I’ve been infusing my Mama Love flower essence products with Reiki from the very beginning. I received my Reiki Master / Teacher certification about 18 or 19 years ago, not long before I took trainings with the Flower Essence Society, so I was very steeped in these two modalities at the same time. In my Reiki classes we learned about experiments people had done with houseplants. Plants watered with regular tap water were grown side by side with plants watered with Reiki-infused tap water and the results were significant enough to encourage people to try the same thing for other purposes. Were these scientifically substantiated studies—you know, replicated double blind studies? Probably not! Can that even be done? I have my doubts. But we were encouraged to try our own experiments and I did plenty of that!
Eventually, I was putting Reiki in all sorts of things: teddy bears that people could hold and feel comforted by, my morning cup of tea, and any time I made something for health and emotional well-being. By the time I was ready to sell flower essences, it was a natural thing for me to do.
What is Reiki?
Reiki is a Japanese healing art where the practitioner channels healing life force energy to a person, animal or plant for healing benefit. It looks a lot like the “laying on of hands” that is done in some evangelical Christian churches but you do not need to be part of any particular religion. It’s also incredibly easy to learn. My teacher used to joke that her teacher called it “Gumby does healing” because, once they are attuned to the energy by a Reiki Master, practitioners learn to place their hands on different places on the body in a set order for set periods of time while visualizing certain sacred symbols. You don’t need to think about what you are doing at all. In fact, the idea is to NOT try to think about or control it, but to get out of the way and allow the healing energy to flow. My teacher wanted us to learn more than that so she did a brief introduction to human anatomy and the chakra system—context is VERY helpful when learning to do anything—but the basic practice is very simple nonetheless. Lay on hands, intend Reiki to flow by using the sacred symbols, and allow it to go where it needs to go and do what the person needs without your limited beliefs or misconceptions getting in the way.
Very simple but deceptively so. Learning to let go, let God, so to speak, is a path of learning in itself. The human desire to control things can be pretty hard-baked! But when you do learn to do this, Reiki will teach you things that you wouldn’t expect. For example, I’ll put my hand on a hurting shoulder and sometimes feel the energy flow to my midsection (third chakra). That’s the energy center, ironically, very much about willpower and the desire to control things and make things happen! And then when my blockages release there, I’ll notice the energy moving in my lower chakras and through my body, gradually shifting to my shoulders. This can take more than one Reiki session as Reiki is a gentle modality that allows a person to heal at whatever pace is best for them at a given time. But fascinating, isn’t it, that a third chakra imbalance can result in tight bunched up shoulders? I think of it as the need to over-control leading to the feeling of having the world on your shoulders. Let go and let God, and maybe you wouldn’t need to carry that burden!
Does Reiki Have Any Adverse Effects?
The typical answer is no—it doesn’t do any harm! However, it can take a bit to get used to Reiki energy, especially if you’re brand new to it or work with it excessively long. I loved it and had no issues with it at all. I loved the feeling of energy flowing, my hands getting hot and tingly, all of it! (And some people don’t feel any of that.) But we were warned in the beginning classes that we might feel tired or have a slight headache, maybe feel a little seasick, until our body/mind adjusted to these new sensations. The advice was to relax, take a nap, and let the healing cleanse our systems. I don’t remember anyone reporting these effects in the classes I took. Perhaps the desire to take a nap after class but that’s about it.
There is also the rare experience of Reiki temporarily intensifying symptoms until a blockage fully releases. My teacher taught us some alternative methods to release energy that seem to work VERY well for that particular problem—essentially turning our hands out instead of in with the intention that the stuck energy release and then turning our hands back in to fill that released space with Reiki. That’s not Reiki 101, but it’s far more comfortable to release energy that way than to try to push it through.
Interestingly, the occasional discomfort that people can experience with Reiki is exactly the same as the rare discomfort people sometimes report with flower essences! I was taught in my flower essence practitioner trainings that this is because of people’s resistance to feeling the feelings that have been trapped inside for so long. But I have started to wonder if it’s the same thing that we call energy blockage in the energy healing world. The standard advice with flower essences is to allow yourself to cry and release the feelings unless the discomfort is just too much. In that case, the best approach is to take a break from using the flower essences you were using and try again at less frequent intervals to allow for a gentler less intense speed of release.