What Is Reiki
Reiki is like an oriental version of spiritual healing, to an extent, and is based on the channelling of a form of energy, or a spiritual energy. This energy can be referred to as 'chi', which you may have heard of. When you visit an acupuncturist they use needles to encourage energy to flow through a series of meridians of energy channels that run the length of your body: that energy is called 'chi'. You may have heard of a Japanese massage technique called Shiatsu, which uses finger pressure on acupuncture points to achieve a similar effect: the Japanese adopted the Chinese view of the body's energy system. You will probably have heard of Tai Chi (or maybe Chi Kung Qigong) a graceful system of exercises that are designed to build up, or cultivate, your personal reserves of this energy, and the graceful movements that you make serve to circulate thais evergy smoothly throughout your body, breaking down any blockages and bringing things into balance on all levels. This energy is seen as animating all living things.
Reiki is like an oriental version of spiritual healing, to an extent, and is based on the channelling of a form of energy, or a spiritual energy. This energy can be referred to as 'chi', which you may have heard of. When you visit an acupuncturist they use needles to encourage energy to flow through a series of meridians of energy channels that run the length of your body: that energy is called 'chi'. You may have heard of a Japanese massage technique called Shiatsu, which uses finger pressure on acupuncture points to achieve a similar effect: the Japanese adopted the Chinese view of the body's energy system. You will probably have heard of Tai Chi (or maybe Chi Kung Qigong) a graceful system of exercises that are designed to build up, or cultivate, your personal reserves of this energy, and the graceful movements that you make serve to circulate thais evergy smoothly throughout your body, breaking down any blockages and bringing things into balance on all levels. This energy is seen as animating all living things.
What People feel when they are receiving a Reiki Treatment
The sensations experienced by people having a Reiki Treatment vary enormously , and there is no 'correct' set of experiences, but you can generalise to an extent. There seems to be endless individual variation, but I must say that men seem to notice or experience a lot less than most women, who seem a lot more 'in touch' with their bodies.
The most common feelings are these:
Relaxation, sometimes very deep relaxation. It is not uncommon for people to fall asleep and start snoring within 15-20 minutes. People quite often drift in an out of consciousness and are surprised that so much time has elapsed on the treatment table. It is quite common for people to make some involuntary twitches, too, as you might do when you go off to sleep sometimes. People may become more relaxed on a subsequent treatment session when compared to the first. This is either because the emergy penetrates more deeply on subsequent sessions, or people are more relaxed with me as a therapist after the first session, or a bit of both.
Heat or warmth from my hands, which sometimes seem amazingly hot to the recipient. Frequently the recipient's sensation of intense heat will follow the sensations I am getting in my hands, so if there is a lot going on in my hands, and thus a lot of energy flowing, the recipient will feel a lot of heat. Interestingly, my hands are not actually getting hot, so it is not 'temperature' heat that the recipient is feeling. The way the body is interpreting the energy is as heat: if my hands were really that hot, I would be treated in a casualty department for burns! Interestingly, a small minority of people exeperience the energy as coldness, but this is not common at all.
Seeing colours. Some people see a 'light show' against their closed eyelids, sometimes rainbow colours, sometimes individual colours, sometimes a flickering white light.
Men's experiences are usually limited to the first two, occasionaly the third, but there are more..............
Floating or sinking: people describe feeling as if they are floating, or sinking, or both, or 'melting' into the treatment table, or they may feel they have no limbs at all or as if their limbs have turned to wood or stone.
'Movement' or 'drawing': there can be a feeling of something travelling along the length of the body or limbs, by way of tingling or heat sensations, or a localised spot can feel as if it is 'drawing'. When there are back problems, holding the ankles can result in a feeling of heat extending up the back/spine, for example.
Disorientation: sometimes there is a feeling of the head swimming or of 'movement' along a dark tunnel when you are treating the head, especially the temples.
Memories coming to the surface: the recipient may recall different stages of their life dependent on what hand position was being held.
Pressure or difficulty in breathing: not a very common reaction, but it can happen sometimes. This may happen when the throat area is being treated and usually ties in with a person's inability to express themselves. The effect is transitory, and occurs as the energy is starting to deal with the problem, but it can be worrying for the recipient.
