• Practitioners typically do not initiate conversation during a session.
• Clients appreciate silence.
• In some cases, a client's talk during the session can be part of the healing process.
• General conversation not related to the client's needs or the healing process may be disruptive.
• Conversation may make it harder for the practitioner to concentrate. 
• Reiki flows and is effective despite distracting situations.  

Below are brief excerpts of some of the interesting and insightful comments I received. Read the complete responses. 

In my work doing massage therapy as well as Reiki, I consider shared silence to be so important it is almost a healing force of its own. Tara Hoch   

Usually our sessions are silent, but during one session with a long-time client, she talked nonstop. When we were done she said it was the first time she had chronologically talked through this stressful situation, and she found it to be very healing. Joy Louise Hope   

During a Reiki Share, I remember one instance in a room of four tables with 8 -10 practitioners working, there was one table where the giver and receiver carried on a conversation out loud with occasional bursts of laughter. I found it very distracting, and I know other practitioners felt the same way. Jane Van de Velde   

Reiki deals with "noise" in the muscles, the soul, the  mind, and the heart. It substitutes the heavenly music of healing. "So what did you do this weekend?" is noise. Max Dixon

Talking would not have been good for me. I remember the Reiki sessions with you, and I so enjoyed the quiet. Katy Shaner  

It really is the client's time. If you ask the client to try to relax and be quiet, and they want to talk, there's not a lot you can do about it. ...it can be harder for the practitioner to concentrate...but healing still occurs to a greater or lesser degree. Denise Poynter

Read the March issue article, "To talk? Or not to talk?"