I've had all these things rolling around in my head for a while now - things I want to tell you about Reiki. On a hike with the pup this morning - where we saw a squirrel that sounded like a bird! - they gathered themselves into a single post. Let's hope it actually makes sense.
Yes. It's true. I don't understand how Reiki works.
When I started this blog, I wrote a post in which I explained Reiki. I gave the explanation I heard in class. You know how you can tell when someone is saying something that they don't really believe? Yeah. That's what I hear in my voice when I try to give that explanation.
Later, I wrote a post in which I explained Reiki again. I said that I felt the original explanation made Reiki seem confusing and inaccessible. (I still think this.) And I explained that what Reiki did for me was to help me feel safe and supported enough to start learning who I was and what I needed. (I still think this as well.)
But even in that post, I didn't come right out and say the thing I was thinking. I was afraid. I was afraid that people wouldn't want to work with a Reiki person who doesn't know how Reiki works and isn't sure she believes the reason she was taught.
But that is the truth of it. I don't know how Reiki works.
Sometimes I wish I knew how Reiki worked, but mostly I don't really care.
Maybe it works the way they say it does - that it's spiritually guided energy that comes through me and into the receiver.
Maybe it has something to do with large clusters of nerve endings or accupressure points and somehow they can be affected even without direct touch.
Maybe there are chakras or an aura and it has something to do with one or both of them.
Maybe energy really does follow thought.
Maybe there is something in Quantum Physics that explains it. I know I've read a few things that make me think, "Hey! That could totally explain how Reiki works!" (I immediately proceed to forget them which is why I am not mentioning any specifics.)
Maybe it works because the power of the mind comes into play and we cause something to happen because we are expecting something to happen.
Maybe it's one of them or all of them or none of them. I don't know.
Hows and whys aside, I believe there is something magical about creating space for things to happen.
There is something to be said for setting aside time where your focus is on you and your well-being.
There is also something to be said for knowing that - for that same period of time - someone else's focus is on you and your well-being.
Our bodies want to talk to us. They are trying to talk to us all the time.
I do believe that even the simple act of giving them a space where they know we are open to hearing from them can cause something to happen. (This is also why I am so fond of the idea of doing a series of Reiki sessions instead of a single session. It's lovely to set aside that time once. It's even more lovely and magical to set aside that time again and again.)
And yes, even if I don't know how Reiki works, I do believe that it does work.
This entire blog stemmed from me wanting to share my experiences with Reiki. Either they are direct experiences, or they are indirect experiences, in that the practice made me more mindful and aware.
In the end, I don't think you need to believe that something will work in order for it to be useful for you.
I didn't believe Reiki would work when I started and it has given me so much.
At the same time, I do think you need to be open to the idea that maybe something will happen. If you're thinking of trying something solely because you absolutely positively believe that it doesn't work and you want to prove that it doesn't, maybe it would be best to save your money and your time for something that you feel a bit more positively about.
Along with that, I don't think it really matters whether you believe that something works how people say it works in order for it to be useful for you.
The hows and whys of things are interesting, but they're not all there is. What is even more interesting is your experience with something and your feeling about whether it was useful for you.
For me, visualizations are another good example of this. I've done a few of them (like the time I tried to talk to one of my fears). I can't say that I've ever actually seen anything during a visualization, but when I have to describe what I'm "seeing" in the visualization, the words come out. I often wonder if I'm just making everything up, but the information that comes out is always useful and helpful so I decide (yet again) that it doesn't really matter whether I'm making it up or not. What matters is that I'm getting the information I need.
Just for fun, do you want to know how I really think Reiki works?
I like to think of it as a little flashlight that's going through me, shining a light into dark and dusty and dim spaces and saying, "Oh, sweetie .. you really are ok. And if you're interested, here's something you might want to look at."
Yes. Like that.