RELAX... GO TO IT
WHAT THE HELL IS REIKI?
I am often asked about my reiki background, mainly how I got started and what it has done for me. My client and friend, Michele Preste, was a black belt in karate and also a reiki practitioner. For a couple years back in the mid 2000s, she had been bugging me to get on the table and let her work on me. Finally, I accepted.
As I lay on my back with my eyes closed, my mind was overactive and I bombarded myself with questions: Why don't I feel anything? When should I feel something? Does reiki really work? Should I have pizza for dinner? All of a sudden — out of nowhere — my body felt like it was buzzing. It was like I had electricity in my veins, a feeling I had never experienced before. In a matter of ten minutes I went from being unable to relax to feeling like I was floating on top of a table.
Brian, meet energy. Energy, Brian.
My first thought was What the hell just happened and my second thought was I gotta learn that! So, with Michele's help I got set up to do the Reiki Levels I and II attunement. I will admit, there are some interesting people out there in reiki-land but the common denominator is that energy is healing. Thus, reiki practitioners are healers.
Here's how it breaks down in basic math: Reiki equals energy. Energy equals healing. Healing equals recovery. Recovery equals stress relief. Therefore, reiki equals stress relief; and stress relief is good!
Reiki is a Japanese system of energy healing based on chakra balance. Basically, there are seven major chakras that channel energy along the body's midline: crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root. Each chakra corresponds to different body actions. When the body is healthy, the chakras are all spinning in balance. Often times, the reiki recipient will have internal visions of colors and shapes or even go on a hallucinogenic journey.
Reiki provides calm to the receiver. I do it to my wife, my daughter, and my dog. I end each day with a reiki meditation, which helps me clear my mind and fall asleep. The first night we brought Rome home, he was a squirrelly 5-week old puppy. He refused to sleep in his crate or his dog bed. Finally, I got Rome to lay on his bed long enough to reiki him (after he pooped under our bed, of course) until he passed out. Reiki: 1 Rome: 0.
The purpose of reiki is to balance the chakras through energy healing and promote well-being. It has helped my self-awareness, improved my breathing, and allowed me to function at a higher level. Reiki has provided me an outlet for calm and relaxation.
Bottom line, it works.