Learning Reiki healing
Reiki healing, The art of healing the energetic body. Balancing chakra and meridians with life force energy. This was always something I have heard of, and even had a couple of little sessions here and there without fully understanding what it really was or what I was meant to be experiencing. I kind of understood it to be some mystical thing, that if you were lucky, found a practitioner who knew what they were talking about rather than to claim such thing? Rather pessimistic, I know! But in the West, we are conditioned to the belief “if we cant prove it with science then it doesn’t exist”. I’m glad to say those old ways of thinking have dissipated somewhat, however there is still a large chunk of resisters/non believers (usually the people that actually need it the most) out there.
As many of you know I’m a yoga teacher and have been teaching solidly for coming up to 3 years now. With this type of spiritual work, I develop peoples yoga practice and spiritual health through movement, breath and meditation. I come into very close contact with peoples energy bodies, sometimes leaving me slightly drained. Other times, I can take on peoples moods and leave a class feeling agitated or anxious slightly, it often confused me, as beforehand I was really happy and relaxed. It took me a while to work out that it wasn’t MY energy! But the energy I have picked up from perhaps stressed out clients. So my journey of self-protection and energy cleansing had already started, mainly through meditation/intention of clearing negative energies, using sage to clear my aura and working with crystals (Malachite being my favourite for protection)
Level 1 training
So, fasting forward to my Reiki Level 1 training I had no idea really what to expect? I just knew I wanted to get my teeth into something different and exciting, which would help my yoga teaching, help me become more in-tune with my energy and the energy of my students, educate myself more, and basically have a fun day. I certainly didn’t expect to walk out of there having experienced what I had.
We began by starting to familiarise ourselves with our own energy, then moving onto practicing a self-healing session where we spent 3-5 minutes on each of our chakras learning the hand movements and basically exploring our own energetic body and chakra system. We then proceeded to practice on each other, this is where it got really interesting as you can feel far more on other people than you can on yourself.
I followed what our Reiki Master had said and “tuned” into that persons energetic field. (at this point I didn’t have a clue what I was doing but reassured myself “I’ve got this”) Within seconds I had a huge stab in my heart! I knew that this wasn’t my pain, so it must be an indication to me as to what was needed for the person I was practicing on. I followed my intuition and went straight to her heart, hovering my hands above her Anahata chakra and instantly my hands were stuck their, like a magnetic or energetic pull which wouldn’t let me move. I stayed there as long as I felt I needed too and then happily proceeded ending my session at her feet. First the right foot, which felt fine and then the left… Suddenly I started to see visions of arguments and a lot of aggression between her and someone else, followed by a violent act. My first thoughts were “Hannah you cant make Judgements about people you don’t know, stop thinking things like this” but then my other voice was saying, “well what if it was a vision? What if its something too do with the reiki,” I chose to momentarily to stay quiet about my so called “vision” or pre-judgment. The session had ended and the lady was asked gave her feedback on her experience. “When you came to my heart I was over-come with so much emotion, it felt like the past 2 years of the relationship problems all came flooding out and I really wanted to cry” something clicked in my head! That was why I felt that instant pain in my heart at the beginning, it was HER pain, and why my hands were stuck above her pouring energy into her for what seemed like ages. “I must continue to go with my intuition” I said to myself, and plucked up the courage to tell her about my vision when I was at her left foot. The Reiki master explained that the left side of the body holds from our past, the woman agreed and said it sounds very accurate what I had saw and that the violence had pretty much been the last straw which ended the relationship. I was awestruck and so were the people around me. I still don’t think i really believed what had just happened and kind of thought more of a coincidence and that i wasn’t capable of having that kind of intuitive insight……
Then practice number 2 came along, another lady from our group, someone I had brought with me to the course who was also interested in learning Reiki and self healing. She had been suffering for many weeks with a cough which today seemed to agitate her more than usual. Before we had even started I knew this was an area I wanted to work on with her. Straight away I moved in on her Vishuddhu chakra (throat) this is an area which, when balanced invokes clear expression with words and emotions, I knew that this person sometimes struggled with speaking her truth and putting her needs first. Within seconds I found a boiling hot area above her throat which I was fascinated by, but every time I held my hand their she sat up and coughed violently. This happened 3 times, its like the reiki was irritating the blockage. I went back one last time because I wanted to solve this and suddenly I gasped, chocked and burst into tears. I had so much emotion just flood out of me from no where, I had absolutely no idea what was going on, Tears and snot running down my face, I didn’t know whether to stop what I was doing? Carry on? But by the time I had tried to think what to do the emotion had subsided and I managed to finish the session. ‘What on earth just happened? I questioned internally… surely not another spooky moment? Our friend sat up and clearly felt guilty and distressed by what had happened, she went onto explain that when she was laying down she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breath, almost like she was chocking. “I kept coughing to try and breath, to clear my throat” — she added, “ but it wouldn’t clear and I started to become really anxious and upset that I couldn’t breath, I really didn’t want to cry-I kept telling myself, don’t cry, don’t cry and then suddenly Hannah starts crying!” Wow I was amazed. I had not only picked up on her exact energy but was a conduit for it to leave her being and be released as she wasn’t going to let go of it easily, so I did it for her. We were all absolutely stunned. The Reiki master gushedI “Hannah you have some serious super powers woman”.. I left that day feeling elated, like I had finally found something I was naturally gifted at. Unlike yoga, where I have worked god damn hard at my self practice and study… this Reiki and intuitive awareness came out of no where, with no real effort and with 100% success. I felt like I had just discovered part of myself for the very first time, which is kind of strange at the ripe age of nearly 30, but also very encouraging. I knew from that day, that I would have a lifetime relationship with Reiki and wanted too go as far as I possibly could, to educate myself fully, and out of pure curiosity for this amazing power.
