I am a women’s health nurse practitioner and offer a holistic approach to women’s healthcare. What this means is that I focus on the whole person including the body, the mind, and the energy or spirit. Traditional medicine places most focus on the physical body and the mind. I believe equal emphasis should be placed on the energetic body or the spirit for a true holistic approach. I practice integrative medicine and, in addition to the more traditional medical therapies, I frequently encourage women to utilize alternative and complementary therapies and strategies to support healing. One example of this is Reiki Meditation. The purpose of this article is to explain what Reiki is and how I use it as a form of energy healing meditation in my women’s health practice.
What is Reiki Meditation?
Reiki is a form of energy healing that originated in Japan. Reiki healing involves a transfer of qi (or chi) energy through the Reiki practitioner’s hands or palms to the client’s energy field. With the transfer of energy, the client experiences a balancing of their energy field. Energy balance in the body may support healing on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level. Each of us has an energetic body that surrounds and fills our physical body. Our energy can, at times, become blocked or stuck, which can result in physical, mental, and emotional health problems. Reiki realigns energy balance in the body thus supporting healthy energy flow and wholeness of the human being.
Meaning of “Reiki”
The Japanese word “Rei” means “the spiritual source of the universe”, or “higher mind” or “Life Force”. The Japanese word “Ki” means “the primal energy of the universe” or “Energy”. Thus Reiki means “universally guided or spiritual life force energy”. Reiki energy is “experienced”. It is not seen with the naked eye. This is similar to other forms of energy that we experience but cannot see with the naked eye, such as thoughts, feelings, dreams, imagination, or memories. Reiki therapy is similar to other “unseen” therapies such as guided meditation or psychotherapy. Although unseen, our energy is present all of the time. Reiki allows us to experience this energy.
History of Reiki Meditation
Dr. Mikao Usui, from Japan, was the founder of Reiki practice in the mid 1800s. Mrs. Hawayo Takata, one of Dr. Usui’s students, brought Reiki to the United States and began teaching the practice here in 1937. Reiki has evolved with time, and present day practices can take different forms or styles depending on the Reiki practitioner’s training lineage and personal translation of the training. I practice a form of Reiki that combines guided meditation with energy healing, and this is why I call it Reiki Meditation.
Reiki Training
Reiki practitioners typically learn through an apprentice style of training to become Reiki masters. There are three levels of Reiki mastery, levels I, II, and III. The highest level is called Reiki Master Teacher (Level III). Each level of Reiki mastery culminates with an attunement transferred from the Reiki teacher to the apprentice learner. I have achieved Reiki Level III, thus my title is Reiki Master Teacher.
How Does Reiki Work?
Reiki Works with Intention
Reiki practitioners move energy by channeling it with intention and desire to the recipient. Channeled energy enters the practitioner’s body through the crown chakra on the top of the head. The practitioner transfers this channeled energy through their body, to their hands, and through the palms of the hands to the recipient.
Hand Placements
Reiki practitioners use traditional hand placements to transfer energy to the recipient’s energy body. Hand placements follow the seven main chakras or energy centers of the body. The practitioner places hands lightly on the body or just above the body over the chakras. In this way, the practitioner allows the transfer of energy for typically 3-5 minutes over each of the energy centers. Reiki energy goes where it is needed. Both the client and the Reiki practitioner benefit from the flow of energy during the Reiki Meditation session.
Will Reiki Cure Illness?
Reiki Meditation is Supportive Therapy
Reiki Meditation is an alternative and complementary form of healing. This means that Reiki may enhance other more traditional medicinal therapies and treatments. It is supportive therapy rather than curative. Although evidence is not vast in quantity, there is definitely a beginning body of research that leads us to believe that Reiki can be helpful for many health conditions as well as for overall health and well being.
Reiki Research Evidence
While there is not enough evidence to confidently claim that Reiki can cure disease, the evidence that we do have tells us that Reiki, much like meditation or mindfulness, can be effective in reducing pain, improving sleep, reducing stress, reducing depression/anxiety, improving healing time following surgery, and promoting an overall sense of well being.
