Now distant healing is based on the idea of making a long-distance 'connection' with the recipient, maybe by using a symbol, maybe by using a sacred sound, or maybe simply when you still your mind and you find that space where you are 'at one', merging with the other person. Your 'connection' to the recipient is a state of mind, a matter of your intention, and the details of the ritual that you use are not important.

Some Reiki people are taught that they need to keep at least one hand on the recipient at all times when they carry out hands-on treatments - otherwise they'll 'lose the connection' - but of course you are 'connected' to the recipient just as much when your hands are hovering away from the body. Your 'connection' does not depend on the physical proximity of your hands to someone's body. You are connected with your intention, when you are still and focused, you are connected as soon as you direct your attention towards the recipient.

But let's get back to distant healing. In practice this tends to be carried out for 10-15 minutes at a time over a number of consecutive days, and we send the energy to the person for their highest good, in a 'general' way, not directing the energy to a particular area.

But since our 'connection' to the person is a state of mind, we could maintain that 'distant' connection for a prolonged period if we wanted, and we could direct the energy with our intention to different specific parts of the recipient's body, in the same way that when we treat someone we direct the energy with our hands to specific areas of the body. And since with Reiki the energy follows our thoughts, it follows our focus; we can direct the energy using visualisation, which is a convenient shortcut to focus our intent.

So we can if we like carry out a ''remote treatment', where we maintain our connection to the recipient for maybe 30-40 minutes and direct the energy into the recipient's body by using imaginary hand positions. The energy will enter the recipient's body in the areas we imagine/intend. What hand positions should we use? Well we could go through a set of 'standard' hand positions, but we should learn to move beyond that as soon as we can. Far better to use our intuition, and a good way of working out where our hands should go is to use the Japanese intuitive 'technique' called Reiji Ho.

Reiji Ho is basically a way of getting your head out of the way, merging with the energy and allowing your hands to move, rather like having your hands moved by invisible magnets. Just like dowsing or automatic writing, Reiji Ho allows us to tap in to subconscious knowledge, and that knowledge is expressed through muscle movements. We already know the best places to put our hands, but quite often our mind gets in the way and stops us from getting to that deep knowing. Reiji helps to get our head out of the way for us.

So once you are connected to the other person in your mind, you can imagine them lying down on a treatment couch and visualise imaginary hands resting on or hovering over them. In your mind's eye, 'look' at your hands and see where they want to drift. They will drift in your mind's eye; be neutral, simply interested to see where they come to rest. When they come to rest, direct Reiki into your subject in those areas using intent; imagine energy flooding through those imaginary hands into the recipient's body. The energy will enter the recipient's body in the places that you imagine.

How long should you keep your hands in a particular position? Maybe you have a feeling that you ought to move on to a different position, but you're not sure whether you should yet. Here's a way to see if you should move on: in your mind's eye, pull one of your imaginary hands away from the place where it was resting; if it wants to slip back to that place again, rather like it was attached by an elastic band, then you can stay there for longer, directing the energy into the body in that position until you feel that the imaginary hand will drift away easily. This visualisation can be used when you are doing hands-on treatments too, to let you know whether it's ok to move on to the next hand position.

Then 'see' where your imaginary hands want to drift next, and direct energy into your 'remote treatment' recipient using your visualisation or intent.. This is a lovely way to work, because you have to really merge with the energy, to become one with the energy to do this.

In fact you can even 'scan' the recipient at a distance if you want. Hover one hand in mid-air, palm down, and in your mind's eye imagine your hand drift over the recipient's body. Notice the areas where there seems to be a lot of energy flowing in your hand. Try it. It works!

So why don't you try an experiment: get a willing victim to lie down at a prearranged time for, say, 45 minutes. Connect to them in your head, using your intent, let the energy guide your imaginary hands, direct the energy using visualisation (using intent) and see what you perceive. Go with the flow. See what they notice. Suspend your disbelief and see what happens!