You Give ~ You Receive

As I continue my journey with Reiki, I am constantly amazed by the healing beauty revealed to me each and every time I give or receive. As Reiki energies flow between the practitioner and the recipient during the Reiki session, the two bodies may respond or react with particular sensations. Those sensations are nearly always pleasant. There may heat, warmth, cold, subtleness, steadfastness, or forcefulness.

Reiki is gaining more and more mainstream acceptance. It is being used in hospitals and hospices. In fact many nurses and doctors are learning Reiki.

Some hospitals have implemented Reiki teams to provide Reiki to patients and there have been clinical studies proving that Reiki is an effective pain management too, improving healing pre and post surgery.

 When we give reiki, we also receive reiki, because as a channel the reiki energy flows through us to the client. Therefore it does make sense that on its journey through our bodies we receive as well.

 But as reiki channels, do we experience the pain of the client on our table?

 If a practitioner is empathic touching other people may cause them to develop mirrored illnesses. However, having empathic abilities is not a requirement of Reiki, nor does it enhance Reiki’s effectiveness. Empaths need to learn that the ability to “take on” or “feel” another person’s pain or emotions is best used as a diagnostic tool. Don’t hold on to the empathetic feelings, they must be released as soon as possible. People with empathic natures are also known as highly sensitive people, ultrasensitive people, or people with “overexcitabilities.”

* A recent discovery in brain science may shed light on one way practitioners become influenced by the negative energy of a client. It’s been discovered that there are specialized cells in the brain called mirror neurons. These neurons are located in the premotor cortex and the inferior parietal cortex and are thought to assist in the learning process by helping us to mimic what others are doing. It is also thought that they play an important role in helping us understand how others are thinking and feeling, and because of this, may play a role in the experience of empathy. Some Reiki practitioners who take on the symptoms of their clients also report that they are highly emphatic. It is thought that empathy is usually stimulated through sensory impressions, but the descriptions some practitioners give of their experiences indicate that their empathy may be stimulated by input directly from the client’s energy field.

 On a recent Reiki session, for the first time as I gave Reiki to a friend who recently lost his mother, I felt overwhelmed by his grief, I felt his loss, I felt his mother slip away from him and was suddenly unable to control my tears which slipped down my cheeks as I lovingly cradled his head in my hands.

 When occurrences such as these happen during reiki it helps to take some gentle, deep breaths and also have the client take a few deep breaths as well. This will help break up the blocked energy so that you can continue the treatment without continued discomfort.

* William Rand