What is Reiki?
Reiki is a Japanese healing technique that helps restore physical and emotional well-being and balance within the body.
Here's a visual description that I like to use when explaining energy and how Reiki works: Think of your body and your 7 chakras as rotating balls of light. Your chakras are located at the crown of your head, third eye (between your eyebrows), throat, heart, solar plexus (above the belly button), sacral (below the belly button), and root (bottom of the spine). Imagine these chakras as spinning balls of light that are also connected by a ray of light that shines down through the crown all the way to the base of the spine.
When we are in a state of health and feeling good, all of these balls are rotating, glowing brightly and energy is freely flowing through the body. However, when we have an energetic block, one of the balls will stop rotating, and that ray of light connecting the chakras can't shine all the way through. These energy blocks typically occur because certain emotions aren't being dealt with, and ultimately it can result in physical illness or a state of dis-ease.
Think about a time you were under chronic stress - maybe something at work or a family issue - how did your body react to that stress? Maybe you got headaches, stomach aches, heart palpitations, a cold or some other physical reaction. Our emotions play a significant role in our overall health. When we don't acknowledge them, work through them, and release that energy, it gets stuck, and in turn we can feel stuck or sick.
Reiki is a healing technique that helps to keep energy flowing. Through a method of hands on touch or hovering the hands over the body, a Reiki practitioner can feel these blockages, work to clear them, and help restore the natural flow of energy.
Sometimes this can be a difficult concept to grasp - feeling energy. Lots of people need to see it to believe it. But, think about how you can walk into a room, and perhaps without even hearing anyone say a word, you can feel the vibe and energy of those around you- maybe it's joy, or maybe it's extreme tension. Our awareness of energy is based in the subconscious, and, like our breath, it is always there even if our conscious mind is not paying attention to it.
Reiki is simply a form of self-care and a way to help you come back home yourself, find balance, and simply be.