I came from a practical, medical background before moving into energy work.  For me that proved difficult.  I had very specific questions, which people often couldn’t answer.  I doubted energy work, the chakra system.  Who decided what the human energy field looked like?  How did it work – exactly?   ‘Energy’ was invisible, how could you work with it?   I also noticed teachers would often say things along the lines of, “You don’t need all those complicated techniques – or attunements – or meditations.  All you need to do is ….”  

They would then proceed to describe the fairly complicated model of meditation, or healing, that they taught.  There was a ‘mine is better than theirs’ view – even, I noticed, within the Reiki world!   People seemed to focus so much more on the DIFFERENCES, how much better This model was than That one, and so on.  I found this discomforting, for a spiritual view that was supposed to embrace everyone!

As I attended more workshops and courses over the years, and read widely, I began to notice something else, something better  – the SIMILARITIES between healings models.  I noticed where one crossed over with another, or when a technique was similar, definitely recognisable, and would simply have a different name.  I loved this.  It felt uplifting.  Noticing the similarities helped me begin to understand energy work, and the subtle anatomy of the Human Energy Field, much better. 

Similarities spoke to me of a Greater Truth, a deeper history, and that was comforting and enlightening.   I realised the differences were just how the specifics were brought through by different people, added to or altered, depending on their experience and skill, and then given a name. 

I feel the differences are not nearly as important as the similarities.  Similarities prove energy work is in the collective unconscious, part of our heritage as Spiritual Beings.  You might wonder what similarities I’ve noticed.  Quite a number over the years.  Here are some of them: 

GROUNDING

This shows up again and again, in almost every healing model I’ve studied or learned.  Connection to the Earth’s energies, walking on the grass, enjoying nature.  Makes sense to me!  The greatest learning I had about grounding though, how to reinstate it and strengthen it, comes from Energy Field Healing.

EARTH STAR

This interesting energy centre was first introduced to me by my Crystal Therapy teacher in the mid-late 1990s.  I’d read a few books about the Human Energy Field by then, including Barbara Brennan’s “Hands of Light” – with no mention of the Earth Star.  I googled it – yes, all those years ago!  There it was, on a couple of spiritual/energy sites, no more than one or two short paragraphs. 

Later, when my hands began to move in Reiki, I found myself working below the feet of clients, moving my hand in a circular fashion, but not knowing exactly what I was doing, but sensing movement and energy clearing downwards.  A few years later I found I had been working, unknowingly, on the Earth Star. 

I met the Earth Star again when I did my Energy Field Healing training, and I was fascinated to hear of it  – another similarity – and to find out a bit more about it, and how to work with it in detail.

SELF HEALING

Something mentioned in almost all the healing modalities I’ve met, and very important.  But a striking similarity came up between my Reiki training and in Energy Field Healing.

Mikao Usui, who developed the Reiki system, taught a technique called ‘Usui’s Self-Healing Method’.  It consists of sitting or standing, and visualising You in front of yourself.  You put your hands out and ‘give Reiki to yourself’, following the Reiki hand positions.

In Energy Field Healing we use an identical technique, called ‘Show Me, Me.’  It is brilliant, and allows you to use EFH techniques on yourself, and I use this every day to check and balance my own energy. 

SIEVING

This is a lovely, easy technique and I was first taught one version of it while on a course with the Spirit Release Foundation in Malvern, Worcestershire.  Once again, it turned up in EFH, slightly different, very effective, and comfortingly similar.

ENERGY CENTRE in the Lower Abdomen

This is a bit of a puzzle, but something I have noticed.  A number of practices and healing models I’ve come across talk about an energy centre situated in the lower abdomen.  I can’t be sure if it is the exact same energy centre, because each is described so differently, and given different uses and importance.  But here they are:

Cusco (meaning ‘bread basket’) – from the Quero people in South America, introduced during some shamanic training.

Tan Dien (or Dan Tien, or Lower Elixir Field) – from Reiki and Tai Chi Qi Gong practices.

The Hara – described as a centre and a ‘line’ of energy – from Barbara Brennan’s healing practice, but also from martial arts/Tai Chi Qi Gong

The Core Star – the one I am most familiar with, described by Barbara Brennan, but my greatest understanding comes from EFH.  A fascinating energy centre which is tremendously important. 

Noticing similarities and differences in energy work makes me think of other aspects of human life.  The religions of the world, for instance.  Most religions worship at least one ‘supreme Being’, although the deities have different names.  Most religions have basic rules such as ‘Thou shalt not kill’.  But they have different buildings for worship, different dress rules, etc. 

It has occurred to me many times that if humans took a bit more notice of the similarities between us, and less notice of the differences, and if people just let people be – to worship individually as they choose, to marry as they choose, to dress as they choose, to behave in their own individual, even quirky, non-harmful ways – all of course, with equal consideration for others and a reasonable moral compass – the world would be a more peaceful place. 

Perhaps you’d like to have a go at noticing the similarities, rather than the differences, in all aspects of life and any healing models you know. 

