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View submission: Do you believe in the relics?
The monks would hold the relics over a lay person's head while they prayed and received his blessing. I did not feel comfortable receiving a blessing and it made me question my faith. At the same time, I feel like I missed a great, once in a life opportunity.
I would not worry about the "blessing" too much. A blessing (sbyin rlabs) means a conferral (labs) of power (byin). *Byin* is defined in Tibetan as "the ability or power to transform the minds and vision/appearances of another."
In this way, "blessing" just means the power of one person to inspire another to follow the path in some way. That is all a "blessing" is. There is no magical force called a "blessing." For if there was, the buddha, being compassionate, would have blessed us all into nirvana long ago.
Truly *byin rlabs* is better translated as "to empower" than "to bless." Blessing in, for example, a monotheist type capacity is not a thing in buddhadharma. *Byin rlabs* instead has the connotation of empowering someone, in this case, empowering you or inspiring you to follow the teachings of the buddha.
There's nothing here!