“This may be a weird question, but, why would someone choose to come for a Reiki session?”
Perhaps this question felt strange to my client because she, herself, had just come for a Reiki session. But I understood and appreciated the spirit of the question, coming from one who was herself seeking to practice Reiki and wanted to better understand the broad range of reasons why a person might be drawn to this experience. I really appreciated the opportunity to reflect on what I knew about this question, and wish to share that reflection with you here. Whether you have a history with Reiki as a client or practitioner, or whether you are just hearing about this energy healing practice for the first time, I invite you to sit with this question of what a Reiki session truly is, and why it matters.
Our human system—the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual body—is designed to heal itself, and is in fact in a constant state of correcting imbalances, clearing out toxins and seeking wholeness—a state we call “healing.” And at the same time, as we live our life we are constantly impacted by forces in the world and within ourselves that interrupt or reverse this healing process. The practice of Reiki creates a container, flooded with energy resources, within which our whole system can deeply engage the process of healing that we are built for. As I have shared in other posts, the healing comes from within each person, deeply supported by the container co-created between practitioner and client. Within this container we can remember the wholeness of our true self and come into balance. This is true whether we are performing self-Reiki, or have come to a practitioner for a session.
And so, one answer to this question is that one might come to a Reiki session, or engage in Reiki self-practice, to treat an imbalance of the body, mind, heart or spirit, such as physical or emotional pain, stress, illness, anxiety, etc. Even one session of stepping into this container of Reiki can bring relief, because of the profound support and amplification Reiki provides to the natural healing process. And when one is working through a long-term challenge such as an illness, surgery recovery, depression or trauma release work, regular sessions over the course of the recovery is deeply supportive and entirely complementary to all forms of treatment. Short and long-term treatment for an issue is a common and wonderful reason to come to a Reiki session, or to learn to use self-Reiki.
Another important reason is to approach Reiki as an integral component of one’s on-going wellness practices. In other words, as a form of preventative medicine. Remembering that the practice of Reiki creates a container that holds back the obstacles to our natural healing process, flooding the space with energy resources so that we can shed the layers of dis-ease in our lives and remember the wholeness of our true self, we can imagine what a valuable resource this practice is for our on-going physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. This is one reason why I offer trainings and sessions for Maternity Reiki, so that parents can grown and raise their children inside of this container of wellness and regeneration.
Stepping into this space regularly means increased healing capacity, resilience to the things that wear us down, and most significantly, bring us into deeper and deeper alignment with our whole and true self—our Being. In this way, we become able to live life more and more from the experience described by the Reiki Precepts: Unattached to anger and worry, rooted in gratitude, true to our way and our being, and compassionate to ourselves and others. Such an orientation towards life creates the ideal conditions for deep and on-going healing of mind, body, heart and spirit.