A few years ago, I’ve had the good fortune to experiment receiving Reiki energy remotely. This energy was channeled to me by a practitioner whom I had met in person in a casual context that day. She had explained to me about Reiki and how this is a peaceful but powerful energy and, I must admit, I was very skeptical about the whole thing… I had a spiritual side back then but had my limits when talking about transferring healing energy to someone, and especially remotely… Well… I was very surprised later that evening when I was laying in my bed, at about the time she had said she would start channeling, to start feeling a warm and soothing wave of energy moving slowly through my body from my feet up to my head during what seemed like at least half an hour… When I spoke with her the following day, I explained what I had felt and she confirmed this was exactly the path she had visualized when she did the remote session… Weird, I thought… And, as is often the case when we encounter something we do not understand, I retained this moment briefly in my mind as an oddity, and quickly forgot about it.

Pseudoscience? Placebo? Some say so. But still…

Many years later, while looking for new things I would like to learn, the possibility to learn about Reiki presented itself and piqued my interest vividly. And, as we usually do when we decide to walk upon a path that raises eyebrows, I did some research (before to dive in the two years it would take me to get to get my certificate)… I discovered that, not only does Reiki raise eyebrows, but it is openly called “Pseudoscience” and its benefits/effects are usually ranked in the “placebo” category. So, it is with a grain of salt that I started looking into it… And after a few weeks of getting acquainted with Reiki, I decided to just let go of all the naysaying and to embrace this beautiful discipline because, in short, all Reiki is is Love…

Reiki is about caring for someone’s well-being during a sustained amount of time whilst being attentive to subtle signs indicating where our attention should go during a session.

How many times did we hear about the importance of giving attention and time to our friends, our children, our loved ones… That there are therapeutic benefits to hugging someone for 20 seconds… That babies need love to develop properly…

With practice over time (both in person and remotely), I’ve had no choice but to admit that something is going on when I perform a Reiki session. Depending on the sensitivity of the person receiving the energy, the feedback ranges between the very enthusiast “wow, that was amazing” to the timid “I think I felt something” to the “I fell asleep like a rock immediately“. [And please, to the twisted minds out there… Absolutely no double-sided jokes intended!!! 😉 ]

So, in a nutshell, I practice Reiki because it allows me to offer some comfort and care to people who are open to getting benefits from a Reiki session. I truly believe that our world gets a little better every time we contribute to someone else’s well-being, even so humbly as by offering sustained attention and care towards someone for a relatively short period of time.