I was first introduced to Reiki in 2001 when my youngest brother returned from his travels in India. He came back with a year worth of amazing stories, a great tan and the ability to give Reiki. I remember how sceptical my Dad and I were as he told us all about it. -the healing energy coming through your hands - yeah, right! We gave him a bit of a hard time, but he persuaded us to give it a go. As the Reiki began to flow, I remember drifting off into a lovely meditative relaxing state, oblivious to the noisy family gathering going on around me - it felt amazing.

 

Although I started training to be a massage therapist shortly afterwards and had often thought about learning Reiki myself, it wasn't until about ten years later when my cat Poppy developed an aggressive form of cancer that I was really motivated into action. Unfortunately, the tumour they found in her leg was so advanced they needed to amputate to give her any chance of survival, which was then followed incredible care from her specialist Veterinary team, I wanted to be able to do something to comfort and boost her chances too. Being able to give her Reiki felt like the best thing to do within my power, so I signed up for the First Degree course and within a day I could give her Reiki. Thankfully, Poppy made a full recovery.

 

In addition to lots of feline palliative care, I immediately started to use Reiki in all my massage and Reflexology treatments. I have found it to be remarkably effective at getting my clients to switch off and relax properly and by scanning the body/aura of my client with my hands at the beginning of each treatment, it enables me to detect instantly which areas are most out of balance and will need more work. I also channel the energy to assist in releasing super tight muscles and stubborn knots, enabling me to work at a deeper tissue level more quickly and without inflicting as much pain. In predominantly tender and troublesome areas such as the iliotibial band (ITB), I will often use Reiki to switch off the pain entirely. I find this application of Reiki particularly useful when I work on children and those with hypersensitivity. Furthermore, since being attuned to Reiki, my own energy is less depleted after a full day of giving treatments. It is a very useful tool for a body worker.

 

When I moved on to my next level of Reiki, three months after my initial training and received the Reiki symbols (Harmony, Power, Distance) I loved the way it enabled me to fine tune and increase the Reiki energy according to what was specifically needed. On reflection I do not feel the 'gap' between training was necessary for me (many schools consider three months to the minimum gap for the integration of Reiki energy) and personally believe it would have been more constructive to have taken Reiki Two at the same time so that the symbols were integrated within my Reiki practice right from the start.

 

At times, my Reiki recipients and I have been taken aback by 'seeing' the results the Reiki healing has achieved almost instantly, such as the reduction of a badly swollen leg post hip operation returning to almost it’s normal size, scar tissue almost disappearing and knots vanishing that would have previously taken 15 minutes of pummelling. I have also discovered that Reiki is great at helping clients, family, friends and myself with hangovers, headaches, post-operation recovery, period-pain, bruising, stress, anxiety, sports injuries, knee pain to name just a few!

In essence, Reiki is a great support system and if you use it -  it WILL enhance your life.

 

After using Reiki solidly for almost three years on over 4,000 occasions, I felt it was the right time to train for my Third Level Reiki Master Teacher, so I did. Six months after the course, in early Summer 2014, I launched The Wellbeing Workshop Reiki Training. To be able to teach others to give and receive Usui Reiki has been such a fantastic experience, I have met so many wonderful people and it has surpassed my expectations - it's hard work, but so much fun and I love it. 

I believe, the more of us who can channel this amazing, natural, instant, versatile, effective, intelligent, infinite healing energy that works on all, for the highest good of all, the better the world will be. And is my mission to pass on this gift to as many people as I possibly can in the best way that I can.For information on how to become attuned to Reiki, please click here.