Reiki: Something For Neuropathy?

Given that it's important to help reduce pain in any way possible if you have neuropathy, today's fourth post from 4therapy.com (see link below), looks at Reiki as a means of positively influencing the body and brain, so that pain is lessened. If you only achieve relaxation from a reiki session, you'll have gained quite a lot. Your muscles will be less likely to spasm due to pain and the impact of the pain may be reduced by relieving the associated stress.

Relaxing with Reiki: An Effective Way to Treat Pain and Depression

If traditional methods of relief for your pain or depression treatment aren’t working, you may want to try Reiki. Reiki is a Japanese form of body work that uses your body’s energy to help alleviate symptoms.

Using their hands, Reiki practitioners identify places in your body where energy is blocked or not flowing properly. Through light touch, practitioners transfer energy to remove blockages so that your body can properly heal.

“It’s a very subtle transfer of vibration through the practitioner to the patient to change a person’s energy biofield,” said Cheryl Wichner, a Reiki master at Sierra Tucson, a residential treatment center in Arizona.

Reiki has been shown to effectively alleviate symptoms associated with depression, pain and other disorders. Reiki has been shown to:

• Decrease anxiety

• Reduce symptoms of panic

• Lessen lower back pain

• Reduce anger and fear

• Decrease stress

• Boost the immune system

• Raise mood function

• Enhance movement

• Improve blood pressure

Reiki Treatment

During a session of Reiki, you will likely feel warmth or coolness, a change in emotions or even jolts of electricity as your energy shifts. You are also likely to fall into a state of deep relaxation, which can allow the body to heal, Wichner said.

Sessions of Reiki typically last about 50 minutes. Patients lay on a massage table, either fully clothed or under a blanket. Practitioners use light touch to transmit energy, working from the face down the front of the body. If you are someone who does not typically like to be touched, Reiki may not be the best treatment for you.

Each person responds differently to Reiki treatment, according to Wichner. Many people feel worse in the first 24 hours after treatment because it triggers healing and emotions that can be very powerful. Patients may even respond with twitches and jerks if they are releasing trauma. Most people experience immediate relaxation and pain reduction, which is good for treating any disorder.

If you find Reiki to be effective for alleviating your symptoms, you can undergo as many treatments as you like. If you would rather, you can also learn to do the treatment on yourself.

Reiki practitioners are trained in three levels of Reiki so that they become attuned to a body’s energy and learn how to channel energy to others. Practitioners learn to channel energy to themselves, other people, plants and animals. They even receive training in performing Reiki at a distance, without the patient being physically present. At the third level of training, practitioners become Reiki masters, which allows them to teach others in the art of Reiki.

Reiki does not interfere with any other treatments or medication, and is non-invasive. To find out if Reiki will work for you, find a Reiki master who practices on their own or at a treatment center that specializes in such disorders as depression and pain.

http://www.4therapy.com/life-topics/anxiety-phobias/relaxing-reiki-effective-way-treat-pain-and-depression-2975