I have been a reiki master since 1998. Reiki is the first nontraditional class I ever took. And it was then that I fell in love with eastern and nontraditional ways of healing the body, mind, and soul. During that first reiki course, I had a sense that I was practicing something I had done before. It was familiar. Now in a healing session, attunement, I become engaged in a deeply peaceful experience of channeling light and love into an individual’s chi to help re-establish harmony within his/her body. This flow of life force moves through energy pathways called the meridians and chakras. Every practitioner, if she has been practicing for a period of time, will provide each client with a slightly different experience. It’s the practitioner’s creative way of sharing her healing gifts.
When I work with clients, I am asked frequently to define chi, meridians, and chakras. In our culture we may hear this terminology in passing without ever knowing what it really means. My hope is that this blog will help to shed light on the terminology I use on a regular basis in my work. It all starts with chi or qi – a universal life force.
Chi or Qi:
Traditional Chinese medicine (TMC) asserts that the body has natural patterns of qi that circulate in channels called meridians. In TMC, symptoms of various illnesses are believed to be the product of disrupted, blocked, or unbalanced qi movement through the body’s meridians, as well as deficiencies or imbalances of qi in the Zang Fu organs. Traditional Chinese Medicine often seeks to relieve these imbalances by adjusting the circulation of qi using a variety of therapeutic techniques… – Wikipedia.
You may be familiar with some of the history of chi, or at least the terminology like chakras and meridians. Chi has been written about and studied for over ten thousand years, from China and Japan to India, the Hawaiian Islands, and South America. Chi is the energy of life itself, recognized as the balance of yin and yang (male and female, positive and negative, electromagnetic energy), which flows through everything in creation. Chi is at the foundation of many health and even fitness practices such as massage, yoga, martial arts, reiki, feng shui and acupressure.
The energy of chi emits vibrant, bright colors (the aura), a vibrational frequency, and a sound. When chi becomes disturbed, stagnant, imbalanced, or depleted, dis-ease and illness begin to take form. The aura becomes darker and discolored, personal frequency vibrates incorrectly, and the meridians (energy pathways that flow – Chinese origin) and chakras (energy centers that spin- Indian origin) within the body become blocked. Press here to see a more in-depth description of the chakras.
Having frequent energy sessions of any kind helps to keep your body in balance feeling whole and harmonized. Sessions can be anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on the kind of treatment and the practitioner. Sessions also can be done over distance, via the phone, and are equally as powerful, as some of my clients have expressed, because the practitioner eliminates what she is seeing and works just with the individual’s energy body – her chi.
Peace and with love,
