Reiki: Enhancing Health Through Energy Healing

Living with a newly diagnosed chronic illness at 16, I struggled to navigate how best to manage the debilitating symptoms I was experiencing. I endured significant stress, unknowingly manifesting as physical dis-ease (lacking in ease or comfort) and worsening my symptoms of digestive distress, body weakness, joint pain, migraines, fatigue, brain fog and insomnia.

In addition, I was living in a prevalent disconnection of mind, body, and spirit, wondering why the numerous antibiotics and supplements I had been prescribed did more harm than good. And then, I discovered reiki.

Reiki has assisted me in embracing my health struggles and viewing them as a positive opportunity for growth, such as finding alignment and healing physically, mentally and emotionally.

I hope my personal experience with this practice encourages you to recognize the value it offers and how it can potentially benefit you on your well-being journey and beyond.

Reiki — rei meaning universal or spiritual and ki, vital life energy in Japanese — is a therapy that supports the body's natural ability to heal and find balance. From clearing stuck, blocked, or congested energy to spiritually guiding the abundant flow of 'vital' life energy, reiki works all around the mind, body and spirit in a holistic, whole-being way.

Further, reiki is a non-invasive approach rooted in the belief that our entire body can optimally function and restore when energetically harmonized to vibrate at a higher, more elevated frequency.

Reiki practitioners guide this vital energy by lightly touching or hovering their hands over one's major energy centers (also known as chakras) while helping to boost the vibrational power in the mind, body, and spirit.

This practice can be incredibly advantageous, from reducing stress and physical pain to relieving insomnia and increasing blood flow. However, it is no surprise that many might misunderstand and consider reiki eccentric.

Unlike massage therapy, where areas of tension in the body can be targeted and released through physical touch, reiki handles energetic pathways the client cannot physically sense or discern. Hence, it can be challenging for some individuals to fathom how or why this approach can alleviate various mental and physical ailments tangibly. 

I, too, was skeptical before trying and introducing reiki into my wellness routine, but since experiencing significant improvements in my health, I can now acknowledge why reiki has been around for over 3,000 years!

Everything is composed of molecules that vibrate at various frequencies, determining how energetically attuned we are and how susceptible we stand to pain, stress and other forms of disease. It is not uncommon, therefore, for us to feel depleted when stressed or sick but strong and radiant when mentally and physically healthy. 

Yet, under challenging scenarios, stress can manifest into damaging vibrational debris in the body, naturally slowing down the flow of vital energy and vibrancy. When vitality is scarce, it is much harder for us to elevate our life pulses and thrive on an all-encompassing, deeper level.

Imagine your body has energy flowing through it like an electrical wiring circuit. Similar to how there can be a loose element or short circuit, we may experience weakened power from tension, pain, trauma or any other factors enabling disease or inflammation in the body.

But rather than having an electrician tend to the energy shortage in our bodies as they would for electrical wiring, we can see a reiki practitioner enhance the flow of energy through our internal network and move us toward ultimate consonance.

Through the path of reiki, I have opened my heart and mind to a new state of relaxation I had never experienced. A delightful condition in which my mind, body, and spirit unify, allowing me to release aches from the past and feel lighter, safer, and more present in my human experience. It has also allowed me to understand how various emotions manifest in my physical version.

Before working closely and consistently with a reiki practitioner, I had long perceived the worsening physical symptoms I was undergoing to be a result of the anxiety induced by my illness. But unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed from trying to live with a chronic disease that I became out of touch with my core emotions and bodily processes. 

While the practice is not solely intended to cast away emotions attached to past hurt, I noticed reiki allowed me to come to terms with how 'stuck' energies were affecting me and be at peace with them.

The physical, mental and emotional relief I experienced, as a result, empowered me to face obstacles with a shifted, more nourishing perspective, worrying less about letting things go but letting them be. 

I also became far less affected by circumstances and situations I previously viewed as adverse or limiting and evolved to feel more capable of activating my natural ability to find harmony and self-regulate.

Indeed, reiki has encouraged me to live in abundance and equalize my inner energetic pathways while taking back control of my health.

Now a certified holistic health coach living in New York City, I look back at that 16-year-old self attempting to find her way to ultimate health while recognizing how strong and empowered I've arrived so far.

By knowing how and when to release energy that doesn't serve me, I have continued to make reiki a crucial part of my routine for a better, more resilient life experience. As reiki practitioner Suzanne Slade told me, "think of your heart as a garden that is full of color and always growing." 

I've learned that as we age, we ought to prioritize maintaining good health and reducing our risk of dis-ease. And while this typically entails developing a wholesome daily routine (think adequate diet, nutrition, exercise and self-care habits), I urge you to integrate reiki as a means of caring for your physical, mental and emotional self.

Individuals of all ages may find tremendous success with reiki as it involves no physical or mental exertion, no follow-up procedures and no side effects. Reiki practitioners can also help you locate areas of strain and pressure in the body and relieve them painlessly.

Reiki may not be accessible to everyone, so it is essential to consider other at-home techniques you can explore to achieve similar energy-balancing effects that promote healing.

For example, yoga and meditation are convenient ways to increase blood flow and affect your inner energetic channels. However, talking to your primary health care provider before any exercise or mind-body training is non-negotiable.