How to Practice and Share Reiki When Ill

Joy Vernon put forward this latest topic and it opened up quite a discussion within the Reiki Blog Hop group…

I think most people can decide quite easily whether to practise Reiki when a physical problem is present. Personally, I am quite blessed in the health department and it’s extremely rare for me to be physically ill. My eldest son has pointed that out on many occasions, usually when he comes down with flu and self-pity and he will ask – how come since you took up Reiki, you don’t get ill? I’m not so convinced of the correlation and I put it down to the combination of acquiring a pretty robust immune system over the years of raising snot-nosed kids alongside working in air-conditioned buildings filled with the general public who aren’t too fussy who they sneeze on… On the rare occasion that I am contagious or physically debilitated and unable to function then my diary does tend to magically clear itself for the length of time that I need to recover. So, on the whole, it’s not something that I have to think about too often but my main thoughts there are, if you are ill then, it’s a good time to dose up on your own self-healing practice… I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets complacent with that… But also, being contagious does not stop you from practising Reiki as you do not have to be physically present, so there are various ways to apply distant healing if you have the energy and inclination to send Reiki to somebody else.

I do have an ongoing back problem and that has caused me to modify my practice on occasion. At its worst, I have referred clients to other people but that was more down to the nature of the general problems of being a mobile therapist and not wanting to drag a couch around. I kept seeing the clients who had their own couches and rather than standing for the whole session, I would place a chair nearby so I could sit down if needed. Though I find that if I have back pain and I am working on someone else, then the pain will disappear whilst working and often I will feel heat and healing coming into where I need it, alongside the Reiki that comes through and goes to the person on the couch.

But when we are working Reiki, we know that there is more to health than the physical level and when you ask about illness in terms of mental health or emotional and spiritual wellbeing, well that’s when you may as well be asking how long is a piece of string…

When it comes to mental health, then I’m not qualified to comment on that, though I have many thoughts on that subject, none of which ever fully resolve as defining, in general, doesn’t really allow for the nuances of individuals… I could easily fractal out in all directions on this issue so in an attempt to follow just one coherent thought, I laid down some cards… What should I address here?

Uncertainty… Ok, if you are uncertain as to whether or not you should be practising Reiki, then I would suggest taking a step back and seeing if you can ground and centre yourself. I think on mental and emotional levels, it not so much about how ‘well’ you are but about how aware you are of where you are at. Nobody has their shit together in all areas at all times… the question really is, can you put those things on hold in order to deliver a quality service?

As a slightly off tangent example… Ok, so I recognise that people are people and everybody has their own struggles going on BUT… if I am dealing with someone in a professional capacity then I have very little tolerance for poor performance… When I went to a parent’s evening and came away knowing all the ins and outs of a teacher’s child’s illness and all of her childcare problems, I made a complaint. Don’t get me wrong, on a personal level, I empathised but I went there to discuss my child and came away with zero input and my opinion was that that teacher should not have been working in that state of mind…

On the other end of the scale, I know people with fairly extreme mental health problems, who are self-aware and manage their health in a way that their work is not at all affected…

Spiritual Sensitivity… Ok, lots of Reiki practitioners speak at length of the need to protect their energies… often I feel that people are only considering half of the equation… I’m not going to argue that you don’t want to be picking up other people’s dodgy energy… BUT… also consider that your client, by very nature of coming for Reiki is likely to be spiritually sensitive… so, there is a very good chance, that if you are not on the ball and focused in the moment, then your client could very well end up feeling bummed out because they have picked up that you are distracted…

Many moons ago, I stopped going to a Reiki practitioner as I suddenly felt very angry mid-session and I heard a very loud sentence in my head… after the session, I repeated the sentence to them and watched the colour drain from their face to be replaced by a look of horror as they asked me how I knew about the argument they had had that morning…

Self Love… well this brings to mind a couple of old adages… prevention is better than cure and you can’t give from an empty cup…

So, I guess my answer to the question of how to practise and share Reiki when ill, is to know how and when to prioritise your own needs for healing, which I guess is another whole topic in itself… but ultimately, how you do that is entirely up to you to decide… I know what works and doesn’t work for me but there’s no such thing as one size fits all… you’ll have to tailor your own fitness 🙂

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