Becoming a { P A U S E } in jOy Reiki Master didn’t happen overnight. I had been called to learn Reiki since I received my first treatment at age 16 but my time didn’t come for another decade. The practice of Reiki, it’s philosophy, and means to connect to spiritual conscious energy, has become my practice and guidance system. I am grateful to every attuned Reiki Master after Sensei Mikao Usui for keeping his lineage alive, and particularly to my teacher Patti Penn founder of Pause in JOY, for taking the teachings further and mentoring me over years on the Pause in Joy Way.
What is Rei-ki?
The hands-on healing piece of Reiki that we know in the West was originally the healing piece of something bigger: the Reiki Philosophy. Reiki was channeled by Mikao Usui Sensei in Japan over 100 years ago. Usui was a Samurai and Buddhist practitioner who healed many through the system of Reiki and taught them the Reiki way as a philosophy of self- knowledge; the path to heal and know oneself. Although humans have discovered many systems to connect to spiritual conscious energy even prior to Usui and different lineages have evolved thereafter, it is thanks to Usui’s attuned Reiki Masters that the tradition of Reiki has been kept alive and brought to the West.
The word “Reiki” means Spiritual Conscious Energy (“Rei”-spiritual, conscious/ “ki”-prana, chi) and it has a harmonizing effect by allowing spiritual conscious energy to do its work of moving through our system reestablishing balance, like the tuning of an instrument. The feeling of lightness and harmony that people experience after a Reiki treatment is unique. Reiki sessions are often described as decompressing, relaxing, expanding, oceanic, profoundly transformative and even revelatory. Just like any profound experience, the best way to get to know Reiki is by giving it a try.
A Reiki session
Reiki is practiced with eyes closed and fully dressed on a massage table. The practitioner lays hands on different parts of the head and body covering all the energetic centers, either gently touching or a few inches away. The client is guided through breathing and into a full relaxation, and will usually report feeling heat, tingling, or other physical sensations along with many visions and sometimes memories that resurface asking for attention and healing. Both gentle and sometimes massive energetic shifts have been reported after sessions. I have practiced Reiki on others for different physical, spiritual and emotional needs, from people praparing for surgeries to post-surgery recovery, after an accident, cancer patients going through chemo, depression, physical pain, allergic reactions, and heartbreaks.
I have witnessed the effects of Reiki on people going through grief after a death and other transitions. I have worked with mothers before and after giving birth, with those who need a break and moment of peace, and with those who just enjoy the calm, expansion and clarity that Reiki brings.
