I�m planning to get level 2 reiki attunement around the middle of next month. My reiki teacher requested that before I could get the second attunement that I must reiki at least 5 people and then journal about the experiences. I�m up to four now, and I should have number five by tomorrow. I�m going to a reiki sharing event. Since I�m journaling it, anyway, I figured I would put it here, too.

Michelle
Before Michelle, I hadn�t given reiki to a stranger, yet. She was an extremely gentle person, but seemed to have a lot of pain and anxiety just under the surface. She complained of tightness in her jaw and TMJ. I sympathized with this greatly because I suffer from the same affliction. She also talked a bit about having survived cancer. She requested that I focus my attention on her jaw, lower abdomen and her left knee, which she said had been bothering her that week. It seemed to take some time for my hands to warm up. This happens when I�m nervous.

I started at her jaw with relatively cold hands, then moved to her abdomen and then her knees. This was all within the first 5 minutes or so. While I was on her knees, she started to cry very softly. She apologized and pulled herself together. I went back to her jaw, abdomen and knees. Again, when I reached her knees, she started to cry. This time more intensely. She apologized. I told her that it was normal to get emotional during reiki treatments and that seemed to give her a lot of relief. After the treatment, she hugged me and thanked me profusely for the treatment. She said that she felt very little in her jaw, but was surprised that she felt something in her abdomen because there was a lot of scar tissue there, and that area is mostly numb. She later said that her aching knee also felt better.

I was so happy to have been able to do something for her; although, I was disappointed that I couldn�t do more for her jaw. I suppose that�s something that takes more time. It usually takes me about 15 minutes of focused reiki to get my jaw to loosen up.

My reiki teacher seemed impressed that I elicited an emotional response from Michelle after only a few minutes. I told her that I felt that the reason this happened was because Michelle is repressing a lot of feeling, just below the surface. Meaning, it wouldn�t take much to open the flood gates. Adam commented that it sounded like I was rationalizing her emotional response to discredit my own abilities. My teacher said she believed that it was more likely somewhere in between. Yes, I am rationalizing to discredit myself, but yes, she did have a lot of emotion just under the surface, as well.

Ivette
Ivette was curious about reiki after she overheard me mention it a few times while I was talking to Adam. I offered to give her a short treatment so she could see what it feels like. She enthusiastically agreed. She mentioned having a bone spur in the bottom of her left foot that was giving her pain, especially this week, since she had been doing a lot of walking. I started on the foot. She seemed to relax immediately. A naturally high energy person, I was surprised when she suddenly quieted down and pulled her energy in. She mentioned feeling heat right in the exact spot of the bone spur. I moved to the other foot. She talked of it feeling warm and soothing, but nothing else. I went back to the original foot and she talked about how she felt energy so intensely that it was creeping up her foot to her toes.

She seemed to enjoy the reiki quite a bit. She talked a lot about it being very soothing. I felt very satisfied and even had the feeling that the spur would feel better after the treatment, but I haven�t had a chance to catch up with her and ask about the foot.

Christine�s mom
Gosh, it�s so weird when someone sees you as being knowledgeable because you have a little bit of reiki attunement. She was very enthusiastic and mentioned having wanted a reiki treatment for a long time. She said she had pain in the back of her right hip. I gave her a full treatment, starting from the top and moving down. By the time I reached her chest, she was breathing deeply, as though she were asleep. As a matter of fact, from this point on, I thought she was asleep.

My hands got really, really hot around her hips, knees and ankles. I tried to spend a little more time in those areas. I spent about 15 minutes on her right hip alone and my hands felt very hot. At one point, she jumped, as if startled, and then said, �I don�t know where I was. I drifted off.�

Was she asleep or just daydreaming? I don�t know.

Because she seemed so relaxed and sleepy, I decided not to ask her to turn over to do her back.

After the treatment, she talked about it being an intensely relaxing and wonderful experience. She said that I had very warm hands. I think not realizing that energy most often comes across as heat. Although, I don�t really feel heat when I receive reiki, I sense it more as a substance, almost like water, seeping down through my skin and creating pressure in my body.

I mentioned the heat around her hips, knees and ankles and she nodded, saying she spends a lot of time on her feet. She asked me about why her breath changed. It went from her chest, down into her belly (I guess when I assumed she was asleep). I told her that it was most likely because she became more relaxed.

When she stood up, she said she wasn�t sure she could walk because she was in such a deep state of relaxation. She thanked me profusely and told me several times that she thought it would be a really good thing for Christine, to help her relax more. As she was leaving, she said to Christine, �Boy, you are in for a treat.�

Christine
Christine was the first skeptic that I ever reiki�d but she was open-minded and ready to receive it. My hands were already very hot from having reiki�d her mom just before her. I was surprised that she didn�t mention having felt anything on her face. I gave her a full treatment, going from the top down. Before starting, she�d mentioned some sciatica, which was evidencing itself mostly in her left toe. It had been hurting, but she kept hiking through the pain and now it was mostly numb. She�s a tough girl. She goes on long hikes and extended treks. I believe that she became an excellent hiker through determination; using running, long hikes and treadmills to stay in shape. Long hikes, meaning, 15+ miles in one day, usually while carrying a heavy pack.

However, I got the feeling that determination to hike through anything left a lot of dead spots in her body. Maybe some in the form of pinched nerves, but I think more likely from having ignored so many pains for so long, she blocked them out, psychologically.

She also seemed to have fallen asleep. She started breathing deeper and even started snoring a little bit. I felt a lot of heat around her hips and knees, as well. I wanted to stay longer there, but by this time, I was well into my second hour of reiki and I was getting very tired.

I also had her flip over and spent a lot of time on her middle and lower back. It seemed very warm there. I wanted to spend some time there to possibly treat the sciatica a little bit.

At the end, she talked about it being very relaxing, and said she �definitely felt something� around her hips and knees. This made me wish I had spent more time there. She talked about how helpful it was to just do nothing for awhile, saying the experience was almost meditative.

Even though she was not �converted� she seemed very happy with the treatment and also thanked me many times. She�s a natural skeptic, but also very accommodating. She�s also very stubborn (hence the determination to hike forever), so I wasn�t surprised that she wasn�t going to suddenly become a reiki believer.

I�m still not sure that I am a reiki believer, myself. It�s more that I know this practice makes me feel better and I need as much as I can get to make me feel better.

Other Thoughts
A day after giving someone else a long reiki treatment, I am finding that I am very, very tired. I did two hours of reiki last night, and today, I was exhausted. I was even feeling dizzy in the afternoon. I was supposed to play ultimate frisbee this evening, but I decided to give myself the rest instead. Sometimes the body just needs the rest. When I asked my reiki teacher about it, she asked me if I burn the candle at both ends, and I laughed, �I burn the candle at THREE ends.� She said that my tiredness is the reiki trying to balance my body out.

A prior conversation relates to this, in a way. I told her about how I am often very cold, so cold, that even in this excessive heat warning weather, I still have a space heater going under my desk, at work. She asked me about my iron levels, and asked whether or not it was possible that I was low on iron. I told her that I eat a lot of spinach and take vitamins, so it shouldn�t be a problem. Adam piped up, reminding me that I had been rejected as a blood donor because of low iron count (but that was years ago). She then asked me if I was often very tired, and I told her that no, I�m usually a very high energy person.

This suggests that somehow, I do need a lot more rest than I get. This is not incredibly surprising, since yes, when I do feel tired, I don�t feel just superficially tired. I feel an intense exhaustion that seems to cut deep into my bones.

Also, there are times when I put forth a tremendous amount of energy, with very little rest, for long periods of time. It somehow seems wrong.

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