Chronic pain can sap a body of strength. A lot of able-bodied people think they know what the feeling of constant pain does to a person, but few actually know. Being in constant pain can make thinking difficult, which can lead to difficulties at work, in sleeping, in relationships… in every aspect of life. Oftentimes, people with chronic pain don’t want to take pain medication because it affects them in other ways – clouds their mind, damages their organs, and causes drowsiness or insomnia.
Reiki may be a way to deal with chronic pain. When laying on a soft table with gentle music and dim lighting, even the knowledge that you are about to receive some hands-on attention from another human being may be enough to alleviate some of the pain. The relaxing warmth of their hands as they pass over your body can be the best thing in the world.
If you are sensitive to the energies, you may feel the energy in parts of your body, where the Reiki practitioner will focus when doing their work. To the Reiki practitioner, the energy flow forms a stagnant bubble around the areas of chronic pain, which they can feel. Some feel it as a tingling in their hands, or see it as an area of coloured energy, or may even hear it as a discordance in sound. To the one receiving the treatment, it might feel like the warmth of a blanket, or the sun on a lovely day, or the sensation when holding a loved-one’s hand. Everyone feels it differently, but it’s all the same energy.
One of the techniques the Reiki practitioner can perform is called ‘clearing’, where they draw the energy away from a stagnant area and pull it from the body. The practitioner will make a gentle cupping motion with both hands, as one would if drawing sand into a pile, then scoop, pulling the hands together while bringing both hands upwards, away from the patient. This will draw the energy together and pull it out of the body. The practitioner may then ‘throw’ the energy away, feeling it rejoin the endless ‘universal energy’ from which Reiki flows. They may do this several times, particularly in areas where the patient feels the most pain. After they feel the stagnant energy has been removed, they might work to smooth out the energy flow, moving along the chakras in the center of the body and making sure they are clear and working properly.
It is important to remember that there is no ‘bad’ energy in the body. Energy cannot be good or bad, it simply ‘is’. When it flows properly, it might be considered ‘good’, because it is doing what it should, but not moving doesn’t make it bad. It simply needs to be cleared. The Reiki practitioner will work to make sure that the energy flows properly. And when the energy flows properly, the patient will feel lighter, more energetic, and have less pain.
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