I went to do a Reiki course yesterday...

REIKI
alternative medical treatment: a treatment in alternative medicine in which healing energy is channeled from the practitioner to the patient to enhance energy and reduce stress, pain, and fatigue.
[Late 20th century. From Japanese, universal life force energy.]

This is pretty exciting for me, 'cause I've been wanting to do Reiki for years, but never really had the opportunity make itself known to me. Finally I did the course yesterday, and now I have a certificate that allows me to do it.

Every time I've tried to heal someone in the past, I've only had marginal success (eg. twice out of who knows how many attempts), and was never quite sure if I actually succeeded or if they were just humouring me to make me feel better.

Now, however, there's a big difference, noticeable straight away. My hands last night got very, very hot. This was evidence for me that something was different now (because that's the sign of a Reiki user) and it was evidence for my friend as well, because my hands immediately got hot when I started working on her.

Reiki works by being a channel for energy to flow into the chakras of the body that you're working on, thus facilitating a return to balance for those chakras, which ends up in balance being restored to the body - which usually means that healing is a result.

It often works on a deeper level than just healing an ailment or disease though, as they are just symptoms of an underlying emotional problem.

Our bodies are the expression of our minds, and if we suppress emotions, then they will eventually find expression through our body, resulting in an injury, illness or ailment. So Reiki works by healing often at an emotional level, giving energy to the body and allowing it to use that energy for what it feels is best for it.

Example: you come in with a sore back, and after a Reiki session you might get angry and express it, and afterwards the back starts getting better, because all that anger is no longer stored in the back and muscles.

Apparently, when all the chakras are in balance, physical healing can be quite fast and miraculous. It's when the chakras are out of balance that they're the ones that are healed first, because they are the centre of your existence.

CHAKRAS
center of spiritual power in body: in yoga, any one of the centers of spiritual power in the body. Each chakra is associated with a different god in Hinduism.
[Late 18th century. From Sanskrit cakra , literally wheel.]

So by working on the chakras, you're working on everything, all at the same time.

And the fact that my hands get so amazingly hot tells me that it's different now, that I'm actually working with energy rather than just hoping to.

Woohoo!