I have been receiving/practicing Reiki for the past ten years, working my way through levels one, two and three, finally progressing to Reiki Master in 2005.
I was first introduced to Reiki during a time when I was under a great deal of stress. I was lucky that the company she was working for at the time had an excellent Occupational Health Department, which included alternative therapies. Our Human Resources Manager recognized that I was in trouble and arranged for me to have three free Reiki sessions. These sessions were going to change my life…
After just one session, the issue that had been stressing me out no longer mattered. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I felt so much lighter and happier afterward. I continued with the sessions and gradually changed from someone who was overweight, unhappy and never left the doctor’s office, to the person I am today… healthy, calm and generally very happy in this life.
Like everyone else, I will always have my ups and downs because after all, that’s what life is all about… living and learning… but that’s how you learn to deal with the bumps in life’s road. Whatever is going to happen will happen anyway, whether you stress or not; getting stressed and sick won’t change the outcome, so it’s best to try to relax…go with the flow. Alternative therapies such as massage, Reiki, reflexology, etc., can help you do this.
What is Reiki?
The practitioner who gave me those first Reiki sessions commented that I was an ideal candidate to give Reiki. I thought I couldn’t do it because I would never be able to explain to people what I was really doing, however alternative therapies have come a long way and have become much more acceptable in society in recent years as a valid means of self help and self healing.
Reiki is a stress reduction and relaxation technique that allows everyone to tap into an unlimited supply of vital energy to improve health and improve quality of life. I usually describe Reiki to people by asking them to imagine a white, angelic light coming down their head and spreading down their body to their toes; a powerful and intelligent energy, which makes its way through the whole body, making you feel relaxed and calm; washing away all the negativity and stress… the stress that causes disease in our bodies.
The knowledge that an invisible energy flows through all living beings and is directly connected to the quality of health has been part of the wisdom of many cultures since ancient times. The existence of this life force energy has been verified by recent scientific experiments and doctors are considering the role it plays in the functioning of the immune system and the healing process. It is not associated with any religion and is a simple, natural, and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use.
A treatment feels like a wonderful shimmering glow that flows through you and surrounds you. Reiki treats the whole person, including the body, emotions, mind and spirit; it creates many beneficial effects including relaxation and feelings of peace, security and well-being. Miraculous results have been reported by many and I have witnessed this many times myself, but the least you can expect is to have a very enjoyable hour of relaxation and stress reduction with long term benefits.
A typical Reiki session
Although some practitioners will place their hands on the receiver, apart from the occasional light touch to the feet or shoulders towards the end of the session, I tend not to touch the client at all because I feel it allows them to go deeper into relaxation without any interruption. The client lies down (fully clothed) on the massage table and my hands hover an inch or two above the body. People comment that they can feel the heat coming from my hands.
The practitioner generally starts at the head and works down to the feet. There are general hand positions that most practitioners follow, covering the seven main chakras and major organs. As I work my way through the chakras I sometimes feel hot spots in the body where there is some kind of illness or imbalance and I work on these areas for a while until the heat has subsided.
Often people describe their experience by saying that they felt as if they were floating during the session, or that they were being enveloped or enveloped by a warm, loving, nurturing light that flowed through their entire being. Often if there is a physical problem, the client will feel that area of the body getting quite hot as the energy is directed to that area. People generally become very ‘astral’ or disengaged from their bodies during a session. Others say they didn’t feel anything; they thought they were just laying there relaxing, but I know it’s different… I hear the digestion start gurgling, then the rapid eye movement, and every once in a while, snoring!
They say it’s equivalent to your body sleeping eight hours. For people who are capable of letting go, it is very common for them to fall asleep during the entire session. I am always very happy when this happens because it means that the person is completely opening up to the energy and will be able to work on a very deep level; that this powerful and intelligent energy is making its way throughout the body.
Any healing (spiritual, mental or physical) that takes place is not caused by the practitioner, but by divine spiritual energy. There is no physical manipulation during a traditional Reiki session and everything is done on a purely energetic level. The practitioner simply acts as a conduit for this energy and allows him to channel his hands towards the client. The practitioner then ‘grounds’ the client back to the planet. This is done by moving towards the feet and channeling the energy into the soles of the feet. This works to open the chakras in the soles of the feet that connect us to the planet.
the chakras of the body
There are seven main energy centers (chakras) in the body that resonate with the seven colors of the rainbow. A Chakra is like a spiral of energy, each one relating to the others. Chakra (pronounced sha-kra) is the Sanskrit word for ‘wheel’.
If you can imagine the main chakras/energy centers as a set of gears/wheels, they are like the workings of a clock or an engine; each gear/wheel must move smoothly and at a similar speed for the clock/motor to function properly. Thus, good health and well-being are achieved through a balance of all these energies (or the proper functioning of the gears/wheels).
Reiki Benefits
Due to the nature of Reiki, it is quite difficult to say exactly what will be experienced during a session. This will depend on a number of things including, but not limited to, the practitioner, each individual client, the level to which that client can open to the energies, and the areas that the energy itself is targeting.
The most immediate and wide-ranging results are a drastic reduction in stress and an extreme feeling of relaxation, similar to what people often feel after a massage, but seems to be deeper and longer lasting. There is also a general feeling of being more balanced, calm and centered. These results are almost always achieved through a single session. The most profound results that Reiki can produce (i.e. ‘healing’ of a specific ‘disease’, releasing habitual thought patterns or old emotional scars, etc.) are rarely achieved through a single session, rather that need to be addressed in the same way that many of them manifested… over time.
When we are born in this world, we love ourselves completely. Everyone oohs and ahhs over us. We are hungry, we cry, we are fed. We need a clean diaper, we cry, we change. All of our needs are met (for most of us) and life is wonderful. As we age, we begin to pick up on the negative energies around us, negative behavior and comments, which in turn shape us into the adults we became. Reiki is about removing those negative memories and thought patterns and returning us to the state we were born in… carefree, happy, loving life and loving ourselves.
In my own case, this happened over many sessions and once I felt emotionally charged-free, healthy and centered, only then did I feel able to progress towards tuning in and being in the right frame of mind to treat others.
So if you’re feeling stressed, unwell or just want to pamper yourself (why not?), book a session with a Reiki practitioner. At the very least, you will have a very pleasant hour of relaxation and stress reduction.
You will never regret the time you spend taking care of yourself.
