Reiki: What is it and what are the benefits?

As being part of the 2020 Vision of Beauty Influencer Tour by BestSelf Magazine I was lucky enough to try out a one hour Treatment of Reiki: energy healing and balancing the 7 chakras to help alleviate stress and remove inner blockages.

Lidia, the owner of Skin IQ Med Spa in Atlanta, gave me lots of information to read up on Reiki before my arrival in her beautiful spa.

She explained to me that she wants to focus in our session on balancing all my Seven chakras and possibly identifying if any one of them is depleted or excessively energized. 

What are chakras?

The idea of chakras developed in ancient India, as part of a spiritual practice called kundalini yoga, about 2,700 years ago. The life force energy/chi/atman of our body flows through specific lines of energy called nadis (or energy meridians in Chinese medicine). Nadis are like veins of energy that flow through living beings. In distinct places these energy lines cross one another, folding and twisting many times over to form knots of energy - CHAKRAS (wheel, in Sanskrit).

In 1927 the concept of chakras was recognized in the Western cultures, but only in 1977 the contemporary concept of the seven chakras and their seven colors of the rainbow finally stuck with everyone. 

Each of the seven main chakras offers a different perspective on life. Imagine the chakras as seven floors of a building. When you are on the bottom floor, the view is significantly different from the view through each of the other floors. With each successive elevation, one’s view becomes successively more expansive. 

The combined expression of all these wheels of light makes up your aura. 

What is Reiki and what are the possible benefits?

Reiki has been around for thousands of years. Its current form was first developed in 1922 by a Japanese Buddhist called Mikao Usui, who reportedly taught 2,000 people the Reiki method during his lifetime. The practice spread to the U.S. through Hawaii in the 1940s, and then to Europe in the 1980s.

In fact, a 2013 study published in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that 10 minutes of energy healing was as effective as physical therapy in improving range of motion for people with restricted mobility.

Additional studies suggest energy healing can help improve cognition, reduce pain, and ease stress and depression. Reiki is a form of alternative therapy commonly referred to as energy healing. Energy can stagnate in the body where there has been physical injury or possibly emotional pain. In time, these energy blocks can cause illness.

Energy medicine aims to help the flow of energy and remove blocks in a similar way to acupuncture or acupressure. Improving the flow of energy around the body can enable relaxation, reduce pain, speed healing, and reduce other symptoms of illness.

The practitioner places their hands lightly on or over specific areas of the head, limbs, and torso using different hand shapes, for between 2 and 5 minutes. The hands can be placed over 20 different areas of the body.

While the practitioner holds their hands lightly on or over the body, the transfer of energy takes place. During this time, the practitioner's hands may be warm and tingling. Each hand position is held until the practitioner senses that the energy has stopped flowing.

When the practitioner feels that the heat, or energy, in their hands has abated, they will remove their hands and may place them over a different area of the body.

Sessions can last between 15 and 90 minutes. The number of sessions will vary, depending on what a client wishes to accomplish. Some clients prefer to have one session while others have a series of sessions to work on a particular issue.

My Reiki experience:

Lidia asked me to arrive without any jewelry and with an open mind to many possibilities because the complexities of cause and effects during this treatment will defy logic and analysis. She mentioned to me that it could even happen that loved ones that have died will be reachable- but it did not happen to me (but I don't really know anyone that has died in my life- I know I am lucky).

My Reiki experience started with a little interview in which Lidia asked me all kinds of questions in regards of my life and health situation, so that she would better know on which chakras to concentrate.

Then we walked in the treatment room where I took my shoes off and made myself comfortable on a massage table that was so super soft. She even covered me with a soft blanket and it felt like heaven. 

She turned on very relaxing and calming music and she turned the lights off! Yes, it was pitch-dark the whole hour (we staged the photos AFTER our session with the lights on!).

Lidia put on different parts of my body different crystals (such as on my thyroid, head, on my belly etc). During the session I felt how the crystal in my right hand got really hot! 

So, what happens during the session? Lidia first put some essential oils on her hands (I heard it in the dark and smelled it. ;-)

The crystals Lidia used during our session

Then Lidia was holding gently, sometimes with a little pressure different parts of my body. This feels so unbelievable calming and loving. It is hard to describe, but it is really like an "out of this world experience". From head to toe down, Lidia was holding different areas in her hands. At some point she asked me to say the words "So" (while breathing in) and "Hum" (while breathing out) for 5 times- but not out loud, inside of my head. Soham or Sohum (सो ऽहम् so 'ham or so 'Hum) is a Hindu mantra, meaning "I am He/That" in Sanskrit.

It is amazing how fast 1 hour can be over- all the while there isn't that much happening and yet, it feels so magical, so releasing and freeing. It feels healing and so spiritual. I know this sounds all a little strange, if you have never experienced it- but you would understand if you would try a session yourself.

My overall verdict is: Reiki feels even more relaxing and calming than a regular massage! It is crazy but true and I highly recommend it if you feel stressed out in your life or unbalanced- even depressed! It was such an amazing, literally heart-warming experience!

After my 1 hour treatment Lidia asked me to drink lots of water and I felt the unexplainable need of eating really healthy- like only vegetables and do only good for my body.

Watch my Instastory to see more! 

Lidia, the owner of Skin IQ Med Spa

Inside of the Skin IQ Medspa in Atlanta, Buckhead

Skin IQ Medspa has a huge selection of medical grade skin care available!

But that was not all- after the session Lidia told me what she felt and she told me that my Sacral Chakra needs a little bit more attention and pampering and that she would send me another email with more info. She asked me if I had a very long or painful labour and indeed I did! It took me 3 days to deliver my baby (14 years ago!). 

A day later Lidia send me another email, explaining in detail what she recommends me to do to pamper my Sacral Chakra! She gave me lots of tips how to do that and recommended for my sacral chakra crystals such as carnelian, orange calcite, jasper, and moonstone. She recommended also to take a long shower or bath with sea salt and to scrub my body, focusing on all 5 senses and to use essential oils. She even gave me tips on what to eat and what kind of music to listen.  I mean, really! Which doctor has ever taken that much time to evaluate all my needs? No-one! 

This was such an insightful experience. You all should definitely try it too!

And I definitely need to get me some crystals ASAP! 

Thank you so much, Lidia for this amazing- out of this world- experience!

Disclaimer: Thank you BestSelf Atlanta and Skin IQ Medspa for sponsoring this post.  I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. Contains Affiliate links. Read my full disclosure.