Reiki Meditation Promotes a Restful State
Like traditional meditation, I believe Reiki Meditation works to bring our autonomic nervous system into a more balanced state by promoting a parasympathetic state of relaxation. It is from this relaxed state of being, the body is able to remember how to flow as it inherently knows how to do. The body can then work from a state of restfulness, which then promotes improved function physically and mentally and a deeper awareness of our energy or soul being.
The Reiki Meditation Session Environment
Reiki practitioners can offer energy healing to clients in person or virtually from a distance. Likewise, Reiki can be provided to individuals or to groups. Clients typically lie fully clothed on a massage table or comfortable surface during sessions. Pillows and props promote a relaxed posture on the table/surface. A heated table or blankets may be provided to enhance comfort. An eye pillow may decrease visual stimuli and center the mind into the body. Some Reiki practitioners offer aroma therapy, music, relaxing sounds, crystals, and candles to provide an enhanced environment. My Reiki practice is often provided virtually at a distance, and I use my tone of voice and beautiful words or poetry to enhance the meditation experience.
How Should I Prepare For A Reiki Meditation Session?
Every Reiki practitioner has a unique style, and every Reiki session is different. It is a good idea to ask your Reiki provider how best to prepare for your session, as well as what to expect during and after the session. I believe that clients who come to their session with an open mind will likely experience the most benefit.
I encourage my clients to dress comfortably, and come prepared to set an intention for their session. They should expect initial sessions to last 60-90 minutes. My Reiki sessions offer time to accommodate for discussion both prior to and following the actual Reiki experience. I often encourage my clients to plan for some quiet time following their session.
What Happens During A Reiki Meditation Session?
Setting Intention
Reiki recipients are typically asked to set an intention for their Reiki session. Therefore, Reiki energy can be directed to support healing for physical, mental or emotional problems, or it can be used to promote a sense of relaxation or stress reduction. Reiki energy can be directed towards “situations” as well. For example, perhaps a client has a stressful relationship with someone and is trying to improve this. Reiki can be directed to help work through challenging social/emotional situations. I personally have experienced the amazing healing benefits of Reiki intention directed towards my personal relationships.
Grounding Meditation
A guided meditation begins most Reiki sessions. The purpose of the meditation is to promote grounding and opening of the energy channels in the body. This often brings the recipient to a very relaxed state. The Reiki practitioner then works through each of the seven main energy centers of the body.
Chakra (Energy Centers) Balancing
We can imagine what energy might look like such as these light globes captured on film.
The Reiki practitioner can lay hands with gentle touch over each of the areas or place their hands just above the energy centers without actually touching the body. The main chakras (energy centers) are located at the crown of the head, the forehead, the throat, the upper chest over the heart, the upper abdomen, the lower abdomen and the hip area. The Reiki practitioner “touches” each of the chakras during the Reiki session.
The Reiki practitioner may spend more or less time at each of the energy centers depending on what the energy “feels” like in that area. Some energy areas will need more work than others. The practitioner ends the Reiki session after all of the energy fields have been addressed and balanced.
Discussion During and After the Session
Some Reiki practitioners may talk with the client during the session, and others work in silence or some combination of both. At the end of the session, it is not unusual to spend a few minutes reviewing the session together, and as a result there is often time to ask questions.
Will I Experience Any Sensations During a Reiki Session?
Each Reiki Meditation Session is Unique
Reiki is a unique experience between each Reiki practitioner and their client. Energy flows between the Reiki practitioner and the recipient, and this interaction may produce a variety of sensations during the session. Clients can experience Reiki in very subtle ways or with more pronounced effect. Both in person and distance Reiki experiences produce similar effects. In either case, every client experiences Reiki uniquely, and this can vary depending on how tuned in they are with their body/mind/spirit. No two sessions are exactly the same. The sensations experienced by most are generally very pleasant, soothing, and calming.
