Reiki’s Power to Heal
A small sign that led to lasting change
The Health and Wellness Center in my town was something of a mystery. There was nothing descriptive in their sign, no graphics of stethoscopes or names of doctors to give me a clue about what was happening inside that building. Until one day, I noticed a small piece of paper attached to their parking sign. It read, “Now Offering Reiki.” I’m not the type to shrug off unfamiliar vocabulary, so I looked up the word when I got home. Google rewarded my curiosity with one hundred million results. Eventually, I learned that Reiki is a form of Japanese energy healing.
It’s not possible to know why that sign caught my eye. It could be because I was looking for an answer to why I felt so drained for many months. What I was feeling wasn’t depression or melancholy. Those conditions have textbook symptoms. It was a feeling of emptiness, knowing that something should be there but wasn’t. I laughed at the thought that it might have disappeared from a slow leak or some type of spirit snatcher that takes something important away that can be felt but not named.
Ridding my diet of carbs and going for long walks along the Hudson River offered no help. Such modifications worked before when I didn’t feel quite myself. I started watching cheerful movies instead of the kind I preferred, sad movies with dark and tragic endings. That didn’t work either. Now, I had something new to try. Diving into the Google results, I noticed that even the prestigious Cleveland Clinic had something positive to say about Reiki, offering multiple bullet points detailing its benefits to overall health. I decided to suspend my usual skepticism and give it a try.
I called the Health and Wellness Center to make an appointment and learned that crystals might or might not be placed on me, hands might touch me, and prayers might or might not be spoken. I still had yet to learn which of the millions of descriptions of Reiki was accurate, but none of the various methods seemed even close to life-threatening. So off I went to the Health and Wellness Center.
The room was scented with essential oils and filled with crystals and meditation music. I was instructed to lay on the massage table and told that the Reiki master would lay crystals on the chakras she felt needed unblocking along with a light touch of her hands. I guess all my chakras were blocked because, by the time the session was over, crystals had been balancing on my body from head to foot.
Within minutes, the scented oils, the music, and whatever potent powers the Reiki master possessed were inspiring some transformation. I saw myself floating under the surface of rippling blue water. Usually, I’m terrified of floating. It is a loss of control I’d never allow. But here I was, bobbing underwater — undisturbed by my lack of power — while I watched colorful fish swim past me. Sea turtles playfully lifted my arms. Sunbeams shone through the water, warming every part of me. I lay there, allowing nature to take me wherever it wanted me to go.
I sensed the Reiki master holding her hands over my head and placing them on my sides. These were background movements to the actual show in front of my eyes. An hour of floating in nature without ever leaving my town enlightened me to the fact that I never had to feel drained or empty again. Within me were different energetic worlds to explore, and they all felt like home.
Finding a masterful practitioner for my first Reiki visit was great good fortune. She had a soulful energy. Unfortunately, the Center never reopened after Covid, leaving me to search for another person to help remind me of life within. I visited several Reiki practitioners and had some interesting experiences along the way. One ended the session by telling me I was very attuned but that most of her clients “don’t get it.” I wasn’t into the critical energy and so did not return. Another provided an unsolicited tour of several other rooms with dubious healing claims before asking me to pay upfront before my session. I learned that just like in any profession, Reiki had its true masters and those who were not. Finally, I found someone with whom I found that same energetic connection I had the first time. I didn’t always float with sea turtles, but did find myself sailing into unknown and peaceful spaces.
The positive effects of Reiki can only be partially proven by science. However, the fact that hospitals nationwide employ Reiki masters says something about its efficacy. For me, the proof is that one day, when I felt empty, I saw a sign that said, “Now Offering Reiki,” and I went on a journey to discover that the noise and chaos of life did not need to empty the peaceful and full world inside of me.
