If you suffer from chronic pain or experience stress-related illness, you are definitely not alone. Millions of people suffer from chronic ailments that hinder their mobility or render them unable to perform basic day-to-day activities. While conventional anti-inflammatory medication does help many patients, people may also experience unwanted side-effects from their medicine.
An increasing number of people are looking beyond traditional medicine to provide relief from pain. Reiki, an Eastern remedy, is showing promising results in treating muscle tension, insomnia, and chronic pain. Meaning “universal life energy in Japanese”, reiki is a method of healing and stress reduction that dates back thousands of years.
Western and Eastern medicine have very contrasting views on how pain is caused. While many western medical practices think of disease as having a symptom and a cure, the eastern perspective on illness is quite different. Eastern medicine focuses on the concept of chakras, the seven main energy points in the body that are located from the top of the head to below the abdomen. When a person experiences physical or emotional pain, their chakras are believed to be blocked, meaning the flow of energy in their body has been obstructed.
In order to restore harmony to the body, reiki practitioners will put his/her hands on the client’s body at certain chakral points. Patients report experiencing a warm or tingling sensation in the treated area, as well as a feeling of deep relaxation. Reiki workers sometimes use a non-touching technique, where they place their hands a few centimeters away from the body. The hands are usually kept still for a few minutes before moving on to the next position.
If you are considering reiki, or any other form of alternative treatment, make sure to consult your doctor first! Although no studies have been shown to prove that reiki diminishes pain, enthused patients say that they experience increased vitality and a general sense of well-being. So, if you’re interested in alternative health treatments, reiki might be worth investigating!
