My First Reiki Session
I love having trying new therapeutic experiences. There are so many resources available to help deal with the daily stresses of life. I recently had my first Reiki experience and wanted to write a quick review mostly because I was shocked about the positive effects, especially because I dramatically underestimated them.
What is Reiki?
according to mindbodygreen.com;
Reiki is a Japanese technique that is used to heal physical and mental trauma, and to support mental clarity and spiritual well-being. In Japanese, the word "rei" refers to a higher intelligence that permeates all living and nonliving entities and guides the inherent functioning of the universe. The word "ki" refers to the nonphysical energy that flows through everything that is alive, including plants, animals, and human beings—because of this, ki is also often called "life force energy," and is known as qi or chi from other lineages. The combination of these two words is what defines reiki as "spiritually guided life-force energy."
To administer Reiki, a practitioner channels life force energy through his or her hands unto another. It's said that the aforementioned spiritual guidance enables the Reiki to flow through the affected parts of the subject's energy field and charges them with positive energy. It raises awareness in and around the physical body where negative thoughts and feelings are contained. This causes the negative energy—such as stress, anxiety, physical pain, sadness, confusion, etc.—to loosen its grip, allowing the touch of the Reiki healer to swoop in and clarify the energy pathways.
Last Friday, I had the good fortune of experiencing my first Reiki session. I went to my typical Friday morning yoga class, then rode my bike home for an in-home treatment. I’m getting ready for a few auditions and my stress levels are growing so I thought scheduling a little self-care might do some good. Violin playing and audition prep tends to bring on tight muscles, and tension, both mental and physical so I always try to pay a little more attention to my aches and pains, diet, and exercise when the practice hours start stacking up.
This session was gifted to me, and while I vaguely knew what Reiki was before the session, I didn’t do any research, instead I left it open to be completely new.
Faith came to my home and brought a massage bed (I lamely did not expect Reiki sessions to require a massage bed, actually, I’m not sure what I expected Reiki to require), essential oils, and tarot cards. At the beginning of our session I asked a “cosmic question” - which wasn’t really very cosmic, it was more pointed and specific regarding auditions. We discussed the meaning of the card, how it might apply directly to my question, and how I can potentially harness the energy of that card to improve my upcoming audition performance.
After the card reading, we moved to the massage table and Faith misted me with a special blend of essential oils made for FOCUS. It smelled divine and was some combination of ylang ylang, black pepper, and some other things that make you want to inhale deeply.
I closed my eyes, and we worked through the chakras starting with the root chakra, visualizing colors, feelings, scenarios as we moved gradually up the body to the crown chakra. Faith rarely put her hands on me but I could feel her energy very nearby. She placed her hands on my upper chest near the base of my throat when we got the the heart chakra, and the warm calmness of her touch was really comforting. When she reacher my crown I could feel her hands so close to my head my scalp tingled, and I felt acutely aware and awake yet still very calm.
When she was finished, she sealed in her work and I slowly opened my eyes. I was so calm and relaxed. It wasn’t until later that I realized I had spent an hour sending my breath to different areas of my body, thinking of different emotional patterns and hangups that I felt trapped with and shining a new light onto those feelings while loosening their grip on me. That sounds dramatic, but we all have our self-limiting beliefs that we cling to, and over the course of my reiki session, I had calmly worked through several of these ideas and painted over them with healthier thoughts and feelings. It was like a guided meditation in a way. At the end I felt peaceful and content. I was laying on the table listening to my internal fluctuations without attachment, judgement or reaction. I felt like I was in a place of acceptance and stasis. I didn’t want to ruin it with violin practice but I also wanted to harness this mindset in my playing. After Faith left, I took my dog Blanche on a sunny, peaceful walk. I ate lunch, I took a warm shower, I answered some emails, and finally, I started practicing. I felt divine. I still feel very centered, focused, and infallible one week later. I wasn’t expecting a reiki session to be so effective, but my mind and body feel aligned and positive.
To Contact Faith or Find/Follow her online, see below (she also works with animals):