Reiki, or energy healing, is a self-care practice that is gaining a lot of popularity in our culture. Although it’s new to most of us, energy healing has been around for thousands of years. Reiki originated in ancient Tibetan Buddhism and, much like ayurveda and yogic philosophy, assumes that both physical and mental ailments can be traced back to an imbalance in an individual’s energy fields.
The premise of reiki is that we can stimulate and direct the flow of energy in our body, which will balance our systems and result in better mental and physical health. Reiki can be used to balance our chakras, reach deep states of meditation, and release the energy blockages caused by trauma in our lives.
Trauma, physical injury, or just dealing with the stressors of daily life can all cause the energy that flows through us to get stuck somewhere. Reiki can restore balance to the energy flow throughout our bodies, and release energy blockages. Because reiki can be very relaxing, it’s also helpful for reaching deep states of meditation and spiritual reflection.
Reiki is almost completely passive on the part of the client, but your experience will be more beneficial if you are relaxed and as free from external and internal distractions as possible. It’s when we are most free from mental fluctuations that we can allow our bodies to rebalance and heal themselves naturally, utilizing the energy that is both around and within us.
A reiki practitioner will use various hand positions either directly on, or over, certain parts of your body to promote the flow of energy and the release of blockages. A trained energy healer will be able to detect where there might be stuck energy and focus on that specific area. They might place their hands on or just above your chest to release energy in the heart chakra, or near the top of your head for your crown chakra.
The healer will move from location to location, and may incorporate moments of music, instruments, or guided meditation. At the end of the session, you’ll be invited back into the room as you begin to come out of meditation. You might feel drowsy; it’s common to reach a state of consciousness somewhere between asleep and awake during a session that can linger after the session ends.
