A Unique Take on Reiki
When I decided to take Reiki training a few years ago I went simply to confirm a suspicion that I had been naturally doing Reiki for years without even realizing it. And guess what? I confirmed the suspicion. If there is one thing I can convey to you here it would be that Reiki is not some mystical, proprietary technique. Anyone can do Reiki. It is as old as time.
When you hug someone lovingly, that’s Reiki. When you place your hand on someones shoulder who is struggling, that’s Reiki.
There are many variations on Reiki, using various visualizations, prayers, or intentions, but at the heart of it Reiki is a sort of laying on of hands, energy holding/channeling. To be honest, I have been at odds as to whether to use the term Reiki for the energy healing I do or not. I decided to use it because the term has been so popularized in the past few years, and my ultimate goal is to reach and serve as many people as I can with this powerful healing modality. But in truth, what I do is much more fluid, intuitive, and personal to each individual I work with.
What does this kind of session entail, you might ask?
In essence it is very simple. The giver focuses their attention and energy of unconditional love for the purpose of healing. This can ostensibly be done in person or at a distance. Intent does not rely on proximity. The potency in my opinion comes from the openness, intent, and focus of the channel delivering the session, as well as the intent and openness of the one who is seeking the healing. When those two things are aligned power results. Simply booking such a session is intent enough, and when the healing already begins. During the session I may use sound healing tools to help you move into a relaxed and open mind state, smudging to clear energies being released (engaging the senses also anchor a healing memory), grounding visualizations, or other visualizations which guide you on a journey into your body or body. We may apply Gestalt styles of interacting with those whom you may have unfinished business. It is all within your own power to heal. I will patiently guide you where I am intuitively led. Clients report feeling a release of years worth of baggage in just one session, walking away freer, energized, and in awe of the process.
Now, I hope I didn’t loose you from saying the word energy too many times. I know it is a word thrown around left and right in the new age, losing many who value science and logic. If this is you I want to speak to you now. More research on placebo is coming out showing how powerful a role our minds play in our wellbeing, ability heal, or stay unwell. Check out the NPR podcast Hidden Brain : episode Placebo. I feel these studies show that ritual in itself can be responsible for the elimination of disease all on it’s own. When we go to a doctor we go with a hope and faith that their expertise and resources will help us. We give them power to help us, and surrender to the ritual of healing. If they tell us we are going to be okay we feel confidence. This may not always do the trick, but the studies suggest that the more safe and trusting we feel towards our practitioner the more likely healing takes place.
Part of the success and beauty of Reiki is the fact that it is silent and still in most respects. Areas of the body are hovered over or a hand is rested on an area of the body and then time and focus is given. In this day and age meditation is all the rage and the reason for that is largely in part to our profound challenge to sit still and be silent for any length of time, to be fully in our bodies and not just in our heads.
A reiki session allows one to feel held safely in awareness and mindfulness with our body, breath, mind, and emotions – patient, kind, and still.
A typical massage is usually a consistent intake of sensory stimulus that can keep the nervous system occupied and interested, which has it’s own benefits, but lacks the simplicity I am speaking to.
I often add somato-emotional release techniques to my Reiki to the greatest effect. Soma means body. Emotions are held in our body in our fascia, muscles, and organs and can be expressed when we allow them the space to do so. Most of us have been conditioned to stay relatively disconnected from our emotions. Our parents have often unconsciously passed on their relationship to emotions, an ancestral karma passed down from generation to generation to varying degrees. In many families anger has been forbidden, grief and shame suppressed. A smile slapped on a sadness. When we interrupt our authentic emotion again and again we grow farther and farther away from feeling, yet the feeling usually remains unmet within us. It is not until we gain enough awareness and sensitivity again in adulthood that we may revisit the terrain of our deep emotional landscape, exploring and seeking relief and completion.
I find, as one who has lived a lifetime with an especially sensitive nervous system, that sitting in the concentration of pure presence with another is an incredible and rare gift for many. The impact of this cannot really be understated. A strong, supported, and unconditionally loving presence that can hold space for you as you meet whatever may surface in that moment is powerful. It allows for exactly the kind of healing the body knows it needs in a deeply trusting surrender to faith. And the body knows exactly what it needs to heal. We simply need to create the right conditions to hold and support it in its unwinding. This is exactly the recipe for transformational healing. In all my years of experience, personally and professionally, this is getting at the root of dis-ease.
So, Reiki may seem like a fad, but in truth the laying on of hands is as old as time, and those things that last do so for a reason. A reiki session can feel like a prolonged hug to your soul. It can occasionally bring up some discomfort as well, as the body does not lie, and the relief that is felt from the release makes it ALL worth it. The truth is what will set you free, and that outcome is always positive in the end, even if painful to get to. Most likely you will experience a delightful lightness of body, a deep peace and calm that you may have yet come to know. This sensorial memory is something that will stay with you. It will instill a new possibility, a home base, an equilibrium for you to operate from more and more. This is the place creativity is born, conscious choice, hope, joy, fulfillment, health and balance. I look forward to share this most sacred and healing journey with you. ~ Kamila