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Reiki
Pronounced "Ray Kee"

Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.  It is a gentle healing technique that can be used on yourself or with others.  Holistically, it helps to balance, heal and harmonize all aspects of a person - mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.  It can also be used to encourage personal and spiritual awareness and growth.  It uses light touch or hands above the body fully clothed.

 

The term Reiki is broken down into two Japanese kanji symbols.  The first, Rei,is translated as something divine or sacred.  Ki is chi, or life-force energy.  Therefore, the word Reiki is often translated as “universal life-force energy.”  

Reiki Kanji.png

Reiki is a high frequency energy (that one is attuned to during Reiki training) that “stimulates and accelerates the body’s own natural healing ability, so that pain relief and physical healing can take place quickly and easily – sometimes at quite extraordinary speed.”

- Penelope Quest 

 

In general, Reiki goes where it is needed.  You receive as much or as little as you need.  It always works for your highest good.  It cannot be harmful in any way.

My experience with Reiki

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Usually people don’t go seeking out Reiki; rather, Reiki finds them when they are ready.  That was certainly the case with me.  After I moved to the Midwest, I was experiencing crippling sciatic pain.  Reiki was the first holistic healing method that God brought into my world when I asked Him to teach me how to heal myself.  After experiencing a Reiki session, and feeling the astounding holistic effects, I read several books on the topic.  My favorite author is Penelope Quest.  She has written several books about Reiki.  I love them all!  I highly recommend them.  

 

I took a Reiki Level 1 class in Kansas in December 2016, and in the spring of 2017, I started sharing the wonderful Reiki experience with friends and family.  One Reiki Master Practitioner friend told me I had a “gift” when it came to Reiki.  Another Reiki practitioner even mentioned that in the couple of months I had been doing Reiki, my gifts and abilities had already exceeded hers, and she had been doing Reiki for seven years and was Reiki Level 2.  

 

I took my Reiki Level 2 class in Kansas with the same Reiki Master.  I sought diligently to find a Reiki Master Teacher who was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and who would be able to tie in my Reiki training with my spiritual and religious background and understanding.  I traveled to Utah in October of 2018 to receive my Reiki Master Training in Usui Holy Fire II Reiki.  I am currently a Reiki Master Practitioner, soon to be Reiki Master Teacher.  Stay tuned!

Each practitioner has their own gifts, abilities, skills, propensities and focus.

 

A Reiki session from me may be similar to others you’ve had from other practitioners.  Then again, I’ve been told by several people that they have “never had a Reiki session like that before.”  I happen to have some very unique gifts that I’ve never seen or read about before, which automatically makes my sessions a little different … in a good way.

What a Reiki session is like 

 

Honestly, every Reiki session is different, depending on an individual’s current needs, but a typical Reiki session for me usually entails the following:

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  • Preparing myself and the space ahead of time

  • Asking permission

  • Prayer or moment of silence

  • Check / spin / balance chakras to get the main chakras and energy channel nice and open.  I often use a pendulum when I check chakras, so I can see how each chakra is spinning.  That is also a good initial indicator of where we might need to spend some time during the session.

  • Hand scan to see where the energy changes, is buzzing, or is lacking.  This takes place with one hand about 4-6 inches above the body in the energy field.  If someone is sensitive to energies, they can often sense exactly where my hand is, even with their eyes closed.  

  • Muscle test to see where we need to start first.

  • Hand placements: There are about a dozen typical hand placements that Reiki practitioners usually follow, starting at the head and working your way down the body.  However, through muscle testing, I can determine where I need to start, what techniques I need to employ, and how long to work on a certain area.  I may need to spend a lot of time at one particular area of concern and not spend any time at other locations.  I work until muscle testing indicates that we’re done.  

  • Three passes

  • Ground

What People are Saying about Reiki  

If you want to know what Reiki feels like, this about sums it  up! 

Reiki Before and After.png

“I feel fantastic both physically and emotionally.  I feel as if some kind of renewal in health and mental thinking and reasoning has occurred.  I still am amazed with how high I can reach my arm.  You do have a very special gift, Heather.  I hope in time you will share that gift with many people.”

 

- Marla J.

UT

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“I feel lighter!” 

 

- LOADS OF PEOPLE

All over

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“I feel unusually grounded, peaceful, whole … It’s just wonderful!  That right leg pain is gone… Thank you for stepping up to the plate and following your callings.” 

 

- Maureen D.

AZ

”

Exceptions to the Rule

 

In my study of Reiki, I read over and over again how Reiki always works for the greatest and highest good of the one receiving it, and it cannot be harmful in any way.  And then … I read about three exceptions.  What?  I thought it wasn’t harmful?  True.  It isn’t.   BUT, there are three instances when you should not apply Reiki to a specific area.  

