Introduction Into Energy Work

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more interested in spirituality and healing than scary ghost stories. I am still interested in ghosts, but I am not one for scary movies or ghost hunting shows (though I am enjoying the campy series Truth Seekers and enjoy going on ghost walking tours when I travel). I first became acquainted with the concept of energy work/healing through Barbara Brennan’s book, Hands of Light. Barbara is a physicist and therapist who transitioned to a career as a medical intuitive. I’ve loved this book for years, including the interesting illustrations. But I never thought I would come close to experiencing anything she describes in the book.

Surprisingly, my first experience with energy work happened while I was in graduate school in my early 30s, working on my Master’s degree in clinical social work. In a summer class, we had a guest speaker who was a practicing social worker who also led drum circles and practiced something I had never heard of until then – Reiki. At the end of her lecture, she gave each student her business card and a generous gift, a free hour of either Reiki or drumming.

I had already experienced a few interesting moments during massage therapy. I had a massage therapist who added energy work to her sessions (I only realize this years later). I could feel things happening in my body when she wasn’t touching it (she was always surprised when I asked her what she was doing – she said people never noticed). On another occasion, she was working on my left wrist, which I had broken in a childhood gymnastics accident, and some lost memories of being in the operating room while they worked on getting my wrist popped back together and into a cast came flooding back. What did I have to lose by trying a free Reiki session?

It turns out that I was the only student who took the social worker up on her offer of a free session. I didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out to be life changing. She had me lie on a massage table, eyes closed and fully clothed, and explained that she would lay her hands over my heart. I was not prepared for what happened once she did that. A fierce yet simultaneously gentle heat poured out of her hands into my body. It’s hard to describe, other than I felt a lovely, peaceful warmth, burning hot at some moments, though not painful. And my level of mental alertness changed rapidly into something like a trance state. I was vaguely of my surroundings. It was like floating in bliss. I was surprised at feeling her running around the table, placing her hands on various parts of my body, and once felt her hands on both my heart and holding my feet.

Too soon, the hour was over. As I started to return to normal awareness, I asked her how she was in so many different places around the massage table at once. She gave me a curious look and said, “I never moved! I stood behind your head with my hands over your heart the entire time.” She told me that I had felt the beings of light who work with her when she practices Reiki. I was stunned and excited. I had always wanted to have an experience like that, and now I had! There are illustrations in the Healing Hands book that show what this experience might have looked like if I’d been able to see it.

To this day, I can still recall how it felt to have “hands” on me, running healing energy into my body. It’s a wonderful memory. I don’t believe any physical healing happened (although maybe something subtle happened that I am not aware of). But most important, the session introduced me to a whole new world, and a more positive direction to take my spiritual interests. It was years before I encountered Reiki again, but I was now fascinated by healing energy.