In my post, Introduction to Energy Work, I described a unique and meaningful experience with Reiki. It took a long time before I decided to learn more about it. I still had fears about being “weird” and thought that only a few very special people had the ability to work with energy, and that I would have known about an ability years ago if I indeed had one.
Still, I indulged my interest. Mostly, I dabbled in “feeling” energy. I bought a couple of books that contained exercises to help you learn how to feel and use energy. Some of that worked. For example, I learned to do an exercise where you picture a blue or other color ball of energy in your head, and move it in and out of your head. Maybe it’s my good imagination, but after some practice, I would actually feel the movement. It was an odd sensation, but unmistakably there. Through Barbara Brennan’s book, Hands of Light, I learned to see the light-colored energy field that surrounds our bodies. With soft focus against a light background, you can see some illumination around your hands. It’s pretty cool to see. I enjoyed these experiments but thought that was all that I would do.
Then one day, I had an appointment with a healer and spiritual guide someone had recommended to me. I had no idea I was walking into an appointment that would change my life. Upon entering the room, one of the first things the healer said to me was, “Oh, you are one of those people.” I asked her what she meant, and she said I definitely tapped into the spiritual world. The rest of the appointment was incredible. She did some energy healing work using rocks and some flower essences, and then went into a sort of trance during which spiritual guides spoke to and with me. Some of the information was very personal and nobody could know it but me. They indicated that I would be working in some way with healing and energy. Energy work was also occurring through these spiritual guides. It was a relaxing and emotional experience for me.
After the session, I was really excited but also harboring some doubts about the experience. Was everything made up? Was it a waste of time and money? Did anything really happen for my body? Why and how on earth would I be doing any healing work for anyone? But I started to caste these thoughts aside as I realized that I felt better than I had in ages, physically and emotionally. I also noticed that for about a week after the appointment, I set off a handful of alarms when I walked by vehicles. The first time I heard it, I ignored it as typical background noise. But after it happened a few times, I started to tie it back to my appointment (and I was correct in thinking it was related. In subsequent conversations with this healer, she said she wasn’t surprised, since she said she’d felt a huge shift in my energy and that she had experienced similar things in the past).
That first appointment with this healer, whom I have continued to see for years (and have also studied under), gave me a boost in confidence to eventually take some Reiki classes. I had mentioned my interest to my massage therapist, and as fate would have it, she had learned Reiki from a wonderful Reiki Master named Frank and gave me his contact information. I contacted Frank and was pleased to learn that an introductory Reiki 1 weekend was coming up shortly. I signed up. And that experience will be the topic of another post.