News from the treatment room - What is Reiki?

Resident blogger, Amanda Apps gives us the latest instalment of her 'news from the treatment room...'

I was attending an event promoting my alternative therapies when I was approached by a young lady who asked me “what is reiki?”.  This question is asked many times and I always try to answer by referring to something that many in the west have heard of and that they are familiar with.  I explain that it is a treatment similar to acupuncture in that it is about your Chinese “chi” but that it is Japanese and that the “ki” in reiki is the same word.

I point out that it is all about energy flow through your body and getting the body to work efficiently but unlike acupuncture it uses no needles or pressure points.  The energy flow has the ability to rebalance the body and awaken the natural healing process but will also work, not only on the body itself, but also on the mind.  It has to be borne in mind that the original name of reiki was Shin Shin Kaizen Usui Reiki Ryoho or translated into English; The Usui treatment method for the improvement of the mind and body and therefore it will work on all aspects of the body physically but also through the hormones and the mind.

During a standard treatment it uses a very gentle touch and clients can feel warmth, heat or even tingling over their body or in one area but it is also incredibly relaxing.

A few weeks later I received a call to book an appointment.  When they arrived I recognised them from the prior event.  I always take a small bit of information from each client; name, address, mobile, email, date of birth and then any details of recent breaks or operations.  I then ask the client what they would like from the treatment that day – a lot of this is partly for insurance purposes but a great deal is to relax the client and start their journey of rebalancing.  

However, this day it transpired that the person was increasingly suffering from anxiety.  It was now at a point where it was stopping them from leaving the house.  They had been signed off work temporarily but they had recognised that this was becoming a huge problem and that it had to stop.  They needed to work, had to work, had to deliver children to school, run the household, go to after school clubs and all the other trivialities that fill a week.  The goodwill of family and friends could not be relied upon forever.

It had taken all their stamina for the day to drive to my treatment room.  They had arrived at the door frightened, exhausted and not knowing what to expect except that things had to change.

Luckily, the standard jikiden reiki treatment relies on the person only removing their shoes and lying on the treatment couch covered in a soft blanket.  Once the lights are turned down the client can just gently close their eyes and relax – there is no need to analyse their problems and most people find that they feel calm and sometimes enter a meditative state.  After a calming hour the treatment is completed with the jikiden reiki ketsueki kokkan ho massage which serves to give not only a huge blast of energy to the recipient but to reboot the lymphatic system to expel toxins and awake the client from their intense relaxation.

At the end the client departed relaxed but rejuvenated.

A week later they returned for a follow up treatment.  What a difference – the client was smiling, head held high, confident and relaxed.  They went onto recount how they had to travel to visit a relative over the weekend with a new addition.  They were desperate to go to see the new baby and did not want to miss out and had tried the treatment just in case it helped them not only with the journey but also with meeting all the relatives.  They recounted how they had travelled and recognised an amazing transformation within themselves.  They felt so much better and were so pleased to have been able to get to the relative and join the celebrations.

I always reiterate that if those feelings, anxiety and negativity should start to bubble and come to the surface then please make a follow up appointment as soon as possible just to stop it before it becomes such an acute problem.

To find out more about Amanda, visit her website or follow her on Facebook.