Valerie Oula - A Little Bit of Reiki: An Introduction to Energy Medicine

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who dont believe in magic will never find it.

Roald Dahl

The Reiki system is a healing modality that opens you to the world of vibrational energy, the world of practical magic, the magic of possibilities. Reiki widens the human lens to receive more light, to see with more clarity, to take in a wider perspective.

Back in the day, I was one of those people who would roll my eyes at the mention of drum circles and shamans. My lips would curl into a slight sneer at the mere mention of angels and spirit guides. Yet, on the flip side, I followed astrology and definitely had at least one childhood encounter with a ghost, as well as spot-on readings from two psychics that tested the boundaries of my understanding. Being a born and bred New Yorker means that Im a natural-born skeptic. However, Im also open enough to give something a try at least once or twice. And once Ive had an experience for myself and know it to be true, I want to shout it from the rooftops.

Whether you are well versed in alternative healing modalities or are just beginning to get curious about there being more than what meets the eye, whether you are a skeptic or a believer in things of a seemingly magical nature, or if you are a full-on spiritual seeker, there is one thing that is true and science based that we can all agree on:

Everything is energy.

And it is upon this foundation that we buildits a mutual agreement and common ground on which we can all expand our shared knowledge.

The term reiki has probably been floating around your consciousness for some time, or you may have heard of it but never actually experienced it. Or, perhaps you got a massage and they did a little bit of Reiki but you never quite understood what it was. In whatever way reiki has floated into your consciousness, you are finally ready now to learn a bit more about it. And here you are. There are no coincidences, everthat is what reiki teaches. We are living in a vibrational, holistic, connected world.

Reiki was my spiritual gateway drug. Once I experienced Reiki, I fell down the rabbit hole of energy medicine and spirituality. I had no spiritual or meditation practice when I first encountered Reiki. Working in beauty and fashion in New York City in my twenties, I was all about partying and going out, looking good and going to the in places; I was only concerned with outward appearances while my inner landscape was fraught with anxiety and just a plain old mess. As I got older, my partying ways began to dissipate, but my inner landscape still had not been properly tended to.

It wasnt until I received a brochure in the mail from a local spa listing Reiki as one of its services that I decided I had heard about it enough times that I should finally go experience it for myself. When I arrived for the session, the practitioner didnt prepare me, and since this was before the age of Google, I had no idea what was going to happen. So as I was lying there, I peeked my eyes open for a quick second to find her holding a pendulum over me. Even though my eyes were closed, I managed to roll them hard. I could not believe that I had ended up in this place with some New Age whack job dangling a chain with a piece of crystal attached over my head and calling it a spa treatment.

Though my body was tense, I tried to relax and eventually the chatter and judgment in my head subsided and I drifted into a space of relaxed awareness. By the end of the session, I had seen swirling colors and felt like I was flying through space, seeing the galaxy and soaring through it. After the session, the practitioner told me that she sensed a giant gaping black hole in my solar plexus, which I guess sounded pretty bad, so she then tried to make things better by also telling me she saw blue butterflies around another part of my body. At this point, she might as well have told me about angels because thats the kind of hard, cynical city kid I wasbutterflies and angels were the stuff of sappy greeting cards and I had no tolerance for any of it.

She wasnt the right practitioner for me at the time, but I definitely got what I needed, whether I knew it or not. It was easy for me to dismiss the relaxation I had experienced during the session, since I was really tired, and I explained away the soaring through space part by chalking it up to fertile imagination. My first Reiki experience was relaxing, and thats about itor so I thought at the time. At the end of that year, during my first-ever meditation experience, which happened in a small Buddhist temple in New York City, I saw swirling blue colors and clearly heard that I needed to learn Reiki. Since Id never heard anything like that before, I took it seriously, and signed up for Reiki training the very next day.

With reiki, as with everything else in life, its never time until its actually time.

Just a note that we will refer to reiki here as the Japanese term for life-force energy, and when capitalized, to mean the Reiki system, the modality as taught by Master Usui. And now with this book in hand, it is time to explore the vibrational world that we are a part of. Lets just begin with a little exercise.

Take a moment here.

As you read these words, take a long deep breath in and slowly exhale out. Take a moment here to settle into your body, shoulders relaxed; feel your body relaxing into your seat, sinking into the support, and take a few more deep breaths in and out. As you continue reading, slow your breath down and begin to soften any places of tension in your body. Visualize sending your breath into those places of tension, breathing in and out. Follow the breath in and out. Gently notice the space between the in breath and the out breath. Gently notice the pause between the out breath and the in breath. Allow each breath in and each breath out to create space in your body and in your mind. Allow yourself to open to receive whatever it is you need in this moment.

When we take time to pause and simply tune in to our breath, we bring ourselves into the present moment.