If there’s one good thing that’s come out of this ongoing pandemic, it’s that mental health and chronic pain have come out of the shadows and into the public discussion. While treatment remains fraught with inequity, lack of access, and highly addictive medications, we are witnessing the beginnings of a paradigm shift toward a more holistic approach. Here in Champaign-Urbana, you may have noticed an increase in the use of Reiki energy healing, along with acupuncture, counseling, meditation, and massage therapy. But unlike these other therapies, Reiki is particularly difficult to implement. Invisible to the naked eye, Reiki requires a little faith (lowercase “f” please) and a willingness to develop an understanding of the mind-body connection.
As someone who has lived on both sides of the Reiki table (client/practitioner), I have often described Reiki as a massage of the energy body, not the physical body, or the adjustment of blocked energy. People with a background in yoga and meditation, and therefore a good understanding of energy pathways, are often drawn to Reiki, both as practitioners and clients, and also as people who engage with other holistic non-Western modalities such as reflexology. They see Reiki as another tool in their toolbox, a tool they can even learn and practice on their own. However, when I found out that Reiki was offered at Pure Being as an adjunct to psychotherapy, I felt hopeful that Reiki was finally shedding its negative New Age stereotypes. This powerful healing method, also known as the “laying on of hands,” was finally being recognized for what it is.
To further explore the state of Reiki at CU, I reached out to three local practitioners, each with a different perspective and approach to the practice. We discussed how to describe Reiki, how it works, and its immediate and long-term benefits. I hope their stories will inspire you to consider experiencing Reiki energy healing for yourself.
Marita from Nature’s Wonder in Woodland, Illinois was my first Reiki teacher. She is a living example of Reiki’s ability to bring balance. As a teacher, she was approachable, honest, funny, and incredibly practical. This interview gave me the opportunity to reconnect with her. When asked how she would describe Reiki, she said, “It’s a mystical, intelligent energy, also known as life force energy, that exists in all living things. It’s hard for me to explain. I just know that it’s different for the receiver.” She added, “I encourage anyone who has never received Reiki to have a session and experience it for themselves. Different people feel differently and I think it’s best not to affect the receiver in any way. The most common description is that it’s calming and relaxing. Some people feel lighter after receiving it, some feel relaxed, some feel energized, some have an emotional release. It’s an individual healing depending on what’s happening to the receiver.” Hasbergen is a Reiki Master and after completing levels 1 and 2, she is now able to train other practitioners to become a Master.
Hasbergen says, “Reiki energy seems to have a intelligence of its own. It gets where it needs to be. It also works with the free will of the recipient; the recipient is always in control. Reiki energy is never against the recipient’s free will, so they can accept it or reject it. She has found that the biggest misconception is that a Reiki practitioner has to touch the recipient. Reiki energy can be ‘beamed’ across a room or across the globe. It works in the same way as chanting a prayer. You don’t usually touch the person you’re praying to, but they receive the energy.”
Hasbergen, who has trained several massage therapists as Reiki practitioners, firmly believes that “Reiki can be successfully combined with most other therapies.” Her advice to those who want to try Reiki is to “find a practitioner you empathize with and have a session. That’s the only way to really know what Reiki will do for you. Go in with an open mind and no preconceived notions of what will happen.” For those considering Reiki training, Hasbergen suggests, “Find a Reiki master/teacher you feel comfortable with. Have a session or two and see how it makes you feel. Use your intuition.” She feels that more than ever, “people are looking for more ways to help themselves and others.” She continues to offer Reiki treatments in person, with full mask-wearing and other COVID precautions in place.
Jessica Noren is a licensed massage therapist, certified yoga instructor, and Reiki Master. To her, these therapies are inherently compatible and more powerful when used together. Having learned Reiki from Noren and benefited from massage therapy, I can attest to her deep knowledge and experience of how life force energy works and how to treat it when it is blocked. My conversation with Noren began with a quote from Nikola Tesla: “My brain is just a receiver. There is a core in the universe from which we can draw knowledge, strength, and inspiration. I have not unlocked the secrets of this core, but I know it exists.” These words set the framework for our discussion. Noren further explains, “In all forms of energy medicine, it is this core that we are ultimately trying to form an awareness of, and the potential it has to optimize our health and overall well-being as energy bodies having a human experience. Reiki is defined as universal life force energy. This energy flows naturally and freely when we are in a state of health. It becomes blocked when we are suffering from mental, emotional, or physical trauma.”