Sensations Vary
Experiences reported by my clients have included thoughts, feelings, emotions, dreams, sleep, temperature changes, changes in awareness. My clients have also reported experiencing mild tingling, vibrational sensations, heat or cold in various body locations, a sensation of lightness or heaviness, or a sense of “release” during the session. Some clients fall asleep, and this generally means that the Reiki is working at a very deep level. Many clients do not experience any physical sensations but may experience visual effects such as seeing colors behind their eyelids. Most clients experience Reiki Meditation as pleasant and end their session in an extremely relaxed state. Reiki recipients learn to easily recognize a wide variety of sensations the more often they experience Reiki.
What Should I Expect After A Reiki Meditation Session?
Reiki Meditation Produces Lasting Effects
Like traditional meditation or psychotherapy, Reiki can produce lasting effects which may seem very subtle at first. Everyone has a unique after experience. The most common effect of Reiki work is deep relaxation or a sense of peacefulness. Clients might feel “lighter” or less stressed. They might sleep better, experience less pain, feel steadier in their moods, or have more energy. “Difficult” situations may seem easier to deal with. There may be more ease in relating to others. Undesirable habits may start to fall away. It may become easier to achieve health goals such as weight loss or regular exercise. Reiki can produce profound and lasting results that allow the client to heal and grow and achieve the goals they have set out to achieve through the healing process.
Similar Effects to Traditional Meditation
Reiki can be a very powerful form of healing, similar to something like a guided meditation. In fact, Reiki energy healing encourages the recipient into a meditative like state. Scientists have shown how meditation can change our brain and aide in things like depression/anxiety, addiction, pain management, overcoming trauma, addressing fears, and building an elevated sense of connection. Meditation can also provide benefit to more physical concerns such as weight loss or blood pressure management. I believe that Reiki has the potential for healing on a level that encompasses the body, the mind and the spirit, much like meditation does. And with this holistic meditative effect, we can achieve a greater level of overall health and wellbeing.
Why Is There Skepticism About Reiki?
In traditional Western medicine, there is a level of skepticism surrounding the practice of Reiki. Although beginning research has shown Reiki to be helpful, it is not considered acceptable medical care. Many people feel that Reiki is a spiritual practice that is not accepted as a traditional . Perhaps Reiki could be viewed alternatively as a form of healing meditation. This way the benefits of Reiki could be seen as more acceptable. Reiki should have a place in the healing sequence that can complement other more traditional forms of medicine and therapy, and as time and research progress, perhaps we will find it is even more than we currently know.
Conclusion
A holistic practice should incorporate some form of healing that addresses the energy body or spirit/soul. There are many options for this, and in my practice, I offer Reiki meditation energy healing to my clients. Reiki can be an amazing supportive therapy that complements other more traditional forms of medicinal or healing therapies. I believe that Reiki can provide healing benefits similar to traditional meditation practice by allowing the body to achieve a natural flow of balanced energy that allows for an optimal healing state. If you would like to schedule a Reiki session with me, please feel free to access my schedule here https://valenciasage.hbportal.co/schedule/606bb4d2d549a107e2f9faa9. I can’t wait to work with you!
Want To Try Reiki Meditation For FREE?
I offer a holistic approach to women’s health at Valencia & Sage, LLC. I place emphasis on the whole person including the body, the mind, and the spirit. You can find out more by visiting my website http://www.valenciasage.com/ .
By profession, I am a licensed Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, and I am also a trained Reiki Master Teacher (find out more about me at https://www.valenciasage.com/about. I encourage energy healing to complement more traditional healing and medicinal practices, and I offer Reiki sessions to my clients.
If you would like to experience the holistic benefits of Reiki, I am offering a FREE women’s Reiki Meditation on September 22, 2021 to celebrate the Autumn Equinox. This is a Live Facebook Event for women, and I hope that you will join me! I believe this event will leave you with a sense of peace, grace, and healing energy for yourself and others. Please register at https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61392e2b7accb4c0210201dd. See you then! Kimberly Valencia, ARNP
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