Reiki, Ashati, Seichem and Golden Dragon — What's the Difference?

“Aren’t these all just Reiki?” I get some version of that question in almost every first conversation about energy healing, and it’s a fair one to ask. The four lineages I work with — Reiki, Ashati, Seichem and Golden Dragon — share a lot of common ground, and in an actual session I blend them rather than keep them in separate boxes. But they didn’t come from the same place, and they don’t all feel the same. Worth knowing the difference, whether you’re picking a session or thinking about training.

Reiki: the foundation

Reiki’s the one most people have heard of, and for most practitioners — me included — it’s the door you walk through first. It came out of Japan in the early twentieth century, works through a system of hand positions and channelled energy, and generally follows the body’s chakra system. Gentle. Broadly accessible. You don’t need to believe in anything to receive it — I’ve had plenty of sceptics feel something they weren’t expecting.

In my own training, and now in my own teaching, Reiki is the base layer everything else gets built on. New to energy work entirely? Start here.

Ashati: expansion work

Ashati’s newer — developed well after Reiki — and works with higher-frequency energies aimed at accelerating spiritual growth and expanding consciousness. That’s the theory, anyway, and it lines up with what I see in the room. Where Reiki tends to feel steady, grounding, Ashati feels more like someone’s turned the dial up. People I’ve worked with describe it as expansive, activating — sometimes bringing things to the surface faster than Reiki alone would.

Because of that, I usually pair Ashati work with solid grounding practice around it, so the expansion doesn’t outrun someone’s ability to process what’s coming up.

Seichem: the elemental layer

Seichem folds in the four elements — earth, air, fire, water — alongside Reiki-style channelling, and draws on Egyptian energy-healing traditions sitting alongside the more familiar Japanese Reiki lineage. It’s more varied session to session than Reiki on its own; which elemental quality shows up depends on what’s needed that day.

I combine Reiki and Seichem often — in sessions, and in how the training pathway’s structured — they share enough underlying technique that it just makes sense.

Golden Dragon: the potent one

Golden Dragon came later again, and within these traditions it’s generally regarded as working with a particularly strong, transformative energy. Not usually where I’d start a complete beginner. Some people find it a lot, intensity-wise. It’s more of a natural next step once there’s some grounding in Reiki or the others under someone’s belt.

Kundalini Reiki: related, but its own thing

Worth a quick mention here even though it’s not one of the four: Kundalini Reiki is a related but separate lineage, built specifically around activating and moving kundalini energy through the body’s energy centres. If that’s what you’re actually curious about — what kundalini activation feels like, how to move through it without it flooring you — I’ve written about that directly in Kundalini Activation and Spiritual Awakening.

So which one do you need?

Here’s the honest answer: if you’re coming for a healing session rather than training, the specific lineage matters less than you’d think. In a one-to-one Reiki & energy healing session I draw on whatever combination serves what’s coming up for you — I’m not reaching for one system out of habit. The lineage distinctions matter more if you’re weighing up training and want to know what each level involves, or if one modality hit you hard before and you want to understand why.

If what you’re really deciding between is a one-to-one energy session versus something deeper — shamanic healing weaves Reiki through a more ceremonial, Peru-trained tradition — Shamanic Healing vs Reiki vs Psychedelic Integration walks through how those differ.

Training in these lineages

I’ve trained more than fifty practitioners across these systems now — each on a structured, multi-level path with attunements, followed by a guided integration period so the shift settles safely rather than knocking someone sideways. Considering training rather than a one-off session? Full course structure and levels are on the Reiki & Energy Healing Courses page.

Still not sure which one’s yours?

That’s a normal place to land — most people can’t tell from the outside. Get in touch and tell me what you’re after, and we’ll figure out which lineage or session fits, in person on the Central Coast or as distance healing from wherever you are.