Many people think that healing is fun and takes you straight into a state of bliss. But this is not always the case, healing yourself can be painful.
The “scratches” that might occur when healing
Yes, some issues will clear up without any side effects at all–they are like a drop of cooking oil on the kitchen bench, wiped away with one flick. Many issues, however, are so stuck within our mind and energy that it takes much more then just a flick. These are like old stains on a kitchen bench which need a mighty scrub to clean off, and, in the process, leave scratches behind.
Some of the “side effects” of healing might be slight dizzyness, vomiting, pain in your joints or organs, crying, shaking, or diarrhea–just to name a few.
How to deal with the healing process
One of the best ways to deal with stuff that comes up when we start to heal is to make sure that we stay grounded. This we can do with traditional Japanese Reiki practices like joshin kokyu ho (its on this CD) for example. You can also support yourself by receiving hands-on healing sessions from a practitioner, counseling, massages, acupuncture etc. And always make sure you drink lots of water.
Another way of looking at it is this: imagine a pebble being stuck in a garden hose. When the water begins to flow through the hose it pushes the pebble all the way out. In the process, the pebble might scrape along the inside of the hose. This is the same with our stuck energy, when the energy starts to flow, the stuck energy is pushed about before it dissolves.
You can also look at it like this: better out now than in 10 years time!
Enjoy your Reiki journey.
Bronwen and Frans Stiene are the co-founders of the International House of Reiki and co-authors of The Reiki Sourcebook, The Japanese Art of Reiki, Your Reiki Treatment, The A-Z of Reiki Pocketbook and the Reiki Techniques Card Deck. Bronwen and Frans teach in the USA, Europe and Australia. Visit the Courses page to find a course near you.
Comments 7
As a learning student and practitioner, one goes through a process of receiving and offering Reiki. I can remember one session where I was feeling OK before the session and afterwards felt horrible. I was tense and tight in my muscles all over my body and my jaw was clenched. I had always felt relaxed after a session – what was this? The practitioner suggested that I come back the next day to help this process move through. I allowed and let go of the worry on the next session to relax and not hold onto the previous sessions results. I opened up and relaxed through this “new” session to become grounded and centered again.
I guess I was just “passing a pebble through the hose of life”
As described above. I have learned over the years that healing mostly means that you first me go through a rough time before things get better. This is true both for physical, emotional and spiritual healing, and I see it in all the therapies I do; massage, life coaching, reiki. And of course I experience it in my own personal life and reiki practise.
I think in this day and age people often expect healing to be easy. It is important to help them see that it can be simple yet not easy. This is why I love the phrase: “i am open to receive whatever it is I need in this exact moment in time”. I believe this shows that you ‘simply’ need to be open (which works best when you are grounded). The hard part can be to truly be open, as it’s not easy to let go of expectations and ideas of what you want to happen. But as soon as you do manage to be open and to let go, the pebble will move through the hose and healing will take place. As a practitioner I think it is important to provide a safe place for people when they go through the rough part, the scratching of the pebble on it’s way out.
Hi Tessa and Katherine,
Thanks for your feedback. I had a acupuncture session a while back and didn’t feel well afterwards either, some clearing was taking place. So I just took it easy and let all the stirred up energy settle again.
For me there is a whole art to being open, not always that easy. We had a great example in our Shinpiden class the other day, were a lady found it hard to be open to receive. So I showed the lady how to be open and after this she connected to a whole different aspect of her own healing and spirituality.
If we have a good daily practice, the more open we become to receive ourselves.
Hi Frans,
You never know what the immediate results might be, but you do know that whether pleasant or unpleasant, it’s clearing the way for healing and wholeness.
Hi Kirs,
So true, no matter what, it is bringing our being into a state of wholeness.
Nice to see you on Facebook answering the question of healing crisis – I myself just remain patient and calm that helps the client – a few times that was difficult because what they were experiencing was so difficult but we seem to come through ok
Hi Myra,
This is why it is so important to make sure we stay grounded and work with the joshin kokyu ho and the ckr. This way we can deal with what is coming up, either within ourselves or in our clients and students.