might consider using music and song in her healing sessions. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew it would not only greatly enhance her sessions but she’d enjoy them a heck of lot more. Merging two things she loves, energy healing and song/music, would also raise her vibration and put Monica in a more expansive healing state. Music and song also brings in the added component of sound healing. Sounds like a win-win-win, right?

I know some would argue that as Reiki practitioners we should stick to just channeling Reiki. However, my guess is that specialty forms of Reiki such as Crystal Reiki, Drumming Reiki, and Shamanic Reiki all came about because a practitioner was divinely inspired merge two of the things they loved together.

Tip1: Experiment with how your other talents and interests can compliment your Reiki sessions. Your goal will be to find the right balance, as you want to be sure that whatever you add supports and enhances the healing process and doesn’t detract from it.

In conclusion, if you suddenly feel unusually tired or drained after giving a Reiki Session, please know the cause is not Reiki. Take some time to sit quietly and ponder which culprit might be the cause, then lovingly self-correct your approach with some of the suggestions offered above.

In love & light,

If you have questions about Reiki, intuitive energy healing and intuition, I’d love to hear from you! My favorite way to field questions is by email at Natalie @ WisdomWithin.co. You can also call/text met (603) 642-4949. If you text me, please provide an email address that I can reply to as I find the text box and messenger boxes too darn tiny to respond within!

About the Author

Natalie Eve Marquis, RMT, CH, is the founder of the Reiki Release® Emotional Healing Method, which helps release the root cause of emotional blocks and negative beliefs. She is a full-time practitioner working from a home studio and at Gateway Cottage Wellness Center, in Sedona, AZ. She also teaches Usui Reiki Level 1, 2 and ART/Master, the Reiki Release® Emotional Healing Method, and intuition development.

For relaxation you’ll find Natalie hiking the red rock trails, dancing (i.e. moving energy in a fun way) or painting contagiously happy art.