How Can Reiki Help Me?
The tools I share to help you become more purposeful and aligned originate, in large part, from the lineage of Reiki - Usui Reiki Ryoho, to be specific. Reiki is a healing system that came to the West from Japan through students of Mikao Usui, the person who helped share and teach the sacred practice. (More on the history soon.)
And, so, I had the overwhelming thought - it’s neither kind of nor logical for me to assume that everyone knows how Reiki can help them. ACK! I’m so sorry! Deep breath.
Let’s retract a step, then, and ask the pressing question:
How Can Reiki Help Me?
Keep reading.
Already know about Reiki? Super! Still keep reading - education never stops, and there’s always room to learn more.
How Can Reiki Help Me? (And keep it straightforward, pls.)
When you receive Reiki from a practitioner, your body has a greater ability to move into a state of balance. This balanced state elicits a relaxation response in your body, similar to meditation or a wonderful savasana at the end of a blissful yoga practice.
From this more balanced, relaxed place, your body has the opportunity to do what it’s meant to - heal.
Through your body’s relaxation response, you ignite your capacity to self-heal.
Research and science support this. A quick search on the function of your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) will confirm that in a more relaxed state of “rest and response,” your powerful body shifts into a state of repair and rebuild. That same search will also confirm that most people today live in their sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the space of “fight or flight,” due to stress, anxiety, worry, fear, and just coping. Sound familiar?
We can’t be in fight or flight and rest and respond at the same time. When you experience a Reiki session, you will likely feel more relaxed as your body enters a state of balance and your PNS begins to take over - your nervous system responds physiologically as your rest response kicks in. This can promote improvement in your heart rate, digestion, immune response, and cognitive function. On an emotional level, this helps you move from a place of stress and anxiety to calm and peaceful. Your body can begin to nourish, restore, and heal.
I exhaled a sweet sigh just at the prospect of feeling more nourished and balanced. You, too?
Reflection: Think of a situation that elicits a sympathetic nervous system response in your body (fight or flight): crowded store, your supervisor at work, traffic, or maybe a pandemic? Did your shoulders tense? Jaw tighten? Not a comfortable feeling, I know.
Alignment: Now, inhale through your nose for a count of 3. Exhale out of your mouth for a count of 3. Think now of a situation that brings you joy: sitting on a warm beach, watching the sun set, or meeting your best friend for coffee. A more comfortable feeling, right?
You know what feels better in your body, but our human experiences often push us to live in discomfort. Reiki helps.