What can Reiki do for you?

Well, I don't know what it can do for you, marvellous things, no doubt, but everyone's journey with Reiki is different. Here's mine...

First of all, let me say that Reiki has completely changed my life. Here's how.

By profession I am a primary school teacher. I love my work, but I also love the spiritual things in life. I took a break from school for a while to bring up my young son, and decided to develop myself in a new direction and study something different, which turned out to be complementary therapies. I first heard about Reiki in 2002 when I was studying aromatherapy and one of my tutors said that Reiki was a really good idea for massage practitioners and other body-workers to learn, because it helped prevent that draining effect that clients can have on your energy. Since I was well used to feeling drained after treating my clients, I hoped this suggestion would help me solve this problem... and I have to say it certainly did!

I had to admit I'd no idea what Reiki was and felt a bit embarrassed to ask my fellow students during the break. One of them laughed and remarkedÂ? "Louise, you'd love Reiki, it's totally up your street". With this encouragement, I cast around for a bit more information on the internet and booked myself on to a course that sounded exactly what I was looking for Â? a friendly teacher running a course that was professional and concise, with great learning resources and support afterwards.Shortly before taking Reiki First Degree, it seemed like a sensible idea to try a Reiki treatment for myself before I got permanently connected to the energy, so a dear friend from the aromatherapy course, who had done Reiki First Degree, gave me a treatment at her home, on her massage couch. WOW! Even as she began I felt waves of energy washing over my face. This was followed by a blissful, hour long treatment where I saw fabulous colours on the inside of my eyelids Â? mauves and golds, felt energy turning in my third eye chakra Â? I could hear it humming as a minesweeper effect of energy spun slowly from this point. Towards the end I actually drifted up out of my body about a foot above the couch. If this sounds somewhat alarming, I can honestly say it wasn't at all. I was totally relaxed and felt myself to be in a very safe, nurturing space indeed. I felt thrilled that this was going to become something I could give for myself in 10 days time. After the treatment I felt deeply relaxed and energised at the same time. I felt very aware of who I am, far more accepting of myself, and very special Â? kind of twinkly...!With this experience as a taster, I had a wonderful day being attuned to Reiki by a lovely teacher. I was so impressed with the total professionalism and friendliness of my teacher and the wonderful resources that supported the course. My main recollections of the day now, are the turquoise bands of colour that seemed to be passing before my closed eyes during the attunements, and the vividness of the glorious technicolour of everything in the street at lunchtime. Amazing.Reiki Second Degree followed on 3 months later. With it came a deeper connection to the energy and a far more intuitive way of working. Personally, I feel bogged down following very specific hand positions during treatments, and have always preferred to go with the flow of what feels right, following my inner knowing Â? so this intuitive approach suited me really well. I found I was starting to use Reiki in my own unique way and was becoming far more creative with it too.A year after that I took my Masters / Teachers course. I really wanted to know what the biggest Reiki kick there was felt like! I wasn't disappointed, and have been opening up to far deeper psychic experiences as a result Â? something I've always been aware I had and which I wanted to develop in a more focused way. I now find intuitive persuits like psychometry and tarot reading flow far more naturally and I've had some wonderful inner experiences when meditating. Over the years I've become so passionate about my psychic development that I've worked hard to expand my clairvoyant skills and learned not only mental mediumship but also trance mediumship too. I've also become aware that I am a transfiguration medium, which has brought its own challenges and more learning and developing! I adore working in this field now and have grown so much as a result. All of this accelerated massively, I believe in part due to my connection to Reiki, because it really does grow you intuitively.

These days I use my Reiki every day, and in lots of different ways. I find it tremendously useful in my therapy work, and use it during aromatherapy massage and reflexology treatments, as well as on its own. It's often a lovely introduction to Reiki for people who might not have come for Reiki as a therapy in itself. Also, it's nice to have something safe and helpful to use for say an inflamed, arthritic knee joint, which cannot be touched during a massage treatment. Sometimes I send Reiki through reflexology points on a client's hands or feet, to reach specific parts of the body. It's remarkable to feel how strongly Reiki can flow when it finds a path through someone's energy system in this way.

Clients are usually fascinated and intrigued by the effects, mostly very profound relaxation, lots of heat from my hands, and sometimes, beautiful colours too. The only problem is it's hard to persuade some of them that the treatment has finished and it's time to get up off the couch as they are normally so comfortable and deeply relaxed!

For myself, after Reiki First Degree I found that I felt more energised after doing hands on therapy work, where I often used to feel drained and depleted. Now I can honestly say I'm often bouncing off the walls and fully recharged and energised after doing my treatments, as Reiki has been flowing through me all the time, even when I haven't been focussing on it.

I find that regular, daily Reiki meditations build the strength of the flow of energy to a far more powerful level, and this is the ideal. It's not always easy to fit in a quiet 20 minutes, but there are lots of ways you can treat yourself or others in day to day situations. The energy is strengthened simply by using it a lot, as well as by using the meditation techniques. It doesn't have to be complicated. One of my favourite times to give myself Reiki is at the cinema Â? no interruptions for an hour or so Â? I just plonk my hands on my tummy and off I go, intending for the energy to flow through my hands to the bits of me that need it most. Another good place is on long car journeys (when I'm not driving, obviously!).

In 2005, I took the plunge and started teaching monthly Reiki classes (being a teacher by trade, I was itching to pass on Reiki to others). What an amazing journey that has been! I have learned so much from my students, have met some truly wonderful people and made some fantastic friends too. I now have a wide network of Reiki people in and around the East Midlands area, and also in Kent, all through teaching Reiki and holding Reiki based events. To date I have had the privilege of connecting over 200 people to Reiki, and over 40 of them are now at Master / Teacher level which is hugely rewarding. Some of them are now successfully teaching Reiki in their own right.

I love to travel, and have managed to combine my love of warmer climes with my love of Reiki by running Reiki Retreats in Egypt and Spain. These have been great fun and I've met some fantastic people, many of whom are now good friends and come back every year for more. It's been a brilliant challenge for me, continually building on my experience and developing a stimulating, relaxing and fun retreat format centred around the Reiki theme and daily workshops and treatment shares.

As you can see, Reiki has changed my life and given me experiences and opportunities I'd never dreamed possible, enabled me to meet a marvellous and intriguing array of folks from all walks of life, enabled me to travel, and of course, enabled me to give myself, my friends, collegues, family and clients the beautiful healing energy that is Reiki.

About the author:

Louise Heseltine is a Reiki Master / Teacher in Leicestershire and Kent and runs Reiki Retreats in Andalusia, Spain. Please go to www.silvermoon.org.uk for more on her Reiki courses and Reiki Retreats and events.

Website: http://www.silvermoon.org.uk/

Author: Louise Heseltine
Website:
Copyright © 2023 Louise Heseltine. All rights reserved

Back to articles' list