What is Reiki?
“A practice that relieves not only the external, physical sufferings, but the internal sufferings and obscutration of humankind.” Dr Usui
Reiki is a safe and natural hands-on therapy that promotes healing on all levels. Reiki (ray-key) loosely translated means universal or God consciousness and ‘ki’ means ‘life energy’, so it is a natural healing energy that works on all the bodies, the subtle and the gross. It is a means of unblocking anything that impedes the natural energy flow, which allows us to return to our natural state of balance and harmony. In this state we unlock our body’s natural healing abilities.
It was discovered and developed by Dr Mikao Usui, a Japanese Buddhist Monk, who was practiced a form of energy healing called Kiko after studying ancient Sanskrit texts. After immersing himself in the Eastern wisdom and studying ancient Sanskrit texts, he returned to Japan where he went to spent time alone in solitude on Mount Kurama to be guided in how to work with these energies. During this time, he fasted, chanted, prayed and meditated. he received guidance and symbols to unlock energy flow. When he left the mountain and began practicing with what he received, he found he was able to heal people, and his form of Usui Reiki was born.
What can reiki help with?
Reiki balances and works on four levels of existence:
- Physical – The body and manifested pain.
- Emotional – What you are feeling.
- Mental – What you are allowing yourself to think.
- Spiritual – Your capacity to love yourself and others.
It can be used alone, or as a complimentary adjunct to other treatment, for example, people receiving chemotherapy often have reiki to reduce the side effects, as well as to promote the natural healing ability of the body.
It can help with injuries, diseases, emotional disorders, and all stress-related illnesses, which is a majority these days.
What to expect in a session:
Reiki is a non-invasive treatment where you remain fully clothed. You lie down on the massage bed and relax. Some people fall asleep, others like to talk, this is a personal experience and entirely up to you. As with massage, I would encourage people to relax and enjoy the experience and treat it as a kind of meditation. Some people feel the energy, or heat and some people see colours or feel pure love, some may feel old emotional things resurface, all is okay. If you do experience difficult emotions arising, be aware of these. Emotions want, and need, to be felt and experienced to be released, e-motion because they want to move through us and out of us. I am a trained counsellor and if you feel the need to explore, we can do so together. Trapped emotions keep us stuck in limited thinking and patterns. If we feel something come up, honour the wisdom of your body that it is time to let it go.
If possible, after the session, be gentle and easy with yourself and your day. Allow yourself time to just ‘be’. Time in nature is an excellent idea. It is also important to drink plenty of water afterwards to flush out toxins. If you feel, you can set a positive intention for the water to nourish you and continue to infuse with the energy of universal consciousness.
Why Reiki for me?
I discovered Reiki before I found Ayurveda and I had my level 1 attunement in 2017. I decided to continue on to level 2 practitioner in Reiki even after finding Ayurveda, as people resonate with different things.
Ayurveda is also working with the gross and subtle bodies, but Reiki provides another way of doing this, that it is a non-invasive and you do not need to remove your clothing, nor even have hands placed on you if you do not wish it.
It is the same healing energy that is at work no matter what the modality or wisdom tradition it comes from. As the Reiki practitioner, I am not in control of this energy. I am simply opening to the Reiki energy to become a conduit to let it flow into the person having treatment. This universal energy knows where it is needed most.