A first Reiki session lasts 60 to 90 minutes. We talk for a few minutes, you lie down fully clothed on a treatment table, and I rest my hands gently on your body or hold them a few centimetres above it. There is no massage, no pressure, nothing you have to do. Most people describe warmth, a pleasant heaviness and calm.
What actually happens in a first session
Most people arrive with a mix of curiosity and reserve. That is healthy.
A Reiki session is not a medical appointment and it is not a massage. It is a stretch of sustained stillness in which another person makes themselves available as a channel, so that vital energy can move more freely through your body.
I do nothing dramatic. I stay still, I listen, I accompany. That, which sounds like very little, is what many people have not received in weeks.
In practice the order is almost always the same: conversation, settling in, hands-on work, closing, and a few minutes to come back.
How to prepare (less than you think)
You do not need to fast, to meditate beforehand, or to read anything. You do not need to believe in Reiki to receive it.
What actually helps:
- Comfortable clothes, without stiff belts or tight collars.
- A light meal a couple of hours before, so you arrive neither hungry nor heavy.
- Ten minutes of margin. Sitting down for a moment before we start changes the whole session.
- Use the bathroom first. It sounds trivial and it is not: ninety minutes is a long time.
- If you take medication, take it as usual. Reiki does not interfere with your treatment and does not replace it.
One more thing: do not arrive with the task of "relaxing properly". That demand is exactly what keeps people from relaxing.
The opening conversation
The first ten or fifteen minutes are for talking. It is not an interrogation and it is not a clinical history: I do not diagnose and I do not pretend to.
I usually ask three things. What brought you here. How you sleep. And what you would like to be different a month from now.
That third question produces the longest silences. Almost nobody has thought about it.
I also ask whether you are under medical or psychological care, whether you take medication, and whether anything recent — surgery, a loss, a pregnancy — is worth knowing about. Not to change anything in your treatment, but to accompany you carefully and to know where it is better to work without contact.
This is also where you tell me what you do not want. If you would rather I did not touch your feet, or your head, or that there be no contact at all, you simply say so. Your free will leads from minute one.
Sessions in English
Sessions can be given in English. Many of the people who come to me live in El Poblado, Laureles or Envigado on a remote contract or a digital nomad visa, and prefer to be accompanied in their own language.
If English is easier for you, say so when you write. Nothing about the work changes.
The session step by step
This is the usual shape of a 75-minute session. Times are approximate: each person asks for a different rhythm.
| Stage | Approximate time | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Opening conversation | 10–15 min | We talk about what brings you and how you prefer to receive |
| Settling in | 3–5 min | You lie down clothed, face up, with a blanket and a pillow under your knees |
| Opening and harmonising | 5 min | Silence, breath, first positions at head and shoulders |
| Hands-on work | 35–45 min | A sequence of positions through the body, with or without contact |
| Closing | 5 min | Hands at the feet, return, a few soft cues of presence |
| Coming back | 5–10 min | You sit up slowly, drink water, talk if you need to |
There may be very quiet music, or silence. If you prefer silence, say so.
Your eyes can be open or closed. You can speak if it comes, though almost nobody does after the first few minutes.
You can fall asleep. It happens often and it ruins nothing.
Do I have to undress? Will I be touched?
You take nothing off. Reiki is received fully clothed, always. Only shoes come off, and a watch or metal accessories if they bother you.
Contact, when there is any, is a still resting of the hands: shoulders, head, sternum, abdomen, knees, feet. No pressure, no sliding, no manipulation of tissue. It is not massage.
And contact is optional. Working with the hands a few centimetres above the body is equally valid, and with some people it is what the first day calls for.
There is never contact on intimate areas or on a woman's chest. If a practitioner ever proposes that, the session ends there.
If these questions are circling in your head and you feel shy asking them out loud, I wrote a whole article for that: the questions nobody dares to ask.
What does it feel like?
Most commonly: heat from the practitioner's hands, a pleasant heaviness, mild tingling, breathing that slows down on its own.
Some people see colours behind closed eyes. Some feel waves of emotion with no clear cause. Some simply fall asleep.
And some feel almost nothing the first time. That does not mean the session was wasted. It means your nervous system was busy elsewhere, or that your way of receiving is quieter.
I go into this in detail in what does Reiki feel like.
