Research: What Belly Breathing for 8 Weeks Does
September 17, 2026
We are Reiki, so that is happening whether we are awake or asleep. What you can do is set your intention before sleep: place your hands on your body, bring your awareness to being Reiki, and let that be the last thought of the day. Your hands will fall away once you sleep, and that is fine.
Well, we are Reiki, aren’t we? We are spiritual energy and we are in spiritual energy, so that is all happening while we sleep. I think what you are asking is whether you can work with the practices.
You could place your hands on your body with the intention of working with healing. I go to sleep with my hands on my body because it feels great, so I am doing hands-on healing. But of course, once I have fallen asleep my hands fall away, so I am not really doing that any longer.
If my intention is to always be Reiki, well, I am always Reiki. It is about bringing my awareness to that, and that is what we are learning when we practise the system of Reiki: to be consciously aware of being Reiki.
I could bring that intention to my sleep, for sure. It could be something I do before I go to sleep: think about this and set my intention to always be Reiki. That would be a great part of your practice. It is just like living the Reiki precepts.
When this happens. Most people ask this after a few weeks of self-practice, when they realise they fall asleep during it and feel they have cheated.
What is actually going on. Falling asleep with your hands on your body is not a failure of practice; it is the body relaxing. The practice was the minute of intention before sleep, and that happened.
What to do. Hands on the belly or the heart, three slow breaths into the hara, and one sentence to yourself: I am Reiki. Then let go. Do the same on waking, before your feet touch the floor.
When to get help. If you are using hands-on healing to get to sleep every night because you cannot sleep without it, talk to your doctor about the sleep, and keep the practice as well.
You might also ask: Can Reiki treatments help with insomnia? · Are you practising self-Reiki wrong? · What is the morning ritual that Mikao Usui asked us to do each day?
Set your intention with me each evening in the Shūyō app.
More questions answered: Reiki Questions Answered.
