When you’re receiving prenatal Reiki, your baby is receiving it too. That can be as part of your general Reiki treatment, or your practitioner can give Reiki directly to your baby as part of your session.

The energy transmission that happens during a Reiki treatment works deeply in your body and reaches through your womb to your baby. With their hands on your belly, your practitioner can work directly with your baby and their individual energy.

There are several benefits for your baby of receiving Reiki while they’re in utero.

Reiki adds energy to your system, and we need energy to grow. Giving Reiki to your baby adds to the resources they can draw on for their development. It can support the placenta to function more optimally so your baby is better nourished.

As Reiki reduces stress, it can also support your baby’s growth by optimizing your hormonal profile, with less cortisol and adrenaline which inhibit growth, and more resources are available for your baby.

Reiki works by balancing the system so you don’t need to worry about your baby growing too much.

Your baby’s position in utero can have an impact on their birth. Most babies turn head down in third trimester in preparation for birth. While a baby who stays head up in a breech position is just a variation within the realms of normal positioning, it will mostly likely restrict your options for a vaginal birth since most providers aren’t experienced in breech delivery and will recommend a cesarean section. Even though there is nothing ‘wrong’ with a breech baby, if you’re hoping for a vaginal delivery, you may need to try and get your baby to change into a head down position.

While breech is the most common positioning issue we think of in babies, there are many other ways our baby can be sub-optimally positioned that can make your birth harder, longer or more painful. Your baby could be facing your belly instead of your spine or their head could be tipped up rather than down with their chin to their chest.

They might also be lying in a position that causes tension in their body that you’ll see after their born as torticollis, where their neck movement is restricted, which can then have knock on effects on feeding.

Reiki can support your body to open and make space for your baby to shift into a more optimal position, and can help your baby feel comfortable and relaxed so they can make that transition.

Not everyone feels a connection to their growing baby. If you're not, giving your baby Reiki is an amazing way to connect with them. You can feel their energy and add another dimension to how you’re supporting and mothering them during their in-utero time. It will also get them familiar with Reiki so they’re more responsive to it when they’re born.

Your partner might be having a hard time feeling connected to your baby. They can use Reiki as a way to feel your baby’s energy, have a tangible way to be involved and support your baby as they grow, and as a way to bond with them. Dads who’ve taken Reiki for Birth Partners have reported feeling very connected to their babies when they’re born.

Babies have feelings. They experience life as it’s happening around them while they’re in utero. If you’re having a hard time for any reason, they feel that. If you’re experiencing difficulties in your relationship with your partner or a bereavement, your baby will have an emotional response that mirrors yours. Sometimes babies are carrying things with them from past lives that can have an impact on them too.

Some of these feelings can have an impact on how their birth goes. I worked on a young child who I could see clinging to his mother’s spine, feeling worried to be born. His mom told me she and her husband had been fighting a lot during her pregnancy and her baby was induced at 42 weeks. Working with issues like these in the moment can help clear those feelings that might be impacting your baby’s readiness to be born.