What is Reiki, you ask? Great question! I was a bit in the dark until this year, too. I’d been introduced to terms and concepts such as: Pranic Healing, Reiki, Qigong, Quantum Healing, Somatic Healing, EFT Tapping and Acupuncture over the years. But I’d never actually experienced such session.
As it goes, right? Isn’t everything just a mystery until we experience for the first time?
Which is just how the summer of 2021 unfolded for me. In July, I exchanged photography services for Reiki Healing with Reiki Master, Meghan Charles; and I cannot believe I waited this long to explore this modality of supporting my wellness. More of my experience in a moment.
First, what are all these alternative practices? To summarize, each of the above (and I’m sure many others I’ve not listed), all incorporate tapping into the Life Force Energy. You know; that energy that animates the living. That mysterious force that brings something inanimate to animate. Reiki, Prana, Chi, Qi or the Holy Ghost are all various ways of describing the same force.
And each of these practices tap into that energetic force to aid in the healing of our physical and energetic bodies. And the crazy thing? It actually works.
Specifically, what happens, you wonder? Though every Reiki Practioner is different, in a session with me you will experience:
- 1-hour session in my in-home studio or in the comfort of your home
- You will lie down on a comfortable (portable) massage table
- Hands-off energetic healing where I place my hands directly over specific stations of your body; such as the top of the head, shoulders, face, abdomen and so on
- Soft ambient music and Palo Santo smudging is optional
What you might experience during a Reiki Session (you may experience a variety of these sensations, or something entirely different):
- Feeling significant heat or warmth from my hands
- Deep sense of relaxation
- You may experience brief discomfort, especially if we are working on an injury; this is short-term while we are focused on that area and is normally followed by deeper relief in the injured area
- Seeing different colors
- Tugging, tingling or pulling sensations, or soft energy currents
What you might experience after a Reiki Session (you may experience a variety of these, or something entirely different)
- Deeper sense of balance and alignment
- Release of energetic blockages; this can manifest in many ways and you’ll know it when you experience it
- Tired or energized the day of and possibly the couple days after
- Greater feeling of wellness
- Obstacles that once seemed great may become small
- Release of past trauma
- The energy moved in a Reiki Session may last for weeks or months; and the effects may even last a life time if a particular energetic blockage was released
My experience: In May of 2018, I woke in the middle of the night with a very sharp pain in my right side. It felt as though I was being stabbed with a knife, it took my breath away and was excruciating. I told no-one of this experience and had my own theories on what this pain was. I carried on with life as usual, which included regular doctor’s appointments; there was never an anomaly in any of my check-ups. This pain lived with me until my first Reiki session in July of 2021. Some days it would be dull, some days I would barely notice it, especially if I was very distracted. Some days is was awful. But I always noticed it when I was still, and often, it would disrupt my sleep.
Then there was the dull ache in my back, right behind the heart. It felt like a cone shaped object was pressing into my back and was particularly noticeable when I was doing certain yogic breathing techniques (kapalabhati, for those of you curious minds 😉 ). This ache also appeared around the same time as the side.
Neither of these pains were particularly surprising to me, as this was a time just after great healing in my life. So no surprise that when my mind became quieter, unresolved energetic blocks became noticeable. And as chronic pain goes, we just get used to it being the ‘new normal’.
Forwarding to July of 2021, I was hopeful that my session with Meghan these two issues would be resolved. With no experience, however, I remained open; open to great healing and open to no healing. Who knew what would happen? During the week after my session, I had phantom pains, kind of. As I’d lived with both of these pains for so long they had just become a part of my life, but ultimately, they both disappeared entirely within a few days. They’ve never returned, not even once; and it’s now been 4-months.
Now, I can tell you this, our healing is all very personal. My experience will not be yours. My body experienced this pain and was then able to heal in this way because of the karmic seeds that I have been planting throughout the year allowing my experience to happen in just such a way. Had I gone to a Reiki or Pranic Healer in the summer of 2018 or 2019, I would have had very different experiences. And if I’d waited until summer of 2022, I’d likely have yet a totally different experience.
In addition to the physical experiences, I also immediately found my Voice. I found an ability to accept what I could not effectively act upon and to say no, and I found the courage to say yes to the things I could confidently take responsibility for. This has been an energetic block for me my entire life, and is just as noticeable for me as the literal pain in my side. Knowing how the energetic system works; this is no surprise other than how amazing it is to experience it first hand.
Your experience will be yours. And it will be exactly what you need at the time. But what I can say with absolute certainty is that Energetic Healing is a very powerful tool and should be in the toolbox of each and every person. This practice, paired with a regular yoga practice, is so powerful that I am very excited to add it to my offerings for any who feels ready to take this step in his/her own healing.