Reiki Practice: Magic or Medicine? with Pamela Miles

You don’t need much experience with Reiki practice to know the results can seem magical. But does that make it magic?

The improvements that come with Reiki are medically documented–improved breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and heart rate variability. But does that make it medicine?

Reiki practice

If Reiki were magic, we’d need a single treatment and all would be well. It’s true one Reiki session can bring amazing improvement, but we’re smart enough to know it takes more than a single Reiki session to maintain our health and well-being.

To stay happy and healthy, we need Reiki treatment consistently, a daily “dose” if you will. But there are many things we need every day–food, sleep, hugs. Our daily need doesn’t make any of them–or Reiki–medicine.

Medicine addresses your body and perhaps your mind and emotions. Reiki practice does all that, and restores your spirit.

So if Reiki’s neither magic nor medicine, what is it? Reiki is a practice.

The daily Reiki practice difference

Yesterday I heard from a Reiki professional who had recently taken my Reiki & Medicine Intensive. She wrote, “I cannot tell you how great it has been to have taken that class with you.”

Of course that’s a comment I’m always happy to read. I was intrigued about the details and asked to know more because hearing what makes the difference for different people helps me improve as a teacher.

She replied, “Two simple words. Daily practice.”

I’m still beaming.

Practice is medicine

Your body responds with predictable physiologic changes when you practice Reiki.

Reiki practice accelerates the natural course of healing not magically, but by optimizing your body’s ability to heal. Reiki helps us get (our minds) out of the way so we can heal on every level, body, mind and spirit.

You know that soothing feeling, that sense of safety you often feel when practicing Reiki? That’s not measurable the way physiologic changes in breathing, heart rate and blood pressure are, but it is significant.

Feeling safe feels better. And feeling safe changes your biochemistry.

First you stop hurting yourself. (Today only, do not worry, do not anger.) Then you open to positive emotional states such as gratitude and compassion that have been shown to strengthen your health and bring out the best in you — your very best YOU, the one you so enjoy being.

Practice is an investment

Yes, self Reiki practice requires training, and that involves an initial cost. (I hope you took the time to make a good choice.) You likely earned that money back the first time you didn’t have to pay someone else for care because your Reiki self practice was more than enough to get you back on your feet–or prevent you from being sidelined by illness.

PLEASE NOTE: First degree training is all most people need. You don’t have to keep investing in training if your goal is to practice on yourself, family, friends and your animals. (Of course people who want to become Reiki professionals need more training, but first they need at least a year of daily self practice to strengthen their well-being and begin to understand the depth of what happens during Reiki practice so they can support and guide clients realistically and practically.)

But you can only accrue the profound, continuing dividends of your initial investment in training with a daily, continuing investment of time.

Maximizing the return on your investment

Your investment in self Reiki practice yields both quick dividends–you start feeling better within minutes–and long range improvement in your happiness and health.

How has your Reiki practice helped you? I bet you can think of three things right off the top of your head, things such as improved sleep, digestion, focus, sense of purpose and social satisfaction.

Have you ever wondered how exactly that happens? While we don’t know why the touch of a Reiki-trained hand elicits such a profound self-healing response, we know quite a bit about what happens and why it matters.

When you practice, you’re setting aside time to reverse the ravages of stress. Yes, your stress. Ignoring the amount of stress you live with doesn’t mean it hurts you less.

You also give your body access to the full array of self-healing systems that shut down under prolonged stress. Your body comes back to itself as you practice every day, and you benefit from the gentle yet deep cleansing and healing that the body needs every day.

That’s something worth investing 30 minutes a day. Especially when you can be in bed half asleep as you practice.

So why not give it a try? If you were never taught self Reiki practice, click here for a helpful article.

And if you fall in love with your daily self practice, grab your free I Practice Self Reiki Everyday digital badge, in English or more than 30 other languages! Add it to your Facebook page, your email, your website–anywhere you want to start a conversation about the difference Reiki practice has made in your life!

Reiki & Medicine (and me!) on the road again

I leave today for Europe until 3 July. Please join me at the Reiki conference in Madrid 23-24 June. Or email me to meet for coffee in Paris, Prague or Budapest.

Blessed Boundaries Retreat at Omega Institute August 26-31

I am thrilled to offer the first ever in-person spiritual retreat after offering the online program for several years. Our time will be sweet and transformative. The retreat is open to everyone, whether or not you practice Reiki. Click here to learn more.

Reiki & Medicine Intensives

The Reiki & Medicine Intensives give you what you need to present a compelling and logical case for Reiki practice to anyone, including doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals (and any other reasonable skeptic). You will leave full of enthusiasm and knowledge about how current medical science supports the value of Reiki practice, and how to communicate that.