Reiki is difficult to explain, and is best understood when it is experienced. It’s probably simplest to define it as a spiritual healing practice. However, those words are inadequate to convey Reiki’s depth of healing to most Western minds because we are so far detached from the concept of real spirituality. Spirituality relates to the soul and sacred matters and is not concerned with the acquisition of wealth or following popular culture. Real spirituality impacts a person on the mental, emotional, and even physical levels. Why is Reiki a spiritual practice? Reiki practice allows us to open a space inside of ourselves where we can sense something greater than ourselves, such as the presence of God. It opens a place of “inner peace.” Although Reiki is a spiritual practice, there is no belief system or dogma attached to it. Reiki is neutral, like meditation.
Our busy lifestyle keeps us in the reactive nervous system (fight or flight), which is over stimulating, not healing. Reiki is a treatment that activates the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system:
- Gives priority to the functions needed for the body to recover, heal, and restore.
- Relaxes muscles
- Decreases the heart rate
- Restores the body to a state of calm
By shifting the body into the parasympathetic nervous system, Reiki clears the emotions, creates clarity of thought, stress relief and deep relaxation resulting in restful sleep and a peaceful mind.
Reiki treatments bring balance to the system on all levels:
- Physical
- Mental
- Emotional
- Spiritual
People feel better and more balanced after a Reiki treatment. There are no contraindications because the system is adjusting itself, without outside interference from drugs or physical manipulation.
Hospitals have recognized the benefits Reiki treatments bring to their patients in relieving pain and reducing stress and depression. There are several academic institutions with well established Reiki programs:
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
- New York Presbyterian Hospital
- Yale-New Haven Hospital
- Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System
- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
- George Washington University Hospital
- California Medical Center
- Hospital at University of Pennsylvania Penn Medicine
What are some typical benefits that have resulted from Reiki treatments?
- Reduced pain, anxiety, depression
- Improved sleep, digestion, memory, and focus
- Faster recovery from surgery
- Reduced side effects from chemotherapy
No one understands exactly how Reiki works (the actual mechanism of action), but some researchers think that Reiki is related to the human biofield and brainwaves. For information on Reiki as energy medicine, click here: Reiki as Energy Medicine.
Try it for yourself, and tell me how you would explain it!
For some thoughts on practicing Reiki, go to my Reiki site: Huntsville Reiki
