Stress Reduction with Reiki
Discover the Power of Reiki for Effective Stress Reduction and Holistic Wellness
By Dennis Bluthardt at Namaste Studios
Today’s society is not all Sunday afternoons. The “keep pace at all costs” nature of our modern lives manifests in unhealthy ways. Between your bill-paying day job and parents needing you (the youngest sibling), you too are overwhelmed and probably in the “club,” grinding your teeth when anxious.
The daily grind results in a destructive long-term coping mechanism that exacerbates anxiety. Expelling these introverted phenomena, the same state of fight or flight to outrun a bear, the same amygdala wiring we had as hunter-gatherers is a new research point. Herein, we find another use for practices such as Reiki.
Reiki is a Japanese alternative therapy practice (better put, “complementary” therapy CAM essentially replaces alt) involving energy healing. Practitioners believe that administering light energy can aid more than the biological facets of the being. Filling the non-corporeal recipient with positive energy is supposed to help with general wellness. Practitioners and recipients complete a seated session focused on the “energy centers” most would call “chakras.”
They each receive a mindful approach to energy healing. Using mindfulness principles, instructors advise clients to calm their minds through these new-age techniques. Using the classic East “focus” strategy, the now-at-peace practitioner can re-ascend to a new normal after the meditative instruction. Practitioners find the techniques invaluable when stressed.
Mindfulness emphasizes principle-enabling clients as a new avenue toward addressing how to be “here” and “not here” in the present moment.
Understanding Reiki
Reiki is a Japanese spiritual practice that was created in the early 20th century by a man named Mikao Usui. Reiki means “universal life energy” in Japanese, which describes this practice’s central tenet: that all things comprise life-force energy. A Reiki practitioner is trained to use specific hand gestures and symbols to allow healing life-force energy to channel into oneself and others. Intent is of utmost importance in Reiki. A practitioner has the task of intending to be a conduit for the universe’s benevolent life energy.
The idea behind Reiki (and many other forms of alternative medicine) is that all bodies have life force energy pulsating inside and around them in channels called meridians. When these meridians are clear and complete, life-force energy can flow, and individuals are the happiest, healthiest versions of themselves. However, there are various reasons for life-force energy to become either blocked or depleted, most notably stress, which may appear to a person as an emotional or physical issue. That is why, for many people, removing the barriers to the flow of life-force energy can produce a noticeable difference in health (mentally and physically) and increase engagement in life.
The Benefits of Reiki for Stress Reduction
Reiki sessions are famous for the deep relaxation and sense of calm that often occurs. The cool thing about Reiki is that you get super relaxed without any effort. It takes no mental discipline, and no one is telling you to clear your mind. This makes it attractive to people who have tried other relaxation techniques (like meditation) and haven’t had much success. Here, I’ll discuss a few elements that set Reiki apart from related styles of meditation.
Meditation, concentration, and other forms of mindfulness require you to think about or visualize something. Most practices require you to do more than not allow yourself to be distracted (good luck with that). That bit of extra effort can, at times, be rather frustrating. For someone just becoming interested in mindfulness and meditation, a little Reiki can help reduce that initial resistance to the typical hallmarks of basic forms of meditation.
All humans experience mindfulness in their ways. Still, a few common elements during a Reiki session include finding relief from a “judgmental” viewpoint of what is happening, allowing for the essential experience of mindfulness to occur.
Incorporating Reiki into Your Self-Care Routine
“If you are interested in receiving this form (Reiki) of healing, find someone certified and reputed. Personal recommendations can work wonders here, as they help you find someone successful with others. Things to take into consideration when choosing someone are whether they can explain what they are doing to you and how; if you feel comfortable with the person; if you feel safe with the person; and if they possibly work in a plus-size friendly space (as with licensed massage therapists).”
And for the record, just because you can’t get somewhere ‘on time’ to experience it ‘personally’ doesn’t mean you can’t receive it as a gift, as I believe in sending positive and enlightening energies into the past, the present, and into the future (as well as various places all around the world) because I believe that those are limitless things, and that also means I can when I make a CONSCIENTIOUS EFFORT to send them to someone/ someplace else,” and so can you! It’s up to you where they go, and their speed of ‘travel’ cannot be compared to other physical/ tangible things, like how some say, “Oh…well, it takes 8 minutes for light to get from the sun to get to the earth,” and therefore it will take minutes for it to get from there to here.
Receiving Reiki OR any other forms of energy healing (in my opinion) through services rendered by a licensed practitioner, you do the following:
Determine whether you (or someone you know and can vouch for say you would not) derail the time of the practitioner (the answer to that may affect your receipt of an invoice/ billing statement)
Assess your physical and emotional states.
Enclose a detailed letter in response to:
1. WHERE on your body you want
2. HOW on your body you want
3. WHAT you want
Enclosed is the level of the tuition fee.
If you already know you’ll want to take certain ‘classes,’ allot higher than you chose to enclose at the second-round classes.
Complementary Practices for Holistic Wellness
Fusing Reiki with mediation has a powerful synergistic effect that can significantly amplify these abilities. Reiki is a potent method of physical and emotional balancing, while meditation is a means of developing a strong spiritual connection with the self. As a result, cognitive abilities may increase with meditation, while Reiki may give a healing push to the practices. Using the two together counteracts the harmful effects of the stress response.
Meditation is a practice not linked to any religion, and it is proven to provide substantial benefits. By benefiting from Reiki-induced relaxation, meditation may become an even deeper practice for beginners. This may enable you to maintain greater levels of relaxation across the circadian rhythm.
Like anything, meditation may pose challenges initially. However, committing to a regular, even daily ritual may significantly improve your ability to meditate effectively. For the experienced professional, blending Reiki and meditation may intensify the bonds made with the energy, which can vastly enhance the healing effects.
Reiki, a healing energy from Japan, is becoming well-known in this country for its stress-reducing and wellness-promoting capabilities. More and more, hospitals, clinics, and private medical practices are incorporating Reiki into their patient care regimens. Utilizing the “universal life energy,” practitioners channel that energy into the individual to help bring them back into a state of balance.
This kind of work is very peaceful and relaxing, two words that are the opposite of “stressful,” making it an effective practice for those who feel a little overwhelmed by everyday life. The primary “goal” of Reiki work is to push one’s system into the parasympathetic nervous system response, more effectively known as the “rest and relax” system, versus the “fight or flight” response brought about by the sympathetic nervous system.
As a complementary treatment to one’s self-care regimen, Reiki can help give someone the “upper hand” on feeling more in control and tune with their bodies. People often find that, in times of imbalance, such deep work can help to facilitate more strength that will allow them to tackle everyday life. Usually, the first step to true wellness and stress-free living is recognition. If you find that Reiki is a viable method of self-care practice for you, do what feels right for your body.
Others may even find it beneficial to schedule Reiki as a weekly treatment, and you may find that it is one of the only methods of “therapy” you need to help you return to wellness.
To learn more, visit Reiki at Namaste Studios to book a Reiki session. Additionally, you can find more of our Reiki Blogs here.
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