My Healing Journey with Reiki
Disclaimer: While I am trained to practice Reiki on myself and others I am not licensed to teach it. The purpose of this post is to share my experience with Reiki not to give the ins and outs of how to use it.
It was Angela Campbell of Flora and Stone who first introduced me to Reiki (a Japanese form of energy work). I had met her at and herbalism class at WEI where she taught, “Winter Herbal Medicine Chest.” After connecting with her I researched more about the services she offered and booked a combined flower essence and Reiki session.
She began by closely listening to my story. It was a pretty long one, but she patiently listened as I explained the stress of my current situation. She asked where I felt the stress most and took notes. At the time I had no idea what Reiki was or how it worked. I just knew I was in a bad way and had been for a long time. I was desperate for a change and honestly grasping at straws.
During the Reiki portion of the appointment I lay on a massage table and relaxed to some pleasant music. She did not touch me during the meeting except to lay some crystals on what I now are my chakras. At the time it was all a mystery to me, but I felt amazing afterwards.
Angela explained that the chakras are 7 of the main energy centers in our body. Sometimes this energy gets “stuck.” Maybe one chakra will spin faster then the one next to it. Reiki practitioners are skilled at sensing these subtle energies. If they discover an anomaly they are able to use counter energy to correct the situation. It was all a little too esoteric to me but I couldn’t argue with the results.
I was so anxious for my family to experience a similar peace and well being. But even with Angela’s sliding scale it would be too expensive for all of us to go. Instead I began searching for classes that would teach me the skills to work with my own family.
I found Devanadi Yoga, close to me home and signed up for a Reiki I class. This class allowed me to perform Reiki on myself. After performing Reiki on myself every morning for one month I took my Reiki II class. This would allow me to perform Reiki on others. I began working on Proeun, the children, my parents, sister, the neighbor anyone who was willing. I began studying up on it and noticing Reiki in movies, like the Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi performs Reiki on first a bird, then on Daniel at a tournament.
My most interesting Reiki experience was when one of our cows gave birth and her uterus prolapsed. Luckily we were watching her and knew right away. The luck continued as the vet was in neighboring town on a call and able to make an emergency stop within 45 minutes of the birth. The process to care for the cow as not pretty but involved washing the uterus and pushing it back in then stitching her up. The veterinarian said that it was still likely that she would bleed out and to prepare ourselves. I asked when we would know we were safe and she said in 24 hours. Every hour during the day I would stand outside her pen and perform Reiki on her while envisioning the uterus going back into place, tightening and shrinking down. At night I woke up three times and performed long distance Reiki each time on her.
At one point while performing Reiki she kept looking at me and then looking at her side and looking back at me. She survived the night and was an excellent mother to her calf and even became the unofficial babysitter of the herd, never straying far from the babies.
While experiencing Reiki with Angela was amazing, I am even more thrilled with the knowledge that not only can I use it to regularly adjust my own energy output but also that of my family and even pets.
