What Music Does To Your Body During Reiki Sessions

Music is something I use in nearly all of my Reiki sessions, though it depends on the client. Some prefer complete silence, and I always ask beforehand. When I do use music, it's not something I do for atmosphere. Over the years I've noticed it changes how a session feels for the client, and after reading some of the recent research on music and the body, it makes sense why music is so important.

I read a piece in Women's Health recently that looked at how music affects the body physically, not just how it makes us feel. One of the researchers cited, Elaine Chew, a pianist and engineering professor at King's College London, has found that heart rate and blood pressure actually sync with changes in loudness during a piece of music. The tension and release in a swell of music has a similar effect to a gentle workout on the body, and afterwards the body settles into a calmer state.

There's a similar effect happening with tempo. Slower tracks move a busy brain towards lower frequency brainwaves associated with relaxation, which is why a piano-led piece can lull you towards sleep. Faster tempos do the opposite, they raise physiological arousal and energy. So the pace of what you're listening to genuinely changes your nervous system state, not just your mood.

This is exactly why I don't treat music as an afterthought in my Reiki sessions, for the clients who want it. If a client is receiving Reiki with the right kind of music alongside it, the body is already moving towards a calmer, more regulated state before we even get to the energy work itself. Reiki is working on the energetic level, but the music is working on the physiological level at the same time, and the two support each other.

Volume matters as much as the type of music. I keep it low, well below what you'd listen to normally, so it sits underneath the session rather than competing with it. If music is loud enough that you're aware of it, it's pulling attention away from the body rather than supporting it. The goal is for it to register just below conscious awareness, so it can do its work on the nervous system without becoming a distraction.

I stick to instrumental music with no lyrics. Words engage the part of the brain that processes language, which means you end up half listening to a story or a melody line instead of settling into your body. Slow, sustained tracks work best, ideally without sudden changes in tempo or big dynamic swings, since anything unpredictable can pull a client out of a relaxed state rather than deepen it. I tend to use ambient or instrumental pieces built for stillness rather than anything with a strong beat or rhythm section.

I also use the same few playlists regularly rather than something new every time. Over time, clients' bodies start to associate that music with the state they enter during Reiki, so it becomes part of what helps them drop into that state faster in future sessions. It's a small thing, but it means the music is doing more than filling silence, it's become part of the process itself.

None of this means music does the work of Reiki for you. Reiki is still the energy work. But if you're a practitioner, or if you receive Reiki regularly, it's worth paying attention to what you're playing during a session. The body is listening, quite literally, at the same time the energy work is happening.

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