Reiki hurts!

It has surprised me to learn over the years that sometimes a reiki treatment is not completely pleasant, nor are its after-effects. And sometimes, it even hurts!

Clients report that a treatment sometimes will activate old injuries and they’ll feel energy there, an itchy feeling or pressure or even a bit of pain.

Some report feeling a bit of a headache.

Others have reported feeling pressure, sometimes unpleasant, at a part of their body, usually their chest or throat area.

I even had a period where I was feeling sensations of pain in my arms or legs or elsewhere and then after the treatment, the client would tell me they had felt pain in the same places. Spooky! I told my reiki teacher who said that it made sense: as the whole point of a treatment is to achieve oneness, to be in the same healing space with a client and not feel a separation (or duality), so it’s actually a good sign if we’re feeling the same sensations.

After treatments as well, clients don’t always feel great. I think the most common unpleasant feeling that I’ve had reported is fatigue, feeling really, really tired the night of the treatment, or the next day or even longer. A few clients have felt emotional (one said her boyfriend was really worried about her). One client felt so out of sorts he snapped at his partner!

And yet, during or after a treatment, any negative feelings are temporary and clients feel better than before afterwards. My teacher, Frans, gives the analogy of a wound where the process of the scar forming might not feel pleasant: itchy, irritated and even painful. But it’s a necessary part of the healing.

I’ve found that clients like to know what they can expect from a treatment, and that those who are most disappointed are the ones who have very specific ideas about what will happen, and whose expectations are not met. So I do try to let people know: not all the time, and maybe never for you, but for some people: reiki hurts!

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 1,100 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.

Falling out of practice

I fell out of practice of doing regular blogs and articles.

I was doing so well for a while!

However, it really did make me question one of my assumptions. I think I saw a few times that when I posted blogs that I was getting clients booking in for treatments. I had also heard that blogging is a basic building block for a social media presence and website. It keeps your website alive with new material, and so it’s supposed to help with your page rankings (basically how high up you’re found on a google search).

The thing is: I didn’t put up a blog post for about six weeks, and yet during this period, I had one of my busiest months ever (matching my record of 51 treatments during a month).

So, I think it’s a good thing to challenge my assumptions and beliefs, and it can be good to get out of practice.

Now, I think there are some things which we will have learned, over time, really are good for our well-being when they are done regularly, and it’s not really good to stray from the practice. For you, this could include eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, meditating and getting regular reiki treatments!

But there may be other routines which we could alter, or take a break from, or drop all together. My family loves vitamins, so I’ve been a pill taker for years: Vitamin C and fish oil, vitamin D and multi-vitamins. And more, on and off. But I’ve seen so many articles that say there just isn’t evidence of any real health benefits of taking vitamin D and fish oil regularly, so after a few years of taking these daily, I’m going to stop!

I also used a fitness tracker daily, and while I found it interesting to know how many steps I walked, I’m not sure in the long run whether it’s encouraged me to walk more. Plus: the latest studies say we need to get our heart rate up, and not just walk. And I miss wearing my colourful watches. So, for now, I’m going to give that routine up (after I think three years!)

I could go on. I don’t know why exactly, but it feels like a time in my life for changing and challenging my routines. By doing so, if I find that there is something that I should NOT be giving up, or doing more regularly, I can set my intention to do that.

How about you? What in your life would you like to do more regularly? What are your habits, good or bad, that you would like to take a break from? Are your beliefs about what’s good for you and what’s not true? Are these beliefs helping your overall well-being?

Discover the gifts and benefits of a session of Japanese reiki therapy, healing energy from an experienced practitioner. Visit my website or Facebook page for more information and SMS, email, call me or book online if you’d like to make an appointment. Since 2011, I’ve given over 1,100 reiki treatments.

Clients come to relieve stress, anxiety and for many other issues, or to just give reiki a try to see what it does for them. Folks come from all over Sydney and elsewhere to see me. While it’s easiest to get to me from the CBD, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Kings Cross, Redfern and Potts Point, I’m pretty easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney.