I find that a lot of my reiki clients come to me with anxiety, seeking a way to cope without medication. I must say this; I will never tell you to not take something your doctor prescribes to you or to stop consulting your professional medical doctors. I am not a Doctor nor will I claim to be one and if you go to any reiki practitioner that claims such you should ask lots of questions and want to see proof of their doctorate. So with that said I want to start by talking about what anxiety is so that you have a better understanding of it.
What is anxiety? According to medical definitions it is a mental dis-order that lead to excessive nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worry. What my interpenetration is that you are worrying about what is to come or the future. It is: the what could be’s, the what if’s, and worrying about the things that are out of your control. I know that even talking about all this can cause one to have anxiety so let me remind you that you are safe and you are OK and focus on the here and now. Having anxiety is normal human emotion. Having constant anxiety is where it affects your health. It triggers your fight of flight response. When you are in that fight or flight mood your body sends all of its energy to your limbs and shuts down your digestive system and torso area. So staying in that mood for prolonged time, you then start to see other issues like ulcers.
So, how can reiki help with anxiety? Well first reiki is an energy that helps one to relax. It helps you be in the here and now. I have been told that reiki feels like a weight is being lifted off their chest. I have seen someone with severe anxiety come to me, looking like they are deflated. Almost like they have collapsed in on themselves, they were so hunched over that it was painful to see. After one reiki session my client could stand/sit up straighter than they have in years. She also told me that she could actually take a full deep breath and that she felt lighter in heart. She came back for weekly sessions for 6 months. To date she has reported that she has had only a few moments of where she felt her anxiety surface but she was able to manage it quickly. She comes to see me every so often just as something for her to do as part of her new self-care habits.
The energies of reiki are so gentle and loving that it encourages you to relax into it and just let it do what it needs to do. It is hard to resist that beautiful gift that you can’t help but to do as the energies ask of you and trust it and relax.
