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It’s time to get freaky with Reiki, or rather, super relaxed and self-aware! Reiki is a unique Japanese technique used for stress relief and relaxation, and to promote healing. It uses “life force energy” to increase feelings of happiness, health and relaxation. So, if you’ve been wondering how to use reiki for anxiety, you’ve come to the right place.
What is Reiki?
To put it simply, Reiki is a natural, safe and simple method of spiritual healing and self-improvement. It’s available to absolutely everyone and has been known to be effective in helping and healing various ailments, from depression and anxiety to cancer, diabetes, chronic pain, etc. There’s no weird voodoo or magic potion. It’s just a simple process of using energies from the earth to heal from within.
However, what’s truly unique about Reiki is that it has a ton of benefits for your mind, body, emotion and spirit. It relaxes you, gives you feelings of security, wellbeing and peace, and helps promote healing and recover.
How to do Reiki?
To start healing with Reiki, you need to see a Reiki master or Reiki practitioner. During a typical session, you’ll lay face-down on a massage table. The Reiki master will put their hands over or directly on top of your body, in various positions, starting at the top of your head. This allows the energy to flow from their hands to your body, bringing you all the healing you need.
However, there are some Reiki masters that claim to be able to treat their patients from afar. This practice is known as “distance healing”.
How to practice Reiki at home?
If heading to an unfamiliar place doesn’t sound ideal to you, you can practice Reiki at home. In fact, learning how to use Reiki on yourself is actually quite easy and is an excellent way to add more self-care into your daily life.
You can take a Reiki class, or start some online programs or reading self-help Reiki books. Here are some of the best options I’ve stumbled across while on my quest for more Reiki and natural healing for anxiety:
A Complete Guide to Real Reiki Book
This book is, just as the name reads, a complete guide to real Reiki. It teaches you how to increase vitality, improve your health and feel great as a whole. It’s also entirely free if you purchase the Kindle edition.
From Beginning to Expert Book Bundle
This unique book bundle is the ultimate guide to Chakra and Reiki healing. You receive the book, “Reiki: Everything you Need to Know About Reiki Healing”, as well as the book, “Chakras for Beginners: Step-by-Step Practical Guide to Awaken your Internal Energy.” So, you learn everything from what Reiki is, how to implement it into your life, how it can help you find happiness in life, the secret, exercises, tips and tools.
Reiki Meditation: Strengthen Body and Spirit and Increase Energy with Reiki Healing and Meditation
This self-help book is actually the #1 Best Seller, so it’s definitely up there on my must-have list for Reiki healing. Meditation is incredibly beneficial for your mental health and anxiety, and adding Reiki into the mix will improve the benefits. You also learn tips and techniques to find your inner strength, spirit and peace, as well as techniques to rest your mind and body.
How does Reiki help anxiety?
Now, if you aren’t connected to your mind and body spiritually, you’re likely still wondering, “How does Reiki help anxiety?” It seems odd to use energy to heal – and you’re not the first skeptic.
There are various theories about how Reiki heals the body. One of the most popular ideologies is that Reiki is related to the electromagnetic-type energies found in the world. Your mind, body and spirit react to these every day, all day, without ever knowing it. Electro-magnetic energies are everything. Reiki, on the other hand (pardon the pun), allows you to channel energies on a similar level.
Another idea is that Reiki allows the mind, body and spirit to relax, which instantly comes with an abundance of benefits. While we can’t speak on how this can heal other diseases and illness, there’s no denying that lowering your stress response does improve anxiety.
While there is no exact mechanism that explains why Reiki heals the body, mind and spirit, there’s no denying that many people do come out of their session an entirely different person. Sometimes, the best things are unexplainable.
Studies on how Reiki helps anxiety
The Holistic Nursing Practice conducted a study in 2006 on women experiencing pain and anxiety post a hysterectomy, to discover how Reiki helps anxiety. The results are amazing. In fact, it showed that the group of women who underwent three 30-minute Reiki sessions reported less pain and decreased anxiety.
Another study conducted by the National Cancer Institute reported that cancer patients experienced a reduction in anxiety and depression, as well as improved sleep quality, relaxation and overall feelings of well-being after receiving Reiki.
Even Dr. Oz said that Reiki is was the number one integrative therapy to try.
The answer to your question, “How does Reiki help anxiety?” is that it channels the earth’s energy to heal your mind, body and spirit from within. At the very least, the worst that could happen is nothing. There is no harm that can be done when undergoing a Reiki practice. And with all the various reports of it working miracles for anxiety sufferers, you have nothing to lose.