Emotional release: this is quite common and if it is going to happen it is likely to happen on the first treatment, with maybe some repercussions into the second treatment, possibly the third. As and emotional problem is being dealt with by the Reiki energy, perhaps the release of an emotional block, or the release of a long standing unresolved issue, a quite 'primal' welling-up of emotion can occur. The recipient isn't usually thinking of anything in particular, but the pure emotion is released and lets this be known as it goes past! A change in the breathing rate, eyes filling up, or a tear running down a cheek, are quite common, and can even happen in men sometimes. It is a positive step though since the block or problem is being pushed to the surface and dissipated and it is usually experienced as a positive thing too. Reiki can reach deep and even deal with childhood emotional issues dating back many decades; short courses of treatment would not have the opportunity to deal with such deeply embedded areas.
'Physical release' there is a physical counterpart to the emotional release, and this usually shows itself as an intensification of a physical problem while being treated, or shortly afterwards. It is quite common for people to experience a 'healing crisis' when being treated homoeopathically, for example, where the symptoms intensify before being dissipated, but with Reiki any such healing crisis seems to be short-lived and not very intense. Reiki seems to 'damp down' such a reaction in most people, but not in all.
The most common feelings are these:
Relaxation, sometimes very deep relaxation. It is not uncommon for people to fall asleep and start snoring within 15-20 minutes. People quite often drift in an out of consciousness and are surprised that so much time has elapsed on the treatment table. It is quite common for people to make some involuntary twitches, too, as you might do when you go off to sleep sometimes. People may become more relaxed on a subsequent treatment session when compared to the first. This is either because the emergy penetrates more deeply on subsequent sessions, or people are more relaxed with me as a therapist after the first session, or a bit of both.
Heat or warmth from my hands, which sometimes seem amazingly hot to the recipient. Frequently the recipient's sensation of intense heat will follow the sensations I am getting in my hands, so if there is a lot going on in my hands, and thus a lot of energy flowing, the recipient will feel a lot of heat. Interestingly, my hands are not actually getting hot, so it is not 'temperature' heat that the recipient is feeling. The way the body is interpreting the energy is as heat: if my hands were really that hot, I would be treated in a casualty department for burns! Interestingly, a small minority of people exeperience the energy as coldness, but this is not common at all.
Seeing colours. Some people see a 'light show' against their closed eyelids, sometimes rainbow colours, sometimes individual colours, sometimes a flickering white light.
Men's experiences are usually limited to the first two, occasionaly the third, but there are more..............
Floating or sinking: people describe feeling as if they are floating, or sinking, or both, or 'melting' into the treatment table, or they may feel they have no limbs at all or as if their limbs have turned to wood or stone.
'Movement' or 'drawing': there can be a feeling of something travelling along the length of the body or limbs, by way of tingling or heat sensations, or a localised spot can feel as if it is 'drawing'. When there are back problems, holding the ankles can result in a feeling of heat extending up the back/spine, for example.
Disorientation: sometimes there is a feeling of the head swimming or of 'movement' along a dark tunnel when you are treating the head, especially the temples.
Memories coming to the surface: the recipient may recall different stages of their life dependent on what hand position was being held.
Pressure or difficulty in breathing: not a very common reaction, but it can happen sometimes. This may happen when the throat area is being treated and usually ties in with a person's inability to express themselves. The effect is transitory, and occurs as the energy is starting to deal with the problem, but it can be worrying for the recipient.
Emotional release: this is quite common and if it is going to happen it is likely to happen on the first treatment, with maybe some repercussions into the second treatment, possibly the third. As and emotional problem is being dealt with by the Reiki energy, perhaps the release of an emotional block, or the release of a long standing unresolved issue, a quite 'primal' welling-up of emotion can occur. The recipient isn't usually thinking of anything in particular, but the pure emotion is released and lets this be known as it goes past! A change in the breathing rate, eyes filling up, or a tear running down a cheek, are quite common, and can even happen in men sometimes. It is a positive step though since the block or problem is being pushed to the surface and dissipated and it is usually experienced as a positive thing too. Reiki can reach deep and even deal with childhood emotional issues dating back many decades; short courses of treatment would not have the opportunity to deal with such deeply embedded areas.
'Physical release' there is a physical counterpart to the emotional release, and this usually shows itself as an intensification of a physical problem while being treated, or shortly afterwards. It is quite common for people to experience a 'healing crisis' when being treated homoeopathically, for example, where the symptoms intensify before being dissipated, but with Reiki any such healing crisis seems to be short-lived and not very intense. Reiki seems to 'damp down' such a reaction in most people, but not in all.