Regarding treating these blocks, Nolen points out that “Western medicine lost its way when it began to separate these three aspects of the human experience from one another, to the point that we now have specialists for every part of the body, with little attention paid to our mental and emotional health or the actual roots of the health problems we experience. The opioid crisis and the expanding list of mental ‘disorders’ in the DSM-5 are symptoms of this separation.”
Nolen points out an important difference between Western and non-Western therapeutic approaches: the role of the patient. Non-Western therapeutic approaches “require tapping into what might be called a sixth sense or intuition, learning how to interpret this information, and cultivating relative discernment about what is perceived and how we think about what we are perceiving. It requires cultivating emotional literacy, remaining as emotionally equanimous as possible and becoming a relatively objective observer. It requires meditation, time, and a level of self-trust that is difficult to acquire and maintain in the face of doubt and skepticism, especially doubt and skepticism that come from a materialistic view of reality. When we venture into unknown territory, we must have at least a little faith to motivate us to keep trying, and to loosen our attachment to what we think we know.” Nolen lists formal counseling, group therapy, support groups, self-study and journaling, yoga, and meditation as practices that can “help us understand more deeply about our mental/emotional resistance.”
Furthering our non-Western understanding of our relationship to ourselves and the world, Nolen reminds us that energy blocks, along with the resulting stress and pain, have social consequences. Relying on what Marianne Williamson calls “our attitudinal muscles” helps us see that “we are intrinsically connected, perhaps not separate from each other and from everything.” Thus, she states: “Looking at the world in this way allows us to understand more deeply the need for balance in all things. In the physical body, problems arise when our regulatory systems are out of balance. Similarly, in the social body, problems arise when the regulatory systems that govern us are out of balance. We cannot separate the individuals in a single body from the rest of society.”
Informed and inspired by the work of Brene Brown, founder of Bodywords, The mystery of painand Marshall B. Rosenberg Nonviolent CommunicationNolen emphasizes the need to rethink how we relate to ourselves and others, something we will have to learn in post-COVID life.
Every problem or catastrophe requires us to react or respond. When we react, we make decisions and take action out of fear, based on our default programming and past experiences. When we respond, we take the time to practice regaining emotional composure and analyze the experience as objectively as possible, even if that practice is just closing our eyes and taking 10 deep breaths. We respond out of love and deep compassion. Life is not an emergency.
Changes like this take courage, and to acknowledge that, Nolen ends each session by saying, “I thank you not only for your trust, but most importantly, for your courage.”
Sarah Reinertson employs a combined treatment model. As a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC), Certified Grief Counseling Specialist (CGCS), and Level 2 Reiki practitioner, her practice combines the best of both worlds. When we met over Zoom, Reinertson explained that she often introduces Reiki after working with clients for a while. She waits until trust is established and sees if Reiki is right for her. Counseling often digs up long-standing trauma, which can be painful and difficult to work through. She can use Reiki to help her clients clear their trauma and deal with some of the pain that comes from it. Any Reiki practitioner can work with trauma, but the question is whether everyone should. As we talked, I came to believe that this work is best left in the hands of a licensed professional, especially for acute or newly emerging trauma.
When I asked Reinertson what advice she had for those who want to practice Reiki energy healing, she brought up her experience training to become an LCPC. As part of her training, counselors are required to undergo counseling. Not only do they experience the process firsthand, but more importantly, they identify and address their own mental health concerns (yes, we all have mental health concerns, even counselors). This awareness of one’s health is important for counselors and Reiki practitioners alike. Reinertson shared that there are times when she knows she can’t offer her best self to a client and considers postponing until she can. Doing so is in her best interest, not just for her, but for her clients too. Reinertson has found that practitioners, like their clients, are best served when they have access to a variety of therapies and trusted practitioners.
We left our conversation with the realization that, as yogis know, balance is something to be maintained, not achieved. This is true for our own energy balance and health of body and mind. Whether we are joining others on their health journeys or simply (or less simply) on our own, the first step is to recognize that healing of any kind is an ongoing, evolving process that is best approached actively rather than passively.
Connect with Marlita Hasbargen at Nature’s Wonders on Facebook or Jessica Nolen by email. [email protected]For more information about Sarah Reynertson, visit the Pure Being website.