About Reiki

What is Reiki?
Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy. The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy."

While Reiki is spiritual in nature, it is not a religion. It has no dogma, and there is nothing you must believe in order to benefit from Reiki. In fact, Reiki is not dependent on belief at all and will work whether you believe in it or not.

So...what exactly happens during a Reiki session ?
On arrival you will firstly be made feel extremely welcome. I will ask you to complete a consultation form where all details provided are confidential. I will explain a little about the session and ask you to lie on a treatment bed fully clothed. After doing some deep breathing exercises using essential oils usually Frankincense from here I will read a short meditation to relax and calm you.

I will start the actual Reiki session by checking the chakras with a pendulum. Any energy blockages or imbalances will show up here. I make a note of any blockages in the chakras and then start to clear each chakra of negative energy and replace it with positive, cosmic, Reiki energy. You may feel heat and tingling sensations throughout the body and this is completely normal, its negative energy shifting. The session will include hands off energy work and hands on energy work. During the hands on energy work I will touch the head, shoulders, hands, legs and feet.
Some Reiki symbols are used throughout the session to encourage the positive entry of Reiki energy. Towards the end of the session again you will be asked to inhale oils to signify the session coming to a close. I usually conclude the session by offering the client an angel card to choose from, as many messages come from our unconscious mind here.

The connection between Reiki and Counselling/Psychotherapy:
Eastern practices and medicines are proving very popular of late in the western world. Many of the renowned psychotherapists like Freud, Rogers and Jung acknowledged the importance of mindfulness in their practice. And while the term mindfulness may be a new one, the practice itself goes back thousands of years.

As a psychotherapist I tend to marry both Reiki and Counselling for optimal benefits for the client. I feel counselling/psychotherapy will dig deep towards self awareness and Reiki will ‘smooth the ruffled feathers’ in a treatment a week to ten days later. I feel a dual approach to my clients will offer them deep insights in a gentle way to reaching their true organic self.

Reiki alone too identifies emotional blocks through analysing the chakras. As Reiki is known to increase clarity, many clients go on to identify reasons why they may behave in ways that in the past may not have served them well.

Mindfulness:
How many times have you completed a task or even traveled a journey to find that you have little or no memory of this event? This is because we aren’t mindful, in the present moment-in the here and now. While the term ‘mindfulness’ may not have been used by Freud or others, psychotherapists for hundreds of years have discovered that a lack of mindfulness can lead to a sense of disarray/unrest in the mind which leads to stress and stress induced illness. Freud and others insisted the principles inherent in mindful practice are those which underlie competent and effective psychotherapy. Therefore in my opinion a marrying of the two practices Reiki and Psychotherapy will bring about pathways to change.

“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength”.

Sigmund Freud.

The marrying together of psychotherapy for a client and mindfulness created and encouraged by a holistic therapy like Reiki will benefit the client in between sessions. It’s like enjoying a continuous counselling session from week to week when the client leaves the therapy room and takes with them clarity of thought and a sense of just ‘being’ in the moment.