Reiki Healing & THE ENERGY BODY
Reiki and Energy
Everything in our known universe is composed of energy, vibrating at different rates. What this means is that we are also beings of energy, radiating a very vital life force and expressing an actual light field around our bodies called an aura or auric field. Everything is composed of energy, not only our physical body but also our subtle (energy body), thoughts and emotions. We are alive because of this energy, flowing through us and around us. The energy body is as much a part of you as your physical body is. Reiki is also an energy, it is a specific frequency of energy which works on the energetic field of the body by directing healing energy. When we use it in healing, it acts holistically, affecting all the energies of the body, especially the subtle energy body
The Energy Body
Our body is composed of not only physical elements such as muscles, bones, nerves, organs, glands etc but also has an unseen subtle energy system through which life force energy flows through it and around it. This life force nourishes every cell in our body which vibrates and emits a frequency that emanates into the aura, creating an energy field that surrounds our physical body. The subtle energy body is composed of seven major chakras (energy centres) which are centres of information sending out or emitting light or energy consciousness. These are connected through an energy system called the meridians which carry our life force energy around our body and the auric field which forms the complete human energy body .
What are chakras (Energy centres)?
Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning spinning wheel or vortex .The chakras are powerful energy centres located in your energy body. They are energy centres that translate between the seen world of the physical and the unseen world of energy. There are seven main chakras and each of them performs a specific function and is associated with corresponding organs, has its own glands, its own unique hormones and its own plexus of neurons. Each has its own specific energy that carries a corresponding level of consciousness, its own emission of light and its own frequency.
When these become blocked it disrupts the energy flow and reduces the bodys ability to function effectively. Most ill- health begins in our energy field, mostly through prolonged stress and a negative way of thinking which can eventually manifest in illness or disease if left untreated. When these energy centres becomes activated with Reiki healing energy, it will emit healing energy to the blocked areas in the subtle body and kick start your natural healing process on all levels, physically, emotionally and mentally.
Maintaining flow and alignment amongst your main energy centres is critical to cultivating a sense of overall health and vitality. Imbalances in the chakras affect the mind, body and spirit. By addressing these blockages you have within your energy centres with Reiki healing energy,it will help to restore balance, health and well-being holistically.
The 7 Chakras
The 1st energy centre (Base)
Is located in the base of the spine and its corresponding colour is red. This chakra resonates with groundedness, stability and security. An imbalance in this chakra may show as feeling unsafe, stuck in your ways, unwilling to accept change or transition. In the physical body this chakra governs the region of your sex organs including your perineum and your pelvic floor, prostate, bladder and lower bowel. This energy centre has to do with procreation, elimination, sexuality and sexual identity. The hormones estrogen and progesterone in women and testosterone in men are connected to this centre. A tremendous amount of creative energy exists in this first centre
The 2nd energy centre (Sacral)
is behind and slightly below your navel and its corresponding colour is orange. This chakra resonates with sensuality, passion, creativity and your relationship to pleasure and inter personal relationships. This is the chakra to focus on if you are feeling emotionally rigid, apathetic creatively blocked or closed off to intimacy and too easily attached. In the physical body it governs the ovaries, uterus, colon, pancreas and lower back. It has to do with consumption, digestion, elimination and the breaking down of food into energy Including digestive enzymes and hormones that balance your blood sugar levels. Think of it as the centre of letting go or holding on.
The 3rd energy centre (Solar Plexus)
The 3rd energy centre (Solar Plexus) is located in the pit of our stomach just above the belly button and its corresponding colour is yellow. This centre is associated with our will power, self- importance, vitality, courage, self-confidence, self-esteem, drive, aggression and force of will. This is the chakra to focus on if you are feeling powerless or timid, or the opposite domineering, aggressive behaviour. Issues with self- esteem often arise in this centre. In the physical it governs the small intestine, spleen, liver, gall bladder, adrenal glands, and kidneys. The associated hormones are adrenaline and cortisol, the kidney hormones, and all the liver enzymes as well as the stomach enzymes.
The 4th energy centre (Heart )
is located in the space behind your breast bone and its corresponding colours are green and pink. The heart chakra is associated with the emotions of love and caring, nurturing, thankfulness, gratitude, appreciation, kindness, inspiration, selflessness, wholeness and trust. It powerfully affects your ability to love and feelings of compassion for yourself and for others. It is the seat of the soul. In the physical it governs the lungs heart, and thymus gland ( the bodies main immunity gland known as the “fountain of youth” The hormones related to this centre include growth hormones as well as a cascade of different chemicals that stimulate the immunes system health via the thymus gland ( responsible for growth, repair and regeneration of the body.
