Let's start with the basics. What is a concrete thinker and what is Reiki? A concrete thinker is someone who views things mostly from what they see in the physical world. I do believe we all exist beyond any label, but part of me had a hard time believing anything I could not feel or touch. My mind would question was it real? Reiki is a Japanese energy technique for stress reduction and relaxation. The practitioner in reiki gives gentle or if client prefers no touch just holding hands close to the body on different areas of the body. The practitioner is acting as channel for universal energy (the energy the sustains all living things) to assist the bodies energy with opening and movement. The practitioner should be lead intuitively throughout session. As we navigate life our bodies energy can become blocked for various reasons. My personal belief is the two major reasons our energy get blocked is; our perceptions and interpretations of what we are experiencing or has happened and holding onto our emotions. Emotions are energy. When we hold to resentment, fear, grief, sadness etc it stops the flow of energy. I know we could have a hard time wrapping our mind around the concept of energy and the body and Reiki. I know I did. It all seemed so abstract.
I decided to take a Reiki class, because it sounded like something my mom did when I was a teenager as a hospice nurse. They really did some progressive stuff on the hospice she worked, and therapeutic touch was something some of the nurses learned in order to help their patients. My Mother shared stories about patients responses when she utilized it. I remember part of me thought that is fascinating and another part saying, "I do not get it." I now had my own career in healthcare and was looking for something to help my patients when the pain medication was not working or just to help people relax when they were in challenging situations. I was in a yoga class I loved, and the teacher mentioned she also taught reiki. I thought Reiki sounded similar to therapeutic touch my mom did and it sparked my interest. I thought it might be a harmless way to assist my patients. I decided to sign up for a class and I also booked a treatment for myself. I wanted to experience reiki from the receiving end. The day of my appointment, it was that time of month, a rough day at work and I was not feeling good. I was also internally moody. I thought why did I make this appointment ? I don't want to go. I would much rather have a massage. Needless to say, I took my moody self to the appointment. Like I said, I really liked my yoga teacher and I did not want to back out of my appointment the last minute. When she started my session, I could feel something, and it was relaxing me. By the end I felt really relaxed and had a total change in my disposition. I also noticed after my session I was walking to my car and a couple people I passed on the street smiled and said hello. I thought that is interesting. When I felt more open, people seemed to be more open with me. I just noticed, I still did not believe anything. It was too big a shift in my thought processes to happen quickly. Then I went to my Reiki level 1 class at the yoga studio. There was just 2 of us in the class. The other woman in the class I did not know, but it turned out she was a COTA also and turned out we worked for the same company in different locations. During the class we learned about reiki and practiced on each other. We both felt something. I remember stopping at one of her knees, because I felt cold and held my hand their until I could feel the energy I felt in other places. She asked me at the end of the session, why did you stop at that knee? I told her what I felt. She said, " I just have been having trouble with that knee." We were both fascinated and developed a friendship after the experience. Again, I found it all fascinating, but also thought weird stuff.
I do think in the west we have been separated from the fact we are energetic beings. How energy is defined scientifically is the capacity to do work. Obviously, even from a purely western model of medicine energy has to be present in the body. The amount of work our bodies do every moment is astonishing. The heart is continuously beating, nerves sending messages to different parts of the body, cells renewing, immune system protecting from possible threats, blood delivering nutrients and oxygen to different parts of the body and so on. Lots of energy happening. In the eastern model it is a much broader perspective. Humans are seen as connected to nature. Another thing in the beginning I thought " what? " . Then I realized our brains pineal gland releases melatonin according to darkness to help us go to sleep, we get our nutrition/ vitamins that the body does not supply from the earth and sunshine, man breathes in oxygen and out carbon dioxide and plants mirror our needs. I thought of course we are connected to nature. How come I did I not see this before. In this eastern model there is a universal energy that flows between all living things.
I started doing Reiki with my teacher at the savasana (relaxation part) the end of her yoga class. We would give reiki to of those that wanted to receive it. I could feel how the energy felt different from person to person. The people receiving commented on how my energy felt different from my teachers, but they liked them both. Something new was seeping into my consciousness, but I still was having trouble using it at work. I only shared in what I felt was safe places. I thought people would think I was weird. Then I became sick myself and Reiki was one of the tools I used to find peace, during a prolonged illness. When I recovered and returned to work I decided to learn more. I went onto to do a Yoga teacher/ Reiki Master program through the University Of Maryland school of medicine. When at work at times I felt compelled to use reiki. I will give you an example,the place I worked had 2 vent units. I went to see one of the vent patients for ranging his arms and putting on splints. He couldn't speak or acknowledge me in any way, but I see by the look on his face, tightness in his muscles and the readings on the monitor that he was in pain. He already received pain medication and I did not want to start ranging his arms and further increase his pain, so I started the session with a little reiki. I was holding my hand over the middle of his chest (no touch) and I could feel a lot of energy movement happening under the hand and simultaneously the monitor was showing the vitals going down. He was starting to relax. My brain was like there is no way my hand over his chest not even touching him is causing this reaction. I took my hand away quickly, with that all the vitals went back up again. I put my hand back and allowed what was happening to finish and the vitals went down and I believe made his treatment easier for the patient to handle from this more relaxed state. Another time I had a woman that was having bad knee pain and she was sitting on the edge of the bed with her. We already tried the transitional route with pain control and as I was talking to her I just lightly put my hand on her knee. I thought if anything wants to come through or if she is ready to recieve I will be the conduit. She said to me " what are you doing to my knee ?"That feels good." I said you are going to think it's weird and told her. She said with a little smile that is not weird. I guess I was talking to myself. I only would do it when I felt drawn to it or just started without me thinking about it. Reiki was opening my mind. It is important to note, Reiki (universal energy) is the one that helped these patients. I was merely the conduit and did not block the flow. I think it can be easy for ego to take over, but we have to remember it is the universal energy that assists. Obviously, I did not fully understand. I do now believe in Reiki wholeheartedly and humans connection to nature and the earth. I believe no treatment holds a magic cure, but true healing comes from within. We listen to our inner wisdom. I know that is how I overcame my illness. I listened to where I was drawn, even when my mind was like " how is this going to help ?" .I do believe practices such as reiki assist the body with relaxation and entering our parasympathetic nervous system . This is where immune function happens and when we are more relaxed we can hear our own inner guidance more clearly. That is why all the practices and services at Inner Lotus Wellness LLC assist with relaxing the body and promoting mindfulness.
For summer I will offer a special a 20 minute session for $15.00. If you don't feel anything or it does not resonate with you, there will be no charge. Everyone is welcome and it is open for discussion if you have questiona and are curiuos. Decided if something is special you share it and tell people about it. #reiki#relaxation#wellness#Reikicolumbia,MD http://www.innerlotuswellness/onlinebooking
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