Reiki, the Japanese art of healing.

I'm a stress case and let's face it, so are many of you. We occupy our minds constantly with so many insignificant things and rather than doing something about them, choose to toil with the "worst case scenario". What if she doesn't like me? What if I fail? What if I don't get the job?

Now don't get me wrong, I think planning for the worst is good in some cases. Society tells us as much: insure your cars, your home, your life, your computer.....the list is endless! Isn't it ironic that with all of these safety checkpoints that stress is the leading contributor to illnesses in, leading it to be referred to as the "disease of the century".

My girlfriend unfortunately gets the brunt of most of my stressful outbursts. Although she always reminds me to take a time out, she decided to would help me take a proactive approach to it and got me a gift certificate for a Reiki massage. Reiki is a Japanese healing art that promotes the re-balancing of energy levels in the body which is supposedly a root cause of stress. It is a holistic art which seeks to stabilize the body as a single working unit. It has a lot of hindu influences as well and aims at emphasizing the development and restoration of the chakras that comprise our bodily energies. Check it out in action!

So all that being said....I actually had an incredibly stressful day coming into the Reiki session, and when I arrived I was greeted by my Reiki healer. As surprised as I was to see that she was a woman likely in her 60s - 70s once she lay me on the table she simply put on some ambient music and let the healing begin. Within moments I closed my eyes and much like the video above demonstrates was treated to an unusual, but incredibly stimulating experience.

At first my mind had to be flushed of all thought, I must have spent 40 minutes or so just jumping back and forth from thought to thought until my mind came to a rest for the last portion of the massage. As she moved her hands over my energy chakras, I began to feel a tingling sensation, a feeling of release, and she rarely ever put any direct pressure on my body aside from holding hear hands over my ears. It was a really bizarre experience...but I've had a chronic sharp pain in my abdominal region for months now and as she lay her hands overtop of that area I really felt like my body was reacting with the energy that was being emitted from her hands. at first I experienced a very intense pain, but ultimately it subsided and I felt nothing at all..........

Needless to say this is one experience I'll never forget, and for anyone looking to get some spiritual, mental and physical healing, Reiki is definitely a solid choice. It's a bit pricey, $65 an hour, but you could always do the half hour for $35. Just make sure you're open-minded about this thing, or else you could easily write off what can and should be an incredibly revitalizing experience.