How reiki can help with your anxiety, grief, stress, chronic illness and more all about the hand

Publish date: 2024-03-23
“The pandemic had started and I was anxious, frustrated, angry, sad and disappointed,” says Mok, a 38-year-old musician, lawyer and arts consultant. “The concerts, trips and other events I’d planned were all put on hold, plus I’d just changed careers and was getting used to living in a new city. It was hard adjusting to all the changes.”After an hour with reiki master teacher Corie Chu, Mok says he felt lighter, happier and more relaxed. “The session was an eye-opener – I learned that most of the discomforts we carry are because of energy blockages in our body. These blockages affect our physical, mental and emotional states.”

Mok isn’t the only one who’s benefited from Chu’s “healing hands”. In her 13 years as a reiki practitioner, Chu has helped people the world over deal with anxiety, grief, depression, trauma, chronic illness, mental fatigue and other physical and emotional problems.

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She encourages her clients to bring their bodies back into balance by channelling “healing” energy towards them. This energy, which reiki practitioners believe comes from the universe, is thought to activate the receiver’s body to heal itself.

Reiki is a form of alternative therapy. It has its roots in Buddhist Sanskrit scriptures and was rediscovered by Japanese scholar and philosopher Mikao Usui in the late 19th century. According to Pervin Clasper, co-founder of Shakti Healing Circle in the Central business district on Hong Kong Island, reiki is translated as “universal life force” or, more simply, energy in motion.

“We are surrounded by energy and we are energy, with every cell in our body constantly vibrating to it. The present form of reiki created by Usui gives us instant access to this life force to enhance our body’s natural ability to self-heal.”

Usui dedicated his life to finding a natural system of hands-on healing that anyone could learn so that they could apply healing to themselves or others. He drew his knowledge from multiple sources, including texts about science, religion and culture – although reiki has no religious doctrine.

It wasn’t until the early 1920s, while on a meditation retreat, that Usui felt overcome by a spiritual energy and realised the power of healing through gentle touch. In 1922, he established a reiki institute in Tokyo in Japan, where he offered healing sessions and taught reiki masters.

Chu runs Corie Chu Healing, also in Central, and teaches the traditional form of Usui reiki. Before a session, she and her client discuss the issues they want to address and asks about what’s going on in their lives to get a clearer idea of how they’re feeling.

She then does an “energy scan” to assess which areas first need to be focused on. This will also determine which position is best for her client to rest in. Then the treatment begins – Chu places her hands on specific problem areas of her client’s clothed body and passes energy from the universe to them.

“Receivers don’t usually feel much during a session,” she points out. “Those who are naturally more energetically sensitive say that they feel the energy, in the form of warmth or extreme heat, moving through their body. Some feel tingles, while others may hear and feel gas bubbles popping in their body.

“I’ve also had clients who see images, colours or light travelling through their body, and clients who just get a strong sense of knowing that the treatment is working.”

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Most people come out of a reiki session feeling more relaxed, refreshed and inspired. Chu’s clients often say they feel lighter, as though a weight has been lifted.

“This weight is the energetic and emotional waste that, up till that point, had yet to be cleared from their body.”

Chu stresses that reiki practitioners do not have an innate personal ability to heal, but rather, are channels for universal energy.

Clasper, who is a master teacher in traditional Usui reiki, says it works well in tandem with traditional Western medicine. In her 20-plus years of practice, she’s seen reiki help with a wide range of emotional, physical and mental issues, from headaches to cancer support. Clasper has had clients seek reiki for treating eczema that they’ve had for years, insomnia and other problems that were causing them to feel “stuck”.While science has yet to recognise reiki, studies have shown that this energy-based healing technique may yield positive results. For instance, a review published in 2014 in the journal Pain Management Nursing suggested that reiki could help with depression and anxiety. A study published in 2011 in Oncology Nursing Forum found that chemotherapy patients who were administered reiki experienced a greater sense of well-being.

Reiki treatments are becoming increasingly accepted in hospitals, hospices and cancer support units around the world, including the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Hartford Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States.

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Chu believes that reiki’s rising popularity is attributable to the growing interest in natural remedies and alternative therapies. It’s also a great way to deal with everyday stress. For those interested in exploring their spiritual side, reiki helps them do this safely, gently and effectively.

The practice invites self-care and is a wonderful way to learn more about ourselves, which coincides with the growing interest in well-being, mindfulness and personal development. And finally, more people want to go back to what’s natural and organic when it comes to dealing with their ailments, and reiki aligns with that “back to basics” philosophy.

After experiencing the benefits of reiki first-hand, Mok decided to learn how to practise it on himself and others. He has completed his training for reiki levels one and two and says that it has come in handy, especially during the pandemic, when so many people are struggling emotionally and physically.

“Much of the pain and discomfort we feel in our bodies come from deep-seated issues we haven’t been able to let go of, and reiki can help create healing in those areas of the body where we’re experiencing those energy blockages,” he says.

“I use reiki to help myself and others where I can – it allows me to identify the issues in my life that I haven’t been dealing with. This, in turn, helps me live more intentionally and continue being of service to others.”

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