Reiki and Me

I first came across Reiki when I was 18 years old and the company I was completing a work placement with was having a staff away day and they said I could of course attend, so I was looking at the list of activities you could have after the scavenger hunt.

Out of everything for some reason I picked reiki, I'd never heard of it before, but I was really drawn to giving it a try. The away day arrived and went for my treatment, during not a lot happened, but I felt really relaxed and like I was away but not asleep.

And afterwards I felt really relaxed to the point where I was sitting almost just staring at everything. In fact when I went home my (now ex) husband said if this is what it does to you I'll pay for you to go every week! He didn't and in fact I didn't get reiki again for another 12 years.

A friend was running a Mind Body and Soul event in Carlisle and I wasn't feeling great at the time. My mum had been ill and in hospital and not long been out, so I was a bit run down and my neck, shoulder and back were tense and sore. I knew this was less to do with my physical body and more to do with my energy levels. Dave took me and there was a number of healers at the event there was one lady who had just become available, I was on the bed for 20 minutes and felt a lot better.

The next year when I was very ill and had been ill by this point three months, the same friend was running another event this time at Kirklinton Hall. I could barely move and I met quite a few people who I knew on my way in and they were gobsmacked at what shape I was in. I was the person who had exercised regularly, ate well, climbed mountains and ran half marathons and here I was barely able to put one foot in front of the other.

I walked round and seen what was on offer and went back to a healer I had seen after being in for a couple of minutes. I asked did she have any space, she did, she asked me where I was experiencing my problems, I explained pretty much from my lower back down and I was not in good shape, I was in absolutely excruciating pain. After 20 minutes on the bed I was at the very least able to move a bit better. She then recommended I go for a reading which I did. This unlocked a lot of emotional healing, which the wheels were already set in motion by the reiki, the reading was the final piece.

I went to see Clare, the reiki healer again five weeks later for my birthday, a lot had changed in these five weeks. My health was much improved, I was able to move properly and my pain was massively reduced. I had started on my new spiritual path. And from another couple of visits I decided I wanted to learn Usui Reiki with Clare, Dave also opted to do this as this had been an ambition for Dave for many years.

In October 2017, we did our Reiki One training, it felt so new yet familiar, for our attunements we went to Long Meg and her daughters, a neolithic stone circle at Little Salkeld, whilst we were receiving these attunements a school trip landed to look at the stone circle - given it was a weekend during half term I was a bit shocked that a group of school children showed up.

We knew straight away we wanted to go on and do our reiki two which meant we would be practitioners, at Reiki one it hands on only and predominantly for yourself (which Reiki always is for) and you can also use it on your food, animals or friends and family. Whereas at Reiki Two you can project energy over distance and time, this is also where you receive your first three reiki symbols, as well as being able to officially treat people and charge for the service if that's what you are looking to use it for.

We had originally intended to do the reiki two course in April, however I'd booked a few days away with Dave to go to Prague and it coincided with the Reiki two course. So, on 7th and 8th July we attended the reiki two course, this was a busy weekend in Carlisle, England were playing the world cup and the city centre was rammed with people celebrating in the streets, Paloma Faith was performing at Carlisle Races and were in the middle of a very glorious summer! So for our reiki two attunements we headed out to Castlerigg Stone Circle at Keswick, this is a very busy stone circle but in truly beautiful surroundings, and lots of people go to meditate here, so it was a little less obvious what we were doing but, to be honest, I really didn't care what they thought, it was unlikely I was going to see them again, as most of them are tourists.

After this weekend we were able to start using this as service, I use this in conjunction with a few different therapies from crystal healing, Indian head massage, facials and angel therapy. It is very versatile and I use it to help keep all my symptoms at bay, I rarely have to take painkillers and often use it during meditation. I also infuse any of my crystal grids with reiki and cleanse and charge my crystals with reiki and I regularly cleanse my rooms with reiki energy. This weekend when visiting Dave's parents I was asked to reiki the tomato plants in the greenhouse, when I was finished Dave's dad jokingly said he expected fully grown tomatoes on the vines in the morning!

I also often reiki my very grumpy mog, Shadow. last year he was very ill and had developed kidney stones in October 2018, he'd seemed extra grumpy one morning and couldn't seem to pee in his litter tray but he wouldn't let me near him so I sent him reiki. Then come the night he still hadn't managed to do his thing, so I had to call the out of hours service for him. So, my ex kindly came round to bring my mums dog crate for me and I managed to convince him to help me catch him, my cat is quite large and hates being caught, he then took me to the emergency vet which is roughly 8 miles out of town. The vet thought it could be stones but wasn't certain, so gave him so anti-inflammatories and an injection, so I sent him reiki again. The next morning, he still hadn't peed, so I rang the vets as soon as they opened, I had to take him to the vets which fortunately was just over a mile away. I left him and he went in for surgery, he was packed with stones, but fortunately no infection which the vet was surprised at. He had to stay in over night for observation as they needed him to eat and pee. So the next morning I rang to see how he was, he was OK but he wouldn't eat, they thought it was maybe because he wasn't at home but they wanted to try him with other food. I kept sending him reiki and urging him to eat but he just wouldn't. A friend took me up that afternoon to collect him and to get him home, he was given medication, specialist veterinary diet and anti inflammatories. He no longer needs the medication or the anti inflammatories just the food. I reiki his food every day, and any time he gets close or fancies a cuddle - which is a lot more than it used to be.

It's our intention that we will complete our reiki three within the next twelve months leading us to become attuned reiki masters and with the capability of teaching usui reiki.