Everyday Reiki

By Pam | May 13, 2008

As I’ve said many times before, Reiki is amazing. I’ve used it for serious conditions: cancer, serious wounds, emotional trauma, pre- and post-surgical healing. But the beauty of Reiki is that it works in all kinds of situations, even relatively minor ones. It’s such a kick to have a first aide kit of sorts right on the ends of your arms, to be able to lay your hands on someone, including yourself, and bring relief.

Last week, in a moment completely devoid of coordination and common sense, I managed to slam the passenger door of my RAV-4 into my head. I was in a hurry. I was trying to talk to my dog in the back seat and quickly retrieve my bag from the front seat, and somehow missed the fact that I needed to back away from the car before closing the door.

The door hit me just above my right eyebrow, so hard that I saw stars. I was on my way to a meeting, and when I walked into the house, the host, after hearing of my mishap, asked if I wanted some ice. I almost said yes, then realized I didn’t need it. “ No thanks,” I said. “I have Reiki.” I did take a few doses of homeopathic Arnica (which I always carry with me) so that the area wouldn’t bruise, but I counted on the Reiki for the pain and swelling.

By the time I’d gotten myself a cup of tea and found my seat, a knot had already begun to form above my eyebrow. I removed my glasses, which thankfully hadn’t been damaged, and held my hand vertically over the right side of my face, covering much of my forehead, my eye, my cheek. Almost immediately, the pain—a slow, low throb—stopped. Within a few minutes, no more than two or three, the swelling was completely gone. The spot never turned blue, or any other color. Today, four days later, if I push on the spot, it’s a bit tender, but otherwise it’s as though the incident never happened.

How else can you use Reiki in everyday life? It’s terrific for stress-induced insomnia. With Reiki, you can lull yourself to sleep in five to ten minutes. And it’s great for indigestion. Forget about the antacids. A few minutes of Reiki will calm your unhappy stomach. It works for headaches, too.

Of course, you can help your critters with Reiki. You can use Reiki to calm a nervous horse before riding or before loading or before a show. You can reassure a sad horse whose pasture mate is gone for the day, or longer. You can soothe the aches and pains of your dogs and cats as well.

Some years ago, when I was boarding my beloved Thoroughbred, Nikos, I came to the barn the day after he’d had a tetanus shot and noticed a baseball-sized swelling at the injection site. Sue, the barn owner, was in the barn, and I showed the swelling to her. My mantra has always been, “When in doubt, Reiki,” and so I did. I put both hands over the swollen area and continued my conversation with Sue. After a few minutes, it felt as though my hands were lying flatter against Nikos’s body. I removed my hands to see how the swelling was. It was gone. I couldn’t believe my own eyes, so I asked Sue to take a look. Her eyes got very big.

When I was able to live with Nikos a few years later, I would often give him Reiki with his late-night meal. An elder, he needed three meals a day to keep the weight on. He lived outside in a small herd but happily came into the barn alone (the others ate twice a day). He would stand in the stall, munching his food, while I gave him Reiki. He would sometimes adjust his position so that my hands were in the right place. When the Reiki stopped flowing, he would thank me with a nuzzle or a loving glance and then slowly rejoin his herd. This special bonding time is one of my most precious memories of my life with Nikos.

You can share Reiki with your human family as well. But your critters may try to steal it. A woman who recently took my level one Reiki class called to report that she had been practicing Reiki on her husband (who had a headache) and was quickly surrounded by all three cats and one of the two dogs, who then all tried to jump into her husband’s lap. They know a good thing when they see it.

But the best Reiki theft story I think I’ve ever heard comes from a student in that same class. I called to check on her a week after the class and she said everything was fine, but she had a question. She’s a trimmer. The Monday after she was attuned to Reiki (a procedure that gets the Reiki flowing through you and out the palms of your hands), she had eleven horses to trim and lots of driving to do. It was a busy day. As always, she greeted each horse before beginning to work with her or him. But this day, the response from the horses was like nothing she had ever experienced. Each one of them was fascinated by the palms of her hands. They sniffed them. They gently bit at them. She said that several of the horses put their heads under her hands and flung them, trying to position them on their heads. She was busy and didn’t have time to give Reiki to all of these horses, and so she didn’t. But each of the horses, she said, was clearly irritated with her decision. “Is that possible?” she asked. “Were they mad at me?”

I’d have to say yes. If it were up to the animals, we’d all know Reiki.

Until next month . . .

Be well,

Pam

*This column originally appeared in From the Horse’s Mouth in May 2008.