The 9 Most Powerful Reiki Hand Positions for Self-Healing (With Step-by-Step Guidance)
Have you ever felt emotionally drained, physically fatigued, or energetically “off”—without knowing how to reset yourself?
Welcome to the transformative world of Reiki self-healing.
Reiki, a Japanese energy healing technique, offers a gentle yet powerful way to restore balance in your body, mind, and spirit. One of the most effective ways to do this is through self-healing hand positions—strategically placing your hands on or near specific parts of your body to direct life force energy where it’s needed most.
In this guide, you'll learn the 9 most important Reiki hand positions for self-healing, why each one matters, how to find the right placement, and what energy centers (chakras) they activate.
Whether you're a Reiki beginner or deepening your practice, this guide will help you create a daily ritual of healing, alignment, and inner peace.
Reiki Hand Position 1 — Eyes & Intuition
Hand Placement:
Gently place both hands over your eyes, allowing your palms to softly cover your closed eyelids.
Location Overview:
This position activates the area around the third eye chakra (located between your eyebrows), supporting clarity, inner vision, and spiritual awareness.
Why This Is Important:
We live in a visually overstimulated world. Screens, distractions, and outside opinions cloud our inner guidance. Placing your hands over your eyes is more than a way to rest—it’s a return to yourself. This hand position helps calm the mind, soothe tension in the eyes, and awaken your intuitive wisdom.
When to Use This Position:
- When you're feeling mentally overwhelmed or indecisive
- Before meditation or creative work
- To access inner guidance or reconnect with your intuition
Affirmation/Mantra:
"I see clearly with my inner eye. I trust my intuition to guide me."
Reiki Hand Position 2 — Mind & Memory
Hand Placement:
Place one hand on your forehead (over your third eye area) and the other hand on the back of your head, just above the base of your skull.
Location Overview:
This hand position connects the prefrontal cortex (associated with decision-making and focus) and the occipital region (linked to memory and visual processing). Together, they balance conscious thought and subconscious memory.
Why This Is Important:
This position is excellent for clearing mental fog, easing tension headaches, and reducing mental chatter. It harmonizes your conscious thoughts with deeper wisdom stored in your subconscious, making it easier to release overthinking and limiting beliefs.
When to Use This Position:
- When you’re overanalyzing or feeling stuck in your thoughts
- During times of confusion or forgetfulness
- To support clarity when setting intentions or planning your goals
Affirmation/Mantra:
"My mind is calm and focused. I remember only what empowers me."
Reiki Hand Position 3 — Ears & Inner Listening
Hand Placement:
Gently place both hands over your ears, with your palms cupping them lightly and fingers resting along your jawline and skull.
Location Overview:
This area governs inner hearing, intuition, and emotional communication. In energy healing, the ears symbolize your ability to listen deeply—to others, to your higher self, and to divine guidance.
Why This Is Important:
This hand position encourages you to quiet the noise of the external world and tune into your inner voice. It also helps clear energetic blocks caused by negative words or unkind feedback you've absorbed over time. It’s especially powerful for empaths and sensitive souls who often pick up the emotions of others.
When to Use This Position:
- When you need clarity but feel overwhelmed by others’ opinions
- After emotional conversations or conflict
- To deepen your connection to intuition and spirit messages
Affirmation/Mantra:
"I listen with love and trust my inner guidance."
Reiki Hand Position 4 — Throat & Authentic Expression
Hand Placement:
Place both hands gently over your throat area, just above the collarbones. Keep your touch light and respectful of this sensitive energy center.
Location Overview:
This is your Throat Chakra (Vishuddha), the energy center responsible for authentic communication, expression, and truth. It’s also where suppressed emotions and unspoken words can energetically linger.
Why This Is Important:
When energy is blocked in the throat, you may feel like your voice is not being heard, or that you can’t express yourself honestly. Reiki on the throat area helps clear fear of judgment, shame, or silence, and opens the pathway to express your truth with confidence and compassion.
When to Use This Position:
- When you struggle to speak up for yourself or set boundaries
- If you’re feeling creatively blocked or misunderstood
- Before public speaking, writing, or any form of expression
- To release emotions or truths you’ve kept inside
Affirmation/Mantra:
"My voice matters. I express my truth with clarity and love."
Reiki Hand Position 5 — Heart & Emotional Healing
Hand Placement:
Place both hands over the center of your chest, just above your sternum. Allow your palms to rest softly over your heart space.
Location Overview:
This position activates the Heart Chakra (Anahata), your center of love, compassion, forgiveness, and connection. Energetically, the heart is the bridge between the lower chakras (survival, desire, will) and the upper chakras (wisdom, intuition, spirituality).
Why This Is Important:
Your heart holds onto emotional memories—both joyful and painful. Applying Reiki to this area encourages deep healing, especially after loss, heartbreak, grief, or betrayal. It supports the release of emotional burdens and opens your capacity to give and receive love freely.