DISCLAIMER (The Small Print)       

These are just my current thoughts. 

Thoughts can change as we learn and grow.

I can be wrong, but am nevertheless entitled to my thoughts.

You don’t have to read my blog or take any notice of anything I say.

It is important you always make up your own mind - about everything.

I am not you, and don’t know you or the details of your life. 

Therefore, you are responsible for any decisions or changes you make as a result of reading

my thoughts. 

Finally, nothing in any of my blogs is intended nor should be taken as medical or health advice.  Always research for yourself and talk to doctors or therapists you trust (conventional or complementary).

In other blogs I’m going to explain a bit about what happens in an Energy Field Healing session and a Shamanic Healing session.  But I’m going to begin with Reiki, which I’ve successfully been offering to clients for 25 years now.  I trained as a Level I Reiki Practitioner in 1998 and started treating clients straightaway.  This is how it was back then, and still is.  People can start work as Reiki Practitioners immediately after Reiki I, if they choose to.  I had had a previous career in the NHS and then trained as a Crystal Therapist and had been seeing clients in that capacity for a couple of years.  I felt competent enough to offer Reiki to clients in my practice straightaway and I feel it is this personal responsibility and choice which is so important in complementary therapy.  I followed with Reiki II training a year later and 2 years after that I completed Reiki III – also called Reiki Master – the teaching level of Reiki.   

I want to say here, there is a movement currently trying to say that Level I Reiki Healers can’t work with the public, but this is not true.  There is NO legal restriction about this.  Students are also told they cannot get insurance to work with the public at Level I.  This is also not true and I felt so strongly about this I ended up leaving the Reiki organisation where I had been a member for more than 20 years.  There are insurance companies happy to insure people with Level I Reiki training.  The only caveat of course is that you must be honest with clients that you are currently only trained to Reiki I level.  While I agree with the general idea of ensuring adequate levels of training, I object to the newer, incredibly long, excessively expensive courses, overlaid with mountains of Health and Safety, for what is a very straightforward, easy to learn and easy to practice, energy therapy. 

Mikao Usui, who created the Reiki framework, intended it to be simple enough for anyone to learn and practice, whether for self-healing or for helping others.  The very recent, ‘modern’ training has doubled or tripled course lengths – and therefore costs.  Students on these courses are also expected to complete a ridiculous number of ‘case studies’ before they can get their Level I certificate - I’ve read about as many as 75 case studies – all unpaid! - and a similar number at Reiki II level.  This is quite unnecessary.  When I trained as a midwife, with two lives in my hands and the right to prescribe certain drugs, I was only required to record 150 births at which I had been present or actively assisted with. 

A certain amount of pomposity has arisen about these longer Reiki courses, claiming they are ‘better than’ the traditional way Reiki has been taught successfully for more than 70 years.  I came across one article in the Resonance Reiki Magazine which called the Reiki Practitioners trained in the new, modern, more lengthy, expensive way, “Professional Reiki Practitioners.”  I objected to this and pointed out that any Reiki Practitioner who works with clients is a Professional – as it is their Profession, their work.  I dislike the idea of some Reiki Healers looking down on others in this way.  I also think Reiki will begin to die out, as the modern training shuts people out because of cost and the laborious number of case studies.  I suspect fees for Reiki sessions will inevitably rise because trainees will want to recoup their training costs.

Soapbox over – What happens in a Reiki session?  To some extend every Reiki Practitioner will work slightly differently, but there are common threads.  During Reiki I students are taught various ‘hand positions’, ways of placing the hands on – or slightly above – the body.  These are intended as a guide and certainly I was taught – and teach – that over time the Practitioner will work more intuitively, ‘knowing’ or being drawn to where the flow of energy is needed.  However, the hand positions remain a good framework.  I teach 3 versions, one for the head only, one for a client sitting in a chair and one set for a client on a couch.

You’ll notice I mentioned possibly holding the hands slightly above the body.  This is one of the variations you may come across in Reiki.  It depends how people have been taught and how they have developed.  I was taught – and teach – that the Practitioner can use ‘hands on’ or ‘hands off’ the body or a mix of the two, as I do, depending on what feels necessary – always taking into account what is ethical!  A very long time ago I booked a space at one of those small ‘Health Fairs’, where taster sessions various therapies are offered.  I was doing Reiki and practicing as I had been taught, using a mixture of hands-on and hands-off the body.  A very rude person on the next stand shouted, actually shouted across at me – “What are you doing? That’s not Reiki!”  This sadly demonstrates the attitude some people can take, thinking ‘their’ Reiki is the only way and anything different is wrong.  Sigh ….

My view is that flexibility is vital in energy work, because clients come to us for all kinds of reasons.  One client I treated early on in my Reiki practice said to me very firmly at the start that she did not want to be touched – at all!  I was able to reassure her that I could do the entire session without physical contact.  My Reiki teacher had a similar situation, where a client found even the gentleness of Reiki too much and my teacher had to do sessions by simply holding her hands a few inches from the person’s feet! 

