Mindful Reiki Healing - What It Is & Why I'm Doing It

It all started back in 2005, when my Nana, Annette, was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of stomach cancer. The photo to the left was taken at Christmas in 2004, three months before she died and without knowing her diagnosis. Much of those last few months are a blur, but I do remember sitting beside her bed in the hospital nearly every day as she lay unconscious. Sometimes I would do homework or work on my thesis, which happened to be about meditation. In about two months from that time I would be graduating from Bridgewater State, and I had no idea how I was going to pull it off with this impending, tremendous loss. A woman who was like a second mother to me in every way was being taken prematurely and very aggressively. It was shocking. One afternoon it was particularly quiet in the hospital and we were in a room alone. In the absence of being able to verbally communicate with her, I felt the instinct to put my hands on her. I'm sure this is not an unusual instinct that people in my situation would have, but I took it a bit further. At this time I had no idea what Reiki really was. However, I noticed that I chose to place my hands at certain points on her body, close my eyes, and just breathe. It certainly was my intention to somehow communicate on a different level. If some part of her was awake, and perhaps fearful or in distress, I wanted to calm that. I had no intention to bring her back or perform any kind of miracle. I just wanted to believe that I could somehow facilitate a more peaceful departure. What I do regret is not being there when she passed, doing the exact same thing. 

While I wasn't technically performing Reiki during that time, it is what led me to the training six years later. This story about my experience with Nana played a large role in receiving a scholarship from Kripalu where I was taught by Reiki Master, Libby Barnett. I was drawn to her specifically because of her experience teaching and providing Reiki in conventional care environments like Mass General Hospital in Boston, Harvard and Brown medical schools, and the Yale University School of Nursing. It was and is important to me that Reiki is used in tandem with the right recipe for healing based on the needs of the individual. Seeing its usefulness and acceptance in traditional Western hospitals is validation that even though we don't quite know what's happening (scientifically) when Reiki is performed, we know that something usually does, and in the positive direction. No place may better understand this than Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. They have the largest volunteer-based Reiki program in the country. More about that here. 

It's been about two years since my training with Libby and I'm now at the point where I feel it is time to provide this healing modality as a service. In the near future I will be visiting with friends and relatives who have signed up to be "testers" of my treatment. So why now? While anyone in the Western world can be Reiki trained and certified (basically), I believe that for me to do it justice I had to go through a process of self-discovery that allowed me to have peace and compassion for myself, first. Doing Reiki on myself these past couple of years has facilitated that on some level I'm sure. According to my training it does not matter if the person giving or receiving Reiki actually "believes" in it or not for it to work. It doesn't matter what the giver's mental state is. However, I do want to ensure that I am a grounded, compassionate person before laying my hands on someone else for the purpose of healing. I, to a degree, had to be healed first. There was no better healer for me than the practice of mindfulness in my life. It has changed me and my relationship with myself forever, and all for the better. 

Ironically, seven years ago as I sat in that hospital room with my Nana, I was working on my final honors thesis that discussed the personality traits of those who practiced particular types of meditation vs non-meditators. I was exposed to all of these ideas about the benefits of meditation long ago. But only recently was it time for me to implement them in my daily life. You can read more about ideas blooming synchronistically in my last post, Daffodils Bloom In April, Opportunity Blooms When It's Ready.  Several months ago, while experiencing chronic insomnia, I began reading Thich Nhat Hanh's "The Miracle of Mindfulness". It was on the top of a pile of books at my friend's house and I decided to read it while laying awake. It was then that something was triggered. Soon after I was sitting in a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction class where I came upon my first mindfulness teacher, Ethel Fraga. At the end of the program Ethel asked us to talk about what our intentions were coming into the course and our reflections on that intention after the two month instruction and practice. I basically said, "It was my intention to start sleeping normally again. That hasn't happened, but something better did. I actually have love and compassion for myself even when I'm awake at night, night after night." That defining moment of realization is what prepared me for my eventual decision to practice Reiki on others. I now felt I could be an authentic deliverer of healing. 

Dr. Mikao Usui developed the form of Reiki that I was trained in called the Usui System of Natural Healing. He did this about 100 years ago in Japan. In short, Reiki is defined as universal energy that is guided by a subtle wisdom to heal all aspects of a person's body, mind, and spirit. While Reiki can be viewed as a very spiritual healing system, it is not necessary to understand those mechanics (especially since they are likely quantum mechanics) to experience the benefits of the system. Reiki in the West is seen more as a complimentary therapy that is safe, gentle, and non-intrusive. The doctors, nurses, patients and families at Brigham & Women's can attest to that every day. 

My own spiritual belief system is very much rooted in mindfulness and the treasures, insights, and ways of observing, dealing, and being in the world during both joyous and challenging times. Like Reiki, mindfulness practice can be followed and practiced in a spiritual sense, or not. For example, the MBSR course I took, developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is basically stripped of its spiritual, Buddhist roots. Yet the technique, when practiced by Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. still yields positive results. Reiki is the same. You can study and appreciate the history and spiritual traditions that gave rise to it, or you can strip it down and just practice the technique and get positive results either way.

Being a provider of "Mindful Reiki" means that when in the presence of a client I am fully present with them and their issues. I am there to be a compassionate set of hands that at the very least are providing therapeutic touch. You could see it as I'm balancing your chakras if that's a language you resonate with, or you could see it as I'm calming the areas of your body that are stressed. Much of what Reiki works on is emotional pain, that inevitably can give rise to physical illness if not dealt with. Mindful Reiki also means that at the beginning of each session I will do a breathing exercise with the client in an effort to begin the relaxation process and perhaps give them a tool for future use as well. According to Usui Sensei’s surviving students, Dr. Usui introduced his students to the practice of mindfulness at First Degree level, and emphasized this more at Second Degree level. While in my own Reiki training I was not taught mindfulness, I do believe it is a critical trait to posses as a practitioner, along with compassion. In the next few weeks I will embark on this new journey on helping others with with both of these practices, and in the memory of Nana who unknowingly inspired it many years ago. 

I leave this post with a traditional loving kindness "metta" mindfulness meditation that is the foundation for my intention as a person and a practitioner:

May you be happy and peaceful,
Healthy and strong.
May you be safe from inner and outer harm.
May you have a heart filled with love and joy.