What to Expect
If it is your first time receiving reiki and you are feeling nervous, it's okay! All that is required of you is to relax and breathe. The experience is similar to a massage. You will lie down on the massage table in a darkened room while soothing music is softly playing. I will move around your body and reiki energy will flow through my hands, organizing any incoherent or blocked energy. As energy moves through you, you may feel heat, tingling, vibration, spasms, relaxing of muscles, or no sensations at all. I may use gentle Cherokee bodywork movements to activate pressure points, release joints, and rejuvenate the subtle energy bodies around your physical body. Afterwards, we will have time to talk about what we both observed and felt during the session, and I will communicate any messages I received. Post-session: be sure to hydrate and enjoy the effects of bliss and alignment!
Benefits of Reiki
Relaxation and Reduced Stress
Reiki turns on the body's parasympathetic autonomous response, or the "rest and digest" mode. In this deeply relaxing state, heart rate variability is also improved. People who have just had a reiki session may feel like they want to take a nap afterwards!
Emotional Wellbeing
Stress, repressed / blocked / unprocessed emotions, and low self-esteem can be impacting your physical body in ways you are unaware of. Pent-up emotions can be locked in at the cellular level for years. Reiki can release these blockages, allowing you to process the feelings.
Decrease in Pain and Anxiety
While your body is relaxed and in "rest and digest" mode, the body is then cued to begin using energy and resources to repair and heal cells. In 2017, researchers found that a group of patients having knee replacement surgery had significant reductions in blood pressure, pain, and anxiety after receiving reiki 3-4 times.
What is Reiki?
Reiki is a Japanese spiritual tradition meaning "spiritually guided life force energy." A person can begin channeling the life force energy once they have received initiation and attunement from a Reiki Master. We all have an electromagnetic field around our bodies called the biofield; the patterns of energy in the biofield direct bodily functions. The environment, stressors, thoughts, and emotions all create these patterns. A reiki practitioner will organize incoherent patterns of energy in the biofield to improve physical and psychological functioning.
Uses for Reiki
Reiki is used in hospitals, outpatient settings, and hospice care to help reduce pain and anxiety for people undergoing chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, in labor, or transitioning from life to death.