I want to mention here the important issues of boundaries and consideration of you as a client.  NO practitioner should ever touch a client without their permission – one reason why we EXPLAIN what we are going to do and then ask the client to sign their consent.  This is usually done at the start of any first session.  It also needs to be said that no Reiki practitioner should ever touch the breast/chest area or the lower pelvic area (front or back), whether the client is male or female.  It is too personal and too open to abuse or misinterpretation.  This is where ‘hands-off’ the body is useful.  I advise my students never to touch the throat area as they cover the Throat chakra – it is too threatening and could be uncomfortable for people with asthma or other breathing problems. 

Any good practitioner should, at the start of the first session, take some personal details and history from you, bearing in mind Data Protection.  This says that any information that is ‘processed’ (recorded) should be taken fairly and lawfully and only for the purposes for which it is needed.  It has to be adequate, relevant and not excessive. In simple terms, you should only be asked questions which the Practitioner can justify asking and in these days of GDPR, part of your consent will be to agree that your details can be kept for a specified length of time before being destroyed

You should feel able to mention anything you need to when the Practitioner takes your history and they will note down what they feel is relevant.  It is also your right to say very little, if that is what you prefer.  However, a client’s history can sometimes help the therapist to do a better job and energy flows better through relaxed tissue, so a certain amount of trust in your healer will be helpful to you overall.  You have the right to see whatever the Practitioner writes down if you wish. 

At the first appointment a Practitioner should be able to offer a simple explanation of what Reiki is, if you need this, as well as explain how they are going to work.  For instance, there are hand positions for down the back (client lying face down) and for the front of the body (client lying face up). This was the traditional way I was taught.  However, after feedback from clients and experiencing it myself, I decided to offer clients a choice.  This is because after lying face down for the first 10-15 minutes and becoming relaxed, it is disruptive to be asked to turn over, especially on a fairly narrow couch.  Every client I have explained this to over the years has chosen to have the whole Reiki session lying on their back.  I put in more hand positions and hold them for slightly longer, so the client still receives a full session. 

In Reiki there is no need to remove any clothing, except for outside wear and shoes.  And clients should be covered with a blanket or throw.  One can feel vulnerable and exposed lying on a couch and being covered gives a sense of security, as well as keeping a client warm.  Energy work can cause a mild sense of chilliness occasionally, as fresh energy moves through the body. 

Some Practitioners play music during a session – and they should check with the client if the music is acceptable.  I used to play music but now work in silence.  It is my view that a Practitioner should not talk very much at all once the client is on the couch (or in the chair.)  This allows the client to enjoy the Reiki and relax.  It goes without saying that a Practitioner should not fill the session talking about themselves!   

You should be able to mention anything during the session which causes you discomfort, whether that is the music being too loud, the Practitioner’s touch too heavy or the room too chilly.  People train to be complementary therapists because they want to help, so a gentle mention should be enough for the Practitioner to adjust whatever is needed.

You should be able to relax completely during the energy part of the session.  Eyes closed is better.  Let the Practitioner do their work, allow the energy to flow and enjoy the calmness of the time. 

The Practitioner should ‘bring you round’ gently at the end, whether you have relaxed deeply or drifted into light sleep.  You should be allowed a minute or two to return to full wakefulness and then be invited to return to your chair.  It is usual for a glass of water to be available for clients. 

The therapist should provide some feedback about the session – not about what they ‘did’, but anything they noted in particular – the left knee needed extra time, the shoulders seemed to relax under their hands.  If they are trained in the chakra system (energy centres) they might mention which chakras needed a little more energy.  This information should be offered gently and in a positive manner.  You should be allowed to give any feedback you wish to as well.  Sometimes clients want to mention colours they saw or sensations they felt or ask something about the session.

To complete the session the Practitioner should give some aftercare advice.  This is usually to drink water and to rest over the next few days if you feel tired.  It should also include the ‘safety net’ of being able to contact the Practitioner if you have any queries.  Healing energy can occasionally cause mild and short-lived reactions – tiredness, headache, old emotions or memories surfacing as they clear from the body and energy field.  Good hydration helps with this. 

The last parts of your appointment will involve payment for the session and perhaps arranging another appointment.  The latter should be up to you although some Practitioners might ask if you would like another appointment.  It is my opinion that no Practitioner should tell a client how many sessions they ‘need.’  A suggestion, for some good reason, is fine, but Practitioners should not bind clients into “you need 10 sessions for this” or similar.  You should be shown out of the room or building with consideration and a smile, perhaps a Thank You as well.

DISCLAIMER (The Small Print)       

These are just my current thoughts. 

Thoughts can change as we learn and grow.

You may disagree with me, but I am nevertheless entitled to my thoughts.

You don’t have to like my blog or take any notice of anything I say.

It is important you always make up your own mind - about everything.

I am not you, and don’t know you or the details of your life. 

Therefore, you are responsible for any decisions or changes you make as a result of reading my thoughts. 

Finally, nothing in any of my blogs is intended nor should be taken as medical or health advice.  Always research for yourself and talk to doctors or therapists you trust (conventional or complementary).