 

1)  Don’t apply Reiki directly to the site of a broken bone until it is set.  The story has been told of a child who broke their arm and their parents took them directly to the doctor.  Reiki was applied to the site of the break in the vehicle on the way to the doctor.  By the time x-rays were taken, the doctor scolded the parents for not bringing in the child as soon as they broke the bone.  They stammered that they did bring them in directly after the incident  The doctor refuted this by saying that the x-rays showed that the break occurred two weeks ago.  Hmmm.  In essence, the application of Reiki accelerated the healing by two weeks in the amount of time it took to drive to the doctor’s office.  So, it is advisable to apply Reiki anywhere else on the body (to help with pain, inflammation, shock, etc.), just don’t apply Reiki to the site of the break until it has been set.  Then Reiki it all you want!

 

2)  Don’t apply Reiki directly to the site of a severed finger or toe if you are planning on trying to have it reattached.  The reason is pretty similar to that stated above.  Let the digit get reattached first, then apply Reiki liberally to help with the healing process.

 

3)  Don’t apply Reiki directly to the site of a burn.  Reiki can generate a fair bit of heat, and you don’t want to apply heat directly to a burn.  So Reiki elsewhere on the body, and intend for the energy to flow to the burn to help it heal.  I have actually had personal  experience with this one.  I applied Reiki to my wrist/hand, to help a burn on my index finger.  It healed completely within about 1.5 hours, as opposed to 2-3 days.

 

Note:  I have also come up with a fourth scenario when Reiki should not be applied.  

4)  Don’t generate or apply Reiki while donating blood.  I can personally attest that Reiki has the ability to stop a hemorrhage … even one that is happily intentional, like donating blood.

Silence can be therapeutic, but so can communication

 

I may be inspired at any time to talk about something in particular, or to ask questions, or to use specific gem stones or essential oils.  I have been known to have an individual contribute their own healing intention by having them place their hands a certain way, or to think/say an affirmation or something similar.  I believe that holistic healing on multiple levels can be facilitated by incorporating those types of things when prompted to do so.  I love to talk about what I am sensing and feeling during a session, and love when clients do the same, but that is certainly not required.  If one simply wants to relax and contemplate silently, that’s great. 

Relaxing

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Oftentimes people get so relaxed that they fall asleep right there on the Reiki table.  No problem.  Sleep is a very therapeutic time.  I let them sleep, and I just keep working.  I promise I will wake you up gently when I’m done working.  Funny story in that regard - I remember doing a distance session once, and the person fell asleep on the other end of the phone.  I could hear that her breathing had changed and she was no longer responding to my voice.  At the end of the session, she was still sleeping.  I tried to gently wake her up with my voice, but she was OUT.  I didn’t want to just hang up on her and have her wake up wondering what was going on, so I stayed on the line, and carried my phone with me around the house as I took care of household needs.  When I heard her stir on her end, I just gently talked to her to make sure she was oriented and okay.  I told her what all had been done during the session, and after we had talked a while, I felt comfortable hanging up the phone.  

On one occasion, a mother was beside herself with grief after receiving word of the unexpected death of her son.  When I caught wind of the fact that she had hardly slept in the two weeks since she found out, I reached out through a mutual friend of ours, offering to give her a Reiki session in hopes that it would relax her to the point of being able to get some sleep.  When I visited with her prior to the Reiki session, I could see that she was exhausted, not sleeping, not eating, dehydrated, couldn’t think straight, couldn’t process, and just plain needed a time out, a break from thinking and making decisions.  She fell asleep within a few minutes.  She slept very deeply for the first little bit, then woke up and had a good cry.  Then she fell into a gentle sleep for most of the rest of the session.  When she sat up after the session, she was amazed at how good she felt, like she had energy.  She quipped, “Someone who has only slept an hour in two weeks shouldn’t feel this good.”   I am grateful that the session was so therapeutic for her and that I was able to offer some much needed relief in the midst of her tragedy.

Want to learn more about Reiki?

 

  • Read Reiki for Life  and/or Self-Healing with Reiki by Penelope Quest.

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  • Read The Healing Power of Reiki:  A Modern Master’s Approach to Emotional, Spiritual and Physical Wellness by Raven Keyes.  

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  • Schedule a Reiki session with Reiki Master Practitioner, Heather M. Hofmann.

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  • Take a Reiki class from a Reiki Master Practitioner.  I have several recommendations for wonderful Reiki Masters until I am ready to start teaching my own Reiki classes.  

References:

 

  • Keyes, Raven.  The Healing Power of Reiki: A Modern Master’s Approach to Emotional, Spiritual and Physical Wellness.  Woodbury, Minnesota.  Llywellyn Publications. 2012.

 

  • Quest, Penelope. Reiki for Life. New York, New York: TarcherPerigree. 2016.

 

  • Quest, Penelope. Self-Healing with Reiki. New York, New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin. 2003.

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