Reiki Hand Sensations: Why Do My Hands Get Hot?

You settle into a Reiki session, place your hands, and within a few moments they are hot. Not just comfortably warm. Sometimes they feel surprisingly hot.

Or perhaps yours tingle. Maybe you notice a gentle pulsing in your palms or fingertips. Sometimes your hands feel cool, heavy, buzzy, or almost magnetic.

And then there are those sessions when you feel… absolutely nothing.

If you’re newer to Reiki, these Reiki hand sensations can bring up all kinds of questions. Why are my hands so hot? Does the heat mean Reiki is flowing strongly? What if I feel something but the person receiving Reiki doesn’t? And perhaps the most anxiety-producing question of all: What if I don’t feel anything? Am I doing it wrong?

The short answer to that last question is no. Sensations can be an interesting part of practicing Reiki, but they don’t need to become a test you have to pass.

Reiki practitioners describe a surprisingly wide variety of sensations in their hands during practice, including:

• Warmth or intense heat
• Coolness
• Tingling
• Pulsing or throbbing
• Buzzing or vibrating
• Heaviness
• Pressure
• A pulling sensation
• A feeling of fullness in the palms
• Subtle sensations that are difficult to describe
• No noticeable sensation at all

These experiences aren’t limited to practitioners. People receiving Reiki sometimes report warmth, coolness, tingling, or pulsation in the area near a practitioner’s hands. Others simply become deeply relaxed. And some people feel nothing unusual whatsoever.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which offers Reiki through its volunteer services, describes warmth, coolness, gentle tingling, and pulsation as commonly reported sensations during a Reiki session – and specifically notes that sometimes recipients feel nothing at all. [1]

Within Reiki teaching, these kinds of sensations have also been described for many years. The International Center for Reiki Training, for example, teaches that practitioners may perceive changes such as warmth, coolness, tingling, pressure, pulsation, or pulling sensations while practicing a technique called scanning. [2]

But there’s an important distinction here: Experiencing a sensation is real. Our interpretation of what caused that sensation is a separate question.

From a traditional Reiki perspective, practitioners often interpret warmth and other sensations as part of their awareness of Reiki during a session.

From a scientific perspective, we don’t currently have evidence that allows us to say that heat in the hands demonstrates Reiki energy moving through them. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) states that there is currently no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the energy field proposed in Reiki theory. Research into Reiki’s health effects has also produced inconsistent results, with much of the existing research considered insufficient or low quality. [3]

Interestingly, though, researchers have investigated the physical changes occurring in practitioners’ hands. One study discussed in a peer-reviewed review article measured blood flow in the fingers of experienced Reiki practitioners before, during, and after self-Reiki. The researchers observed an increase in finger microvascular blood perfusion during the practice compared with a control group. They suggested that local vasodilation could explain the increased blood flow. Importantly, the researchers did not establish that this was Reiki energy, nor did they determine that greater blood flow indicated greater healing ability. [4]

In other words, there may be ordinary physiological changes occurring in our bodies while we’re practicing Reiki – particularly as we become quiet, focused, still, and relaxed. And there is still much that hasn’t been established scientifically about the subjective sensations practitioners experience. It’s okay to hold both of those things at once. You can notice, My hands become incredibly warm when I practice Reiki, without needing to turn that observation into a scientific claim about exactly why it’s happening.

This one can be especially confusing. Your palms may feel as though they’re radiating heat while the person on your table says, “Nope. I don’t really feel anything.”

That’s okay. Your sensory experience and theirs don’t have to match. People differ enormously in how much attention they pay to internal bodily sensations and how they describe them. Even the same person may have noticeably different experiences from one Reiki session to another. Beth Israel Deaconess specifically tells recipients that they might experience physical sensations or relaxation during Reiki – or they may feel nothing at all. [1] So you don’t need confirmation from the recipient.

If you’re thinking, Surely they have to feel this – my hands are burning up! resist the temptation to repeatedly ask, “Can you feel that?” Let them have their own experience. Your experience doesn’t invalidate theirs, and theirs doesn’t invalidate yours.

This is where I think Reiki practitioners can accidentally make things harder for themselves. You have one session where your hands become intensely hot. It feels remarkable. The next time you practice, you’re waiting for it. There it is! Reiki is flowing. And gradually, without even realizing it, you’ve created an internal measuring system: Hot hands = strong Reiki. No heat = something isn’t working.

But we don’t have evidence that the intensity of hand sensations measures the amount or effectiveness of Reiki. Even within Reiki teaching, experienced teachers caution practitioners against relying on heat, or any particular physical sensation, as proof that Reiki is “working.” [5] The sensation is an experience. It doesn’t need to become a score.

The same applies to all the other sensations. A practitioner who feels tingling isn’t necessarily more sensitive than someone who doesn’t. Someone whose hands pulse isn’t necessarily channeling “more” Reiki. Cool hands don’t mean something is blocked. And having absolutely no noticeable sensation doesn’t mean you’ve lost your Reiki.

This can be especially important for Reiki I students. When you’ve just learned Reiki, it’s natural to pay very close attention to your hands. You may be wondering what you’re supposed to feel. And if someone else in class says, “My hands were practically on fire!” while you felt nothing unusual, it’s very easy to start comparing.

Please don’t make somebody else’s sensory experience the standard for your practice. You don’t have to manufacture a sensation. You don’t have to search for one. And you certainly don’t have to exaggerate what you’re experiencing because everyone else seems to be noticing something.

I like to approach Reiki hand sensations with curiosity. Instead of: Is this right? Try: Hmm. That’s interesting.

Instead of: Why aren’t my hands getting hot today? Try: Today feels different.

Instead of: I must be doing something wrong. Try: I don’t notice much physically today, and that’s okay.

You can notice what happens without immediately assigning meaning to it. Warmth. Coolness. Tingling. Pulsing. Heaviness. Nothing.

Notice it. Allow it. Then return your attention to your practice.

[1] Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Reiki Program. The hospital describes warmth, coolness, gentle tingling, pulsation, relaxation, and sometimes no sensation as experiences reported during Reiki sessions. https://bidmc.org/volunteer/reiki

[2] International Center for Reiki Training – “Scanning.” Describes warmth, coolness, tingling, pressure, pulsation, and other sensations within traditional Reiki scanning practice. https://www.reiki.org/scanning

[3] National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) – “Reiki.” Provides the current scientific overview of Reiki, including limitations of the evidence for health effects and the lack of scientific evidence for the proposed energy field. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/reiki

[4] Baldwin AL, Trent NL. “An Integrative Review of Scientific Evidence for Reconnective Healing.” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Discusses research measuring microvascular blood perfusion in the fingers of Reiki practitioners during self-treatment. https://dash.harvard.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/7312037e-88ae-6bd4-e053-0100007fdf3b/content

[5] International House of Reiki — “Why Do My Hands Get Hot When I Do Reiki?” Discusses heat, tingling, pulsation, coolness, and the importance of not using physical sensations as the measure of Reiki practice. https://ihreiki.com/blog/why_do_my_hands_get_hot_when_i_do_reiki/

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