Reiki is most often given directly, with the receiver lying clothed on a massage table. The sessions last for about one hour and a quarter, and transmission is direct through a light imposition of hands. These techniques are taught in Reiki Level I.

Reiki Level II however goes on to develop specific techniques for the transmission of Reiki through space and time. Whilst modern medicine does not believe that this is possible, a spiritual approach to healing takes a somewhat more flexible view of nature. In my own view, what physicists are currently learning – both about time, and about the deeper nature of the universe – will one day explain to rationally minded people how Reiki can indeed flow through time and space without difficulty.