I have been studying Reiki with my teacher now for quite some time and just had my penultimate study session. I left her house over an hour ago after our Reiki exchange and I am STILL feeling blissed out! There really IS something about Reiki....
I started my Reiki journey as I was looking for a way to help a good friend of mine who has been having a terrible time battling cancer for the last two years. I felt very strongly that I wanted to help her feel better in some way particularly as helping people to feel better is the driving force behind my yoga teaching. As yoga wasn't really an option for my friend at the time as she was going through chemotherapy I decided that Reiki would be the perfect way to help her. As my older brother has already been working with healing for many years and my dad is a qualified reflexologist it seemed like entering the healing profession was a logical step in a way.
I researched many different Reiki courses both locally and in London and ultimately found a lovely local lady who was offering Reiki training over a timeframe that fitted with my lifestyle perfectly. I didn't really know what to expect from the course I just knew that Reiki was a gentle form of healing and had researched and read via the Cancer Research UK website that it is a form of healing often used with people suffering with cancer so I figured it was worth a try.
I had previously experienced Reiki myself during my first pregnancy with my daughter as I had been having constant headaches and I remembered it being a very relaxing experience and also recall when the Reiki therapist had placed her hands over (not touching) my stomach that my daughter had responded to this by moving around lots so clearly she was picking up on something!
In any case it didn't take long for me to fall in love with Reiki. I completed my Reiki I training initially which is the introduction to Reiki and enables you to practice on family and friends. As soon as I was able to start practicing I starting offering Reiki to my friend. The response was beyond anything I could have imagined. At the time that I started, my friend had been feeling very anxious about her chemotherapy treatment and so in addition to the Reiki session I used my knowledge of yoga breathing to show her some techniques to help ease anxiety which she found invaluable. She also responded quite dramatically to the Reiki and it is her feedback and response to Reiki that I have found so encouraging. I can hardly imagine how difficult the past two years have been for her but to know that you can help someone who is going through something so huge in their lives and make them feel even momentarily better is quite an amazing feeling and so I decided to continue to my Reiki II training which is what I am coming to the end of now.
I have done quite a few sessions with my friend and have also worked on family members and with distant healing and all with very encouraging feedback. I myself have also received a lot of Reiki and I absolutely LOVE it! It just brings you such a deep sense of stillness and relaxation, it's incredible. I actually was trying to resist against nodding off throughout my entire treatment this morning. The moment my teacher's hands touched my back I was practically gone! It felt like her hands were telling me to slow down and to let go. It was quite remarkable. Both from my own experience of Reiki and that of offering Reiki to other people it seems like we are all so very tired. That we lead such incredibly busy, full lives, that we are not taking enough time to slow down, to listen to what our bodies need and I have seen the tiredness in people. Reiki gives you a little window of opportunity to just let go, to relax, to just be and allow the healing energy from the healer's hands to find where it needs to go. It is quite simply a wonderful experience.
It's funny sometimes how things come to you in your life. I would never have thought to become a Reiki practitioner if it hadn't been for my friend being unwell but it has been such a rewarding experience both in terms of my having learned something new and also to have helped ease her journey even if only a little.
I just have one study session to go until I am able to work professionally with Reiki but I am happy to let any Reiki I may offer out to people to grow organically and not to force anything. My friend is in hospital at the moment following the end of her chemotherapy sessions but luckily there is still the possibility to send distant healing to help. I, in the meantime, am going to enjoy this deep sense of bliss...