Reiki & Spiritual Healing
Reiki has been called Universal Life Energy, Qi and Spiritual Energy to name of few. Reiki is a powerful, non-invasive healing modality that promotes a state of inner calm and peace. NCCAM, a branch of the National Institute of Health, has classified Reiki as a bio-energy healing modality. However, Reiki can also be recognized as a spiritual modality that is so often neglected, but much needed in order for complete healing to take place. Spiritual Healing refers to the restoration of spirit which is fundamentally known as vitality. Spiritual Healing is not based on man-made religions. The Taoists, an early shamanic culture who set out to obtain immortality, theorized spirit as being the invisible essence that is found in everything in nature which is in a state of constant movement. They referred to this essence as Qi (ki). Qi is the force that propels movement within nature as well as our bodies. Without Qi, our blood would not flow, our organs would not function, our muscles would not move. In addition, without optimal Qi, we find ourselves experiencing fatigue, depression, and physical illnesses. In short, we become lifeless. Therefore, the goal of Reiki or spiritual healing is to restore an individual’s life force so that our body fluids are flowing adequately and our systems organs are smoothly functioning.
Reiki Energy Promotes:
• Relaxation and deeper sleep
• Increased Energy levels
• Good Circulation
• The releasing of energy blocks
• Reduction of Pain
• A strong sense of well-being
• Increased Libido
• Restoration of the Immune System
• Inner Peace and Meditative states
• Groundedness
Reiki also assists people to begin identifying emotions & feelings within the Body, where you hold tensions and how they influence your overall health. Therefore Reiki heightens individuals Body Awareness and one’s Intuition.
During treatment, the Reiki recipient may experience enhanced dream states, receive symbolic information, or, in some, spontaneously recall past lives or lost memories. The Reiki practitioner may also receive healing information about the recipient during the session. Reiki recipients may also experience unusual events in everyday life that lead to their healing. Information comes in a way that captures the individual’s attention. This leads to insight of the core issues of ones’ emotional wounds and pain. Once understanding is gained, pain and suffering diminishes if not completely dissipates. The Reiki healing treatment is relaxing and promotes a sense of blissful peace that can last for days after the treatment.
In Japan, Reiki was first called “Te-ate” which means palm healing. We would refer to this as hands on healing in our culture. There are natural healers throughout the world and those who have undergone many years of meditation and spiritual practices which produces the ability to do hands on healing. However, Reiki practitioners receive hand healing abilities within minutes after receiving what is known as an attunement or an empowerment. I prefer to call it an empowerment because of its implication that it is permanently available to the Reiki practitioner.
While this is an amazing gift that we all have access to, it is important to seek out healers, who continuously work the Reiki energy in their own lives. You want to avoid working with practitioners who are under the influences of drugs, heavy medications, who are being treated for life threatening conditions and are in constant negative situations. Keep in mind, that although high vibrational frequencies can be channeled through them, their own personal energy field will be immersed with yours during treatment. Because Reiki places you in an open and receptive state, you want to make sure that your Reiki experience is optimal and not influences by the energies of these other conditions.
What is Shamanism?
Shamanism comes from many cultures and has been in existence for at least over 40,000 years. Shamans heal from the perspective that illness is a form of soul loss. Shaman’s define soul as our life force, which is the part that keeps us feeling fully alive and thriving. Soul loss causes a disconnect from one’s personal spiritual source-“spirit ally’s”. Many shamanic cultures believe that we come here with at least two guardian spirits that take form as either power animals, angels or human-forms to guide lead us through life. It is believed that when we suffer an emotional or physical trauma a piece of our soul flees the body in order to survive the experience.
The types of trauma that could cause soul loss in our culture would be from any kind of abuse: sexual, physical, or emotional. Other causes could be an accident, being in a war, being a victim of a terrorist act, acting against morals, being in a natural disaster, surgery, addictions, divorce or death of a loved one. Any event that causes shock could cause soul loss.
In psychology we talk about this being dissociation. But in psychology we do not talk about what dissociates and where those parts go. In shamanism, we know this as being a piece of the soul leaving the body and goes into what is otherwise known as “non-ordinary reality”. The best explanation of non-ordinary reality would be what is known on one dimension as a dream like state. Some shamanic cultures refer to this dimension as dream-time, and still others refer to it as the otherworld. In our culture, we experience this state by not feeling fully present in our everyday world.
There are many symptoms to soul loss. They include such things as nightmares, numbing, ungrounded-ness, chronic depression, suicidal tendencies, grief that does not heal. The person does not feel fully in their body. You may have heard people use the expression “I am beside myself” or they simply haven’t been the same since a significant event. Addiction is also another symptom of soul loss.
Shamans are not deemed certified at workshops. Shaman’s typically come into this work through personal experiences of near-death experiences, serious illness and/or trauma. Shamans may also be born in a family where there is a strong lineage of ancestral shamans. In my case, I was initiated into the shamanic path through a life-threatening illness, numerous surgeries on my hips as well as a near death experience when I was 27 years of age.
There are various forms of healing that Shamans perform. They include assisting in the retrieval of power animals and spirit guides, soul retrieval and assisting people to cross over at the time of death. I have been working with Shamanism since 2000 and received my training under Sandra Ingerman and Amanda Foulger at the Foundation of Shamanic Studies (www.shamanism.org). I have also received Shamanic training in death and dying which assist with helping people in comas as well as helping people to transition in death. I also have been initiated through the Sirius Energy Healing System to perform psychic extractions which I incorporate along with my Shamanic work.
