The Number One Reason You Should Be Talking About Reiki: Wait. What the Heck IS Reiki?

Wearing a white paper gown, wincing with shallow breath under the buzz of fluorescent lights, Iwaited in the exam room.  The doctor entered, introduced himself, shuffled through my MRI scans, looked at my back and my pelvis, did a few simple tests and performed what seemed like a three-minute exam. “There’s nothing we can do.  You’ll need chronic pain management.  Make an appointment with our physical therapy and psych departments.”What?! This was one of the top clinics in the country.  I waited for months and traveled hours from my home for this appointment.  It was my last hope in an ongoing battle with chronic pain following an accident several months prior.In the months leading up to this appointment I had visited every type of doctor, physical therapist, and chiropractor regarding my injuries and pain.  I was an extremely healthy and active 25-year-old prior to all of this.  I was convinced something could be done.  When I made my way to this highly regarded spine clinic and they told me there was nothing they could do, that I would probably walk, but not run, and I would need lifetime chronic pain management –– I lost it.Swimming in a sea of dread and panic, I didn’t know how to live the rest of my life with that amount of pain. I didn't leave my house and stopped answering the phone.  I hovered around a skeletal 100 pounds for my 5’7” frame because the pain was so draining and, to be honest, I was so depressed I had no urge to eat.  My sense of self and purpose were stripped.  There was no way I was returning to my semi-physical job.  I couldn’t do the activities I loved.  I distanced myself from friends and family because I was consumed with the physical pain and the grief of losing the rest of my active life and my old self.Note. Chronic pain = giant buzz kill.“How are you feeling?”“Not great.  My ass and low back hurt.”A couple weeks later.“Are you feeling any better (...yet)?”“Nope.”A couple weeks later.“Is there anything that can be done?”“Ah. No.”Awkward silence.Yeah, I was pretty awesome to hang out with.After some dark and comin’-to-Jesus moments over the following 18 months, I started making my way out of what felt like an eternal pit of despair.  I found a chronic pain support group.  I started a regular meditation practice and gained some physical mobility.  I went back to school to study a new profession. I started regular mental health counseling and signed up for a yoga teacher training.During my yoga training, I continued struggling with depression.  I had many reservations, concerns, and baggage around whether or not to take anti-depressants.  The mental health nurse who knew my medical and personal history suggested I start by trying a form of hands-on healing like Healing Touch® or Reiki.  She had read many positive studies and had personally seen favorable results in patients seeking relief from depression.*Reiki (pronounced Ray-kee) is a method of hands-on healing developed by Dr. Mikao Usui from Kyoto, Japan. It is a healing technique based on the principle that when life force energy is low or blocked injury, illness, stress or dis-ease result.  A Reiki therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient's body and restore physical and emotional well-being.Cue the chakras.  Note.  This was all very contrary to my then current experience of law school.  Yep.  My life was a swirl of legal briefs, academic competition...and chakras.I had just learned about the chakras in my yoga teacher training. They were presented as energy centers in the body that provide a physical road map for our mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies. Reiki utilizes the seven chakras as a guide to assessing and treating a person.In a very law-school-student fashion, I dug through my notes and did further research on the chakras. I kept re-reading how the root chakra was affiliated with the pelvis, back, and lower body.  Some of the mental emotional issues associated with the root are safety, survival, grounding, family, security, fear, life’s work, and new beginnings.I thought about my pelvic injury, my chronic pain, my depression, and my personal history and experiences. Something clicked. Maybe there was a different way of understanding myself through these intangibles.  Maybe Reiki could help with the chronic pain, the depression, my mental/emotional battles, and, ultimately, my spirit?I started receiving Reiki treatments on a regular basis and had a very physical realization that my experiences, emotions, and spirit were being held in my body. As I deepened my awareness and connection to self, received healing modalities from Western medicine as well as Reiki, yoga, meditation and prayer, I deepened my connection to my Source.  That experience of connection and awareness led to an unfolding and release that created space for unimaginable healing on all levels.Almost 15 years later, Reiki is part of the work I do with others. I rarely talk about this aspect of my work because it’s hard to find words to articulate my experience and the experiences my clients have had with Reiki.  What I’ve learned is that, regardless, we all need to be talking about it: our journeys, the intangibles, struggle, healing.  We need to be talking about the things that have changed us and that aren’t always provable, logical, or sexy in our mainstream culture (i.e., chronic pain, depression, death, life, the Otherness, to name a few).I no longer suffer from chronic back pain or depression. Not to say that I haven’t experienced aches and pains, injuries, or times of immense transition and sadness, but I look at the whole system when something is hurting or feels off kilter.“What is my body, emotion, mental state or spirit trying to share with me?”  It’s all interrelated.  By healing one area, we touch and heal the other aspects of ourselves.  By healing ourselves, we provide space and healing for others.That is worth talking about.In the comments below please talk about it.  Share one thing that’s changed or helped you, but you haven’t found words or the space to share it.And if you want to talk about chakras join me here. *Note: My disclaimer. This was my personal experience and is not advice or judgement.  I very much believe western medicine is necessity for treating and managing chemical imbalances in some people.