This article is the first part of a series on Shielding and Reiki. In this article, I would like to discuss the necessity of shielding while giving Reiki. Many people believe that because Reiki is about projecting energy only, that there is no need to shield. If the energy is constantly going out, then you are not coming into contact with the lower frequency energies. And if you do not come into contact with them, then you do not need to shield.
At least that is the theory.
In practice, it is a little different. Since I often refer to energy as “flowing like water,” let’s go with that analogy and consider a garden hose. Water only flows out of the hose. But does that mean the hose never gets dirty? Of course it does.
Now you may be saying that the hose only gets dirty because you are dragging it through the grass and dirt. You aren’t rolling around in the dirty energy, so the hose analogy doesn’t apply. Well, in fact, you are. You see, when you pour energy into body with sick energy, some of the energy will be transformed, and the rest of it will be “flushed out.” Flushed out where? That’s right, into the room where you are working.
Think about when you are spraying a big muddy area with your hose. What happens when you are to close to the mud? You get dirty water splashing on to your clothes. Well, when you do Reiki, you are “to close to the mud.” Some of that energy will splash on you. And what doesn’t will now be in your workspace.
Now you could argue that you could just wash the clothes and everything will be fine. But let’s consider the clothes for a moment. Do you wear your nicest clothes when working in the garden? No, you do not. Even though you could “just wash them clean,” you still wear work clothes – clothes specifically meant for garden work. These gardening clothes are the shield protecting your good clothes.
In the next part, I discuss a few different ways to set a personal shield for use during a Reiki treatment.