This photo was taken from the inside of a car wash! It’s not a bad analogy; a reiki treatment can feel like a really good clean!
I’ve given some interesting treatments lately. I thought it might be interesting for you to read some of my observations. I’m going to use a genderless pronoun, just to make sure I keep the confidentiality of my clients:
🌟 Cynics find it hard to believe but reiki practitioners see reiki energy as travelling across time and space in ways that don’t always match up to our usual experience. Many of my clients say after a treatment that it felt either like it lasted forever and went for a long time, or in contrary, that it felt like only five minutes had gone by. I had a client lately who hadn’t been for five years. They described that after the last treatment, they felt tingling in their hands and feet during the treatment and afterwards for a few days … and they started feeling the same tingling on the morning BEFORE they came for the treatment. That made me think about how reiki ‘time’ doesn’t necessarily match up to our usual sense of time.
🌟 Just at the moment of starting a treatment, a client asked if I could do the treatment without touching them. Almost always, I use touch as part of my treatments, because for most people, touch feels good, and it provides a focus for the energy for both me and the client. Particularly for first-time clients or clients that are more uncertain of what they might feel, feeling my hands, and possibly heat or energy from my hands, can be comforting. But it’s not necessary for me to touch during a treatment. As I said above, the sense of space in reiki doesn’t necessarily correlate to what we’re used to, and a treatment can be just as effective at a distance or without touching. So, I’m really happy that my client felt confident enough to speak up and request what they wanted. The treatment ended up being exactly what they wanted. We were both excited at the end of the treatment at how well it worked, since even though it was their first treatment ever, they immediately felt some of the exact effects and benefits that they’d told me they’d wanted before the treatment. Just as I was starting the treatment, they actually said out loud, ‘I can feel it!’.
🌟 I had another client that came to see what reiki would do for them. We were chatting and they said that they have trouble meditating, and instead just feel anger: anger for not being able to meditate as well as another deeper issue that we didn’t talk about. But after the treatment, the client said that they didn’t feel anything from it, except the same anger they feel when trying to meditate. I’m sorry that the treatment didn’t bring them more benefits and I also have to admit that I don’t really know what’s going on here. I would estimate that 95% or more of my clients tell me they feel something, from subtle to dramatic. So for the very few that feel nothing, I’m not sure why. Maybe their minds are so powerful and filled with thoughts that it blocks them from being able to be open to and tune into the healing energy of reiki. But I’m not sure.
🌟 Sometimes I wonder if it is relates to expectations. One client, at the end of their treatment, said they felt average, about the same. But when I probed, they said they had felt a strong wave of energy, or a few times, all the way through their body. What they meant is that in comparison to the first wave of energy, they felt the same. It seemed like after the first sensations, they were upset that the sensation didn’t continue in the same way. And then, when I asked more questions, they did describe feeling relaxed and tingling in their hands and feet. It seemed that in this case the client could easily have just believed that they didn’t experience anything from reiki, because they are not used to observing what they feel in their body and immediately starting thinking about other things or having doubts.
🌟 I should end this post on a positive note! While many clients ask me what they should expect to feel or are ‘supposed’ to feel, everyone has very different experiences of reiki treatments. Some clients feel that most treatments are about the same for them each time while others feel that each treatment is different. Quite a few clients are reporting feeling really tired after the treatment (but better when that feeling passes) and most clients have been telling me they found the treatments enjoyable, and they feel lighter or more relaxed than when they came in. But it’s good to not have expectations and to be open to whatever happens. See you at your next treatment!
How wonderful! In the last period, I received a whole bunch of really great reviews, on the Bookwell site, on Google and on Facebook. I thought I’d start by posting the ones from Bookwell (my booking service, that allows you to choose your time online and if you wish, pay in advance by card). I can see I haven’t shared these since May! Thanks to my clients for sharing their experiences.
No, this isn’t a review at the end of the year of the year that came before it. It’s just a few reviews, that I’ve been meaning to post, at the end of the year. I’m going to get in trouble for this word play some day…