An introduction to Reiki healing

I have been receiving/practicing Reiki for the last 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 worked for at the time had an excellent Department of Occupational Health, 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 so much no longer mattered. It was as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders and afterwards I felt much lighter and happier. 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 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 it was that I was actually 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 technique for stress reduction and relaxation 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 from their head and extending down their body to their toes; a powerful and intelligent energy, which makes its way throughout the body, making you feel relaxed and calm; washing away all the negativity and stress… disease-causing stress in our bodies.

The knowledge that an invisible energy flows through all living things 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 flowing through and around you. Reiki treats the whole person, including 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 a very pleasant hour of relaxation and stress reduction with long term benefits.

A typical Reiki session

Although some practitioners will place their hands on the recipient, apart from the occasional light touch on 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 off my hands.

The practitioner usually starts at the head and works his way down to the feet. There are general hand positions that most practitioners follow, covering the seven main chakras and major organs. When 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 died down.

People often 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 flowing through their entire being. Often, if there is a physical problem, the client will feel that area of ​​the body becoming quite hot as the energy is directed to that area. People generally become very ‘astral’ or detach from their bodies during a session. Others say they felt nothing; they thought they were just laying there relaxing but I know it’s different… I hear digestion start to gurgle then rapid eye movement and now and then snoring!

They say that it is equivalent to your body sleeping eight hours. For people who are able to let go, it is very common 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 you to channel your hands into the client. The practitioner then ‘grounds’ the client back to the planet. This is done by moving down to 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 running of a clock or motor; each gear/wheel must move smoothly and at a similar speed for the clock/motor to work properly. Thus, good health and well-being are achieved through a balance of all these energies (or the proper functioning of the gears/wheels).

Benefits of Reiki

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 is able to open to the energies, and the areas that the energy itself is directed to.

The most immediate and broad-spectrum results are a drastic reduction in stress and an extreme feeling of relaxation, similar to what people usually feel after a massage, but it 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. the ‘healing’ of a specific ‘illness’, the release of habitual thought patterns or old emotional scars, etc.) are rarely achieved through a single session, but rather that need to be addressed in the same way that many of them have manifested themselves… over time.

When we are born into this world, we love ourselves completely. Everyone exclaims oohs and ahhs over us. We are hungry, we cry, they feed us. We need a clean diaper, we cry, we change. All our needs are met (for most of us) and life is wonderful. As we age, we begin to pick up on negative energies around us, negative behavior and comments, which in turn make us into the adults we become. 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 free of emotional baggage, healthy and centered, only then did I feel able to progress to tune in and be 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 a minimum, you will have a very pleasant hour of relaxation and stress reduction.

You will never regret the time you spend taking care of yourself.