Several years ago a friend of mine invited me to join her on a visit to a Spiritual Healer. Already being on a Spiritual path and being very open to this sort of “stuff” I anxiously said YES! I honestly had no expectations. My only hope was to get some relief from terrible headaches I had suffered from since childhood. The healer was both amazing and inspirational. I vividly remember the moment I sat in front of him. I immediately began to feel a warmth and incredibly peaceful feeling wash over me. I saw intense purple colors in my minds eye and felt a tingling throughout my entire body.
When he finished he informed me that I was going to be a healer. I sincerely thanked him and then laughed. I told him that it just wasn’t possible. First of all I had no “healing” experience and secondly I had an issue with germs. So for me to heal someone that would mean they were sick and that just wasn’t going to happen.
In spite of my aversion to germs I was still very intrigued with the healer and my experience that day. I decided to continue to see him and began taking his classes. Before I even realized what was happening I was doing mini-healings (laying on of hands) for people in my own meditation classes. I found myself doing quick little healing at the end of class for relief of headaches, stress, minor colds, etc. It was about this time that I started hearing the word “Reiki” popping up everywhere. I decided to look into it but didn’t feel the need to really pursue it. Several months later my grandfather became ill. I began laying hands on him to give him some relief from what seemed to be mini seizures. It was at that time I decided to once again look into this Reiki thing I had been hearing so much about.
I am quite ashamed to admit it but the only reason I decided to take Reiki was to be certified. As you know we live in a world of certifications and degrees. I felt I needed that paper to make me a real healer. I had no idea how this experience would not only alter my life but also set me on a new path.
Everyone teaches Reiki differently so I highly suggest looking around and finding a program that fits your needs. The class I chose was broken down into 3 separate certifications (Reiki I, Reiki II and Reiki Masters). Reiki I was 4 weeks and each week we received what is called an attunement. An attunement adjusts your energy and helps to cleanse and clear your body on a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual level. Reiki II was 2 weeks and this is when we began working on others. Then it was on to several weeks of internship before taking the Reiki Master course. Let me say right here that there is a lot of different opinions within the healing community as to how healing should be taught. Some feel that it can be taught in a day or weekend, while others believe that it should take many years in between certifications. My view is that I am not God. I teach my classes over a series of months and I allow each individual to make their own decision as to when they are ready for the next level.
I will tell you what I tell every healing student I have ever taught; healing is the best gift you will ever give yourself. Healing is something we all have inside of us. It is not so much learning how to do it as it is remembering how to do it. In fact you already do it! You put your hands on your head when you have a headache, you rub your child’s stomach when it hurts, you hold and caress the hand of a loved one who is ill or dying.
Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Spiritual Healing, it goes by many different names but it is all based on the same philosophy, “Universal Energy”. It is an unlimited energy that we all have the ability to channel. The healer is not some magical, unique or special person. They simply act as the connection, the channel that the energy comes through to the client.
In my own practice I have seen many amazing things. I have seen people relieved of stress, depression, illnesses, ulcers, fears, addictive habits and the list goes on and on. But the most important thing I have seen is how people have changed their lives simply by giving themselves THE GIFT OF HEALING.