Protection prior to giving reiki

Sometimes it seems that you pick up all the bad things from a person you are healing. What can you do to prevent these facts?

Most everyone has experienced a bad feeling during and after healing someone. Usually you get the negative energy of this person and absorb all the residues of his/her disease.
There are several techniques some experts use.

The first is to surround yourself with a bubble of light or discharge often the negative energy from your hands into a container with water.
Someone also works on the psychology and talk to himself that the negativity is drained away from all the bodies in the area.

Another method is to light a candle with the intention of setting a sacred space. You must work with the highest vibration of white light then you smudge the room, with a bundle that you light with the candle flame and using a feather to waft or wave the smoke upward, you make sweeping motions upward with the feather to direct the smoke into the corners of the room, working in a counterclockwise circle to remove any and all dirty energy.
In any case never use your hands as you can pick up dirty energy.
Whatever has been released in the space around and not of the white light will be removed.

You can also smudge yourself by taking the bundle and just running it along side your entire body (in your aura) and under your feet, ending with pulling the smoke over your head with your hand and/or inhaling some of it to remove any internal dirty energy, then place the sage in the earth to put it out (in sand or soil) never douse it with water. You cannot blow it out, it will just fan the flames. So make a container of sand/soil and put your sage bundle out in it. You can store your bundle in an abalone shell. Some people also smudge their massage table, pillow and bolster.

If you are Reiki II or above you can now put symbols in the 4 corners of the room and in front of any doors leading into/out of the room working counterclockwise. There seems to be some controversy as to which symbols to use but most agree on the CKR (one or both versions usually the clockwise) and possible the SHK. You should feel which ones are necessary each time. You might sandwich the SHK between the two CKR'S or just use the two CKR's or just do the clockwise CKR and then the SHK - do what feels right to you. Start in one corner, put in the symbols and using your hand or whatever fingers you used to write the symbols, drag them into the next corner and work back around to the initial corner, repeating the symbols there. Do this with the intention of asking the Reiki energy to come in and put protection in all the corners of the room while you are doing your session (or whatever) and always say a prayer of gratitude afterwards to the Reiki energy for this beautiful service. You don't have to do anything after the session, the energy will of the symbols will fade after a certain time afterwards.

As long as you do not identify with the person's own judgment of themselves (the person is perceiving that something is wrong with them when if they changed their perspective they might be able to understand that their body can't use words but is trying to communicate with them), and focus instead on knowing the true light that exists within each individual. Try not to get involved with the "pain story" which is about separation, while healing is derived from the word "whole." Reiki works to bring about wholeness and so it is helpful not to include thoughts that move toward wholeness rather than away from pain. If we are including the pain story in our
session we are including pain not releasing it.

Knowing where to apply Reiki can be perceived as a blessing and opportunity to be of service. Any perceived "problem" can always be looked at differently if we are willing to shift our perspective and ask "how can this help" and gently let the answer come to us.

Another method some people us is when they get sensations in their body, for instance it will sometimes feel like your guides are tapping on a part of your body, they will ask "is it for me or is it for the person I'm facilitating" and if it is for them, then they will work more closely on that particular area.

If you want to increase your know-how I suggest you to read Richard Ellis's book "Practical Reiki" where he talks about "setting a sacred space".