When to Use This Position:
- When you’re grieving, heartbroken, or emotionally overwhelmed
- To heal emotional wounds from the past
- When you feel disconnected from yourself or others
- To cultivate self-love and compassion
Affirmation/Mantra:
"I open my heart to love, healing, and emotional freedom."
Reiki Hand Position 6 — Solar Plexus & Inner Power
Hand Placement:
Place both hands just above your navel, in the upper abdominal area. This is the space between the ribcage and belly button.
Location Overview:
This position corresponds to your Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura), the center of personal power, self-confidence, motivation, and willpower. It governs how you see yourself and how confidently you take action in the world.
Why This Is Important:
When this chakra is out of balance, you might feel powerless, anxious, indecisive, or like you’re stuck in self-doubt. Reiki in this area helps strengthen your self-belief, dissolve fear, and realign you with your inner fire. It's also essential for balancing digestion, which is directly affected by stress and emotions.
When to Use This Position:
- When you feel unmotivated or unsure of yourself
- During times of stress, fear, or overwhelm
- When setting goals or making important decisions
- To reclaim your personal power and drive
Affirmation/Mantra:
"I trust myself. I am strong, confident, and capable."
Reiki Hand Position 7 — Stomach & Emotional Release
Hand Placement:
Place both hands over your lower abdomen, just below your navel. This is the soft belly area above your pelvic bone.
Location Overview:
This area activates the Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana), your center of emotion, creativity, sensuality, and emotional memory. It’s also where the body stores unprocessed emotions, especially those related to relationships, guilt, and shame.
Why This Is Important:
Your stomach is not just for digestion—it’s often called the “second brain” because of the intense emotional and energetic activity it holds. Reiki here helps release trapped emotions, soothe anxiety, and reconnect you with pleasure, creativity, and fluidity in life.
When to Use This Position:
- When you feel emotionally overwhelmed or numb
- To support emotional healing, especially from past trauma
- When you feel creatively blocked or disconnected from pleasure
- To improve digestion and gut health from an energetic perspective
Affirmation/Mantra:
"I release what no longer serves me. I honor my emotions and allow joy to flow."
Reiki Hand Position 8 — Sacral Center & Reconnection
Hand Placement:
Place both hands on your lower abdomen, slightly lower than the previous position—directly over your pelvis or just above the pubic bone.
Location Overview:
This hand position also supports the Sacral Chakra, but focuses more deeply on your reproductive center, intimate relationships, and connection to self and others. This is where you hold energy related to worthiness, intimacy, sensuality, and your right to feel and enjoy life.
Why This Is Important:
Many spiritual entrepreneurs, energy workers, and women over 40 carry old wounds or imbalances in this chakra. By sending Reiki to this area, you promote emotional balance, self-love, and connection to your divine feminine energy. It’s also supportive for hormonal balance, fertility, and sexual wellness.
When to Use This Position:
- When you’re healing from heartbreak, loss, or relationship trauma
- When you feel disconnected from your body or sensual self
- To strengthen your intuition and inner creative flow
- When working with issues around shame, guilt, or body image
Affirmation/Mantra:
"I honor my sacred energy. I am open to joy, intimacy, and emotional flow."
Reiki Hand Position 9 — Knees & Grounding Energy
Hand Placement:
Place both hands gently over your knees while sitting or lying down in a relaxed position. You can do this one knee at a time or both simultaneously, depending on comfort.
Location Overview:
Your knees are a key grounding point in your energetic body. They correspond to movement, flexibility, and the Root Chakra’s extension into your legs, which help you move forward in life—both physically and energetically. The knees are also symbolic of how you handle progress, change, and emotional weight.
Why This Is Important:
Reiki to the knees helps ground your energy, release resistance, and support flexibility in your path—especially during times of change, fear, or transition. It can also help reduce tension and energetic heaviness stored in the legs, which often manifests from overworking or holding too much responsibility.
When to Use This Position:
- When you feel stuck, unmotivated, or unable to move forward
- During life changes when you need extra grounding and strength
- After giving too much of yourself to others
- When working on releasing fear, rigidity, or ancestral patterns
Affirmation/Mantra:
"I am grounded, safe, and supported. I move forward with confidence and grace."
✨ Take Your Reiki Practice Deeper with Printable Tools
Your hands hold healing power—and so does your knowledge. If you’re ready to deepen your self-healing or share Reiki with others, these tools will guide and support your spiritual journey:
🔮 Reiki Manuals – 1st and 2nd Degree
Whether you’re new or teaching Reiki, these beautifully designed manuals help you learn, practice, or teach with clarity and confidence.
📘 Branding Planner for Spiritual Entrepreneurs
Start building a soul-aligned Reiki brand that reflects your energy and attracts your dream clients—perfect if you’re ready to grow your spiritual business!
📂 Spiritual Business Starter Kit
Client forms, chakra guides, Reiki principles, and more—designed to make your Reiki business organized, professional, and aligned from day one.
