Mindful Reiki Sessions: Healing With Awareness

As a Reiki practitioner, I always practice mindfulness during a session with a client. What that means is, I am as present. I use my breath and the touch of my hands on the body as my anchor. When thoughts arise that have nothing to do with the healing interaction going on, I notice them, and come back to Reiki. I probably do that a hundred times in a session. Why is this so important? Well, let me first tell you that it's not something we as Reiki students are taught to do (usually). The idea is that once someone has been attuned to Reiki, and once the hands go on the body, Reiki is there no matter what. Now, that may or may not be true. I have no scientific way to prove it. I do know that intuitively, it would seem that if I were thinking about work, sinking into bad feelings, caught up in fantasy, going through my to do list etc, as I give Reiki, the quality of that Reiki session would be compromised. When I make an intention to be with the client as much as I possibly can, the healing potential that Reiki has is magnified. Why? Common sense would say that it's because I'm working to constantly remove any blockage between myself and the client. Think of thoughts overtaking the mind as a clogged drain and water as Reiki. Some water can pass through a clogged drain, but not much. Mindfulness is like drano. It acknowledges the clog, and by noticing it and taking steps to let it go, the drain becomes free-flowing again. Reiki works the same way.

Now, imagine if the client was practicing mindfulness as well. How much greater might the healing experience be?

Beginning this month I am offering Mindful Reiki Sessions. These sessions are meant to guide the client through a mindfulness meditation (focusing on the breath and the body) while giving Reiki. What we find when we pay attention in this way is that there can be pockets of emotions stored in the body that need awareness to be released. If someone were to come in feeling very anxious, for example, it is possible that in a guided mindfulness session they would be able to discern where in the body it's stored on their own. The addition of Reiki assists in letting go of that energy, along with awareness. There is often such a disconnect between mind and body, that by paying attention to the body during the healing process, you're building a bridge of awareness and communication. If you can imagine and are willing to attempt befriending that which is causing you emotional or physical pain, this is probably for you. 

Christine Eaton, RMP

Would you like to take Reiki to the next level? These sessions are available Saturday mornings at the Cummings Center in Beverly, MA. I offer a sliding scale for both 30 and 60min sessions.

If you're a Reiki practitioner who is interested in a 4-wk Mindful Reiki course to be held in Beverly, MA, please contact me.

You can contact me at christine@themindfulgallery.com or 508-934-6040 for more information or to book the table. 

Much Love. 

The Body Scan: What do helium balloons have to do with it?

When learning about mindfulness, one of the first things you come across is the body scan, not to be confused with muscle relaxation. While relaxation is inevitable with the body scan, its primary point is to bring awareness to body, body part by body part. Some scans are three minutes, others are 40 minutes or longer depending on how part-icular you get  (see what I did there:). Here is a link to a twenty minute scan that I really like because it also includes gratitude.

Kernal of Wisdom Mindfulness Meditation

I'm guessing that most of us, though I can really only speak for myself and others I've sat with during meditation, spend a lot of time during the day out of our body. No, not in an astral out of body experience kind of way, but rather running around in our mind either in the past or present. If you imagine that your head is like a helium balloon that goes higher and higher throughout the day, you can either choose to bring it back down to the ground and anchor it, or it will just lose helium and sink to the earth looking very sad as it whimpers down a side street or gets caught in a tree. Have you ever just felt as though you were so emotionally and/or mentally stressed that your body also felt like a sad, whimpering balloon with no air left? If you want to be the balloon that stays anchored to the party table with a flashy little anchor weight to stay grounded, then give this body scan a whirl. Do it once and you'll think "ok, that was nice", do it twice and think "wow I never noticed how tight my hamstrings are, I better stretch!", do it three times and you start to recognize that you don't swear as much in the car anymore, do it at least four times a week and you'll change your body, your mind, and your life to some degree. Insight is key, and every mindfulness practice gives you more than your thoughts alone can.