What I see in my practice
There is a moment that repeats so often I now wait for it.
It comes somewhere between minute fifteen and minute twenty, almost always when my hands are on the shoulders. The person lets out a long sigh, the kind you do not decide to take, and the shoulders drop a couple of centimetres. Sometimes the jaw shifts. Sometimes there are tears without crying, barely a wetness in the eyes.
Afterwards many people say the same sentence in different words: "I had no idea I was that tense."
In Medellín that has a context. People arrive off a motorbike, out of traffic on the 33, from a day of back-to-back calls. In Santa Elena — the cloud-forest township on the mountain above the city, about forty minutes from El Poblado — it goes differently. People drive up through the mist and arrive already half open, with the noise of the city a thousand metres below. The forest does half the session before I lay down a hand.
The closing and the minutes after
The last minutes are part of the therapy, not paperwork.
I finish with my hands at the feet. It is a way of telling the body to find its ground again, that you are here now.
Then you sit up slowly, on the edge of the table for a moment before standing. Many people feel light-headed if they get up too fast.
You drink water. If you want to say something, you say it; if not, that is fine too. Some of the best sessions end without a single word.
What happens in the following 24 to 48 hours — tiredness, thirst, deep sleep, sometimes an emotion arriving late — is covered in what can happen after a session.
Cost, length and booking
A first session usually needs 75 or 90 minutes because of the opening conversation. Later ones can be 60.
On price: in Medellín, practitioners listed in professional directories publish rates roughly between 50,000 and 220,000 Colombian pesos (COP) per session, and several centres advertise around 130,000 to 150,000 COP for an hour. At current rates that is broadly in the range of a few tens of US dollars — treat any USD figure as approximate. These are observed market rates, not our fee. I would rather tell you mine directly: write to me on WhatsApp and I will send you the current price for a session, with no obligation.
How many sessions make sense is another conversation, and it deserves honesty: I cover it fully in how many Reiki sessions do I need.
A necessary note on expectations
Reiki is a complementary practice of relaxation and support. It is not medical treatment and it does not take the place of any.
The available evidence is limited and worth stating plainly: the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, NCCIH, notes that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose, and that it has not been shown to have harmful effects either.
I say it this way in my practice: you are coming for an hour of sustained calm, not for a promise. If anyone promises you a cure, be careful.
Frequently asked questions
Can I come if I have never meditated and know nothing about energy? Yes. Most first-time visitors have never meditated. You need no technique, no vocabulary and no prior belief. You only need to be able to lie down for a while and allow. If it is easier to think of it as an hour of accompanied deep rest, think of it that way — it works the same.
Can I bring someone with me? You can come accompanied and that person can wait nearby, but the session is received alone. A third presence in the room changes what one allows oneself to feel. The exception is young children or people who need support, where the companion stays quietly in a corner.
What if I sleep through the whole thing? Nothing bad. Falling asleep is one of the most common responses, especially if you arrive with accumulated sleep debt. The body takes what it needs. Many of the people who sleep are the ones who later describe the deepest rest that night.
Can I ask for no touch at all? Yes, and you do not have to explain why. The work is done just as well with the hands a few centimetres above the body. For people with a history of physical pain, tactile hypersensitivity or difficult experiences with contact, this is the usual way to begin and it is entirely valid.
Can I have a session while in psychological or psychiatric treatment? Yes, as long as you continue your treatment and mention it to your treating professional. Reiki accompanies, it does not replace. If you are in acute crisis, your health team comes first; energy work can be added later, once the ground is steady.
Can a first session be done at a distance? It can, and many people begin that way because they live outside Colombia. Even so, when it is possible, I suggest the first one be in person: meeting face to face makes the opening conversation easier and helps distance work hold better afterwards.
If reading this makes you want to try, write to us on WhatsApp at +57 314 811 7561 or through the contact page. We talk with no obligation and, if it makes sense, we book.
Your body knows how to heal. It only needs you to remind it of the way.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes and does not replace diagnosis, treatment or follow-up by a healthcare professional. Reiki is a complementary practice: it accompanies, it does not substitute. If you are under medical or psychological care, continue it and talk to your treating professional before adding any complementary therapy.
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Written by
Sananda Reiki
Spiritual support and Reiki therapies in Medellín and online.
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