The 5th energy centre (Throat)
is located in your throat and its corresponding colour is bright blue. This chakra resonates with self-expression, and honest communication. It is the key to unlocking your inner voice and accessing your ability to speak your truth with conviction and fearlessness. This energy centre of the blue ray is your centre of honest communication. This is the centre to focus on if you are feeling withdrawn or unable to speak from a place of truth or speak too freely and openly, bordering on dictatorial or offensive or if you tend to be a poor listener. In the physical, it governs the thyroid, parathyroid, and the neck. The hormones associated with this centre include the thyroid hormones and para- thyroid chemicals that govern the body's metabolism. This centre is associated with expressing the love you felt in your heart centre as well as speaking your truth and personally empowering your reality through language and sound.
The 6th energy centre (Third Eye)
is located in the centre of your head slightly towards the back of the head and its corresponding colour is indigo. The third eye chakra is the key to unlocking your intuition and witness spectacularly enhanced forms of perception. This is the chakra to focus on if you are out of touch with your instincts, tend to over think, reading too much into things without accuracy, or feeling paranoid in any way. In the physical it governs the pineal gland, which is a scared gland. Some people call the pineal gland the third eye. It is associated with the door to higher dimensions and shifting your perception so you can see beyond the veil. When this centre is open, it is like a radio antenna you can tune in to higher frequencies beyond the five senses. The hormones secreted by the pineal gland are serotonin and melatonin. When this gland is in balance, your brain works in a clear manner. You are more conscious of your inner and your outer world.
The 7th energy centre ( Crown)
is located in the centre of your head and its corresponding colour is purple or white. This chakra resonates with wisdom, connection to spiritual realms and attunement to the universe. This is the chakra to focus on if you are feeling spiritually disconnected or have lost the faith, if you tend to “in the clouds” all the time. In the physical, it governs the pituitary gland. This gland has been called the master gland because it governs and creates harmony in a downward cascade from the centre of your brain to your pineal gland , your thyroid land, thymus gland, adrenal glands, pancreatic gland and all the way down to your sexual glands. This is the centre where you experience your greatest expression of divinity, your highest level of consciousness originates. When this gland is balanced you are in harmony with all things.
THE MIND- BODY CONNECTION
Stress plays a major part in how our body functions. It can affect our mood, our immune system, our neurotransmitters and have a whole host of effects on our mental, physical and emotional health. We need a certain amount of stress to thrive in life but when we live in a constantly high state of stress (survival stress also known as the fight or flight mode) it disrupts our health and wellbeing and consequently can lead to ill-health and disease. Prolonged chronic stress keeps us living in survival mode and is one of the biggest causes of epigenetic change because it knocks your body out of balance.
Between remembering stressful past experiences or anticipating stressful situations coming up in your future, all lead to long term stress, which is living in survival mode or fight or flight mode.- when you don’t return to homeostasis, vital energy is lost in the system. You then have less energy for healing or repair of your body because your energy is being channelled elsewhere, The immune and endocrine systems (among others) become weakened. Not surprising then that long-term stress has being linked to a whole host of conditions and illnesses such as anxiety, digestive problems, depression, memory loss, insomnia, hormonal issues, heart disease, chronic fatigue, cancer, allergies, diabetes to name just a few. It is clear that the longer the survival system is constantly activated, the longer your body shuts down its resources for creating optimal health.
As we keep making stress hormones, we create a host of addictive emotions including anger, anxiety, depression, insecurity, shame, guilt, aggression, frustration to name but a few. When we focus on thoughts about bitter past experiences or imagined dreadful futures, we prevent the body from regaining homeostats. In truth we are capable of turning on the stress response by thought alone. If we don’t turn it off, it will eventually lead to some type of illness or disease. Since most illnesses has its roots in the emotions, it is only by balancing and treating the energy body that we can treat the cause of the problem successfully.
The negative thoughts and feelings that are lodged in your subtle energy body are the greatest problem as we are not aware of them and therefore, we are greatly hampered in in changing or eliminating them.
How Does Reiki Energy Healing Work?
Reiki works with the energetic field of the body by directing healing energy throughout the energy centres (chakras), meridians and aura or bio-field. It lowers high stress levels and reduces the impact of prolonged stress on the body. One of the most documented reports of Reiki energy healing is the power to transform consciousness by quietening down the brain wave frequencies from beta (conscious thought) to alpha (relaxed, creative) and even theta (the twilight stage ) where your mind is still open and awake but your body is drifting off to sleep. This state is also associated with deep states of meditation. As your thinking mind slows down, and you are able to get past the analytical, stress mode (beta) mind and into the relaxed mind (alpha/theta) where healing is then able to take place.
As you relax deeply and are now open to receiving healing, your body can draw on this frequency of healing energy .The great value of Reiki is that because it is guided by a higher universal intelligence, it knows exactly where to go and how to respond to restrictions in the flow of your life force energy. It can work directly on the unconscious parts of the mind and body which contain negative energy-inhibiting thoughts and feelings, old emotional thoughts and experiences from the past. As Reiki healing energy flows through the body, it raises your frequencies (life force energy) and causes a release of low vibration negative energy and stuck emotions, allowing for a normal healthy flow of energy to resume. The higher your vibrational frequency, the better and healthier you will feel. As this happens, the body becomes properly nourished with life force energy and begins to function in a more balanced and healthy way, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.