Hospitals and healthcare are undergoing major changes. They are experiencing a need to reduce costs and at the same time improve patient care. Under the old medical model based on expensive medication and technology this posed an unsolvable dilemma. Not so with Reiki and other complementary modalities.
Reiki requires no technology at all and many of its practitioners volunteer their services for in hospitals and care facilities. Reiki is therefore a very good way to improve care while cutting costs. At hospitals and clinics across the globe, Reiki has gained acceptance as a meaningful and cost-effective way to improve patient care, this is also becoming a reality in the South African context
Reiki is an energy healing modality. Reiki is the ancient art of “laying on of hands” in order to heal. It is the use of touch to convey warmth, serenity, love, caring and healing, through the channelling of energy to enhance a person’s own life force. When experiencing pain or hurt, people tend to put their hands on the injured part of the body as the first part of trying to subdue the pain, and heal it. Mothers tend to caress or want to kiss their children’s wounds or scrapes as part of the process of comforting and healing. The same with sick people, relatives tend to hold their hands or touch the sick person in order to convey and transmit a feeling of comfort and care
Reiki was brought from Japan to the West in 1937 by Mrs Hawayo Takata. She continued to practice and teach Reiki until her passing in 1980. Mrs Hawayo Takata was extremely devoted to Reiki. If it wasn’t for her Reiki would only have practiced by small number of people in Japan and never moved out of Japan but due to her efforts Reiki has been passed on to millions of people all over the world especially in the West, and the numbers continue to grow
How Reiki Works: The hands are placed in various different Reiki positions, and gently rested on the body or lightly above there with no pressure. The Ki (Life energy force) that creates the healing, flows through the person’s chakras, down into the middle of the palms and through to the tips of the fingers. For the energy to be activated, both hands must be on the receiver’s body, or held just above it in the aura. One must also have the intent to heal. The Ki or energy does whatever else is needed as the energy has intelligence beyond our understanding and will go to where it is needed. The energy is not given from the receiver but from source. The outcome of each treatment is determined by the needs of the individual who is receiving the treatment. Below are some common occurrences, which appear in most treatments.
- Creativity and Awareness is increased
- Energy is balanced and increased
- Emotions are released more easily
- Healing (being whole), works on causal levels of dis-ease
- The feeling of being ‘whole’
- Blocked energy is released and energy levels are better
- Natural healing is accelerated
- Assists the body in cleansing toxins
- Relieves stress and pain and Relaxes muscle spasms
- Stimulates the immune system
The major effects of Reiki and other energy healing modalities is relaxation, pain reduction, accelerated healing, and alleviation of psychosomatic symptoms. Studies have shown that energy healing has a beneficial effect on the blood, as it has the ability to raise haemoglobin values. It also affects brain waves to induce a relaxed state. Reiki benefits. the most sensitive body system the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which, for example, controls urination. Next in order of sensitivity are the lymphatic and circulatory systems, and then finally the musculoskeletal system.
The female endocrine system is more sensitive to Reiki than the corresponding male system. Thus, Reiki helps with dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, problems with conception, and the course of pregnancy and childbirth. Nurses use Reiki in operating rooms and labour wards to calm patients and to help speed the healing process. Many nurses use Reiki in the nursery, the conditions of many premature babies who have received Reiki have reportedly improved rapidly. It has been used to calm colicky infants, assist women in childbirth, and increase milk let-down in breast-feeding mothers.
Reiki is also effectively used in the relief of acute pain, nausea, diarrhoea , tension and migraine headaches, fever , and joint and tissue swelling and has been used to treat thyroid imbalances, ulcers, psychosomatic illnesses, premenstrual syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and coma, multiple sclerosis, measles, infections, asthma , and bone and muscle injuries
Reiki is performed in many different locations, including healing centres, delivery rooms, hospitals, hospice settings, accident scenes, homes, and schools every day. Hospitals are incorporating it into their roster of patient services, often with their own Reiki-trained physicians, nurses and support staff. Reiki was in use in hospital operating rooms as early as the mid-90’s. Since then its acceptance in medicine has grown. It is now listed in a nursing “scope and standards of practice” publication as an accepted form of care and a 2008 USA Today article reported that in 2007 over 800 of U.S. hospitals offered Reiki as a regular part of patient services.
When Choosing a Reiki Practitioner or Teacher in Southern Africa: Make sure the practitioner or teacher belongs to an accredited Reiki association and/or teaches an accredited course. The Reiki Association of Southern Africa can be contacted
to confirm practitioner and teacher listings www.reikiassociation.co.za
It is important to receive healing or teaching from qualified and accredited practitioners and teachers in person. Initiate contact by telephone. Ensure the practitioner can readily answer any of your questions. If a Reiki practitioner cannot explain Reiki to you in a candid and understandable manner, they clearly do not understand it themselves. Many online sites offer distant Reiki healing treatments or Reiki training/Attunements. This can be misleading and detrimental to you and your wellbeing as you have no idea of what you are getting. Do you want to allow someone you have never met, who may, or may not be adequately trained in Reiki, to access to your energy field; or worse to teach you Reiki?
