About
What I do
I help people who have pain issues as well as stress. Consider stress the same thing as worry or anxiety. I do this with the healing art of reiki.
The concept is based on the knowledge that all living things - humans, animals, and plants - have energy within them. This energy is called reiki (“ray’-kee”), which in Japanese means “life force.” The natural, unimpeded flow of reiki contributes to our state of well-being. When this flow is blocked by pain or stress, our well-being is inhibited. The goal of reiki is to break through pain and stress blocks and restore the flow of energy throughout our bodies.
How I do it
In a reiki treatment, I place my hands on a person’s body. If someone objects to me placing my hands on his or her body, I place them about an inch above it.
I treat people in a variety of ways and settings. In one way, a person whom I call a subject (rather than a patient or client) sits in a straight chair for 15 minutes. These chair treatments usually occur in situations where someone only has a short time to stay or I only have a short time to offer.
In another way, I treat a subject who is lying on a bed for 30 minutes to one hour. The bed could be a massage table, a hospital bed, or a treatment table in a doctor’s office. In this situation, the subject lies in the position or positions in which they typically sleep or can rest comfortably.
Why I do it - My journey through pain
In 2008, I suffered shingles in my face. Although the symptoms of shingles went away in a few weeks with treatment, I developed post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) within six months. About ten percent of all shingles victims develop PHN, and I am one of them. This is a chronic, painful nerve disorder that can last a short time, a long time, or for life.
When I realized I had PHN, my doctor prescribed a pain-killer. The pain-killer, which was a narcotic, lost its benefit after a year, and my doctor referred me to pain management. I went on three other pain-killers. These helped me marginally. By noon of every day, I pretty much shut down and had to stop all activity. At the same time, I developed sleep apnea and heart arrythmia and went into treatment for both. I had a lot on my plate.
When I developed PHN, my yoga instructor suggested that I seek a reiki master to help me manage the pain. I engaged a reiki master for weekly one-hour treatments for several years. They helped quite a lot to reduce my pain. It also helped me to deal with the stress that resulted from the notion that I might have PHN for the rest of my life. About one year into reiki, I decided to pursue the training necessary to give reiki to other people who had pain and stress.
Two years into what I call my “journey through pain,” I decided on two goals: Get off of all pain-killers and recover full function of my body and life. My problem was that I had no idea how I was going to this.
By sheer good fortune, I met someone else in Cleveland who had also had PHN in his face. He had acquired an electric nerve stimulator implanted in his face. The stimulator had eliminated his pain and stress.
I wanted this, but in order to get it, I had to stop treatment for sleep apnea because I was using a face mask. Fortunately, after a year and a half of treatment, I over my sleep apnea and was ready for surgery. I had the surgery and pain and stress ended.
By that time, I had completed training and was certified as a reiki master. I was ready to help people!
My basic approach
Reiki energy does the work of healing. I serve as a conduit for healing energy. When I place my hands on (or above) a subject’s body, the energy in my body makes the energy in my subject’s body move and break through any pain and stress barriers he or she has. My subject’s energy moves back into my own body. The process is circular and reciprocal. Both of us benefit from the treatment.
The concepts of preparing for and giving reiki treatments are both simple and sacred. I do not share them all here because we reiki masters undergo extensive training and certification before we can practice.
Venues where I give reiki
Since I began practicing reiki in 2011, I have only treated hospital patients, both inpatients and outpatients, at a local hospital. We have team of six reiki masters who do this work. We do it at the direction of our team leader, who fields requests from different departments at the hospital.
I help people who have pain issues as well as stress. Consider stress the same thing as worry or anxiety. I do this with the healing art of reiki.
The concept is based on the knowledge that all living things - humans, animals, and plants - have energy within them. This energy is called reiki (“ray’-kee”), which in Japanese means “life force.” The natural, unimpeded flow of reiki contributes to our state of well-being. When this flow is blocked by pain or stress, our well-being is inhibited. The goal of reiki is to break through pain and stress blocks and restore the flow of energy throughout our bodies.
How I do it
In a reiki treatment, I place my hands on a person’s body. If someone objects to me placing my hands on his or her body, I place them about an inch above it.
I treat people in a variety of ways and settings. In one way, a person whom I call a subject (rather than a patient or client) sits in a straight chair for 15 minutes. These chair treatments usually occur in situations where someone only has a short time to stay or I only have a short time to offer.
In another way, I treat a subject who is lying on a bed for 30 minutes to one hour. The bed could be a massage table, a hospital bed, or a treatment table in a doctor’s office. In this situation, the subject lies in the position or positions in which they typically sleep or can rest comfortably.
Why I do it - My journey through pain
In 2008, I suffered shingles in my face. Although the symptoms of shingles went away in a few weeks with treatment, I developed post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) within six months. About ten percent of all shingles victims develop PHN, and I am one of them. This is a chronic, painful nerve disorder that can last a short time, a long time, or for life.
When I realized I had PHN, my doctor prescribed a pain-killer. The pain-killer, which was a narcotic, lost its benefit after a year, and my doctor referred me to pain management. I went on three other pain-killers. These helped me marginally. By noon of every day, I pretty much shut down and had to stop all activity. At the same time, I developed sleep apnea and heart arrythmia and went into treatment for both. I had a lot on my plate.
When I developed PHN, my yoga instructor suggested that I seek a reiki master to help me manage the pain. I engaged a reiki master for weekly one-hour treatments for several years. They helped quite a lot to reduce my pain. It also helped me to deal with the stress that resulted from the notion that I might have PHN for the rest of my life. About one year into reiki, I decided to pursue the training necessary to give reiki to other people who had pain and stress.
Two years into what I call my “journey through pain,” I decided on two goals: Get off of all pain-killers and recover full function of my body and life. My problem was that I had no idea how I was going to this.
By sheer good fortune, I met someone else in Cleveland who had also had PHN in his face. He had acquired an electric nerve stimulator implanted in his face. The stimulator had eliminated his pain and stress.
I wanted this, but in order to get it, I had to stop treatment for sleep apnea because I was using a face mask. Fortunately, after a year and a half of treatment, I over my sleep apnea and was ready for surgery. I had the surgery and pain and stress ended.
By that time, I had completed training and was certified as a reiki master. I was ready to help people!
My basic approach
Reiki energy does the work of healing. I serve as a conduit for healing energy. When I place my hands on (or above) a subject’s body, the energy in my body makes the energy in my subject’s body move and break through any pain and stress barriers he or she has. My subject’s energy moves back into my own body. The process is circular and reciprocal. Both of us benefit from the treatment.
The concepts of preparing for and giving reiki treatments are both simple and sacred. I do not share them all here because we reiki masters undergo extensive training and certification before we can practice.
Venues where I give reiki
Since I began practicing reiki in 2011, I have only treated hospital patients, both inpatients and outpatients, at a local hospital. We have team of six reiki masters who do this work. We do it at the direction of our team leader, who fields requests from different departments at the hospital.
