By Coach Kat, March 19, 2020, copyright Bronwyn Katdaré 2020
We are living in a tumultuous and uncertain time. Natural and man-made disasters, plagues, climate crisis, and more. We are told to stay calm, rational, and safe. With proliferation of violence, dishonesty, apathy, hatred, and fear, this can be difficult to do. Fear and anxiety creep in when the body, mind, and spirit are idle or running madly and disjointed. There are many things to correct these but we are going to focus on one technique, Reiki, that has been around for thousands of years. Reiki is a holistic biofield energy therapy beneficial for reducing stress.
"Reiki is love. Love is wholeness. Wholeness is balance. Balance is well-being.
Well-being is freedom from disease."
~Mikao Usui
The current form of Reiki (pronounced “ray-key”) was first developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist, Mikao Usui, who reportedly taught 2,000 people during his lifetime this technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. The practice spread to the United States through Hawaii in the 1940s and then to Europe in the 1980s.
Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind, and spirit, creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security, and well-being. Reiki is based on the idea that an unseen universal life force energy ("chi" or "qi") flows around and through us and is what causes everything to be alive. If one's life force energy is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stressed, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.
Reiki, as well as all forms of energy healing, targets the energy fields around the body. Energy can stagnate in the body where there has been physical injury or emotional trauma. In time, these energy blocks cause illness. Reiki removes these blocks, thus allowing the energy to flow freely in a way that enables relaxation, reduces pain, heals faster, and decreases other symptoms of illness.
Traditionally, Reiki is administered by "laying on hands,” where the practitioner holds her hands lightly on or over your body in a sequence of up to 20 hand positions to transfer energy. Each hand position is held until the practitioner senses that the energy has stopped flowing.
These positions are enhanced by sacred Reiki symbols that are drawn by the practitioner’s hand over the client. The symbols originate from Japanese Kanji and are words from the Japanese language that improve the flow of life force energy. The symbols have no real power without Reiki attunement (or initiation). The symbols work to help a practitioner focus the healing energy and then higher consciousness responds by altering the way the life force energy flows.
It is because of these Reiki symbols that this type of energy healing can be done by the practitioner AT A DISTANCE, WITHOUT BEING IN THE SAME ROOM, STATE, OR COUNTRY as the client. I often perform Reiki at a distance for my clients, achieving the same results they would get if I were actually placing my hands upon them. With the uncertainty of the path and extent of the SARS-COV-2 and COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to be vigilant about our own health as well as the health of others. It is imperative to shift from sympathetic fight or flight dominance to parasympathetic dominance of rest, digest, and heal. The key here is to decrease stress, fear, and anxiety and Reiki is but one way of helping to do this.
Reiki can even be used for work with animals. The most respectful, compassionate, and gentle approach to healing can help even the most sensitive or traumatized animals. Benefits include: calming and reducing nervousness; reducing stress; relieving pain; supporting overall health and well-being; healing emotional trauma (abuse, loss, neglect, and transitions); promoting healing from illness, pain, and medical conditions; supporting a healthy immune system; easing end of life transition; soothing hypersensitive animals; reducing behavioral challenges and aggressive tendencies (in combination with training); increasing vitality and stamina; and assisting rescues and shelters to transition an animal into a new home.
OK, Cynics, this next section is for you!
Reiki has been medically studied with the following conditions and reported in medical and scientific journals: cancer, heart disease, anxiety, depression, burn out, chronic pain, infertility, neurodegenerative disorders, autism, Crohn’s disease, and fatigue syndrome. Additionally, Reiki has been found to provide symptom relief for individuals receiving hemodialysis, increased synchronization of the cerebral activity of the client and practitioner during a Reiki treatment, decrease in need for analgesics, improved symptoms related to chemotherapy, superior therapeutic value in cancer-related fatigue, post-operative pain relief, and sleep disturbances. The most common findings are those of stress release, pain reduction, and deep relaxation.
If you are considering having a Reiki treatment, do your due diligence and research the practitioner. Note that over 100 hospitals are offering Reiki among their services. A list of SOME hospitals in the United States that offer Reiki:
Marin General Hospital ~ CA Johns Hopkins ~ MD University of Maryland ~ MD Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center ~ NY Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center ~ NY St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center ~ NY Beth Israel Medical Center ~ NY
Cancer Treatment Centers of America Foote Hospital ~ MI Bayonne Hospital ~ NJ Manhattan Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat Hospital ~ NY Mercy Hospital ~ OH Windsor Hospital ~ VT Mercy Hospital ~ ME St. Luke’s Women’s Care ~ IA Tucson Medical Center ~ AZ California Pacific Medical Center ~ CA University of California Medical Center – Davis ~ CA Willcox Hospital ~ HI Hartford Hospital ~ CT University of Michigan Hospital ~ M Portsmouth Regional Hospital ~ NH University of Washington - CFS/FM Research Center ~ WA Cleveland Clinic ~ OH Temple University ~ PA Albert Einstein Medical Center ~ PA Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center ~ RI
Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center~ MA George Washington University Hospital ~ Washington, DC MD Anderson Medical Center ~ TX Stanford Medical Center ~ CA Scripps ~ CA Hospice of the Valley ~ AZ
Banner Health System Hospitals ~ AZ University of Colorado Medical School ~ CO University of Pennsylvania Medical School ~ PA Yale School of Nursing ~ CT
I have been a Reiki practitioner for over two decades, beginning when I started having treatments for anxiety, overwhelm, and “nervous breakdown.” It was such a tremendous help, that I became a practitioner. If you would like to schedule a distance-Reiki session to help lower your stress, fear, and anxiety while boosting the flow of energy through your body, I would be happy to help you. We will connect by email so we still have a way to communicate while keeping each of us safe. For information about Reiki sessions and scheduling, please visit Bronwyn Katdaré Health Coaching Servies page and scroll down to Reiki and Chakra Healing: https://www.coachkathealth.com/services-page
Mikau Usui set forth Five Reiki Precepts to teach us that true healing is about the way we walk through the difficult moments of our lives. Reiki practice can help us find peace and harmony in every moment. We need these more than ever! These teachings are:
Just for today,
Do not anger
Do not worry
Be humble
Be honest in your work
Be compassionate to yourself and others
(Bronwyn Katdaré is a certified plant-based holistic health coach, specializing in intuitive, lifestyle, and functional medicines. She is a Shamanic practitioner, an attuned Reiki II practitioner of the Usui and Karuna traditions, and a facilitator of other energy-healing modalities. Bronwyn is guest faculty with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and a graduate of the FSS Three Year Program of Advanced Initiations in Shamanism and Shamanic Healing. Bronwyn practices healing modalities with the dogs she trains at Katdaré K9 Coaching. She is also interested in quantum physics, astrophysics, transpersonal psychology, and ecopsychology.).