Level 2 training
Usually our Reiki Master recommends 3-4 months between levels 1 and 2 to build up your awareness and practice. She said saw something in me and agreed to do level 2 sooner. Within those 4 weeks between levels 1 and 2 I had practiced Reiki on myself around 18 times, and had more amazing, mind boggling experiences with my yoga clients and friends. I felt confident to learn more.
I was with a new girl who had done her level 1 a month prior to myself and we all practiced reiki on each other. I felt way more this time than ever before, (my level 1 attunement and self-healing detox had obviously shifted something) I was having experiences of a morphine like substance fill my whole body with absolute bliss to feeling my energy body lift away from my physical body. It was like someone had amped up the power.
I think the definite icing on the cake for me though was learning the sacred Reiki symbols, and one in particular, helps you tap into distant energy (from a different time period in your life to help you go back and deal with those emotions etc) or, energy of a person in a different town or country for distant healing. “How the hell would this ever be possible?” the old conditioning from the West was creeping back in, placing my minds limitations on this infinite power. We were asked prior to the training to bring in a picture of someone who agreed to be healed from a distance. My yoga student semi offered for a laugh when I told her what I had to do for my next step, since my mother declined I contacted her and took her up on her offer. Little to my knowledge, our Reiki Master had other ideas! And asked us swap photos. “Well, wtf am I meant to do now? At least with that other person I kind of have a semi chance of getting this right because we have a connection? How the hell am I meant to tap into someones energy from only a symbol drawn in the sky and a crumpled up picture?” I worried in my mind.
As soon as that piece of paper reached my finger tips i was riddled with absolute severe anxiety, I felt sick, i felt awful “could this be nerves?” i didn’t want to mess this up, and let my Reiki Master and myself down. “no, this feels worse this doesn’t feel like my energy” (i rarely suffer with anxiety, and if i get an anxious thought I’m fairly quick at diagnosing it and letting that shit go before in consumes me and my day) I took a breath and closed my eyes. I saw these really pale, skinny legs with very knobbly knees, I saw flashes of red, still having heart palpitations and shakes from anxiety, I was confused, part of me thinking how can this work? And the other part of me trying to feel and see deeply, grasping onto any little indications. I then ask “What does this girl need,” within a split second I see her sobbing and crying “all I need is love” “I want love” “love” it was clear as day and as loud as if she were in the room with me. I shared with Abby, the girl i was working with about my experience and she confirms that her friend in the picture has extremely, extremely bad anxiety, she has food intolerances to pretty much everything lactose, gluten etc (hence why I was feeling so sick) she was extremely thin and pale due too these intolerances and having a poor diet, with very knobbly knees! And finally craves love but find it so difficult to accept. I was again, amazed. Why did I doubt myself again? This was beyond amazing, truly unexplainable, but again, hit the nail on the head.
They always say that Yoga and Reiki find you at the right time, the time when you need it or ready for it. I’m so glad I practiced yoga for 4.5 years as a student before teaching it, so I could really embody the practice and see the physical and metal benefits for myself before sharing that gift of teaching with others (This is also the case for some of my favourite ever teachers). I’m also happy I’ve worked with energy without realising for a few years, and meditation before going into Reiki. Working on myself first, making sure I’m in a good place mentally and energetically before treating others otherwise, you too can infect them with your issues. Im so excited to share Reiki with my Yoga community and more.
Please click to find out more about receiving Reiki with myself