How do you explain Reiki to someone?

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My students frequently ask me this. But before I answer that question here, let me tell you what happened the other day…

So there I was, sitting in the dental chair for a routine cleaning. Nothing unusual. The hygienist walked in, mask on, cheerful enough. At first, everything seemed normal, until she started coughing. Not just a little throat-clear, but the kind of coughing that takes over your whole body. She had to excuse herself and step out.

When she came back, she apologized, explaining she’d been sick the week before. “I’m not contagious,” she reassured me, “just can’t shake this cough.” I waved it off, no big deal. We tried again.

But it kept happening. Every few minutes, another coughing fit. She’d leave, come back, try water, cough drops, anything she could think of. Nothing worked. You could see the frustration building in her, that mixture of embarrassment and exhaustion.

At one point, someone from the front desk popped in and asked if I wanted to reschedule. I smiled and said, “Nah, I’m okay.”

A moment later, the hygienist returned again, apologizing for what must have been the umpteenth time. And that’s when something in me just quietly said, Okay… enough.

I looked at her and said, “Come sit for a second.” She hesitated, a little confused, but she did. I placed one hand on her upper chest, one on her back, and just let Reiki flow. No explanation. No buildup. Just presence.

Her eyes popped open almost immediately, wide with surprise. The woman from the front desk, still lingering nearby, seeing this asked, “What’s going on?” The hygienist said, “I don’t know, but I LIKE it.” I smiled slightly and said, “It’s Reiki.” Her whole face lit up with a grin so wide you could see it, even from behind her mask. “I’ve never had Reiki before!” she said.

I kept my hands there for a few more minutes. The energy settled, softened, and then she took a breath and said, almost amazed, “I feel better.”

So we went back to our roles. Me in the chair, her back to scraping, cleaning, and polishing my teeth. And here’s the thing, she didn’t cough again. Not once.

When we were done, I handed her my card and told her she could reach out or check out my website if she wanted to learn more. Then I paid and went on my way.

So now back to the orginal question: If someone asks you how to explain Reiki, don’t start with an explanation. Start with an experience.

Reiki isn’t something you fully understand through words. It’s something you feel. Long explanations can get tangled up in beliefs, expectations, or even skepticism. But a direct experience? That speaks for itself in a way words never quite can.

My students also usually ask, “Shouldn’t we ask permission first?” And the answer is, use your awareness. Use your sensitivity. There’s a difference between forcing something and offering something. Reiki is gentle. It meets the moment. Sometimes that moment invites action before explanation, and sometimes it doesn’t. The deeper practice is learning to sense the difference.

What matters most is this: Don’t hide what you carry. Sometimes what we call ‘being polite’ is actually hesitation, or fear of being rejected. But Reiki was never meant to be tucked away or over-explained into silence. It was meant to be shared. Simply, naturally, one person to the next.

So trust it. Be willing to offer it. Let people experience it. Because when they do, Reiki will explain itself far better than we ever could.