Reiki

My Experience with Reiki

 

My first encounter with Reiki was back in the year 2000 when I worked as an Oncology nurse at one of the local hospitals. At that time the hospital was trialing Reiki as an adjunct treatment for cancer patients. They recruited a handful of volunteers to provide treatments to the patients as well as the nursing staff. It was then I received my first reiki session and was pleasantly surprised. I was a full-blown skeptic, but during that session, I was able to feel a change within my body. 

 

The patients had such a good response to the Reiki treatments that the hospital opted to have a permanent Reiki volunteer program that still exists to this day. In addition, they offered to train the nursing staff.

 

It wasn’t until 20 years later, when my life took a drastic turn, that I revisited the world of energy healing. My life had blown up and intuitively I was drawn to the practice. I slowly got my feet wet by taking the level one training, then the level two training, and then the level three training to obtain “master” status. I spent much time providing Reiki to myself and others on a volunteer basis. 

 

As much as I believed in this practice, my left brain or scientific mind was struggling to accept that my experience with Reiki was justifiable. I began to look at the research. Even though it is limited, there are legitimate, scientific studies that support the positive effects of energy healing. Through experience and research, I now have no doubts that this practice has its benefits and that energy healing is my calling. 

 

What is Reiki?

 

Recently, the scientific world has named the electromagnetic field that permeates and surrounds every living body as the “biofield”. If you think about it, our entire body is electric. The heart, for example, produces an electric field that can be measured by an electrocardiogram or ECG. The brain, an EEG. Or think of how we are all made up of atoms. We all know what happens when we split an atom and how much “energy” an atom contains. There is no speculation that we are electric.

 

In Eastern medicine, it is believed that we have energy centers (chakras) and channels where the energy flows. Blocks in the flow of energy can occur due to trauma, repressed feelings, dysfunctional beliefs, memories, thoughts, illness, societal programming, etc.. 

 

It is theorized that Reiki is the interaction between 2 human biofields. In essence, the Reiki practitioner is able to gather and direct biofield energy through intention and touch, moving stagnations and balancing these energies, stimulating the body’s natural healing ability. 

 

Benefits of Reiki

 

• Improves relaxation

• Decreases pain

• Reduces anxiety

• Increases a sense of overall well-being

• Reduces muscle tension

• Improves mood

• Improves sleep

• Helps with surgical recovery

• Helps with cancer symptoms